~~Vacation Starts~~

 

Berdina said, “Soon it will be May. I can’t wait to hang May
baskets.”

Lydia was already busy making baskets. She was making one with a match box.

“I’m going to make one from a toothpick box or a round one from the salt box,” Berdina said.

The girls took tissue paper and folded it back and forth, leaving enough unfolded to cover the box they were using. Then they made narrow cuts with the scissors, cutting just through the folded part. Now they pasted the top of the paper to the box. The crinkly streamers hung down and made a pretty basket. If Berdina had different colored paper she would put one on top of the other. They put handles on some of the baskets.

Lydia said, “Let’s go into the pasture and see if we can find violets, Berdina. We could put some in the baskets and get some for Ma.’

Off they went. There were lots of pretty purple violets and the girls picked ‘til they had their hands full, then they ran home and gave Ma a big bunch.

Ma was real happy with them. She put them in a mustard jar and sat them on the window sill.
The girls thought it would never get dark, but finally it was time to go hang their baskets.

They went to the neighbors and quietly crept up to the door. They tossed the basket on the porch and shouted, “May Basket”.

Lila came out the door as they ran away. She tried to catch them, but they had too much of a start on her. The girls ran to another house.

If a boy caught a girl he could kiss her. This was pretty exciting especially for the older boys and girls; sometimes they would come in groups and walk a long ways to hang a basket. They hung baskets all month, not just on the first day of May.

Pa went to the store down the road. When he came home, he had a new pair of bib overalls for each of the girls. This was what Berdina and her sisters would wear most of the spring and summer.  Now they wore them with a blouse under them; later, when the weather got really hot, the overalls would be all they wore. By that time the overralls would be soft and worn from all the washing Pa said, “You will all have to help pick stones for several days. It will be a good way to break in your new overalls.”

Berdina liked wearing her overalls, and as soon as the ground was warm enough she went barefoot. Her feet were tender now and the grass tickled them and the pebbles hurt a little. Before summer was over the bottoms of her feet would be tough as leather.

There were a lot of stones to pick, small round ones. Each year, as the ground was plowed, a new batch was turned up. They had to be picked before Pa could sow the oats.

Teddy harnessed up the horses and hitched them to the wagon. Everyone climbed on the wagon and they were off to the field. It was quite a distance from the house. This was fun and even picking stones wasn’t too bad for a while, but it soon got boring.

Some picked on each side of the wagon. The horses would be stopped after a short distance, then the stones picked on each side and the back and tossed on the wagon. It was a dirty job and hard on the back, but it was fun too. There was plenty of talking and laughing. Sometimes one of them would pick up a little chunk of dirt and throw it over across at someone. They had to do this when Pa wasn’t looking, as he didn’t like such foolishness when they were working.

Berdina picked up a piece of dirt and threw it at Lydia. Who should pop up and get hit but Pa! Berdina kept real busy after that for awhile.

When the wagon was filled, it was taken to the stone pile. There, the wagon would be driven up on the stone pile and the planks removed, leaving the stones to fall on the pile. Then it would be back to the field to pick another load 'till the field was all picked. Now Pa could sow oats.

There were lots of stone piles on the farm. There was a big one behind the barn. On top of it sat an old Model T Ford. It didn’t run anymore but Berdina and her sisters and brothers had a lot of fun with it. If their friends came over they would all cram into the old car and pretend they were going for a ride.

“Today we’re going for an ice cream cone,” Berdina said. “Maybe tomorrow we’ll all go to Chicago.”

She liked to drive, there were so many pedals and the shifting lever to push, but they all took turns. Pa had driven the old Model T for some time, then things started going to pieces. He bought a Model A Ford. Still later he bought a Whippet.

Sunday afternoons Pa would say, “Who wants to go for a ride?”

He knew everyone would shout, “Me, Me!”

Sometimes they would just ride into town which was about ten miles away and get an ice cream cone, other times they would visit Ma’s sister, Emma, who lived in town. The most fun was the afternoons they went to the park. It was called Schuster's Park and it had high slides, lots of swings and a merry-go-round. They would play until exhausted, then all pile into the car and ride home.

After supper on Sundays the older girls carried in the wash water. They had to pump it and bring in enough to fill the big copper wash boiler Ma had put on the cook stove. Ma would be up early Monday morning to get the wood stove going, to get the water good and hot so she could start the weekly wash right after breakfast. Even though she had a Maytag washer, which was her pride and joy, she still had a big job to get all the family wash done.

Berdina watched as Ma cut up the tan bar of soap she had bought at the store; now she didn’t have to make soap anymore. The soap came without a wrapper; in one corner it had a round, red paper that said “OK” on it The chips would get soft and melt in the water.

Ma said, “Everyone stand back while I empty the boiling water into the machine.”

She dipped some of it out with a big kettle, then poured the rest and put in the white clothes Ma had put gas and oil in the tank she mixed together before putting it in. To start the machine, she had to pump on the pedal several times. Berdina stayed back, she didn’t like the noise the machine made. Ma put the exhaust pipe out the window; it would get hot after a while and you could burn your leg if you got against it.
 

While the white things washed, Ma cooked starch. She starched the white shirt collars, the aprons and last the cotton dresses. Pa wanted his collars stiff and Ma said, “The aprons and dresses stay clean longer when they are starched.”

The long lines were filled with clothes, and as they dried, more clothes were put out. Last, but not least, the overalls were washed and hung all across the lines. They would be dry before bedtime. As the clothes were taken from the lines they were folded. Those that needed ironing and had been starched were sprinkled, and rolled up, and placed in the clothes basket to be ironed on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Ma had to have a hot fire again to heat the irons. There were three metal irons that she heated on the stove and a wooden handle that clamped on them. Two could be heated while the third one was being used. Ma would let Berdina iron handkerchiefs when she was through with the other things, and the iron was cooled down a bit. Berdina thought this was fun. She felt real grown up.
Ma said, “I’m going to see if I can find some dandelion greens so we can have a green salad. I want to get them before they get too big and become bitter.”

Pa said, “The garden is all ready for planting, Ma. The boys and I are going to plant some more potatoes and a big patch of beans.”

When Ma came back with her dandelion greens, she gathered up her seeds, took her rake and hoe and headed for the garden. This was a big job. It took lots of vegetables to feed a big family and Ma wanted plenty to can for winter.

Berdina and Lydia went along to the garden so they could help Ma. Ma made the rows with a piece of string fastened to two sharp sticks that she could stick in the ground. She wanted her rows to be nice and straight. After dropping in her seeds she would let the girls cover them, after carefully instructing them as to how much dirt to put over them. Ma left a place to plant her tomatoes and cabbage plants later on. They were growing in tin cans on the window sills in the kitchen. They wouldn’t be put out yet for some time. Ma didn’t want to take a chance on getting them frozen.

The next day a warm rain fell.

Ma said, “The garden will grow in a hurry now. I must go and see if the barrel is under the water spout. I want to catch some nice soft water.”

Berdina and her sisters washed their hair in rain water. They had to use soap, there was no shampoo to buy at the little store. They would rinse it with vinegar added to the water. This made their hair shine. For blonde hair, lemon was put in the water.

Now that the weather was so nice, Berdina and her sisters could walk over to the neighbors who lived on the North road. Berdina liked Mrs. Navotney, who was a nice lady with pretty grey hair. She always had her hair curled so nice when Berdina saw her. Ma and Pa called her Effie. She had a small white house with a bay window in the front room. She also had a canary. It was fun to sit in the bay window and watch the canary and listen to him sing.

Mrs. Navotney’s house was always neat and clean everything in its proper place. She didn’t have any kids to mess for her. She had lots of time to listen to Berdina chatter.

Sometimes for something special, Ma and Berdina’s older sisters would have Mrs. Navotney curl their hair. She had two curling irons, one made round curls, the other made waves. It was called a marcel iron. She would put the curling iron in the chimney of the lamp to heat it. Benlina liked watching her curl someone’s hair. Mrs. Navotney was always careful not to burn anyone or get the iron too hot and bum the hair.

Sometimes Berdina and Lydia went to the store for Mrs. Navotney. She said, “If there are a few pennies left, you can buy yourself some candy. Lydia liked suckers. She knew that is what she would get. Berdina liked them too, but maybe she would get a few cents worth of chocolate stars or jelly beans. Mr. Prock, the storekeeper, would weigh them out and put them in a small brown bag.

The store had most everything: overalls, shirts, shoes, hard- ware, garden seeds, and of course, groceries and candy in cases. Mr. Prock would take eggs in trade for groceries.

Above the store was a dance hail. Wedding dances were held here. Town meetings were also held in the hall. Berdina and her sisters were taken along to the dances, as were all children in those days. Berdina loved the music and she also liked to watch the people dance. She loved to watch Pa and Ma dance the waltz. She thought they were the best dancers on the floor. Berdina and Lydia and her cousins danced in the corners, being careful to stay out of the way of the grownups. Berdina thought it would be fun to be grown up so she could dance in the circle two step or the waltz cadrill.