New calendars decorated the walls of the house now. Berdina thought they were so pretty. Some had glitter on the snow scenes while others had lattice work on them; they were gifts from business places. Last 3 year’s calendars had taken their places on the walls of the little building out back of the house.

It was cold walking to school now. Ma wrapped a long scarf across Berdina’s forehead, then across her face, so only her eyes peeped out. By the time Berdina got to school her scarf was covered with frost. Sometimes she was so cold the teacher had to help her remove her boots and scarf. If the drifts were too high, Pa took the children to school on the bobsled. If it was too cold, everyone stayed home.

The days were getting a little longer now but the lamps still had to be lit in the evening. Ma would wash the chimneys and fill them with kerosene. For special occasions a gas lamp was used, as it gave a nice white light. The gas lamp had a mantle; Berdina watched as Pa put the mantle on, then he put it in the base. Air had to be pumped into the gas as the lamp burned on gas vapor. The vapor made a little noise as it burned and Berdina stayed away from it; she knew it was dangerous. Ma wouldn’t even let Berdina and her sister take the kerosene lamp up to bed with them, as she was afraid they might tip it over and start a fire. The girls were allowed to take a beeswax candle which stood in a candle holder. The neighbors made candles and Ma had traded some maple syrup for them.

Ma did a lot of baking. She baked all the bread, making eight loaves at a time. She stirred the dough up in a big metal dishpan. It Was hard to get bread dough to rise in cold weather. Ma would put a cover on the pan, and wrap a heavy quilt around the pan, then set it on a chair by the heater stove in the living room. After the bread was raised, Ma took it out of the quilt; Berdina liked to crawl in the warm quilt by the heater for a while. Ma always made some biscuits, the rest she put into bread pans to rise again. Sometimes Ma would give Berdina and Lydia a little of the dough. They would roll it in a ball, flatten it out and bake it on the top of the cook stove ‘til it was done on one side, then the other. This was good with butter and sugar on it.

Ma never wasted anything She made bread pudding and dressing from the dry bread. If the bread was getting a little old she made french toast or sometimes toasted bread in a wire toaster that held four slices. Ma would take the lid off the cook stove and place the toaster over the hot coals until the slices were golden brown then turn it over to toast the other side.

Berdina liked to watch Ma stir up a cake. She would put a cup of this in, a handful of that, and a pinch of something else, never really measuring anything. After she stirred up the cake she would put a little dough in a small pan which really was a baking powder can cover, and bake it. This way she could tell if the oven was hot enough and also if the cake was alright, if she thought the cake was too rich she would add a little more flour. Berdina and her sisters could eat the little cake.

When Ma made doughnuts there was always the little centers to lunch on. Frying the doughnuts was another dangerous job. Only Ma could do this and she didn’t want anyone close by as the lard was very hot. She made dozens of doughnuts and stacked them up in a big black cake pan. They were so good fresh, and even when they got older Ma would warm them up in the oven and sugar them for breakfast.

On winter days if it wasn’t too cold the children in the neighborhood would come sledding on the long hill by Berdina's house. What fun it was to pile two or three on a sled and go down! Shep, the farm dog, would run behind them. Berdina was too small to steer so Lydia did. One day when the two were sledding down the small hill in front of the house, Berdina wanted to steer.

Lydia said. “You are too small to steer.”

Please let me, I know how,” begged Berdina.

Lydia finally gave in and let Berdina steer, and down the bill they went. Berdina saw the corn crib coming up, she got scared and closed her eyes. They hit the corn crib, she flew off and hit her head on the corner of the crib. She screamed and ran to the house where Ma put a silver knife on her forehead to keep it from swelling too much. Ma scolded Lydia, as she was supposed to be watching Berdina. Lydia felt bad that Berdina had been hurt, but she was also angry at her.

Almost everyone in the neighborhood was related, as Pa’s sisters and aunts and uncles all had come over from Germany after Pa came. They all settled in the same community.

Sometimes Berdina’s cousins came home after school with Berdina, other times Berdina went to her cousin Vivian or Elaine’s house. After supper when the dishes were washed and the floor swept, they would play games. One of their favorites was Ruth and Jacob. The person who was ‘it” had to be blind-folded and try to tag another person. Each time the blind-folded person said ‘Ruth” the rest all had to say "Jacob” as they moved about the room. The players were quick at dodging and running, but once the blind-folded person got someone against the woodbox or in a corner he could tag the person. then that person bad to be “it”. After they tired of playing, they all had an apple Ma had brought up from the cellar and were off to bed, but they didn’t sleep for a long time. They whispered and giggled for hours. They would be tired in school the next day but that was a small price to pay for such fun.
 

Most of the time Berdina and the rest of her family were healthy. If they were sick, Ma was a good doctor, with a remedy for most everything. For a sore throat, she would put first, a wet cloth around Berdina’s neck, then a dry one, and keep her warm. Somehow this seemed to help. There was warm salt water to gargle with, and for a chest cold, Ma would rub her chest with goose grease. Chicken soup helped and Berdina got oranges if Ma could afford them.

Ma said, Aspirins are hard on one’s heart.”

Berdina didn’t get them for a headache. Ma would put cold compresses on her head. Sometimes just being held and comforted for a while helped.

For aches and pains of stiffness, Ma had liniment that she bought from a traveling salesman. He also sold good cough syrup and healing salve for cuts and scrapes. then there was always good old caster oil.

One time Berdina had a sore throat that would not go away no matter what Ma did. Finally the doctor had to be called. The doctor looked at her throat and said, “She has tonsillitis.”

He painted her throat with some medicine and left some pink powder to put in warm water and gargle with. Ma gave the doctor a gallon of maple syrup for his call and the medicine. In a few days Berdina was feeling better, she could eat again. She remembered how good Ma was to her when she sick. Sometimes Ma sang this funny little song to make her smile:

Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown
what you gonna do when the rent comes around?
How you gonna pay? What gonna say? You know, I know.

Rent means dough. Landlords gonna put us out in the snow.

Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown
what you gonna do when the rent comes around?