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…

Blue John, Mush and Milk, and Fern’s Rotten Cake

While I was growing up at home Mom probably cooked a little differently as the years rolled by. All sorts of foods eventually came in mixes and whatnot in place of tins, barrels, or what have you, although it took her awhile to get used to the idea of using a cake mix in place of making it from ''scratch".

For breakfast there was home-cured bacon or ham with eggs, bread or biscuits and gravy or fried potatoes, eggs and gravy, or fried eggs, fried mush and gravy, or toast toasted in the oven (lots of slices all at once) with butter and jam or jelly or apple butter or whatever, eggs (sometimes poached or scrambled) and sometimes potato "cakes" made of left-over mashed potatoes and gravy!

The fried mush we had for breakfast was what was left over from supper. Mom had a three-legged iron cooking pot in which she made a large amount of mush--the main dish which we called Mush And Milk. If some liked it with sugar and cream or just butter: OK; but that was the main part of the meal as a rule and usually a winter meal. The leftovers were poured into a shallow pan and set aside to thicken until it was ready to cut and fry for breakfast.

We always had milk to drink and lots of butter where needed. The only breakfast foods that we bought were oatmeal and corn flakes (which we had a lot of, especially oatmeal). If the oatmeal happened to stick to the bottom of the pan and was a little too done, she would always say she liked it that way and eat that.

We did not use anything but cream on our cereal, but sometimes used the separated milk to make gravy, which we called "Blue John". (I don't how it got the name or if that is the way it is spelled). The Blue John was usually given to the pigs, mixed with some kind of pig-meal. But when hard times came the extra cream was needed to sell to buy staples such as flour, sugar, raisins, and such. But still we did not have to give up using cream on cereal as using just plain whole milk was never thought of.  Of course we had to churn our own butter so that took quite a lot cream too.

Dad and Mom both drank coffee for breakfast, but kids were not allowed to. That was Dad’s belief as his family did not allow kids to drink coffee because it was not "good for kids". I found out a long time later that in Mom’s family the kids drank coffee if they wanted it!

Other foods Mom cooked were vegetables, fruit, meat, and wild greens (which she loved but Dad didn't much care for). She made wonderful homemade ice cream. She made it from a recipe that called for partially cooking some milk, then the thick cream and flavoring were added after the mixture cooled but before freezing. Turning the crank on the freezer was the men’s and kids’ job. The ice was bought in huge chunks and put in a gunnysack to break up into small pieces with the broad side of an ax!  As it was put in the freezer, coarse salt was sprinkled on the ice and then more ice was added. When the "cranker" couldn't turn the crank any longer, it meant the ice cream had hardened and was ready to eat. Mom prided herself that she did not make ice cream with those junket tablets that some folk used. They were just added to the mixture and it was not cooked which made the ice cream have a "grainy" texture.

She made chicken and/or beef and noodles. Chicken and dumplings were a Sunday special, baked chicken and dressing (she raised her own sage and used plenty), breaded tomatoes, macaroni and cheese, lots of beans and cornbread. In the fall after the bean vines had dried up, they were pulled up and stored in a shed and then later "threshed" by tromping on them or however they did it. About all I remember is that after they were out of the shells, there were quite a few "bad" ones and they had to be sorted. So some of we kids gathered around the kitchen table (on request) and were given a cup and a whole lot of beans to sort. To make it more "interesting" we would see who could fill their cup with good beans the quickest. The next day we'd have our beans and cornbread for dinner plus whatever else we had to go with them. Raymomd liked beans so much that Chauncey nicknamed him Beany, which stuck with him a long time until everyone began to think that was his real name.

Mom had a special chocolate cake recipe that she made. It called for cream, butter, and walnuts and was very rich and fine textured, so much so that it almost fell apart. "Uncle John" Gray (who was not a real uncle, just a good friend of family) called Mom's cake “Fern's Rotten Cake” which he thought was The Best.

To tell a little tale about myself: When "helping" mom make a cake, she had me sift the flour and baking powder/soda. After putting papers for sifting I was told to be sure to sift it nine times. After a few years I sorta caught on what the reason was for the nine times thing. It was to keep me busy while she put the cake together. I imagine it was also to make me think that I was really helping.

She made lots of pumpkin pies, especially during corn-shucking time when Dad and the boys would come in between loads for an extra snack. Turnips were seasoned with salt pork and tasted really good; that’s the way Mom fixed them usually.

She made spare ribs and sauerkraut. Usually creamed fresh and/or canned peas, made corncakes sometimes with left-over corn by adding egg, a little milk and flour, and frying them. We may have even had gravy with them. In summer we had lots of wilted lettuce, which called for bacon grease and the works: vinegar and a little sugar poured over a huge bowl of fresh lettuce.

We had a gristmill that ground our own corn into meal. I am not sure about the whole process, but think it had to be sifted to get some of the hulls out.  This, however, was replaced with corn meal bought from the grocery store later on.  

The pies she made were gooseberry, cherry, blackberry, rhubarb, and mulberries, mixed together or separately. Lemon and gooseberry were Dad’s favorites. The cookies she made were mostly ginger snaps and sugar cookies that I recall.

This is a little of how mom cooked…

Cottage cheese

Mom made cottage cheese, which I think to this day was better than we get in the grocery store. She made it in a large granite pan (dish pan size). She put about three or four gallons of slightly "blinky" milk in the pan and set it on the back of the cook stove. She left it overnight or so until the milk clabbered. She cut it with a long knife into squares and placed the squares in a cheesecloth bag. She hung the bag on the clothesline (that’s how we did it) and left it until it formed into cheese. We seasoned it with a little salt and cream. Some added pepper or a little sugar in place of salt.

The cottage cheese made "thata" way tasted good! This may sound strange: After the curds were skimmed off to put in the cheesecloth bag, the whey remained and some folks like to drink it!! Remember about Little Miss Muffet who sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey?

Grandpa Fisher

If I ever saw Grandpa Fisher, I don't remember. It would have been at some time that he visited Missouri as he had moved to Texas before I was born.

He sent cards and letters through the years, and I have one that he sent me when I was little. It was an Easter card with picture of a little girl sitting with her arms around a rabbit on each side. It’s funny. To be expected, the bunnies were little Jack Rabbits with those long ears!

This is what he wrote:

Robstown,Tex. The little Miss Gladys has been around for two years now and never come to tell grand pa what you were doing in Mo. so long. Some day I may hop in my aireoplane and sail up to your home and invite you to come to Texas and visit us a while. We could have lots of fun. We would visit the Big Water that has no bank on the other side and catch fish for dinner.   grand pa Fisher

About Grandpa William Fisher: 

Born in 1834, Madison County, Indiana. Died 1919 in Robstown, Texas. Buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Corpus Christi, Texas. His father, William, was killed in an accident (no record) when he was five years old. His mother (Lydia (Opdyke) Fisher) later married a widower, Henry Anderson, who had a daughter, Mary Edith, who must have been his only sibling. He met and married Melinda Alice Boyer. They had nine children, my dad being their youngest. Melinda Alice (Boyer) Fisher died when my dad was about seven years old.

Grandpa remained a widower for 10 years. He went back to Indiana to his birthplace on a visit where he courted and married the widow of Benjamin Wise (Ida Hirshenburger Wise). Benjamin's first wife was Mary Edith (Anderson), grandpa's half sister. Ida had three children: Donna, Ernest, and Cosmo, who came with them to Missouri.

Ida and William were the parents of two boys, Willis Allen and Estol Opdyke. They lived on the farm until 1910. They had a sale and moved to Robstown, Texas, where William’s son, Hiram, had gone a few years earlier and bought land.

Estol died at age 21 and Ida aged to 85; both are buried with William at Rose Hill Cemetery.

Baths and spit baths

For washing we used wash pans for hand and face washing and/or a sponge and navy and "spit" baths. Guess the proper name for that type "pan" was wash basin. It was placed on the washstand. Our washstand had drawers for washcloths, towels, combs, soap, and whatever.  A mirror and towel roller were beside the stand. The towels were for hands and face and were made of a soft linen type material.

We took baths at least every Saturday and "spit" baths in between--IF we needed it! Our bathtub was a big wash tub. Sometimes two of us would use the same water IF we weren't TOO dirty. Took turns from one week till the next as to who got to be the first one. Of course the water was heated on the cook stove and/or in the stove reservoir. In summer water was placed in tubs or containers of some sort and set out early in the morning to heat by the sun. This was for the men after they had been working in the fields or whatnot. Kids could get by sometimes by washing their feet only AND their face. Mom would inspect to see if anyone had tried to sneak off to bed with dirty feet. If so she'd make us get up and do it or sometimes wake a kid up to wash their face and/or hands. That was torture.

Windmills

I have been fascinated with windmills since I can remember. We did not have one, but two of our closest neighbors did. The Rickabaugh's windmill was directly across our grape arbor/potato patch. Sometimes it would start squeaking which meant that the wheel needed greasing. For some reason, and if I remember right, their son was afraid of heights and since Port (his dad) was an invalid he asked my dad to do the job. I can remember watching dad climb up there, hoping that he would not fall!

The Hoyets, whose farm joined ours to the south, also had a windmill which was not as tall as the Rickabaugh's. It was across the fence from our pond, and that was the route we kids took when we cut across the pasture on the way to school. The temptation was too great, so some of us would dare to see how far we could climb up it. That idea was short-lived as I suspect SOMEONE told on us. Nevertheless it was fun watching the wheel spin around and the water coming out of the long pipe AND the fact that they did not have to pump the water by hand for their horses and cows.  

Many times when I was over to Tike's house to play we "got" to turn the windmill on or off, as the case might be. And again that longing to have a windmill like theirs. For some crazy reason I always wished to have a windmill but never had that dream fulfilled.

Long after Frank and I were married windmills were almost a thing of the past although some people have kept them and are using the old-time ones to this day.

Water pails

Water buckets (pails) were used to carry water from the outside well and were used for drinking and/or washing hands. They were set on a washstand with a hand wash pan. A long handled dipper was left in the pail. Before the crockery water cooler was thought up, as I remember, we had our own drinking cups. Later the water cooler, which was large enough to hold two or three pails of water, was filled (it had a lid and a spigot). Generally each pupil had a little collapsible drinking cup which might have been a smite more sanitary.

Another water jug was the little gallon ones that kids carried to the men when they were working in the field and at thrashing time. The jug was wrapped in a gunnysack to help keep the water cool. We rode the pony usually and considered it fun. Kids who did that job were called "water boys". 

My earliest memory

My earliest memory was when my brother, Raymond, was born. First off: He was the only one of all of my siblings that was NOT born on the old home place!

Mom and I had gone to see Aunt Lettie (mom's sister) who lived by Gaynor, about five miles from us. I imagine that mom drove Old Rock hitched to the buggy or maybe the Model T--I never asked or, if I did, don't remember. While there it came up a snow blizzard and drifted the roads full. Raymond "decided to get born and see what was going on". I remember having to sleep in another room and next morning someone holding me up to see my mom in this HUGE bed and a tiny little someone that she let me see. I probably thought he was taking MY place.

Later on I heard that Howard, Chauncey, and Janice went to the Rickabaughs and dad rode a horse to Aunt Lettie and Uncle Elmer Shelton’s through the storm.

More on them rattle bones

There may be a proper name for the rattle bones. They are handheld, two for each hand, held between the three middle fingers. I’m guessing that they were about 6 inches long or less by 2 inches wide or less, probably thicker than a table knife blade! And are made of bone. The person using them learned how to keep time to the music while shaking them a certain way. They have a clickety-clackety sound all their own. A neighbor man or maybe his son about Chauncey’s age introduced them to our tribe. Since Chauncey couldn't afford the real bone kind, he made his own (I imagine out of some kind of wood, but I never gave it a thought back then). Ernest also got very good at rattling the bones. He could play the Harmonica as good as Chauncey, but neither of them could out-do dad on the harmonica or French harp!

About "Am I Blue?": It was a popular song back in the 30s. Reason I thought of that one was when Art was about two or so and he was trying to sing it, he couldn't talk plain so he sang: Em I Boo? Art was a little tongue tied for quite a while because at five or six he was calling me “Daddes” instead of “Gladys” after I was married.

Butchering day

I really don't know to this day how they killed the animals: Hogs, calves, or sheep. All I had anything to do with were the chickens, and mom or dad took care of that, and I will not go into detail. I did have to help pluck off the feathers. Pin feathers were something else! I also had to wash and cut the chicken into pieces. It was a treat to get the wishbone and make a wish with the one sitting next to you. Who ever got the big part won, and their dream would come true.

On hog butchering day, we were up very early and had to heat water in boilers. The animal had the hind legs tied together with rope and was pulled with a pulley so it was hanging upside own and dropped into the barrel of scalding water. The animal had been "hung" before the scalding water was poured into the barrel, of course. After it had been in the proper length of time--just long enough that it was ready for the scrapers to scrape the hair off the body--THEN it’s time for the part I remember the most. A big long butchering knife (sharp as a razor) was used to slit him/her open, and the entrails fell out. I do not recall, but I think the barrel had been removed and a large tub caught the innards as the liver and heart had to be separated and put in cold water to be washed and whatnot. By the way, butchering was always done in the winter on a very cold day.

The carcass was washed and washed clean and then brought to the waiting tables to be sawed and cut and divided into various cuts: Ribs, tenderloin, and steaks. The fat was removed and cooked and readied to render the lard into containers. The remaining fat was turned through a lard press with the remaining part made into cracklings (which, by the way, are sold in grocery stores in little packages for a fair amount of money these days).

When the times got hard, we saved the head and ears. As someone once said: In hard times we ate everything but the squeal. We made and canned sausage or put it down in crocks and poured lard over it and set it in the smokehouse. The bacon and hams were cured and smoked and hung in the smokehouse. There was a cook stove that dad used for smoking meat and since we had hickory trees I believe he used that wood along with other kinds. We had a small house, so it was a good thing to have a good-sized smokehouse. In summer, it was a "Summer Kitchen".

When butchering a calf, usually a steer, it was skinned, and then a similar procedure as with hogs. We often butchered more than one animal at a time.  

Once after Frank and I were married, we got snowed in at the folks and had to stay all night. The next morning for breakfast they had beefsteaks, just butchered. When Frank saw the steaks mom was pounding and stacking up to be cooked, Frank says "Are you getting ready to can the steaks?” And dad, who could always come up with something, says “Yes: It will all be canned for breakfast.” 

Zithers and rattle bones and Am I Blue?

We had quite a collection of musical instruments: pump organ, zither, harmonica (or French harp), banjo, guitar, ukulele, Jew’s harp, rattle bones, and piano. Guess we all could "carry a tune"; some good, some not so good. Janice had a beautiful natural singing voice and sang at many different places.

The kinds of songs we played were any and all kinds. We started at home as no one was afraid to burst out in song at any time or anyplace (except at the table when eating!). Then at church and at school functions. Janice sang over the radio K.F.E.Q. Twice a solo and twice with a chorus, one from Sheridan and one from Grant City. She also sang many many more times and at many many more places. I think most of the rest of us sang in programs at school and church.

We liked to learn and sing any and all of the popular songs of the day. We older kid's favorites would not be the same as the younger ones, so the older kids liked "Yes We Have No Bananas", “Highways are Happy Ways”, “It Ain't Gonna Rain No More”, “Little Gray Home in the West”, “Among My Souvenirs”, “Moonlight and Roses”, “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”, “Carry Me Back to Old Virginie”, “Bring in the Sheaves”, “Am I Blue?”, God Will Take Care of You”, “Sweet and Low”…well, you get the idea. Then we sang some of the songs that mom and dad sang that were popular in their time, such as “Red Wing”, “Preacher and the Bear”, and “My old Kentucky Home”.

Ten cent photo

I was surprised to see that photo of me. I was with some of our classmates on a field trip to St. Joe, and we got to go to the Ten Cent Store for fun. At that time they had little photo booths where you could have your picture taken for 10 cents and just had to wait a very short time. You could get extras. I did not as dimes were scarce so, since then, that photo has been enlarged and copies made. Seems amazing to think that it is now on a computer.

The M.E. Church, the Brethren, and the Chautauqua

I went to the M.E. (Methodist-Episcopal) Church in Sheridan. Sometime along the line, and I do not recall when, the M.E. Church was changed to Methodist. I didn’t hear much discussion about it. It was rather subtle as far as I knew. I remember hearing the word "split" and that was about it. I didn’t know enough about the "political" differences for it to matter to me then.

As long as I can remember, we went to Sunday school and church (preaching).  Little kids were expected to sit still and not cut up. One time my little friend, LaVera, and I were sitting in our usual place on the front bench. The sermon didn't seem very interesting probably so, for some reason, we turned around and gawked at people. After church was over and we had gone home, my dad told me that we looked like a couple of hoot owls and to not do that. Some of my fondest and vivid memories from early years happened there.

My dad’s parents belonged to the Brethren Church. It was about a mile north of the Star of The West schoolhouse, so it was a little country church.  Some people called it the Dunkard Church. Dad went there until he met Bessie, who sang in the choir at the Methodist Church in Gaynor. The Brethren Church had vacation bible school for two weeks during the summer; we kids went there too. What was real exciting was that each summer the Chautauqua came and performed. That was something we never wanted to miss. They were usually in early evening as I remember. The entertainment was very variant. When the speeches got too long, we kids might try to sneak out and get a penny candy (this would have been at the town of Parnell which we attended as often as possible also). I especially liked the comedy, music, and singing. A blind man from St. Joe (Miner Clites) played all of the popular songs of the day. He performed at Parnell and also at the Brethren Church grounds. There were skits and plays and magicians and so on. They were very exciting, but we had to take our hand fans! Evening started at 3:00 PM I was told.

The T and the Studebaker

The first car I can remember, and I think it was the first car, was a Model T. I remember that to get in on the driver’s side, they just climbed over as there was not a door. I remember that it had a horn on that side that went ooga ooga (I'd like to hear one again!). After we got the Studebaker, I guess the T must have played out as I remember it stayed in the tool shed for what seemed quite a long while. We kids would get in it and play like we were driving it. We knew what to do.

After the T was retired, dad bought a second-hand Studebaker. It had two small pullout seats or chairs that slid under the back seat. Those were mine and Raymond’s when we loaded up to go to church or to visit someone. Didn't drive it much otherwise I guess. Remember it could barely make it up some of the long hills to Aunt  Blanche and Uncle Roy Clark’s!  We had flat tires ever so often and had a hand pump to pump 'em up and/or get out the patching and patch tube if it blew out. Dad bought another car just like it for parts and it sat out behind the tool shed and made a good make believe vehicle to go to New York or Kansas City or just to town. 

Howard used the Studebaker when he was courting Thelma Look, the preacher’s daughter, whom he married. It had side curtains too, of course. Howard drove the car to see Thelma usually after Sunday evening church. He'd drive the rest of us home and then go back. Of course evening services was out quite early, about 7:00 I'd say.

Howard and Chauncey bought a Chevy together and I remember riding in it a few times. It had disc wheel, or is that what they were called? I believe that Chauncey ended up with that one when he went to Minnesota. That’s about it for cars when I was at home. Chauncey left home in about '28. Howard rented a farm and lived about a mile south of the folks a year or more before he married.

Dolls and dollhouses

As for toys, I mostly had dolls and paper cut outs. I remember mostly playing marbles, making our own play-houses by using sticks and strings to divide them into rooms and then using some little play dishes and pans if we had them otherwise just old jar lids and cracked cups and whatnot. If we lacked something, we made do with whatever we could dream up. Once we used the empty corncrib for a dollhouse and thought that was great! We decorated with flowers and/or pretty weeds and dressed up in whatever was available. We always had rope swings and a gunny sack swing in the barn. When I was little, Howard and Chauncey had bikes. Howard took us little kids for rides. Chauncey hid his bike if he was not going to be home. I could never find it. But he did teach me how to walk on the stilts that he had made, and that was great I thought. Janice was six and a half years older than me. I know she liked to read and did it a lot. I remember one dolI I had that I named Anna Mae after a song I knew. Also had a little Chinese pin-cushion doll and had a doll cradle that was made by an old friend of the family, which I loved a lot.

Harmony in hominy

Dad grew a patch of white corn to use in making hominy. The process is weird. After the corn is looked over for bad grains, it is shelled with a corn sheller and then it was washed and then soaked in lye water. This softens the grains some so that the outer hull slips off when they're swished around. Then they have to go thru several changes of water. The little hulls float to the top and can be disposed of. The first waters have to be pretty hot, and then gradually taper off to cold water and then ready to cook and season. Seems like we usually just used butter and ate it along with whatever.

Water, wash, and the Maytag

We had two dug wells and a cistern. The cistern was close to the house, and that was our primary drinking water and for washing and baths. We also used rainwater caught in rain barrels for bathing and washing and such. In dry seasons we hauled water from the barn well in barrels and/or carried water in pails for drinking. It had a different ''taste" and it took some doing to get used to it over cistern water for drinking.

There was a charcoal strainer, or whatever it was called, to filter the water on into the cistern. We also had a dug well in a pasture south of the barn for watering livestock and also large tanks to keep filled at all times. We called cistern water soft water and the others hard water. One of the kids’ main chores was to pump water for the cows or horses. Water for the pigs was pumped from a long pipe into the hog troughs (through the fence). I especially remember that in the winter when we cut across the pasture to school. Raymond and I had to start a little early to pump a tank of water. The pump handle was COLD, so one needed an extra pair of mittens over the first pair; in other words: two pairs. Mittens were much warmer than gloves. We worked out a system that each of us had to pump 100 strokes and then make sure the other guy didn't cheat.

For washday early on before dad bought a Maytag washing machine, we carried water in buckets and filled a boiler to heat the water. We then poured the hot water into the washer and added soap, which was often homemade lye soap, and then pushed the handle back and forth, using a washboard for extra stubborn spots. We wringed the clothes out into a tub of rinse water then wringed them out again. Now they were ready to hang on the clothesline to dry. We had two tubs: one for the first rinse and the other for the second rinse. We also used bluing in the last water. The boiler was also used to boil the white clothes, which were stirred now and then with a long stirring stick.  

The Maytag was in the summer kitchen or smokehouse in winter. It was run by gasoline and a noisy motor. The exhaust pipe was fixed to let fumes out doors. We had two or three different type washing machines before the Maytag.

Those were the Good Old Days?????

Reading, writing, and a hickory stick

Classes I took in school? Reading, writing, and arithmetic, and a Hickory Stick, #1; then spelling, language, history, geography, penmanship, drawing (guess it’s called art now). We had a large bookcase that held the outside reading books (books we took home to read and then take a written on; we had to read a certain number of books during the school term). We could get a library book to read for the last hour on Friday and put it back when it was time for school to let out. 

I vividly remember that once I was reading a story and all at once I heard everybody laughing and when I looked up I saw Mr. Wilson, the teacher’s dad, who had come to get Miss Opal. It was the custom back in those days for a teacher to board with a family close to school if she lived a longer distance to home, as was the case here. It happened that I had been so engrossed in my story that I had missed getting my books put away and was not prepared to get my coat and cap and whatnot in preparation to be dismissed. I was really embarrassed.

In high school, the main ones that I recall were citizenship, modern and ancient history, agriculture, algebra, literature, geometry, commercial law and, on Fridays, assembly when all four grades got together and did things for fun such as singing, ciphering, and spelling matches.

There were two brothers, Jim and George, who were natural artists. Many times everyone wanted to have them go to the blackboard and draw what someone suggested. Might be a teacher, a comic character, or an animal. That family moved away when the boys were juniors, and I have no idea what happened to either one of them.

Oh, I forgot typing. We had to rent the typewriters, and Janice loaned me the money as she was working out as a hired girl at that time and the folks couldn't afford it, at least that’s what I remember in looking back. I got to go to Maryville to enter a contest but didn't win! Anyway, I learned more about it at Gards Business School later, and now I'm glad I did. Ha! Another thing we did in high school was debating, which was fun. We also put on plays, so I guess that was drama!

The privy

About the privy: The men and boys put lime, I believe it was, or something in the pit every now and then. I don't know how often they would have to clean it out. They used some sort of contraption. I think they moved the outhouse over then back after they were finished. Seems to me that the privy always remained in the same spot! I just took all of that for granted: Done my job and went on my merry way..,

Every washday the wash water was carried out to the outhouse and, with the help of an old broom, it was doused and scrubbed. If company was coming, we used just plain water fresh from the cistern to do the cleaning. Once in a while a mud dobbers nest would have to be knocked down as they were SCARY, especially in there.

The Great Depression

Things on the farm got very serious during the Great Depression. It was probably in about the second year of high-school when I began to realize that that a lot of farmers were in the same boat. Many "lost" their farms; my folks included. They hung on until 1936 or 37 and had to move, so they rented a place about two miles away. By that time I had married and our daughter, Mary, was a baby. We got to take Mary to the old home place once or twice before they moved.

My parents did not discuss how bad things were, so since we lived pretty simply anyway, we younger kids were unaware of what was coming. There was the time that corn was selling for ten cents a bushel. My dad had cobblers "tools"; shoe lasts of various sizes and awl for sewing. He also cut our hair. (He decided to teach me to cut hair, so he had me watch him, then he had me cut his hair, the very first one! Boy, I wonder what it looked like. But knowing him, I'm sure he told me that I did a good job.)  

People were making homemade mattresses. Neighbors traded work with one another instead of hiring help. Everyone raised gardens and canned their own food. Mom canned spare ribs and sausage in half gallon jars.

We darned the holes in socks and stockings and put patches on overalls and other kinds of clothes as well. We used Sears and Roebuck's and Montgomery Ward 's out dated catalogues for toilet paper. My, my... There were times that instead of using whole milk for cooking (for gravy or pudding and such) we used the skim milk that we separated and, as a rule, used to put with the pig slop. Reason? We needed to save as much cream as possible to sell along with the eggs to have money to buy staples such as flour and sugar. Dad always brought home a bag of raisins (he called them bugs) to pass around for a treat. Often he'd bring a sack of candy; he didn’t bring not cookies as we made our own!

We never ever went hungry or lacked for the necessities of life, but it was hard sometimes to see what other kids had and we didn’t such as “boughten" bread for sandwiches in our lunches or crackers and cheese. We had lots of peanut butter sandwiches. It was sold in little white hard cardboard tubs and was the real McCoy--no additives. We also had plenty of good ole homemade butter and jelly, apples, and hard-boiled eggs that tasted darned good when you were hungry. We did not snack between meals, but could eat a little ole cold tater and wait. All this after getting home from school and after changing into our every-day clothes. Then it was get the chores done, then supper, and then homework by lamp light in the winter.

Many years after the depression years were over, my mom told me that dad worried and tossed during those hard times.

The story of the Star of the West

There was another little country schoolhouse south and about a mile east called Star of the East which was on the east line of Nodaway County. Back in those days little country schoolhouses were on average one or two miles apart, so our school was west of the Star of the East schoolhouse. It didn't seem logical to call our school Star of the West unless you knew the rest of the story since it too was in the eastern part of the county!

On special occasions and if the weather was nice, the kids from the two schools (usually the 7th and 8th graders) would visit each other and get to do fun things like spelling or arithmetic matches. Some of these things come back to my mind that I had not thought of for ages. Also, during the last week of school, the teacher would take us all out for a walk during noon hour to eat our lunch and pick wild flowers and just enjoy the outdoors.

How we got to school other than walking or horse back: If it was raining or snowing or bitterly cold one, of the neighborhood dads would pick kids up, usually in a high-wheeled wagon. My dad had a horse-drawn sled and if it was snowy he'd take us in that. It was fun as we'd slide along and sometimes he'd let the horses trot and that was MORE fun.

Bessie

Dad and Bessie, his first wife, rented their place out and moved to Idaho where dad’s oldest brother and family lived, in Fruitland. Dad and Bessie were thinking of moving there if they decided they liked it. Uncle Grant and Aunt Nellie owned an orchard and had hired workers, so John and Bessie and their three kids helped and worked. 

Bessie had to have her appendix out. While in the hospital she developed a high fever. The story goes that after a nurse bathed her in cold water, Bessie got pneumonia and died. Dad and his three kids traveled by train back to Missouri to Grandpa and Grandma News who lived in Gaynor. Bessie's body was put on the same train in the baggage car. My mom, Fern, Bessie’s sister and Dad’s second wife, once told me about an old song  "In The Baggage Car Ahead" that reminded her of John and the little ones.

Dad continued to live on the farm west of Sheridan with the help of grandparents and aunts and uncles to help take care of the kids.

Getting to school, critters, and farm structures

Another way we were transported to school was by buggy and, if it was raining or extra cold or windy, by carriage as it had side curtains.

Besides having cows, pigs, horses, and a mule named Jerry, we had sheep. Buildings we had other than the round barn: hog shed, sheep shed, corn crib, car shed and, of course, a chicken house and brooder house AND the little outhouse had two extra small "seats" for little guys. Not many that I had ever seen had that extra convenience.

Cropping and thrashing and gardens and gooseberries

Farm crops back in my time and in that part of the country were corn, oats, rye, wheat, red clover, and blue grass pasture. I remember that timothy hay was another kind of feed for either horses or cows but can't remember which for the life of me. Sometimes after the corn was shucked or if the crop was poor because of bad weather conditions, it was cut with a corn knife and shocked into little bunches and tied together and used in winter for livestock food. Another source of livestock food was to pitch the corn stalks into the silo. It would go through a process and turn into silage which was cattle feed. I always liked to smell it—it had a sort of pungent "perfume"! When it came time to thrash the grains it was done by a farmer who lived about two miles from us. When he started out from his place to go to various farms we could hear the thrasher start and chug chug LOUD all the way up our way.

Besides field crops and the usual garden veggies (radishes, onions, green beans, peas, lettuce, carrots, watermelons, musk melons, sweet corn, cucumbers) we had a rhubarb patch, horse-radish, a mulberry grove, purple and white berries (and always had a strawberry patch each year), a grape arbor with purple and white grapes, a potato patch and an orchard (early, summer, and late varieties of apples; cherries; peaches; blackberries; and a boysenberries). Guess that’s about all I can think of…

Dad always raised early and late potatoes as we depended on potatoes to eat about everyday, so if one crop failed there was a better chance of making sure that we'd have taters! And onions--we had them by the bushel too. I remember when we kids had to hoe the little bitsy onion seedlings with a little hand hoe--down on our hands and knees or pull weeds that were too close to get with the hoe. I almost forgot cabbage. We had lots and lots of cabbage, and mom made kraut in 5 or 10 gallon crocks. She also had a pickle recipe to make mustard pickle in a big stone crock. Oh yes: And mom always raised dill and sage in the garden.

My first experience in gardening was when I was about seven or so. I had a little garden patch of my own beside the fence. For the life of me I can't remember what I planted, but I suspect it was lots of lettuce. I just thought of peppers too; just the ordinary green bell kind.

We had lots of wild gooseberries in the timber. That was an annual experience. Our neighbors didn't have timber or gooseberries, so several of us would load up in the big wagon very early in the morning with our buckets and flour sacks and jugs of water. Women and girls wore sunbonnets and boys and dads their straw hats and away we went. Some had to stay home to chore and get dinner. I recall once when I was "elected" to stay and get dinner. I decided to make Goulash. It called for macaroni, so I put the macaroni in a pan of cold water and set it on the stove to cook. And cook it did: into a gooey mess. I think we ended up having potatoes and some garden sass of some kind.

I’ve wondered if any one else in the world thought of using the big onion tops for ''straws" to drink through. Us kids did. If we got too wild like blowing through them instead, that would end for sure and certain. Don't think I mentioned tomatoes, but of course that was one of our main and most popular vegetables (or fruit?).

Canning season is another story. It was something else at our house. There were very few pint jars, mostly quart and half-gallon ones, and a lot of them to fill.

Tike

Tike and I did all the things that little girls do. She had a wicker doll buggy and mine was black & whatever material was used. We took them to each other’s place to play. One day Tike wanted to push my doll ,so she was running and tipped the buggy over, so I told on her and she got mad at me. She knew a lot more about the facts of life as she was more than two years older than me.

One time my mom said to me that I should try to be a good example to Tike so as not to do bad things. Don't know how this came up between the two of us, but we had been cussing just for fun when we were together so I said we had better quit. She had a brother who had to drop out of school to do the farm work. In the summer when he was planting a crop or cultivating, we could hear him loud and clear: G** D*** You Monk! or D***You Fly! All this is not to say that we Fisher kids were angels by any means…   

The Rickabaugh's moved to Sheridan about '28 or '29. Tike dropped out of high school, and we had a falling out for a while. We picked up our friendship again but didn't get to see each other very much. We wrote letters back and forth. She married but had no children. She died several years ago.

A baker’s dozen

I had 12 brothers and sisters. My dad, John, married Bessie’s sister, Gracie, after Bessie passed.

John William and Bessie (New) Fisher’s kids:

1. Howard William
2. Janice Pauline
3. Chauncey Allen

John William and Gracie Fern (New) Fisher's kids:

4. Mary Gladys
5. Raymond Dee
6. LaVeda Christina
7. Alice LaVerene
8. Ernest Eldon
9. Florella Fern
10. Arthur Edwin
11. Orville John
12. Orlin Gene
13. Gracie Eilene

That makes a "Baker’s Dozen". 

Old Rock, Bonnie, and Maud

Old Rock was my mom’s horse that her dad gave her when she got married. He was probably about six or seven then and by the that time I was four or five. I, along with my siblings and the neighbor kids, were his best friends. As many as could get on him did. If someone slid off the "back seat", he would stop to let them back on. He could do several paces. One was the single-foot. Whatever he did, he was easy riding and was very gentle and just let us saddle and bridle him without jerking around (like Daisy!). He was broke to pull a buggy single or double. We rode him to school some. I vividly recall once that school let out a little early as there was a storm coming up. I was riding Rock and I gave him the reigns and a gitty-up and he ran FAST so we made it through the east barn door JUST as a great big clap of thunder sounded and it began to pour buckets. I didn't even get wet!

Bonnie was Chauncey’s riding horse. She was a bay color and well broke although she could get scared. After Chauncey left home, we younger kids claimed Bonnie. I rode her to high school some. There was a livery stable close to the school. I would have to go during the noon hour to feed and water her. We carried a sack of oats over the saddle horn or behind the saddle. Our lunch on those days was wrapped in a sheet of newspaper and tied with string and was carried along with books in the saddle bag. On walk-to-school days we had a dinner pail. Quite often that was a syrup pail, not a regular lunch bucket or pail. I remember preferring the newspaper instead of a pail because I didn't have to carry it back home that evening.

Howard had a pony named Maud. She was a bay and a stepper. When I was about 11, I was visiting at my Aunt Blanche and Uncle Roy's, who lived about eight miles from us. It was time for me to go home (I believe I was getting a little homesick…). Anyway, the day that someone was to come after me, it had rained, so Howard came after me on Maud. I rode behind the saddle. It seemed quite a long trek. The sun came out and we made it home without a hitch. The best part of it all was getting home and, when I went in the house, Mom was down on her knees cleaning the floor so I got a big hug and felt a safe, warm feeling that  "Be It Ever So Humble, There's  No Place Like Home".

Flour sacks, chicken feed sacks, and inner tubes

Flour was sold in 50-pound amounts in white cloth sacks, which made a good sized piece of cloth when the seams were taken out. I think we had to buy that much about every week, so we had lots of 'em. The wording would be bleached out to leave a nice white piece of material. One sack would make a good sized tea towel or, if sown together, women made table cloths, curtains, sheets, and other items from them. Tea towel sets were common decorated with stamped designs and embroidery. I even made a bed sheet out of flour sacks once.

Flour sacks were also used for little girls under clothes. One day a girl in my class had to go to the blackboard to write a word in spelling class. When she raised her hand up to write, her little flour sack bloomers showed the printing which read:  "Bread is the best and cheapest food". I suppose she never did know what happened, and it’s just as well. I guess her mom didn't use enough bleach to get the words out.  

Someone thought of the idea of selling chicken feed in sacks made of bolts of cloth of various designs. People used these chicken feed sacks for making dresses, aprons, curtains, or what have you. The moms picked out the kind of sack they liked then tried to get enough of one design for whatever they were going to make. They were used in many ways. I have had dresses made of feed sacks.

 We made purses out of worn out innertubes—I think they were just for little girls.  I remember having one and what it looked like but not who made it.

Victrola and television

When I was in first grade the only entertainment we had was a Victrola that played the little cylinder records. The first time I saw T,V. was at Grandad and Gran Flora's house after Franklin and I were married. They hadn't told us that they had gotten one, so they asked us down for a surprise. It was AMAZING! The Sid Caeser and Imagene Coca show was on. Not too long after that Grandad brought us our first T.V. We listened to Red Skelton and all of the comedy shows plus many others. About then was when our kids graduated from the dinner table to the T.V. set. They couldn’t get by without it. Now I have it on almost all the time.

My first year of school

The girls and boys sat on opposite sides of the room, two grades to each room, two kids to a double seat, a first and second grader together. My seat mate, Elsie,  became one of my best friends for life as we picked up our friendship when I was a freshman and she a sophomore . Elsie died a few years ago. We wrote to each other at Christmas time all those years but seldom saw each other.

Miss Ross, my teacher, always wore long dresses and was very trim and prim; neat and sweet! After school took up and all were in their places we sang to her:  "Good morning to you, good morning to you, we're all in our places, with sun-shiney faces, and this is the way to start a new day!” We said the Pledge to the Flag and, while standing, did a little exercise by lifting our hands above our heads then down behind our backs about 10 times or so. We then bowed our heads and repeated the 23rd Psalm. After all this our teacher would say: "You may be seated". We could not talk out loud without permission, could not whisper to one another, could not turn around and look back at the one behind you, could not chew gum, could not leave the room without first raising your hand. When the teacher saw you and said “Yes?” you said “May I leave the room?”, she would say “You may.” and you hoped to make it to the rest room in time.

In spite of all the strict rules, learning was interesting with flash cards, blackboards & chalk, slates, and Big Chief tablets; pencil sharpeners and the smell of sweeping compound wafting thru the room. We took our own lunch and, weather permitting, we could go outdoors and sit under a shade tree to eat. Recess was usually a fun time unless there was a bully who took advantage of those times when the teacher didn't come out to supervise. I believe that when I was in first grade in town school the teachers took turns so that there was always a teacher on the playground. That was more of a problem in country school.

Valentines Day, Christmas, and the Last Day of School were times that I most remember in 1st grade. Oh yes: May Day too! We had a big celebration in the town park with a May Pole when we were dressed up in crepe-paper outfits and got to sing and wind crepe-paper streamers round and round the pole.

On rainy days we had to play in the basement at recess and noon. We played hop-scotch, how-do-you-do my pardner, blind-mans-bluff, and such as that.              

When it was time for school to let out, the 1st graders were dismissed a few minutes earlier than the other grades, so I waited to go home with the Rickabaughs or Howard. On bad weather days some of the dads in the neighborhood took turns getting the kids to school and back.

   

When there were special programs such as Christmas the lower graders got to go to the 7th and 8th grade rooms. I especially remember when Santa Claus handed out good-sized sacks of candy to every one! I had heard that Santa Claus was really our dad and mom so I told one of my little friends and she got mad at me as she knew better! That was a mistake for me to repeat "gossip".

Is it any wonder that these little kinder-gartners know more than we oldies did as teen-agers? Now Wisdom: that’s a different story…

Walking to school, mean ole Daisy, train trip to Kansas

Grant City was the biggest town near the farm. Parnell, Ravenwood—not so far away. When I started second grade I attended Star Of The West School about one and three-fourth miles around the road and quite a lot shorter when cutting thru the pasture.  My brother Chauncey and sister Janice were attending there. When I was in first grade my brother Howard was going to high school so I recall him walking with me and the Rickabaugh kids, usually thru the pasture.

I started school before my sixth birthday. Howard had to stay out of school to help shuck corn as was common back then. He didn't go back to high school but later went to Columbia, Missouri, to take a short course in agriculture and ended up being a preacher having gotten his B.S. or whatever in Maryville and another town I can't recall the name of.

I had a hard time trying to keep up with the big kids but for some reason I wasn’t afraid unless a dog came out and barked at me. My brother Raymond who was about 3 years younger than me was not afraid of the devil himself. For a time I could get the best of him, but that didn't last. He and I used to ride our little Shetland pony, Daisy. She was feisty and stubborn, and when she thought she could "buffalo" someone (and that someone was usually me). Raymond, on the other hand, liked her disposition.

Mom had liked to ride horses when she was growing up, so she would encourage me to get on that pony and show her who was boss! Well, about two hills or so down the road and out of mom’s sight, I'd get off that pony and tell Raymond not to tell on me. I think he was secretly glad that I was afraid of that little cut-up so he could run her on to school. This did not happen every time, but often.

As long as Daisy behaved, I liked to ride her. She lived to be almost 30 I believe. She was tough; had some nice colts.  My little brother's all got hurt at various times through the years by that pony.

When I was about five, my mom and two of her sisters decided to visit another sister who lived in Kansas. The trip was by train. Raymond, our little sister LaVeda, myself, and two little cousins made the trip. When we boarded the train, the Porter was a very nice black man, but Raymond and me had never met a black person before so Raymond raised cane and wouldn't let him lift him up on the train.

That trip will stick in my mind always as it was so exciting. We and some other people also had packed lunches, and I remember what fun that was and how good the cold fried chicken and cookies tasted. I don't remember much about getting off at our destination, but I do remember having to change trains and the wait and the black smoke and the clicketyclack down the railroad track! And my aunt and uncle and my three cousins whom I had never seen. Their house had grass growing on the roof as it must have been a sort of dug-out, and the bed-room where we slept was down stairs not up. I thought that was very strange.

The Green Horn and the Lone Star

My Grandpa, William Allen Fisher, taught at a little country school name Green-Horn. He wrote a poem about how it got its name.  I don’t recall why, but two prominent land owners it seems were on the school board: Mr. Green and Mr. Horn. They argued and couldn't agree which of the two should receive the honor of having the school named after them.  So someone suggested they go to the county judge in Maryville, Missouri After the judge thought it over, he said: Why not call it The Green-Horn?

  

My dad’s dad was a carpenter and built the house that my dad was born in. Dad told me that one of his chores was to get up very early and get the horses harnessed and tie them to the hitching post to get them ready to go.

The little country schoolhouse "Lone Star" was about a mile from my Dad’s family. Dad went there and many many years later my folks ended up living in the same house and my little brothers and sisters attended the same school.