CLOTHING, SHOES, ETC!

As I remember, we didn't have an abundance of clothes to choose from. We had the necessities but no more. My sister said she made me clothes when she was old enough to sew. My mother had a treadle sewing machine and did a little sewing, but mostly patching and comforters, etc.

In those days, they would buy feed and these came in sacks. The sacks were printed material and many a dress came from these feed sacks. If we didn't use them for dresses, we used them for tea towels.

I have a picture of myself when I was about 4 1/2 and my cousin was about 2 1/2. She was looking down at my bloomers which was hanging below my dress. She seems to be thinking--
"I can't believe she is letting it all hang out"! Everytime I see that picture I have to laugh. I have a fairly nice dress on, but I expect that the elastic in my bloomers were a little worn out, hence the drooping bloomers.

We had shoes and boots, but nothing spectacular. In the summer months we went barefoot all summer long. I do have a picture of my brother and I barefoot at school. My sister was all decked out in shoes. My mother claimed that we took our shoes off that day. I can't remember since I was really young and it had to have been late spring or early fall. I do know that this could be, since I loved to go barefoot.

My dad and mother always kept us clean (well, as clean as a child can stay). My dad did not want us going around dirty.

In the winter months, we had to wear long underwear. Yuk!!!! Then over the long underwear we wore cotton stockings. We had to fold the bottom of the underwear over so that we could pull the stockings up and then put on garters to keep the stockings up. So you can see that we really were quite the sight! No slacks in those days were even made for girls, let alone wear them. We couldn't wait until spring to remove that long underwear and have anklets on.

In the two small towns closest to our home they had a dry goods store and we would get our shoes, etc in there. Sometimes, the eggs would be taken into town and traded for the clothing, shoes we needed. These stores sold about anything you might need, from groceries to yard goods, etc.

Todays kids wouldn't know what to do without a large selection of the latest styles, but we were no exception, because all the kids didn't have any more than we had. We didn't feel that we were poor and we survived. A lot of children wore hand-me-downs from older siblings.

Wisdom for the day--Luke 12:27,28--Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not: and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

HAZARD ON THE FARM!

When I was about 4 or 5 years old, I found strange things to play in or with. This day was no exception. I was playing in a make-shift chicken shelter. It was just a pen that had boards on top with a few bricks on top of that to hold the boards in place. I suppose, this was made temporary to have chickens get out of the rain in case of a sudden cloud burst. There is nothing madder than an old wet hen!!!!

While I was playing in the shelter, I raised up and the board with a nail and brick fell down on my head. This sent a flood of tears and trickles of blood down the side of my face. I was crying and my dad and his brother was working in the implement shed. He saw all the blood and took me into the house. My mother cleaned me all up and they decided to take me into the doctor in town to get a shot and sewed up. We seldom went to the doctor, but this was too chancy not to get a tetanus shot.

My mother dressed me up in my prettiest dress (I adored this dress) and off to the doctor we went. The dress was two-toned brown with a little diamond applique on the bodice. I'm sure if I saw the dress today, I would not think it "pretty", but as a child, it was beautiful!!!! I will talk about our wardrobe as we were growing up on another time.

Anyway, with a few stitches and a shot, I was good as new!!!

Wisdom of the day--God never is late with any of his promises! I Kings 8:56b states--There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses. God is the same yesterday, today and always!!! You can bank on his promises to us.

COUPLE EVENTS THAT HAPPENED!

Before I move away from the school days in the 30's, I will tell you about several events. Hope this doesn't upset you too much.

This one story was before I was in school, but it happened one day as my brother and neighbor girl was walking hand in hand to school. (They both were in the first grade) My sister and the girls older sisters and brothers were walking behind them. There were two cars coming in opposite directions. One passed them and they turned around to see if they could get back on the road, another was coming. Just as my brother and neighbor girl was getting back on the road (they were unaware of the 2nd car), the 2nd car ran over the neighbor girl. She was unconscious and they took her to the hospital. She remained unconscious for at least a month, and thought she would die. She did survive, and is still living. The older children saw this, but was unable to warn them in time before the accident.

Another bad thing that happened in the neighborhood, that was really sad, was a toddler was
out in the yard. The parents had boiling water and sat it momentarily down. The toddler fell in the water and died. They just lived about half mile from us. They were caring parents but for a split second had their guard down. One sure can't be too careful, especially when it comes to children's safety.

Today's wisdom--"In every trial or event God walks beside us, but SOMETIMES he has to carry us!!!" I'm sure the above events, God had to CARRY the parents through these trials. God is always faithful!!!

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR!!!

It seemed to me like there was a lot more snow during the winter months than what we have now. I don't know whether it was because of the fences and roads in the country and the drifts that seemed to be so high or there really was more snow. We enjoyed walking to school on top of the snow drifts. Well, do you think that walking on the road where it was all scooped out is "fun"? Of course, we walked where the snow was the deepest and that was in the snow drifts.

My last writing I was in the 7th grade. That summer I kept telling my dad that I did not like being the only girl in school and would like to go to the school in town. This required money because the town school wasn't in my district. Money was tight in those days, but lo and behold, they scraped up enough money to send me to town school. Even though I wouldn't have my "favorite teacher" I was excited. I hadn't told them about the "pest" so they didn't know the full reason.

It ended up that I had a man teacher for the very first time. I rode the bus like those going to high school and like I would be doing for the next 5 years (8th grade and 4 more in high school).

In "town school" the boys were more refined!!! I developed a "crush" on one of them that sat directly behind me. That crush lasted all during high school. He wasn't aware of it, however.
He was a nice boy and acted appropriately.

I am sure that the money they spent sending me to a different school was money well spent. It gave me an UP on the coming high school years. There wasn't the drastic change from grade to high school, as some experienced coming from a country school into high school.

Well, there you have the memories of "good ole school days" of long ago. I will speak more about high school days later.

Wisdom for the day--One sin becomes two when it is defended.

JUST CALL ME "IRRESISTIBLE"!

This is a title to a old song that we used to sing long ago. This song reminds me of a story when I was in the 7th grade. It is as follows:

There was this boy in the same grade I was in, and overnite he just totally changed. When I would go through the double doors into the hallway between the girls and boys cloakrooms, he would invariably pop out of the boys cloakroom and try to kiss me. What on earth got into that boy, he seemed just a year before a nice person. But Whamo, overnite, he got to be such a "pain". I dreaded to go through those doors and be out of the teachers view, as I knew what I was facing on the other side. WHAT IN THE WORLD GOT INTO THAT LAD!!! Maybe they were feeding him his dad's Viagra instead of vitamins by mistake. Needless to say, I stayed very close to the teacher that year. I did not want to let her out of my sight!!! No wonder I remember her as my "favorite teacher". She was my "safety net" from a boy that went from a nice person to someone that wanted to be "Gang Busters"! I hope he grew out of this kind of approach to women.

Well then again do you J U S T S U P P O SE, . . . . . . . . . or M A Y B E . . . . . . . . . .IT W A S
B E C A U S E I was the "O N L Y G I R L" in the school!!! No, no, no, no it couldn't be that----It was because I was just so-oooooo "IRRESISTIBLE"!

When I and another girl in my school was in the 3rd and 4th grade we did eat our lunches with a couple of younger boys and called them our boyfriends. They must of liked "older women". "My supposedly boyfriend", was an only child and his mother was a former school teacher and fixed him the best lunches and in unique interesting ways. He certainly was one to eat with at lunchtime alright!!!!

Wisdom of the day---Always remember, "NEVER FEAR, THIS TOO SHALL PASS".

RECESS AND THE GAMES WE PLAYED!

Recess has always been a favorite part of school, now and years ago. The games we played were the only difference.

On nice days, we would go out and play "Crack the Whip'. This game is where the older kids would be first in line and us younger ones would be on the tail end. They would crack the whip and the younger ones had to run faster and usually would be cracked off of the line first. The one last standing would be the winner.

We would play "Mother May I" a lot. I'm sure you have played it. You all stand in line and the leader would tell how many places you could hop, skip, jump, walk. If you didn't say "Mother May I" first, you had to go back to the start. The one that got to the finish line first, would then be the leader.

We played "Hide and Seek".

On good days, we would play ball. You took turns to pick who you want on your team. Somehow, I never was in great demand to be on someone's team. There seemed to be older children and they were much better players. The community was getting older and babies were being born less and less, so I was one of the tail-end of the children in our community.

"Fox and the Geese" were played in the snow. One person was the fox and the others were the geese and if the Fox tagged you, you would go to his den in the center. This was a great game to play on a new fallen snow as you could mark off the pattern in the snow.

"Andy I Over" was played. They divided the group up in 2 and threw the ball over the school house, and if the other team caught it, they could run around and tag anybody on the other team. Then that person would be on their team. The goal is get everyone from one side caught and they would be on the other side.

We also, did cartwheels and other stunts. When we started standing on our heads, the teacher brought us girls in and the teacher lectured us about being "lady like". Well, that squelched that talent in a hurry!!!

Another thing we would do is jump rope and this hasn't changed at all through the years.

When I was in about the 6th grade, I think this is when the school had money for some slides, and swings, etc to play on.

On rainy days, we set up the girls cloak room to be a bank. We made our paper money and we were ready for business. Too bad, we can't just make our money now, we would all be rich. I guess that is the governments job today (Printing more paper money). This play prepared me to work at the bank at a later date. (Not really)

Another thing we would do would rope off a section of the school room and play darts with paper darts made like an airplane. The person that was "it" would tag others and they were out of the game. Well, this lasted a little while, until the teacher did not think this was an appropriate game to play. Oh well, she was my favorite teacher of all, anyway. I think she was my favorite because she was our neighbor down the road and her parents were good friends with mine. One day, we were visiting her house, and she brought out a box of scrap construction paper, etc. and gave it to me. You would have thought she had given me a "Gold Mine", as I was so-oooooo excited with these bits and pieces. My creative juices were starting to flow right there on the spot. Later in life, she congratulated me on an Appointed Position that I received at my work after reading about it in the newspaper. She was a true teacher at heart and never forgot her students!!!!! Her brother was in my sister class in high school and later got his doctorate, and was a professor at the University of Illinois.

Wisdom today--It is said, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!" I guess, we did have a balance and had our share of fun. Sometimes probably at times, too much fun!!!

AN EMBARRASSING MOMENT!!

Speaking of the classrooms and how each grade came forward and had their own particular lessons taught by the teacher, I remember in the second grade, I was standing by the teacher and reading for her. All of a sudden I had the urge to go to the bathroom (outhouse in those days). I asked permission to go. Since she was on a tight schedule she asked me to wait. I said I could, and proceeded to shuffle on one foot and then the other foot and this is the way it went until I couldn't wait no longer and asked permission again. After the 2nd try she allowed me to go. By the time I took my first step toward the double doors leading out to the schoolyard toward the outhouse, I had left a trail behind me. When I got outside, I didn't have to go any longer and proceeded to come back in.

At recess time I was standing in the sun and an older 8th grader came up to me and asked if I was drying off. This was about the most humilitating thing that could have been said. Looking back on this, I don't blame the teacher nor myself for this little mishap. It was one of those things that happen in a persons growing up years. Even though it was not one of my pleasant memories of school, but it became a memorable one. I lived to tell about it.

Lesson for today--We can endure this days problems because of the next days joys.