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Show you and the new baby all fixed up and oh it tasted so good! Yes, and it tastes good yet. It was good then and it's good now, only they wouldn't give it to you now. They'd think it might start a fever or something. Strange thing, how someti~es in this town there'd be three years go by without a single death, then, when there was one, we'd all look f~r two more right soon. And everyone was scared to death for fear it might be his turn next. And to this day, it's the same. It's true, if one dies, two more follow. There was no cure for appendicitis in those days, they called it inflammation of the bowels, and they almost always died. I've seen it so many times. Now they know what to do. Then they didn't. Well, we named this third thild of T. W.'s, John Mills Whitaker. He was the homeliest baby I had when he was born, but he soon grew to look quite nice and he was the sweetest dispositioned one of them all. You asked about chloroform. Only the well to do could afford that. Most of the poor devils of Mormons were far too poor. Because John was such a sweet dispositioned child, the older boys liked to tease him when they dared. But if their father caught them at it, he disciplined them -- not by whipping them -- but by making them do some real task, perhaps the kind they disliked most. It worked, too. Soon after John was born, T. W. brought the little Tahitian girl, age 12, Annie, home to live with us. She had lived in the Rich home up until then. They had trained her well in how to do house work properly, and she was a real help to ~e. He said I needed help in the house and I did, but the Riches hated to let her go. She was about thirteen years old then. This gave me a little time to be with my friend, Mary, and to sew, knit and do hand work. I made all the clothes we wore, everything, even suits, coats and trousers for the boys and their father. The children all called him father, including Annie so that's what I called him from then on. It took a long time to build the big rock house down on the highway. watched its progress with the greatest interest, longing for the day when we could move into it. There were six of us in that one adobe room, and it was too crowded for comfort. Father did all the carpenter work, and it was beautifully done. There was a big living room (1 loved it), a rather small kitchen, both facing east, with a large plate glass bay window in the south wall, with an extension so 236 I that we could use it as a bed if necessary, or just to sit on and look out. Later I raised the silk worms he hatched in that window. There was a hallway running north and south the length of the house through the center of the ground floor with a beautiful carved oak door to the outside. The upper half of the door was framed with colored glass squares and the ce~ter was plate glass. The glass squares were of blue, red, green, and amber. Oh, how 1 loved that house. j The west half of the ground floor consisted of a large parlor with a door exactly matching the one on the south, and two windows on the west and two on the south. Next to this was the large downstairs bedroom. Now days they call it the master bedroom, which was our room. In the hall was the entrance to the staircase and upstairs were two large bedrooms and a nice sewing and work room for me, where I kept my sewing and spinning and weaving utensils and materials. One bedroom was for the boys and one for the girls. It actually took four years in the building and completing of the house, but I loved every minute of it because it was my home and has been ever since, 'til I came to live with you. (Meaning me, Nora B. Miles) I always enjoyed hand work far more than house work. So I let Annie take care of the inside and I kept the garden and did the weaving, sewing, and finally got to where I could take in a little sewing and weaving for others. Annie loved to cook and keep house and was very good at it. So we were truly a very happy family. Soon after Johnny was born, I got pregnant again but I miscarried and was sicker than when I went my full time. Then, on March 21 ·, 1866 our second girl was born. We named her Susan Johanna and called her Susan. She was a beauty, blue eyes, darker blue than Emmy's, and jet black hair with rose petal soft silky skin, smooth as satin. Father was so proud of his children but he was gone such a lot, earning a living, that I had all the actual rearing and training and disciplining, or most of it anyway, to do. Mamie came next. She was born 20 January 1868. Her real name was Mary Alice, but no one ever called her that. It was always Mamie. She too was a beauty. Strange, how not any of my children looked the least bit alike. Mamie had large brown eyes and just masses of thick brown hair. It seemed that it just never quit growing and everyone remarked about her lovely hair. Perhaps I should say that her eyes were more hazel than brown at times. 237 |