A city boy gone farm

What those early days on the farm with Franklin (a city boy gone farm boy) were like…

First of all, Franklin had been a farm boy at heart, since he was old enough to go to the farms of some of his friends and "help" with chores but most of all ride horses and play in the hay!

He told of one episode that got him in trouble. He and some of the boys made a tunnel thru some hay in the haymow so they could smoke, being VERY careful to put the matches and cigarettes out in a little can of water brought for safety's sake. I think he said that they got the idea from some other older buddies. They had a flashlight for extra precaution. Somehow they got caught and punished, but he never told this story much as it was so stupid and dangerous.

He loved to ride the horses or ponies and always dreamed that some day he would get a pony and have a place for one, so he saved up enough money and sent off for a pony saddle. He never got to own a pony but hung on to that saddle for a long time. Someone else may remember hearing whatever happened to it. His mom may have taken care of the situation.

The farmers that he worked for during the summers were prosperous hard-working good people, so he did love farm life as he saw it in those days. After he was old enough to get summer jobs, he worked for a dairy farmer delivering milk. Then, when in high school, he was a paper boy. He liked everything about that job except having to get up so early. His mom "suffered much agony gettin' him up most mornings", she said.

I suppose all the above has a little bearing on what it was like in those early days on the farm. Maybe.

After the "honeymoon" days, reality set in pretty quickly, but it didn't seem to bother us so much until the advantage of city life was SO missing. Still, I was able and willing to take it in stride and so was Franklin.

Other than the other things I've mentioned (dust storms etc. that went along with the Great Depression) the first four or five years of marriage put us to the test!

First, though, I will mention the good neighbors, our families, and friends and the smalltown folk; how they all helped us and cared about us in so many ways.

About two weeks after we were married, the neighbors all around surprised us with a shivaree and shower. We were sitting in the kitchen when all of a sudden we heard horns honking, cow bells ringing, pounding on buckets with sticks, I suppose, then hollering of "Come on out!!!" They brought all kinds of home canned food and homemade ice-cream and cake. What a welcome it was. Of course Franklin had met and knew many of them. Delbert Everly, our closest neighbor, "tricked" Franklin into letting him borrow his car to go to Rosendale. Wanted to make sure that we'd be home! It ws Delbert who gave us a bred gilt. She had the cutest litter of piglets, which gave us a jump start in the hog "business". My folks gave us 100 baby chicks. One of the hens from that bunch was speckled and different from the rest. We kept her until she died of old age "just because". They also gave us some meat when they butchered and garden veggies when they had "some to spare". I sometimes helped can peaches etc. and could have some too.

Franklin's folks bought us most of our furniture and gave us much in the way of food--you name it. We both had wonderful parents, something to be thankful for indeed.

Other things that happened were the ice storms and the snow blizzard. During the ice storm, everything was covered with thick ice, so much so that one could ice skate on the road. We lost some cows that winter. Franklin didn't think what would happen if he turned all of the cows out of the barn to go to the water tank which was downhill from the barn and close to the creek. Instead of letting them out one at a time, they all tried to run to get to the tank first, knocking into one another, falling and sliding downhill, some landing in the creek. I don't remember how many died of broken legs etc. Some were pulled out by ropes and tractor.

The above happened I think quite a lot later. The first winter we also had ice that covered everything, and we didn't have a wood pile stored up in preparation so Franklin had to take the hand saw and saw some lower limbs off of trees in the yard. In the process a limb came down and hit him on the top of his head. He came in the house bleeding. It did leave a scar, in more ways than one. It was so cold that moisture froze on the kitchen wall, and the water had frozen in the water bucket by morning. By this time we were living in one room, the dining room. That is where the heating stove was. We moved the little kerosene cook stove and the cot to sleep and all in that one room. At that time we didn't have our dining room furniture. Then came a snow blizzard, but not before we managed to get the cross-saw out and saw up some wood in the back porch and kitchen--we could do some water heating on the heating stove. The teakettle was a comfort and furnished moisture and hot water at all times. Of course we had to carry water from the hand pump well which was several feet from the back door.

This is a part of our early days; more disasters happened in the years to come, but for the most part changed for the better. We stared out without a telephone, no gravel roads--just dust or mud...deep mud, no washing machine, no electricity, no tractor, just a team and a walking plow, a hoe and a rake and binder twine for marking the rows in the garden, bug dust, and a fly swatter.

One incident that almost "got my goat" was the time I had washed (on the board) and hung the clothes on the line. It was windy so made it a little harder to hang, besides it had rained and was partly muddy underfoot. Only nice thing it was sunny and the clothes would dry quicker and smell sweeter; nothing nicer than to sleep under sheets that dried on the line. After a time I looked out to find that the clothes line had broken and all of the clothes were on the ground. I can still remember what a time I had washing all of those clothes over, besides having to carry the water--extra water. Oh well that was forgotten and I believe Franklin took me for a spin in the little Ford Roadster to see my folks or maybe his folks, no matter, no use crying over "spilled milk".

I have so many fond memories and lots to be thankful for past and present. And whatever our future holds depends a lot on how we live our todays.

A wedding and then Tarzan and his mate

Our wedding took place on April 25th, 1934, at the Congregational Church parsonage by Pastor Steadman, St. Joseph, Mo. The church was close to where Franklin’s parents lived and where they had attended since he was a small lad.

My mother had expressed a wish that we get married by Pastor Pritchard who was preacher of the Methodist Church of Sheridan, but it was decided and agreed that it wouldn't work out so good. In those days traveling was quite different than it is today, and for various reasons it was best to go along as first planned.

I had wished to have my friend, Dorys, stand up with me but she was away at the time, so Anne, my future sister-in-law, was happy to. Arthur Petree, a lifetime friend and neighbor, stood up with Franklin. The vows went smoothly enough until it came time for him to put the ring on my finger. I offered my right hand and quickly thought "Oh, no!" and stuck my other hand over to accept the wedding ring! Some time later Franklin told me that he couldn't see my eyes because my hat was in the way. But maybe it was because he was about a foot taller than me.

Franklin’s mother had mentioned a little quote about the best day of the week to marry, which was Wednesday, so I guess it worked. Then another was what the bride should wear and or have with her during the ceremony goes as follows: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. I carried a very old silk handkerchief that I borrowed from my future mother-in-law and wore a pale blue dress and a brand new necklace.

After the ceremony was over we went shopping for a few odd and ends. I especially remember the rolling pin and what the clerk said when we checked out. He said: “Now remember that when he gets out of hand use this to hit him on the head!” I never did, although I may have felt like it at times. We bought a washtub and washboard, clothes pins, and then a few groceries that Franklin was out of. Of course there was milk and eggs furnished and waiting up on the farm. After we shopped, we went to the afternoon movie "Tarzan And His Mate". How appropriate! To finish the day we went to Franklin’s parents and had a wonderful meal with them, Anne, and Arthur. Anne thanked me for marrying her brother!

We went by the Pitmans to get my belongings and headed for the farm. It had grown almost dark and the cows had to be milked. The chickens had gone to roost already. Franklin hurried out and milked the three cows while I nervously groped around by the light of a coal-oil lamp. Oh yes there was no telephone, no running water, but I'd been used to such almost all my life, and Franklin was getting used to living without by this time. He had the necessities such as a little wood cook stove, a kitchen table and chairs, his little bookcase full of books, a Victrola with a bunch of the ole time popular songs of the day, and a huge covered chest full of old time relics that I think he had bought at an auction.

Everything was nice and clean. The furniture that his folks were giving us had not been delivered. Franklin had a cot to sleep on downstairs and an extra bed upstairs. It was an old brass bed where company slept. By the way, at that time and for a long time after we were married the upstairs was more like an attic as only one room had flooring and neither of the two rooms had been finished.

Honeymoon? Guess that was it. The evening was cool and the moon was shining. The stars were out, the little night creatures were "singing", and we were as happy as two bugs in a rug.

Franklin

Since he was introduced to me as Franklin I'll refer to him by that name. His family and city and school mates never called him Frank, but after he moved to the farm everyone called him Frank, so I got used to both but always called him Franklin!

We met on a sort of blind date through mutual friends: Lee, who he knew from grade school and grew up in the same neighborhood, and Leota, who went to Gards at the same time as me where we got acquainted and became good friends. Lee and Leota had been dating for a while so they were our "match-makers" more or less. Lee didn't have a car at that time, so maybe there was an ulterior motive in there somewhere... If so that was not a bad thing to do as it turned out. Leota asked me (this was in December) if I would like to go out with this friend of Lee’s. She described him as tall and a good guy and kinda bashful and good-lookin'.

They had already told him about me, so plans were that Leota and I would meet them downtown (we'd been shopping at the dime store that day) in front of Hirsch Brothers Dry Goods Store. It was just a short distance from where I was living. All went OK as we had a certain time set to meet the guys who would be in Franklin's Model A Ford Roadster and we were going to a movie, "Little Annie Roonie", which was showing at the Missouri Theater. Well, we girls were johnnie-on-the-spot timewise, but the boys were not! We waited at least five minutes, and it was a cold evening. I was getting cold standing out there, so I told Leota that she could wait if she wanted to but I was going home. Just as I had that out of my mouth, here they came.

After the movie we went home. Franklin took me to the door. He had mentioned that he had a headache and also that he and some friends who had been duck hunting on a place across the Missouri River a few days and had just been back a day or two. He mentioned that he'd been up to their farm helping shingle the barn which had been damaged by a tornado. I don't remember that he asked for another date.

A week or so after that Leota told me that Franklin was very ill and that he had Typhoid Fever and was running a high fever. I heard later that he'd drank some river water when they were stranded in a snow storm. He recovered after a long spell and was able to get up and walk about. He was craving some solid food as he had been on a liquid diet. I have forgotten the details, but they asked the doctor what he could have but he was given too much of something by the nurse who was helping take care of him. He had a setback and almost died. All told it was six months before he fully recovered.

I didn't see him until the following June after our first date! He had asked Leota about me. I sent him a card while he was recovering (Leota told me that I should). However, I think he had a girlfriend at that time or maybe they had "broke up" already!

He did call and ask me for a date the next spring or summer. We went to movies, went riding on Sunday afternoons thru the boulevards, double dated with other couples, went to the museums, spent some time at Krug Park for special events. On one date he mentioned something about not having any brothers, only one sister and asked about mine, how many. When I answered, I said "O, about a dozen!” He seemed a bit shocked and asked "Really?" We didn't eat out together much. Guess his paper-boy money didn't allow for that. After I left Mrs. M's and went to the Pitmans, I was allowed to invite him to come there as if it were my home. In fact Mrs. Pitman let me cook a meal and invite Franklin. By this time we were dating about once a week (He had moved to the farm).

The Pitmans had biscuits for breakfast often. I did a lot of the cooking including making the biscuits. Usually there were some left over, so they gave them to Franklin for his dog, Yakama. After a long time Franklin told me that he ate most of them himself!

After his recovery and before he moved to the farm, he decided to get some baby chicks. He built a pen and was doing great until they grew big enough to fly over the fence and into Mrs. Walker's flowerbed. He clipped their wings, which helped for a while, but the final straw was when two or three roosters got out and scratched and pecked Mrs. Walker’s flowers up pretty badly. That’s when he moved to the farm I think.

The chicks grew into hens and Franklin had eggs to sell at the little Wyeth Store near by. When the Pitman's learned that he had fresh country eggs to sell they offered a little more. He began to bring them when he came to see me. He told me that I could get the money and save it so we could use it to buy things. We had $15.00 saved up when it was said and done.

I got ahead of my horses again as most of this happened after he asked me to marry him. We were just riding along in his Roadster, and he mentioned that he was thinking of asking me if I would marry him. It wasn't very long after that when he came to the door. He was in his overalls and work jacket looking like a regular ole farmer. He reached in his pocket and handed me a little box with a beautiful ring. No wining or dining, but it worked just the same! I accepted! He then wanted to ask my dad for my heart and hand (this isn't done much any more that I know about, but was the proper thing then). I think dad said something like “Gladys is a pretty good judge of character” and I can't remember what else was said.

I think I knew that he was the one one Sunday afternoon when we had driven out to Wyeth Hill overlooking the Missouri River. It’s somewhat like the last ride we had shortly before he died when we went for a car ride over by Amazonia to watch the Missouri River and eat a little lunch we'd bought at the roadside store. We just sat and watched the river flowing peacefully downstream.

My persimmon tree says...

...lots of snow this year!

Going to Gard's

I started at Gard’s Business College the summer of 1932. The Great Depression was well under way. Times were hard. I, for one, was not fully aware of that or how serious things really were until I left home and was out in the big world. I soon found out that it was quite different than the security of the loving home I'd grown up in.

Gard's was just a few blocks from where I was living with Mrs. M and her sister Miss V. The first day at school I got "turned around" on the way back. Luckily I met a kind looking person and asked for directions who set me straight. That was a little scary.

After the first few days of getting schedules and all the preliminaries over with, things just seemed to fall in place. After that my time was spent mostly between work and school. I worked one half day and attended school the other half!

I'd had typing and the fundamentals of bookkeeping so that was a little boost. Shorthand was something else, and I did a lot of homework on that as I had time after getting home from school and time to fix the peanut butter sandwiches for supper! I received my certificate at least (I couldn't pass it now). I liked my teacher who was fun loving and young and smart too. My English teacher was likeable and helpful, I thought.

I became acquainted with and friends to some of the other country (and city) kids. Some of the students were there working their way through same as I was doing.

Jobs were becoming hard to find. The school was supposed to help the students get jobs, if they qualified. I started working at the American Red Cross while still at Mrs. M's. I did typing, filing, and some dictation. There were some strange cases to type up: some funny, some sad.

While there I saw a Want Ad from The Farm Bureau Office for a stenographer. Their office was in the courthouse, so I bought me a new pink blouse and navy blue skirt and wrote up an application (as my teacher had taught me) and applied for the job. In the meantime I had left Mrs. M's and was working for the Pitman family as a hired girl. Not long after that, Mr. Orr from the Farm Bureau office called offering me the job. I remember him asking if $14.00 per week sounded all right. (I was getting $2.00 and room and board at the time). Yes it did!

Here is where the story "changes gears". Goodbye Gard’s, Mrs. M., and Miss V. I'd applied for a job at Quaker Oats, somewhere along the line, and worked there for a time. I had gone back there two or three times. One of my friends from Gard's had found a job there and suggested I try, and if the first time didn't work, keep going back. The last time I got to have an interview. I asked for a secretarial job, but they didn't have an opening so they asked if I'd be interested in working in the Aunt Jemima Pancake Flour Department. Needless to say I said "yes". I had to quit that job, much to my dismay. The lady I was staying with became ill and asked me to stay there. Foresight is better than hindsight.

If my memory serves me right, this is the sum and substance of my so-called College Education.

Peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches at Mrs M’s

Upon arriving at the home of (I'll call her) Mrs M I was surprised that she lived in a large, brick, apartment building, which I later learned she owned. It was located near downtown. It had four large apartments with mostly older people and/or college age kids--no little kids (which I found out later also).

There were several steps leading to the front porch. Mr Clayton carried my suitcase; I, my purse and a little brown satchel. The porch had a swing and wicker furniture and plants. I’ll forever remember the huge, thirsty rubber plant that I watered that hot, dry summer. Mr. Clayton rang the doorbell and this eightyish looking lady came to the door and, after greetings and goodbyes, Mr. Clayton left.

After Mrs. M and her sister, Vennie, who was perhaps a little older, showed me where to put my belongings and where I was to sleep, they invited me to the living room to talk. She asked me a few questions and told me a few things that I'd be expected to do in the way of housework and helping with preparing and serving meals. She asked me if I belonged to a church. I told her I belonged to and went to the Methodist church. Later she asked me if I would want to go to her church, which was the First Christian. Although I was raised to think that if you were not a Methodist and a Republican--too bad! I told her that I would. Later I was glad I had as one of dad’s relatives taught the class I was in there (which I hadn't known before).

The room I would be in was on the third floor, and there was not any air conditioning, so I slept on a screened-in porch off of the kitchen area until the weather cooled, and then I slept upstairs. One thing about sleeping up there was that I liked was listening to the radio music of the people who lived in an apartment just opposite my room. That was from the Mertland Apartment Building which was next to Mrs. M's. I remember looking forward to hearing the Amos and Andy show, but most of all the beautiful theme song before the program started! Some of my family may know that my friend Yovonne E. roomed in that apartment building when she came to St. Joe to work for Production Credit several years after I’d lived at Mrs. M’s.

Mrs. M had two other sisters, one who came and stayed with her for two months and worked at Kirkpatricks Jewlery Store. The other sister lived in St. Joe and was an invalid. Mrs. M helped her in many ways, but didn't like her husband! Other things I will mention about living there: she had a laundress who did the washing and ironing, a colored yard man, Jim, a furnace and handy man, George, who was also black. They were all very nice people.

I attended school mornings and did most of the duties that were expected of me then. Afternoons, after arriving home around 4:00, I had an hour or so to study and do a few extra things before supper. For supper, they always had peanut butter sandwiches with lettuce and a special dressing (sort of like mayonnaise), a dish of fruit, and hot tea. I could go places with friends if there was something special to go to. I got Sunday afternoons off to go with friends, unless occasionally Mrs. M was having company. Mrs M hob-nobbed with some of the prominent families of St. Joe.

Some of my most dreaded tasks were having to learn how to serve her lady friends at a dinner party and washing her best china dishes afterwards (afraid I'd break something). She was a perfectionist about most everything. For instance when I made biscuits they had to all be in perfectly even rows, same with cookies. They had oatmeal, buttered toast, jelly, and coffee for breakfast every morning. The oatmeal was made in a double boiler, the same measure of oatmeal to a tee, and cooked a certain length of time. Mrs M had a fresh little bottle of real cream and Miss V had yesterday’s leftovers. I could have anything I wanted: bacon and eggs or just eggs any way I wanted to fix them. She didn't buy dry cereal, but if I wanted oatmeal I had to make it separately from theirs.

She had milk and cream delivered in bottles. She had groceries delivered mostly. Their noon meals were always the special meal of the day, the best of everything. I helped Miss V. prepare those, then later she helped me. I could have anything I wanted of the leftovers from the noon meal.

I had duties after breakfast which was always eaten at 6:00 AM. Sometimes I'd wash the oriental rugs with vinegar water, using a cheesecloth, then rinse in plain water and dry with a larger soft cloth. Ever so often the silverware and the silver pitchers and the silver everything! had to be cleaned that old fashioned way with a paste rubbed on, then wiped and polished. Some days were dusting furniture, which was a lot. She had furniture from different parts of the world: China, Japan, Turkey, Peru, and I'm sure other places. She had crossed the ocean seven times and was once in a typhoon off the coast of Japan.  

She had beautiful clothes and hats. One of her hats was trimmed with Bird of Paradise feathers. Her tables for dinner parties had the most beautiful covers. She had a huge grandfather’s clock that chimed on the hour, half hour, and quarter hour. In the vestibule were huge vases from different parts of the world and an umbrella stand. 

Once when I was going some place on the streetcar, it started to rain, so Mrs. M loaned me one of her umbrellas. When I came home it had quit raining, and I forgot and left it on the streetcar. I was feeling foolish and scared, but she called the right people and it was still there. She might have told me not to be so careless, but it must not have worked as I do things like that all the time now. After I had the dusting done she would go around and run her finger over some of the unlikely places to check me out!  

Once I was cutting cheese (the kind that came in large rounds), and I was cutting toward my hand. The knife slipped and I cut a gash in my thumb. Another time I had a really bad toothache and Mrs. M sent me to her dentist and he pulled it. I believe he should have filled it.

I got letters from home, from mom and dad especially, and a dollar or two now and then. Janice wrote often and sent me money also. Mrs. M paid me $2.50 a week. She kept some money in the hall closet and always had me go get it myself.

I rode the "Bug" (a small passenger train) home once in a while. That was always a happy time. Once Dorys went home with me. I used to go to her home on Sunday afternoons or she'd come see me. Mrs. M let me go out with friends, but I had to be in by a certain time and tell her I was back.

One of the hardest things was getting used to all the city noises. At first I jumped out of my shoes when the fire engines or ambulance screeched. Coming from the quietness at night time and even day time in the country to the hustle and bustle of the city, not to mention from a humble little home to one like Mrs. M’s, was quite an experience to say the least. She lived to be almost 100 years old.

I learned many things while staying with her. She, as many others like her, "took in" schoolgirls. I believe she donated to many causes, Gard Business College being one of them. There are other incidents I could write about my experiences there--maybe another time.

The summer before college

After graduating from high school in the last week of May 1932, I stayed home and felt free as a bird for a very short time, as plans had been made that I start to Platt Gard Business College the following summer. A representative from the college came to our school to talk about how it was possible for any one to attend there, if they were willing to work hard enough.

I'm sure my folks had known about this already. Dad was on the school board then as he had been for several years, so the next weeks I was more or less getting prepared. I remember that I didn't have a large enough suitcase for all that I needed, so Tike (I imagine) offered to loan me one of her family’s.

Mom helped me with  what to take and what NOT to take” all the time. I suspect she felt apprehensive that her little bird was about to leave the nest. I am sure that she advised me to leave the "evening gown" at home for the time being, although quite some time later I cut it to a shorter length and dyed it black! (And gotta lotta good outta it...)

That year was into the very hard times, and we all had our usual chores to do as well as helping with gardening, hoeing weeds out of the pastures, mowing the yard with a little push mower (and we had a big yard), and helping with canning (washing and sterilizing dozens of fruit jars). Can you believe that we "put up" all the way from seven hundred to eight hundred jars of food a year?

As the time that I'd be leaving drew closer, I had a sort of scary feeling, but tried not to "let on" for the sake of my younger siblings. My younger brother, Ernest, told me later that he was mad and sad when I left. He remembered when I used to rock him to sleep in my little rocking chair. I was eight years older than he was and his birthday was the day after mine and our sister Alice, whose birthday was the same day as mine. I don't recall which of my siblings were there the day I left other than Ernest, Florella, Arthur, John, and Gene (who was four months old). Gracie, the youngest, wasn't born until after I was married for several years.

I had told most of my friends their good-byes, some for the last time. Back in those days we didn't jump in the car and buzz off to far away places any old time, so I would have to "find" new friends, I thought. However, a friend, Dorys, who had once lived in Sheridan (her parents ran the hotel) had moved to St. Joe, so I would get in touch with her once I landed in that nest of strangers!

The day came all too soon that I had to leave. It was hot, dry, and windy. I had known that someone was coming to take me to the home of a widow lady with whom I would be staying. A Mr. and Mrs. Clayton came mid-afternoon, I do not remember or if I really cared what kind of car they drove, only that the windows were rolled down and the dust blew in (until we hit the pavement), and that I was like a little Fish-er out of water!

I really didn't do much between graduation and when I started to Platt-Gards, as that was a very busy time of year and I was helping at home. Howard was married, Janice was away working for a family with several children at that time and was home only on weekends, Chauncey was working in the harvest fields and going to business college in Minnesota, and Raymond was still at home.

I probably went to the movies during the time between graduation and St. Joe, but the summer was just beginning and I left home and summertime fun and Sheridan behind, except for memories, for a time at least.

Launched but not anchored

My high school graduation was exciting: Seniors were sort of looked up to by the underclass students, especially freshman (going by my own feeling when I was a "Freshie").

After final exams were over there was the tension of "lets get it over with and get on with the fun" such as walk out day, play practice, committee meetings, getting measured for Caps and Gowns, etc.  I was not a top dog in the class but at the time that didn't seem to bother me. One of my most exciting things was the decision that the girls were to wear evening gowns to the Junior-Senior banquet. Hopefully that was not my top priority, and I wondered what my mom and dad might say. Nevertheless, I "secretly" started looking through Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogues.

Back to the various activities and meetings and practice for the big event. There were the class historians, the class prophecy person, and someone to read the last will and testament.

The theme at the banquet was A Ship at Sea, showing a pirate, of all things. The "menu": hard tack and fish oil, roast whale, mashed coral with sea sauce, eel salad, and rum. The real menu: fruit cocktail, creamed chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, pineapple salad, rolls & butter, ice-cream, mints, nuts, and coffee.

The history of our first year read in part: There entered into the spacious halls of learning,four and twenty seekers of knowledge. The fourth year, and so it came to pass, that 15 of us have been spared the perils of this hazardous journey in quest of knowledge, having attained the different fruits of knowledge obtainable in this most noble institution, we are leaving for a field of higher learning and for many different occupations. Class prophecy (mine): Did you hear what my chum Gladys Fisher is doing now?  No, what is she doing? Why, she's a radio announcer in New York earning around $300 a month. You know she never married. Everyone thought she'd be one of the first. Of course there is plenty of time yet. (Nope, I wasn't.) Last Will and Testament: We give and bequeath to the Junior Class the position as Seniors, the west basement classroom, as well as all chewing gum on chairs and tables. Number 9 on the list: To Dorothy Y., Gladys Fisher leaves her calm disposition (Ha! Wonder where it went?)

There were special numbers such as poems, speeches, music, and jokes. Margaret C. and I sang "At the End of a Sunset Trail" I think. Can't quite remember as we sang other songs on two or three occasions.

After mom and dad got over the shock about the dress, I got a surprise. Dad took me to Maryville and bought it, a gold color with a full skirt and pretty trim. I'd never heard them discuss our financial situation but just knew that we didn't get everything. I didn't get to order my Senior picture nor the one with the class in our cap and gowns. Not every one did. Remember, this was in those 1930s.

After the dinner and program everyone went home, or wherever, and the following Sunday evening we went to the Christian church for our graduation ceremony. A Mr. Harmon from Hopkins gave the baccalaureate sermon and Mr. Bert Cooper of Maryville College delivered the class address, "The One Way Out". I want to mention that our class motto was: "Launched But Not Anchored".

After the class address, we all said our goodbyes.

It was Sweet Sorrow (sort of…).

Days of heat and hoppers

The drought of the 30s were the hardest of times, as if the Great Depression was not enough. Along came dust storms, blistering hot weather day after day, lack of rainfall, and hordes of hungry grasshoppers, chinch bugs, and fleas. Nothing could get rid of fleas, it seemed.

Few people living in the country had electricity until the late '30s so we depended on dug wells and cisterns and rain barrels for water. We didn’t have running water except sometimes when mom would say to a kid "Run down and fetch a pail of water right quick."

Crops, gardens, and fruit trees produced very little, if anything, at times, either from lack of rain plus the hot drying winds or the grasshoppers and various other kinds of bugs. Livestock suffered greatly. Some years the corn and grain crops failed completely. I can remember one year when I was still at home that the corn crops were just nubbins.

When a swarm of grasshoppers came they looked like a dark cloud. All we could hope for was that they would fly on. When they landed they ate everything you could imagine. Gardens and crops, all of the leaves off the fruit trees, edible plants and weeds. I remember one incident when we had planned to pick the green beans next day even though they were quite small. In an ordinary season we would have let them get larger. We washed the canning jars and had everything organized. With breakfast over and dishes washed we headed for the garden. You guessed it: The hoppers had eaten every last bean and all of the leaves and had flown on. I suspect they came back later for another feast of some kind.

Chinch bugs worked mostly on grain crops I think. Farmers spread creosol around the edges of their fields so the bugs got in it and died before they got into the wheat or whatever.

Fleas, I've heard, thrive in hot, dry weather. However, I suspect they can stand anything as they were hard to get rid of and hopped on people as well as animals. If they bit, they left a big red bump that itched like the dickens. That was most miserable, especially when they were everywhere outside and in and were hard to catch. How disgusting!

The dust storms were awful, but as we all know, not as bad here as in Oklahoma and Arkansas. At times, when the sky would darken, we'd wonder if it was a rain cloud or a dust storm coming. The dust sifted into houses and settled onto everything. If it came a sprinkle, cars would get muddy and have to be washed, but only if there was enough water. If not we'd just wash the windshield and back window.

I remember grasshoppers so thick on the roads that cars slipped and slid around, old hens scratching a little place in the dust and spreading their wings out to keep cool, hanging wet sheets over windows if there was a breeze (surprising how that cooled the room some and how the sheets turned reddish from the Oklahoma dust). Those were the days when you wiped the sweat off your brow and used hand fans at church, theaters, and funerals. Everyone, men and women, carried handkerchiefs! Thank goodness for Kleenex and paper towels and so on these days.

Do old barns go to heaven?

The Round Barn was built around 1909 or 1910. The idea came about when the silo, which had been there for many years, started to lean and was to the point that it would have to be fixed or torn down. It was going to be a huge task and expensive either way. Fixing it seemed the better idea, but Dad was in a quandary as to how to go about it. Then the thought came that perhaps he could build a barn around the silo.

One of the neighbors who lived close to Star of the West schoolhouse was a carpenter as well as a farmer. He seemed just the man to talk to. It was agreed that they would draw up the plan. I do not know how long they were in getting it finished, but it turned out to be "the talk of the town”!

The barn was located a short distance south of the house. Starting along the west side, then right and around to the east, then on around toward the north and back to the west I will tell as plain as possible the location of various compartments or whatever barns have—stalls, mangers, and whatnot.

A single sliding door on the west was where horses could go through to the three stalls: Two horses to a stall plus grain boxes and the mangers. Harnesses, bridles, saddles, and such hung along the outside walls; hooks for curry combs and whatever else.

Going on around toward the south was an opening large enough for a team and wagon as the opening to the silo faced the south. Along the south wall were cow stanchions and feed bunks, then a double sliding door large enough for a team and wagon to pass thru.

As we keep going 'round, next was a crib and next to it was the oats (or grain) bin; next was a holding pen and there was a sliding door into it. It was north and a little west.

Starting back to the crib and ending at the last horse manger which was on the southwest was an entry way and that is where you walked to feed the animals in the holding pen and/ or the horses their grain and hay. The haymow went about three fourths of the way around the barn, and hay was carried by a hayfork hooked to a rope and pully. The hay was pulled to the haymow by one horse (usually some of the younger boys had that job). When the hayfork was ready to carry the hay up to the haymow, the person manning it would yell “Ready!”, and then, as soon as it got to the spot where it was to drop, that person yelled “Whoa!” and pulled the rope.

When the barn was finished and the time came to paint it my brother, Howard, told this story: The first preacher he remembered had a spiffy horse and buggy and also two teenage sons who put the first coat of red paint on. Howard heard the man tell dad he was going to tell the preacher’s boys to spill lots of paint, so he kept a close watch to see if they spilled any.

I remember that I liked the smell of silage when it was ready to throw down to the cows. Also, after the silo was empty, we kids climbed down into it and played games, listening to our echoes and looking up through the cupola. There were lots of pigeons cooing in there. He barn had a horse weathervane. I have lots of memories of the old Round Barn, all of them good.

Someone once asked: "Do old barns go to heaven?”

I wonder! Well, not really, but like old soldiers...they fade away!

Boyfriends

His first name was Carl and he drove a Star car. I don't know whether it was his or his folks, but that didn't matter. He had sorta been trying to get me to "go with him". I wasn’t very fond of him, but I knew that he had a Star. One day he asked me if I would ride to school with him the next morning, so I thought I could. I thought it would be kinda neat to ride in "his" Star car. I suppose he was my high school feller for a little while (I think that was my junior or senior year).

Before that I had met a boy to whom I'd been introduced by a neighbor girl and her boyfriend. The two boys were neighbors but didn't go to the same school that we did. One Sunday afternoon during summer vacation (before my senior year) the three of them just drove in our driveway. I was helping pick boysenberries and had on a straw hat and old everyday clothes and was feeling embarrassed when Willie walked up to where we were and I introduced him to the family. He asked (I believe he was looking at my dad more than me) if I'd like to go with them to a movie. After dad found out where and the name of it and what time we'd be back, I said "Yes, I would like to see the movie.” I guess that took care of Carl.

Later Willie and another neighbor guy of his, L.B., and his girlfriend and I double dated. L.B. had an Essex with a rumble seat which was kinda neat. That ended up with L.B. and his girlfriend breaking up and his brother Art and "Magazine" and myself going out together to a movie or whatever. There used to be what was called Kelso Park in Grant City which was a nice place to go for entertainment.

After I graduated from high school and went to Gards Business College in St. Jo, Dorys and I renewed our friendship from Sheridan High days. She introduced me to a fellow who knew her boyfriend. I've forgotten his name! But he got me a huge chocolate Easter egg filled with little chocolates. I met him where he went to church and I happened to be there with another girl. Thinking back that reminds me of the old song "My Old Flame". I can't even think of his name, but it’s funny, now and then, how my thoughts go back and back again, to my old flame (which he wasn't, but I remember the chocolates!).

It was shortly after that when Leota Gibson and I became new friends at Gards. She was dating Lee, who later became her husband. He had a friend Frank who had a little Model A Roadster. Leota told me about this fellow and thought it would be nice for me to meet him, so that fellow later became my husband and we two couples became and remained life-long friends.

I liked that boyfriend even better than I liked his little Ford Roadster.

I saw a girl do the shimmy!

I was in my teens from 1927 thru 1933. The Great Depression happened during most of my teenage years. Nevertheless, there were many Fun Times.

I turned 13 in November before starting to high school the following September. I had a wonderful person, Miss Lavonne, as my 8th grade teacher. I actually enjoyed being an 8th grader! She had me help do special things such as help teach the little kids songs or memorize poems. She "let" me help her grade papers; to me, that was Fun!

When I graduated from 8th grade she offered to help me get into college at Maryville after I graduated from high school if I chose to go there. She kept in contact with me off and on and sent me a graduation present.

During the summer before school started I got acquainted with Maxine, who would be starting to high school also. We "ran around" together and had many fun times going horseback riding, getting together on weekends, going to the free movies in Sheridan, and flirting with the boys, of course. She and her mother lived with her grandparents. They had a large house, and I always looked forward to going there. Her mom would serve us our meal at the dining room table. After I was married Maxine came to visit us. Mary was just learning to talk and called her Magazine!

Every summer the Sheridan Picnic was a big event with a merry-go-round, loop-the-loop, music and programs in the bandstand, and all the rest. We kids would hoe the cockle-burrs, butter-print, pigweeds, and thistles out of the pastures to earn money to spend at the fair. I remember once that Janice and I went to a side show (which we were not supposed to do) and saw a girl do the shimmy!  I think dad found it out by the grapevine and no doubt and gave us a little lecture.

Back then, many people drove a team of horses or rode horse-back to town. The hitching posts were around the south and west sides of the park and the watering tank was at the NE side. Going to town on Saturday nights, taking the cream and eggs to sell, getting the groceries, seeing friends and neighbors, window shopping/looking, free movies, getting an ice-cream cone for 5 cents: All these things were "fun".

The window shopping included the telephone office, the produce store, Pete Stingley’s General store that sold everything from shoe strings to barrels of beans; next was the cafe, hardware store, Parman’s grocery, post office, opera house, hotel, jewelry store. Then further on where we didn't go was the lumber yard and the railroad station. I should have mentioned the Hhat shop, which I passed by when I walked to school and LOVED to window shop there. During some of my teen years I liked rollerskating, ice skating, horseback riding, and going to movies.

After graduating from high school the last of May, 1932, I attended Gards Business College and worked a while at the American Red Cross and Quaker Oats. At age nineteen years and five months I married, so I hadn't grown up until the following November at age 20.

If I have any more to say it is this: At least wait till after your teens to get married. It's o.k. to marry that guy or gal, but its o.k.'er to wait a while!!!!!

Rubber pants, buttonhooks, rick-rack, and bell bottoms

What did I wear when I was young? I think I should start this by coming up with the way we were dressed from the beginning (when we were born.) In those days the first thing a baby wore, after he or she was bathed, was a diaper made of birds-eye cotton material. Often the material was bought by the yard and hemmed on the sewing machine. The baby was then dressed in an undershirt with a band around the tummy to cover the umbilical cord; a kimono, usually made of flannel. Next the baby was wrapped in a blanket that was folded up like an envelope. Finally, the baby was given to mama.

Boys and girls were dressed almost alike except the way the diaper was worn.  Boys had blue trimmings and girls, pink. When girls were dressed to go someplace, they wore very long underskirts and dresses. I am not sure at what point the boys were dressed in boy clothes, maybe four to six months. They wore little booties to keep their little toes warm and then, on down the line, socks and soft-soled shoes were okay until they began to want to stand, then semi hard-soles until they learned to take steps and were ready for hard soles.

Back up to the diaper stage: Babies always wore rubber pants over the diaper, for obvious reasons!  When babies had to go; they went. After potty training was over, boys and girls dressed differently. We girls had pretty little dresses, slips and bloomers; boys wore shirts and pants and suits.

By the time I started to school we girls always wore dresses, long stockings held up by supporters (a sort of "harness" put on over the shoulder and fastened to the top of the stockings). Dresses came below the knees. Shoes had shoelaces by then, I believe, but I can remember buttoning my shoes with a buttonhook at some point in time. We had muffs to put our hands in plus mittens and scarves and hoods that came down over our ears. When it was muddy, we wore overshoes with buckles; 2 or 4 or even 6! We had coats of various materials. Mine were hand-me-downs quite often through the years; I just took it in stride as they were new to me.

I should mention long-legged underwear that we had to wear in winter. How I hated to have to wear them as the long stockings underneath made our legs look kinda lumpy. So when the weather started warming toward the last of April I (we) would roll our underwear legs up above our knees and pull the stockings up (by this time we were wearing garters instead of supporters) and suffer for "beauty’s sake” until we almost reached home, then go through the process of re-dressing so mom or dad wouldn’t catch on to what we'd done. Think of that: Was that silly or what?!

I should mention the types of materials that our clothing was made of. For women and girls dresses: Cotton, gingham, voile, rayon, wool, silk, chiffon, velvet. For trimming: Rick-rack, binding trim, ribbon, lace, etc. Our shoes changed styles from high top to slippers, pumps, high heels. Patent leather was popular at one time.

The men and boys wore, for everyday, mostly blue bib overalls, blue chambray shirts and shoes with leather laces. Some wore white shirts and dress pants. At one time bell bottom pants were in style when Chauncey was in high school. He liked to go with the flow, so he got a pair. As soon as he got home he went straight to his room and changed into everyday clothes.

Dad wore celluloid collars for a long time. I think someone in the family still has his collar box! I recall a dress that he bought mom to surprise her. It was light brown and was trimmed with little beads. I think it was silk. We did our own "dry" cleaning, but I'm not sure what we used. Could it have been gasoline?

Howard used to pay we little kids a few pennies to polish his shoes. Janice gave me some of her hand me downs.

I remodeled clothes a lot so it wouldn't look like I was wearing the same things too long.

When I left home to go to business school mom took me to Pete Stingley's general store and bought me two new dresses and a few things.

I saw a Kodak picture of Raymond in his first long pants looking so darned proud. Alice always liked to look nice and still does, but she had to do without too. We had to hand wash some of our clothes after school so we'd have clean ones for the next day.

Here comes the Watkins Man!

Believe it or not, aspirin was one of the remedies that was used when I was growing up. They were much larger then and were coated and, as I remember, were a sort of pale yellow in color and were used only for a headache! Thought it best to start with something that sounds normal as there may be some things that will sound more than weird as I continue.

For starters, much of the products were bought from the traveling salesmen that came with horse and cart (they looked sort of like a closed-in carriage). The ones I remember were Watkins, Bakers, and Rawleigh. When we saw them driving in, it was very exciting and, of course, whoever saw them first would shout: "Here comes the Watkins Man!" Then we kids got to watch while Mom decided what to buy and/or what he had brought if she had pre-ordered from the last time around. I think they came about once a month. They sold all sorts of spices and extracts as well as salves, ointments, and what-have-you.

Vanilla extract was sold in large bottles as was pain relief for an upset stomach. This is a little story that happened to Janice: She made a cake and, instead of vanilla, she mistakenly used pain relief. After it was detected and after she got over her embarrassment, we all had a good laugh.

Liniment was used for sore muscles and was good for man or beast. Mentholatum was used for sore muscles. Rubbed on the chest, it was supposed to help loosen a chest cold (I still like to use it, but it is hard to find now-a-days). For a sore throat, gargle with salt mixed with a little vinegar and warm water or just warm salt water. Turpentine and lard mixed together could be used for a sore throat and/or chest if congested. For a throat, a stocking was fastened around the neck with a safety pin. For a chest, a flannel cloth was fastened the same way. The stocking or flannel cloth was warmed in the warming oven and then fastened in place, and the "patient” was given a pat and tucked into bed to recover! If that didn't cure it, sometimes an onion—sliced, sprinkled with a little sugar, and set aside on the back of the stove until it formed a syrup to take--might do the trick.

For an earache, a drop of warmed sweet oil was dropped in ear followed by a piece of cotton or a few puffs of smoke blown into the ear. That was the only time I ever saw my dad smoke. He had a crooked-stemmed large corn-cob pipe for that purpose only. Another "cure" was a little sack filled with coarse salt. When used, it was first heated. It stayed warm for a long while. As it cooled one could shake it to bring the warm salt to the outer side.  Earaches are terribly painful.

We drank sassafras tea made of the bark of the tree. It was considered a Spring Tonic. We picked wild Sheep Sorrel and wild onions. They both could be found at the same time in early spring. They were supposedly good for "curing the spring fever”. We kids ate them with bread and butter of all things.

Mom made ginger tea for stomach cramps. A little baking soda in some water could be used for gas on the stomach, and cracker soup used for an "up-set” stomach. Cracker soup: Break a few crackers in bowl, add some milk, bring just to boiling stage, pour over crackers and add black pepper. Make it so it is soupy. Don't eat anything else with it!

For bee stings, wasp stings, or spider bites: Dampen a small amount of baking soda with enough water to make a thick paste and put it over the sting. Cover with a cloth. Remove stinger first if possible.

Take a bath in vinegar water to relieve the itching from chigger bites.

Dampen a bar of homemade lye soap and rub on poison ivy, then leave it on until it dries good.

Castor oil for a laxative, followed with a little something sweet.

To ward off an epidemic such as flu, diphtheria, scarlet fever, small-pox, and other diseases: Close the house and burn sulfur by sprinkling it on top of a hot stove. Let the fumes fill the house. I don't remember for how long, but it seemed like a LONG time. My dad was the one who decided when it was necessary and was the one who announced that everyone stay inside until it was time to air the house out.

I won't tell about the onion and fat-side meat poultice for using on an infected wound to draw the poison out…