Filip Duraj gr 5

History repeats itself.

Browsing through photograph albums I found on a shelf in my grandmas house I
stumbled upon a very interesting picture. It was taken in an open field in the countryside. It
shows a group of people farming, but my attention was drawn to an old man in a foreground.
He is the only one who is standing in this picture and posing for the photo. He is a tall older
man with a long untrimmed beard. His eyes show something meaningful, his look is black and
in meantime you dont hesitate that he was a good man. He is wearing a long-sleeved,
checked shirt while the rest of the people were just in sleeveless shirts. His long oval face was
covered on the top with straw hat. This image made me curious so I decided to ask my
grandmother who was this old man. Answer was short and simple, it was my great-greatgrandfather, his name was Stephan.
My grandma told me the story about his difficult and tough childhood. Both his
parents were farmers. They were owners of a huge farmland. They plant grains, vegetables
there and had large meadows to graze their cattle. He was the last child of Marie and Joseph,
and he was the only son. Typically during this time period, like many of his peers, due to lack
of access to schools, he did not get any education. When he was teenager when he became
fatherless, which meant he had to carry out all of the chores on the farm. He needed to
become mature very early.
At the age of sixteen he married his neighbor, a not very young but incredibly beauty
woman, her name was Cathrine. Together they raised seven children, one of whom were of
from her former marriage. Through it all they have remained a good, modest, and kind people,
regardless of their many hardships and misfortunes. Unlike the parents all of children, they
were able to afford few classes of primary education.
His life looked almost the same everyday till his death. Farming, breeding, and
cultivation seven days per week the same activities from morning to the sunset. My greatgreat-grandfather was born on the farm and died on the farm. His life turned full circle on the
same patch of land. He maintained the family tradition, just as my parents do till now.