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Show With the approach of Pioneer Day Wednesday, lets give a thought to Grandma and a prayer of thanksgiving that we live today. Take a typical pioneer pio-neer holiday week in July and Grandma was up Monday at 4 a.m. She built a big fire in the old range stove to heat a boiler of water plus gallons hhe had carried to the reservoir to do the family wash. A wash board and a tub and a eorple of bars of home-made soap were the luxuries of her wash day. No automatic, no dryer, no detergents, de-tergents, so drip-dry3. Grandma's Grand-ma's hands were the washer and the wringer. Tuesday, the sun blazing through every window win-dow and door, anotlier hot fire in the range and Grandma ironed iron-ed the stiffly-starched clothes, standing close to the red-hot stove to change the fire-heated flat irons. At the same time, several loaves of bread baked in the big oven and Grandma hurried hur-ried to get the churning done before the house got hot. Of course she still had time to gather a mess of peas from the garden, dig a few potatoes and pick a pan of raspberi i;s. covering cov-ering the latter with thick cream skimmed from pans of milk in the cellar. A few slices of ham from home-cured pork, and the mid-day meal was served ser-ved piping hot. Wednesday the 24th and Grandma and Grandpa Grand-pa along with several children dressed in their starched white dresses and shiny black shoes and stockings, packed a freezer of home-made ice cream, a dripper cake and a watermelon in the old surrey and they were off to the 24th of July picnic. Thursday was wash-day again and the same white dresses and white shirts were done up for church on Sunday. Grandma also al-so gave the house a good cleaning, clean-ing, sweeping the rag carpet stretched over clean straw and scrubbing the wooden porch whiter than brand new boards. Another batch of bread on Friday, Fri-day, sewing by hand or treadle machine for the family; airing the straw-filled ticks from the beds and-it was Saturday, the day when gallons of water was hauled in by hand from the spring or the well and heated (Continued on page two) (Continued from pae one) Everything Under the Sun in the reservoir for the Saturday Satur-day night all-over baths in the big tin tub. Shoes were again shined and lined up in a row for Sunday. The silver-wear va.s cleaned. Grandma baked beans, a ham, some cookies and a big cake plus a milk pan full of rice for pudding and Sunday dinner was ready for the family and for company. Her holiday week was nearly over and was Grandma tired? No. They tell us she never had to go to a psychiatrist. She never visited a marriage counselor or read about other people's marriage problems in marriage counseling counsel-ing articles. She didn't have to take sleeping pills. All she needed need-ed was a chance to sleep. She didn't have to worry about bombs being exploded in Nevada Nev-ada and how much fallout was safe how far. She didn't worry about headlines in the newspaper. news-paper. She seldom saw one. She never heard flash news over the radio or T-V and she didn't care a hang about the latest gossip concerning a celebrity in Morocco. Her church, her children child-ren and her home were her world and her life and Grandma was happy and contented. And so to her and Grandpa we pause on Wednesday to pay tribute tri-bute but offer a prayer of thanksgiving we live in the world today. We'll take automatics and dryers, electric stoves and water wa-ter heaters, canned ham and vegetables, ve-getables, running hot water in a big bath tub, T-V and radio, newspapers and headlines; bombs and the fallout. We'll take the car to the picnic, dress the kids in drip-drys; cool a quart of milk in the frig and give every pioneer day back to Grandma. |