Show 1 1 t to I 7 NU SERVICE T THE E STORY THUS FAR Amu AmR Croy I Who no bad had served In the Civil War as a I sergeant ergeant was one of UH the covered wagon pioneers from Ohio who settled on tome borne stead tead land near Marysville Missouri There he be met a and d won Susan Sewell Se a daughter of another settler who lived twelve miles away Their early years were spent In building t the e farm from the ground round up room one log home sod barn new orchard well and outbuildings Roads were never considered by the original settlers but new arrivals In In- Tilsted tasted sted so community roads and a school I as was was added to the community Some SomeI I still till went to town by way of the trails It was shorter to cut through over the farms than go 10 by the road I CHAPTER II IIa With ith a baby coming a room one-room dome ome would not do so Uncle Jim nd d Uncle Dexter and probably anther aner an- an ther er uncle came in and a bedroom ras as attached And there I was born ind nd there the room still stands It Itis I as s a shock a few years ago when i w was went ent back and found the room J I as as s being used as a henhouse II J I find myself hesitating to menthe menton menton men- men ton the year because it all seems so soi long ago It You'd surprised i e to see how spry I am f E was was' really the year Brooklyn midge Bridge was built There And nd here are some other things pat at t came in that year the old Wal- Wal Astoria Astoria rf-Astoria was opened the last was driven in the Northern end 2nd Joseph Pulitzer bought Jie e New York World And this was wasie wasI I ie le year Mark Twains Twain's Life on the Mississippi appeared The The new room was a good hosl hos- hos al l Aunt Mandy Sewell drove up lid lid stayed a week and the event eventt t nt oil oft all right It was not long my mother was up and doing i washing and baking and cooking K ld i things were back to normal flam m I am sometimes asked where I first name and if it was beuse beuse be- be use Juse use my parents loved the blind set fet It wasn't quite that romantic was as named for for the township in pio io where my father came from as not given a middle name rE- rE A childs child's first memory is I beve beve beye be- be ve ve ye usually about people My first mory mory is about my mother and a oily unimportant one We Ve were in the orchard and I picked Tan an n apple and put it in the pocket J 1 my iny dress The apple became was was tight in the pocket pocket pocket-a a gedy to me and me-and and my mother ked the apple out I expect could explain something other ther by that But I canty cant rt- rt y next memory is of a hole in room living floor The floor tilt- tilt la a little and my father had bored I auger ger hole so that when my myr myther ther ther r scrubbed the water would jain ain off I would try to look through h hole and would wonder what stun s on the other side And I always wondered what was on the r I Ider er r side nd ii l 1 now a confused memory one jute L ate t a bit more involved It was wast p tt t so something dreadful was happen- happen fj fjAnd And indeed it was My father t ne e riding one of the plow horses from the field at a gallop and andoff ped ed off opened the gate and let r m m go in the barn lot with the hars har- har s on Then he came running to house house and we all got into the j lone one cave and sat wrapped in Jilts ts Now and then Pa would lift the doors and look out When we Illy came out the barn had been I wn wn WI away and one of the horses ed d. d So destructive are the cy- cy es es of this section and so sharp- sharp defined are they that this one swept through the orchard my myer myer er and mother had set out had mowed half of it down and lithe the other standing And there thereas as all my early days the half- half I n up half-up orchard the scarred trees My mother used alk about her orchard When wanted to rest she would take i chair with the leather bottom j jad had ad woven and go out and sit r one of the trees yea g ne a Sewells made another run and n barn arn was rebuilt I remember I Bother ther trifling flash sitting on a aI and watching Uncle Sewell I I Use rise a hole developed a deep affection for barn for barns do things to you do not remember my first day School except the disI dise dis- dis Pe e I got into But I can still Rhe he schoolhouse That however sy sy for it is still much as it was I Ive I've often read of the little 1 I I schoolhouse but I never saw I In our section all all country u tr were white and for formatter smatter matter they still sill are There T 1 ras as-a as a coal house in the yard l Iron xon on pump a cyclone cave and LJ fhe he e back of the lot two small tures lures with moons half-moons in the rj Two or three horses would to posts hitching-posts for the thears tars Lars ars who lived too far away or j too small to walk When i it t time for school to take up the Bt her Mer came to the door and rang a S1 f tP bell and that was the end of it IJ only ily difference in the school- school I e between my day and now is I t tee tee-I som someone eons with advanced i ideas Jt catlOn and eyestrain decided II Tall all light should come from the so the north north w windows were up The children seem a bit I still chomp at the hitch hitchI I res r rack the rack the family car mustn't be tied I up The coal house still stands but buta a new kind of stove has come in It is full of coils and has all sorts of fancy devices but I suspect the big boys dont don't get to go out so often for a scuttle of coal And instead of having every seat taken up there are now only half a dozen tots tots too small to be toted off to town by byI bythe bythe the school board bus I But back to the disgrace The boys seemed like giants and I was afraid of them When recess time came the big girls must have seen my uneasiness for they took me to their backhouse to relieve myself When I returned the boys were waiting and taunted me until I felt feltI I was disgraced for l life e. e I think it was the first time I realized the world is made up of two sexes and never shall they meet at least in certain places When school dismissed of an afternoon afternoon afternoon after after- noon the scholars would come out and some would start one direction and some another Then I would start north and pretty soon I would come to the top of a hill and there would be the Croy farm That was the way all farms were spoken of The Newt Kennedy farm the Scott farm the farm they had personalities just as people have Sometimes a family would move away but their place was still called the Duncan farm or the Trull nger farm It took a along along along long time to call a place by the Y s r i r r i y i 1 i 1 r l I Id d t tHe He was on his way to feed the hogs name of the new people If the man was a tenant the situation was about hopeless Life was hard during the week But what a wonderful day Sunday was We Ve got up the same time as usual But there was a different tempo Pa got up more leisurely and started the fire in the itchen litchen stove Pa would pump a bucket of water for Ma start the kitchen stove going then start for the barn lot As I lay in bed or dressed I could follow his progress by the sounds First there would be the creaking of the barn door and a whinny of welcome from the horses then a so eager were they to be fed The sound of Pa scooping up the corn then the shutting of the barn door this meant he was on the way to feed the hogs There would be a dreadful uproar as the hogs saw him coming The nearer he got the worse the noise the sound of the hogs fighting among themselves Abruptly the uproar would die away and peace and contentment would descend upon the hog lot the hogs were feeding He would go to the steer yard and there would be the sound of corncobs snapping as the steers followed followed followed fol fol- fol- fol lowed him Then the sound of corn being poured into the troughs and the soft thud of the cattle as they bumped sides crowding up to the troughs Now and then a steer would give a grunt that meant one steer had chugged another with his head With the horses and steers fed Pa would unhook the windmill There would be a sharp clang as the gears meshed then a whirring as the wind laid hold of the blades Then I could hear him coming to the house no time for fir lazing now and I would spring into my pants Pa didn't think much of anybody who couldn't get dressed by the time the stock was fed My mother would be up putting corncobs and coal into the kitchen range By that time Pa would be at the kitchen door No Noone Noone Noone one in our house ever said good morning But Pa say Susan weve we've got a dead pig Mother would say One of the strong ones No uNo Old Blackie's tilman Then a feeling of relief Wed We'd take our buckets and start for the cow lot Pa and Ma walking ahead and me bringing up the rear for I hated to work Wed We'd get our OUI stools down from the cracks inthe in inthe inthe the fence and it wouldn't be long before there would be the sound of milk pinging Pas Pa's would be Cv cn ing very fast Mas Ma's next and coming coming coming com com- ing pretty slow would be mine After a time the milking would be over and Pa would take the two heavy buckets and Id I'd take the next heaviest heaviest heaviest est and Ma the lightest and wed we'd start for the house and breakfast me a bit ahead now Sunday morning was bathing time and after breakfast Pa would bring in the washtub and put it on the kitchen floor and fill it from the res res- Then Pa would retire to grease the hack and I would read and Ma would take her bath Pa would come in and wash his hands in the pan on the back porch empty the tub and fill it again and Ma would go into the other room to write to relatives while Id I'd still be reading and dreading the bath call Wed We'd hear Pa splashing around and hed he'd come with his suspenders hanging down and walking on his toes so as not notto notto to spot the floor and call Homer Id I'd give a groan and carry out his water and fill the tub again and be bein bein bein in and out in no time at all Pa would get down the big harvester harvester harvester har har- vester calendar and study the dates with circles around them Then hed he'd say II Well Vell by next Sunday we ought to have a new calf It wouldn't be long till time to start to church chUIch and pretty soon Pa and I would be standing beside the hack haek and Ma would come out with her Bible and her response leaflets Ma would sit in front with Pa and Id I'd sit in the back They'd talk more now than any other time once in in a awhile awhile awhile while Pa Pa would turn and give me good advice Wed We'd look to see if the neighbors had started to church If they were hitching up Pad wave at them or shake his buggy whip Some of the neighbors didn't go to church at all Ma always dropped her voice when she spoke to them and Pa would say pay for it some some- time The men sat on one side and the women on the other the little boys sat with their mothers and the big boys sat in the back whispering and making faces out of the knots in inthe inthe inthe the seats Now and then some of the big boys would carve their initials initials ini iri- but it was pretty well understood understood understood under under- stood they were going to hell Sometimes Sometimes Sometimes Some Some- times Id I'd feel sorry for them then Id I'd think the fools deserved it The preacher would drone along no now v and then giving the Bible a whack Now and then a mud daub er would follow him but the eyes of the men or the women wouldn't nor of the girls Sometimes two mud- mud daubers would get into a fight then the preacher would have to give two whacks Suddenly a mule at the hitch rack would set up an excruciating excruciating excruciating ear-breaking ear hee-haw hee ending ending ending end end- ing with the grunts and chokes and groans with which a mule always closes his song It'd make the boys snort No amount of whacks would do any good A little girl would lean over and whisper into her mothers mother's mothers mother's mothers mother's moth moth- ers er's ear and the mother would get getup getup getup up leading the little girl by the hand and the two would tiptoe out As the mother passed the windows windows windows win win- dows outside she would stoop Then wed we'd hear the little girl pipe Mamma Mam ma hurry In a few minutes the mother and the little girl would come comeback comeback comeback back from behind the church and softly tiptoe to their seats The week before we would have invited somebody to Sunday dinner and now the people would stand on the front porch and ask if we were sure it was convenient Ma had been getting ready all week but the question question question ques ques- tion always had to be asked Then I would get to ride home with the company It was a lot more fun than riding with Pa and Ma r and having to sit in the back seat No lecture now It was always understood that the company was to drive slowly so soMa soMa soMa Ma could get the dinner started and Pa could have his team out of the way so he could help the company unhitch Id I'd help too no hanging back now and wed we'd lead the horses to the tank by the windmill while Pa and the company talked crops Pa would say What do you figure your run When the women heard us they'd all come to the door and say they'd about decided we weren't hungry then wed we'd say we thought wed we'd eat eata a bite to keep on the good side of the cook Wed We'd go into the dining room and there'd be the table No red checkered checkered checkered check check- ered cloth today but a wonderful fine white cloth with faint flowers woven in it Lying on a chair which was partly behind and partly beside Ma was our peacock fan The fan was about as long as the table was wide and had a leather loop to hang it up by when it wasn't in use As Ma waved the fan over the table during dinner the feathers would catch the light and shimmer and shine entrancingly During weekdays we had a fan made out of paper not one-millionth one part as grand as our peacock fan Company Company Com pany and a white tablecloth and our peacock feather fan that fan that was Sunday dinner TO DE BE CONTINUED |