A Century of Progress

Chapter 1

O ne of my early memories was when I was at Grandma First’s home, which was out in the country about ¾ of a mile from our house. I crawled into a chicken coop out in the backyard. Unknown to me was the fact that the chicken coop was infected by lice. I came into the house, and Grandma noticed me scratching my arms and legs. This was when Grandma discovered I was covered with chicken lice. She immediately took me outside, disrobed me and scrubbed me down with soap and water. Grandma immediately boiled some water and washed my contaminated clothes and hung them on the outside line to dry. I spent the next couple of hours in the kitchen, sitting quietly in a chair, wrapped in a towel. I was admonished to never crawl into a chicken coop again or to suffer a good spa nking.

Grandma and Grandpa First rented an 80 acre farm four miles northeast of Willis, Kansas. They had two horses, two milk cows and several chickens. They made a living on these 80 acres. Their main income was from cream and eggs. They had a Guernsey and a Jersey milk cow.

My father was raised on a farm ¼ mile north of the First farm. I can now see why he and my mother became friends and later married.

Chapter 2

A t times, I would go to my grandparents’ house after school, and one time on the way home I discovered a patch of wild strawberries on the bank along the road. These were small but sweet. Every year after that, I would make it a point to visit my private strawberry patch and would keep close watch for them to ripen. I often wonder if that patch is still there. I have never tasted any strawberries to match their taste.

I have fond memories of riding to Hiawatha, Kansas with my grandparents in the buggy with two horses. This was an all day trip of approximately eight miles each way. They went to see Dr. Shannon who had terribly scarred hands with large sores. I learned later this was from doing x-rays with no protection. Dr. Shannon was quite elderly at this time (1925). He told me he had been a drummer boy In the Confederate Army in the Civil War. I recall hearing water running when Grandma was in his room and asking Grandpa if he was washing Grandma’s feet. He told Grandma about this, and they thought this was very funny and laughed about it on the way home.

My grandparents shopped while in Hiawatha, and they bought some bananas. I don’t recall ever having eaten a banana before. I do recall it as being very delicious.

Chapter 3

M y grandma had a little two tube Crosby radio which she would let me listen to sometimes. I can remember this was powered by a dry cell battery, so listening time was limited. She would allow me to listen to cowboy singing about a half hour each time. What an experience. I can still hear Gene Autry and other cowboys si nging.

Chapter 4

M y grandparents’ farm had a nice pond near the back of the farm, but it was shallow and had only small fish and some large bull frogs that put on quite a concert. This pond was fed from a spring on the south bank, and we always stopped there to get a refreshing drink. It would become clogged with leaves, but these were easily removed. The water was clear and cold and ran all year. Someday, I would like to go back and see if the spring is still ru nning.

Chapter 5

M y grandfather smoked Nile Mosher cigars. I loved the smell and can still see the square tin can where there were 25 cigars packed per tin. I do not recall him smoking in the house, but do recall him having a hidden bottle in the barn. I wasn’t supposed to know this, but one day I happened to go down to the barn and saw Grandpa pull out this bottle behind some boards. When I asked Gramps what he was doing, he swore me to secrecy and explained that Grandma was not aware of this and would become irate if she learned about it. This became a secret between Grandpa and me. Later on, I thought his breath should have given him away.

Chapter 6

T his incident is hearsay. My grandparents, like most people in their time, used wood for fuel, for both the heating stove and cooking stove. Grandpa noticed several times that some wood seemed to be missing. There was a poor family with several children that lived in the vicinity. The man was never seen working, including cutting wood. Although my grandfather suspected where the wood was disappearing to, there was no visible evidence. To solve this problem, my grandfather drilled a large hole in one of the cut logs, filled the hole with black gun powder and sealed the hole so it could not be seen. Several days later, the poor neighbor’s stove blew up, destroying the stove and scattering debris throughout the living room. No more wood was ever mi ssing.

Chapter 7

M y father’s sister, Aunt Lucy, lived on the old home place ¼ mile north of my grandparents’. She had five children to raise after her husband died from blood poisoning when I was about five years of age. She had a large grove of trees north of the house. Large horse weeds and also other large weeds were in abundance. These, when cut and trimmed, made perfect lodge poles for tepees when covered with grass: ideal for playing Indians and housekeeping. It’s a wonder we never burnt the houses down. Evidently, we did not attempt to cook.

Chapter 8

M y father had three brothers and one sister raised in a house with two bedrooms, one for the parents and one for Aunt Lucy. The boys slept in a granary located about 75 feet from the house. When the weather got too cold, the boys slept on the floor in the house. The house had no basement so the floor was cold. Restroom facilities were out in the grove. This house was built from lumber hauled from Sioux City, Iowa (right across from Omaha, Nebraska) by a team of oxen. The granary and barn were also brought in the same way. The barn was held together with wooden pegs and square nails. The house and granary are still standing, but the house windows are broken, and varmints and weather are taking their toll.

Chapter 9

M y father John and his brother Thomas pretty much subsidized Aunt Lucy’s farming operation after her husband passed away. It was a classic case of family taking care of f amily.

I recall Aunt Lucy riding her horse (Nellie) over to our house bareback, and when it was time to leave, she swung up on Nellie and left in a gallop. She was at least 45 years old at this time.

Aunt Lucy had lots of timber, and I remember helping my father cut down a couple of trees and sawing the wood into stove lengths. This was all done with axes and handsaws, with the large round pieces split with wedges. There are other incidents I will discuss in later chapters.

Chapter 10

I t seemed like every time we had a storm, a small twister would remove a row of shingles from Aunt Lucy’s barn. This would be a couple of feet wide and run from the bottom to the top on the south side of the barn. As a result, a storm shelter was built near Aunt Lucy’s house which was a rather crude cave. A large hole was dug about 12 feet long, 5 feet wide and 6 feet deep. A 12 inch by 2 inch board was set on 2 pieces of wood about 12 inches high as a bench seat. Two inch by 12 inch boards made the roof which was covered with dirt. They were 4 feet above the bench seat. The opening was to the east, as tornadoes usually came from the southwest. There was no drain, and during a storm of any duration, we sat with our feet in one or two inches of water.

Chapter 11

I was probably six years old when I went to Horton, Kansas with my brother while he took a

trumpet lesson. As I recall, Highway 73 was still a dirt road but was being upgraded with new culverts, bridges and grader ditches. This was in preparation to graveling the road. On the way home, we were required to take a by-pass around one spot where they were constructing a new culvert. As we went down a slope and started up the other side, the car stalled. As my brother rocked the car by reversing and then shifting into forward, an axle broke. This was a vintage Maxwell automobile. I don’t remember how we got home or how the car was towed to a garage. The next day my father drove in with a new black model T Ford touring car, complete with a cloth top and removable side curtains.

This was the automobile I learned to drive in. I would sit on my father’s lap and he would let me steer.

Chapter 12

I t was not long after getting the new car that my brother told me he was tuning the engine and needed my help. These cars had an ignition system with separate coils for each spark plug. He had the trap all set. He asked me to sit on the fender and hold a spark plug while he checked to be sure everything was working properly. Unknown to me, I was due for a huge shock. He went inside the car and turned the ignition switch on. When several hundred volts hit me, I screamed and fell off the fender. My mother came running out of the house to see what happened. There was my brother bent over laughing. My mother happened to have a broom in her hand and here she came, knowing my brother had been up to another of his tricks. My brother took off running to escape her wrath.

My brother had caused consternation one Christmas Eve. He came into the kitchen, grabbed the shotgun and ran out of the house. A few minutes later, we heard two shots. He came back into the kitchen with a big grin. My mother asked him what he was shooting at. His reply: I just shot Santa Claus. My older sister and I both started crying and sobbing. This was one of the few times I ever saw my mother lose her temper. She grabbed my brother by the arm and shook him and told us kids that he was lying and that Santa Claus would remember that and not bring him any presents. I think she kept her word. Several years ago, I saw a similar story written up in Reader’s Digest.

Chapter 13

I recall several instances where my mother had reason to worry about me. As I recall, I could see someone do something, and after thinking about it a bit, I could do the same thing. Every year, after the last cultivating of the corn, it was customary to follow up in a few weeks by walking down the rows with a corn knife and cutting any weeds such as cuckle burr, cotton weeds, etc. I got up one morning, grabbed a corn knife and proceeded to