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I remember the ice house in the adobe barn. Big blocks of ice were cut out of the ponds and placed in bins of saw-dust during the winter so we would have ice to last all summer. We used tongs to lift the ice out of the sawdust and would put a large block in the ice box to keep our food cold and have plenty to make freezers of ice cream, and we made a lot of it. I remember our telephone on the wall. We had to turn a little crank on the side, take down the receiver and the operator would say, "Number Please?" We told her the number we wanted and she would take out a plug and put it in the number we called to make it ring. I was an operator on the switchboard for three years and earned $lO.OO a month working eight hours a day. I remember that all six of our babies were born in our home but Lucy Rae, our last child, whom her father nicknamed Bertie. A nurse would come to take care of mother and baby for ten days for $I.00 a day and the doctor's fee was $25.00. I remember our raspberry patch. We picked buckets of large juicy black and red berries during the summer to eat with cream and sugar on and bottled the rest fresh or in jam for our winter supply. How it is only an alfalfa patch. I remember when out little birds began to leave "our love nest" and built homes of their own. How proud we were of each one but sad to see them leave our home. I remember when each grandchild arrived, and greatgrand-children, too. I remember, oh, do I remember when the father of "our love nest" was called away. He was killed instantly when working with one of his horses he loved so much. Now all those good old days are only memories, but sweet ones. I remember so many changes in my life time, just like the good old raspberry patch. The automatic washers, dial telephones, automobiles, airplanes, heated homes, and auto-matic heated water are just some of the conveniences that we have that makes it more enjoyable and possible for me to be living alone in the big brick house today. -101- |
