“Old Atticus was prolific—I’ll give him that.” Mark indicated the page with the entries of births, marriages, and deaths. The infant mortality rate was high, however, with the dates of birth and death frequently within the same year, if not the same month.
Mother and I leaned closer to study that page. There were quite a few sons as well as a number of daughters, although their number, in fact the number of all the children, lessened as the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth, until my father’s birth in 1928 should have been the only one listed.
However, the last entry was Addison Mann.
“Grandfather had to have made that entry. I wonder if he was the one who hid the book and if that was why.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Mother murmured, “considering Addison was supposed to be h
