MY DAYS AT HOME

by Sheldon

We had some interesting days at home on the farm. When Gene was about 3, he was lost. The whole family looked the farm over from one end to the other. He was asleep in the back seat of the car. What a day!

I started school when I was 6 years old. In our one room school with 20 students, we were like a big family. Great Days!

My first teacher was a 19 year old boy. One day he said we all had a tongue disease and he would cure it with a belt. Little me, in the front row... I was really scared. He stood there snapping that belt so LOUD. I was hoping I did not have that disease.

Later I learned he was seeing too much of the neighbor girl. She was in eighth grade. Eventually, they married. The tongue disease was too much talk about them.

Another teacher was a young neighbor girl, Neva Smith. She had 2 sisters and 5 brothers. Their parents had died. Her one brother, Bill was my age We did things that seemed to bother her. She didn't have a sense of humor, but she sure could slap! Boy, how she could slap!

Walter and I planted some popcorn. We hoed, picked, shelled and kept weeds out. When we picked it we shelled by hand until our hands were raw. We carried a sack full to Cuba, IL and sold it to a man who operated a popcorn stand. Boy, that was a day to remember! We made about $12.00. It averaged out to about 54 an hour... .big money for 10 to 12 year old boys.

I remember cutting ice out of our pond and putting it in the old ice house. We

would cover it with saw dust then we had ice for ice cream all summer.

We generally had lots of company, uncles, aunts and cousins. Nearly every weekend we'd have a house full or we would go to their homes.

One time when I was about five or six, I was going to stay at my grandparents'. They were about three miles away or an hour by horse and buggy. After the folks went home it was too quiet. No cousins, no brothers and no sisters. We had the old style crank phone. My Grandmother called my folks and they came right over and got me. Later they kidded me about that night. I guess I must have raised up quite a storm for a little guy. Anyway, I was never asked and I myself never asked to stay at Grandma's house again. "Once was enough!!"

Ethel had the measles at Grandma's at Cuba. Mom went to take care of her. While she was gone Walter was elected cook. I remember his beans. He didn't know beans would swell 2 or 3 times their normal size when they cooked. We sure had a lot of beans! About every spare kettle was full.

Walt rearranged Mom's kitchen like our bachelor neighbor. He had all the utensils hanging on the wall where they were handy. When Mom got home she put her kitchen back like it was in a big hurry.

I was snitching some grapes from Del Lundry. His wife caught me and slapped me on the face. This, I did not like as our folks always used a more appropriate spot. The next day at school, I wrote a poem about the Lundry's (about ten verses). Here are three which I remember:

Old Dal Lundry

Is always hungry

His wife is so lazy

He is almost crazy

There is nothing on the shelf

She eats it all herself.

My teacher found my poem and thought it was funny. It was the talk of our small farm neighborhood. The following summer at threshing time Dal Lundry grabbed me and said, "You are going with me to see my wife." He told her, "Here's the kid that wrote the poem about you." She laughed. I got over being scared. They thought it was funny too. I suppose it was to them but not to a ten year old boy.

I remember one Sunday morning Dad and Uncle Charlie Bolan were cutting a bee tree for honey. We wanted to watch them. As we went up the hill through the tall grass I was bare foot as usual and stepped on a 3 or 4 foot long snake. I felt it before I saw it and went straight up like a rocket. I think the snake was as scared as I was. I never did like snakes... .Still don't!

Anyway, as I was running in high gear I landed much to close to the bees. I saw one coming toward me. As I was running away from the bee, I was saying, "You son of a bitch!!" For the next twenty years I was frequently reminded of the emphasis I placed on that last word as I was being stung by that bee. A memorable day!!

I remember the day I learned how to swim. I was six or seven years old, fishing on the far end of the homemade diving board. It was such a nice warm day I fell asleep. I awoke in the water. The choice was to sink or swim. I swam.

These stories may lead you to believe I was a pretty good kid. Generally, I was... but I did do some pretty dumb things that I have not been proud of. I will tell you about some that I have always regretted.

We lived on a farm owned by Henry Smith of Bradford, IL. In 1931 we were sawing lumber for him. We were still in the process of moving and hungry. I snitched two chickens. Verle and Gene and I cleaned them then cooked them. They tasted real good. Mother had not moved yet so we were still cooking for ourselves. Dad was a real good cook.

A few days later, Henry asked if we'd seen his prize game birds. He was so proud of them and they were gone. Of course, I told him we had not seen them, but after his visit I knew why those birds had those long feathers. Also, I knew crime did not pay and I would never steal again. For fifty years I have remembered Henry asking about those famous chickens he lost. Fifty years of regrets. Maybe I would have felt a little better if I had told him the truth.

When I was fourteen, I was hauling shelled corn on a Model T Ford truck. I lost control and went into a ditch. About 30 bushels of corn went in on top of me. There was no back glass in the truck back then. It could have been serious. Jim Quack, our neighbor, saw that I was not hurt. He was so happy that I wasn't hurt that he started singing loud and clear for all to hear, "The Sun Will Shine". I'll always remember his unusual way of showing how glad he was.

Kids in those days did not have much for entertainment. No movies, swimming pools, radios, television and not even much for school activities. Just for something to do one Sunday afternoon, Walter, Bill and I walked 4 & 1/2 miles to explore the big city of Fiat IL (about 200 population). Apples and pears were ripe. We took all we could eat and then some more. We did not think it was stealing as they were on the ground. As boys of 7 or 8 will do, we got a little dirty. We were quite a sight! Our overalls fit too loose. Our hair, possibly a little too long, which was not too popular back in the 20's.

We found seventeen cigarettes in a lumber shed that we were exploring. We each took 5 cigarettes and divided the other 2 between the 3 of us. We had some farm style matches and took off walking and smoking, looking the town over. A big day! Then we went back to the Smith's farm - spirits real high.

We just got there when Bill's sister, Neva, came home. She had been told about our escapades. She was violent! She did not slap us as she would at school, but we heard words and saw a temper we had not seen before. One word was "HUMILIATED"! We got the drift of what it meant. Boy, was she mad! We were lucky to get out of that one alive. Our parents upheld her on everything she said.

Bill and I would sneak through the cornfield, take matches and paper - then take corn silk from the ears of corn to make cigarettes. We would smoke them all the way home, but I have never smoked since. I do not know if Bill does as we have only been together a few times since our school days fifty three years ago.

January 28, 1928 our house burned down. We moved from the brick Fiat School to the Henderson School about three miles west. Mrs. Huffman was the teacher. She had five students - then we moved in and she had ten. Boy, was she mad! My three little brothers and one little sister, Charlotte, were really treated mean. I was too small and scared to do anything but tell my parents. They called the Superintendent of Schools. It helped some, but she was just

plain mean. She was always good to me though. Perhaps due to my age (14).

We built a new home on our farm and in September of 1928, I started to the Cuba High School for a few months. Then we moved in March, 1929. The folks rented a larger farm north of Kewanee, IL., 130 miles away. I missed my friends and cousins. With that last move, my school days were over. It was 12 miles from school and it was just too far to walk.

Because of our large family and small hill farm, we were poor people, but did not realize how poor we were until many years later. Looking back, we generally had hand-me-down clothes, worn thin.., with patches. At school, we had homemade jelly or jam sandwiches but no peanut butter. Other kids had peanut butter. We could not afford much store bought food. I guess we envied them but we were happy and did not complain. We did see kids in school who were poorer than we were. And we were well fed at home at the big table.

Sixty years ago we walked to school. There was no other way to get there. Of course this used up a lot of energy.

"LIFES JOURNEY"

Life is like a journey on a train With two fellow travelers

At each window pane.

I may sit beside you all the journey through

Or I may sit elsewhere never knowing you

But should fate mark me to sit by your side

Let's be pleasant travelers,

Tis so short a ride

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