The old sycamore tree still stands.  Its roots run deep through the soil of one of the oldest properties in Wallace Township, also bearing its name.  Bark and branches, re-created in calicos of green and yellow evoke not only the beauty but the sturdy endurance of the original.  This square of applique, designed, stitched and skillfully quilted, is the work of the gifted hands of Laurie Marburger, former owner of Sycamore Springs Farm.  In 1982, a newcomer to Glen Moore, Laurie was eager to make friends.  A quilter, she was happy to heed the call of local women who might be interested in piecing together a quilt--the township's offering in celebration of the county's three hundredth birthday.  The rest, of course, is history. More than a mere remnant, the quilt is a relic of sorts, testimony that though times change, traditions endure, and that people inevitably search for a shared space where hearts and hands might still come together for a higher purpose and common good.

          As one beholds it, the quilt reveals itself as more than simply a collection of assorted textiles, hand pieced and needle worked, sashed together ribbon-like in bands of royal blue.  Where the stone white steeple of a centennial church begins to recede, a blacksmith shop, the din of hammer and anvil long ago silenced, now emerges.  The cadent whirring of a locomotive fades and dies, the screeching of metal wheels awakening sleepy passengers as the train approaches Cornog station.  An ancestral cow grazes upon bounteous pasture, field overlapping field in unending succession across the centuries old landscape.  Colorful birds chirp and sing.  Cooking fires roar upon the colonial hearth, and church bells peal as faithful townspeople remember to keep holy the Sabbath.

          The re-enactment of an age-old ritual took place at Laurie's home as more than forty women participated in the quilting bee.  Throughout the final week of preparation, a continuous parade of quilters came and went, brown bag lunches and thimbles their fare.  In the tradition of their foremothers, they gathered together with thread and needle, symbols of their common sisterhood, in what the Mennonite women among them would call the sewing circle.  Here, amidst the exchange of pleasantries and quiet chatter, where acquaintances are made and friendships born, the final stitch was sewn, the quilt completed.  Six months of organizing and planning, the tedious task of assembling and stitching, culminated in the Tri-Centennial Celebration, and the proud handiwork of the women of Wallace Township was displayed at Hibernia Mansion.

          When you have a moment or two, come to the Wallace Township Building and sit before the quilt and listen to its story.  In the quiet theatre of an old schoolhouse, let it play its scenes for you.  A lonesome guest you shall not be.  Listen as a fragment of work chalk whispers our common grammar across a board of slate.  Be still as the silence about you quivers with the echo of an unfamiliar nursery rhyme.  Feel the boards beneath your feet reverberate with the exuberance of a childish dance.  Yes, listen to the quilt, to the songs of birds and Indians and bells as the history of the past imposes itself upon the present with its familiar motifs--the blending of all yesterdays with today in the illusion of time.

by Pat Heim
Presented by the Wallace Township Historical Commission--1989