Uncle Clay's family lived just down the street from us. We would all play together
a lot. We played games such as Hide and Seek, Red Rover, Annie-I-Over, Roll the
Barrel Hoop, Sidewalk Roller skate, Tag, tell scary stories (to the younger children),
Jump Rope, Hop Scotch, Mother May I, and many more.

We went Trick or Treat on Halloween together. We did all those normal kid things
back then. Children today do not really know what pure fun is like. They have so
many electronic gadgets and soon become so bored with them, they lay them aside. 

I remember relatives getting together for Sunday dinners with lots of fried chicken
and homemade, from scratch, pies and cakes.

I started my first year of school at Liberty Mills. I remember coming home from
school many an afternoon and running up to the kitchen door and the most
wonderful aroma of homemade gingerbread. My mother liked sweets so we were so
blessed to have them around a lot. She bought flavorings from the Watkins dealer
and she would bake the most wonderful chocolate, lemon, and banana cream pies.
She made cakes of delicious cornbread and the best gravy ever. She was a good
down home country cook.

She loved cooking for company and sometimes just about every dish, pot, and pan
needed washing. When my sister (Lena), was home and unmarried she had to do
the dishwashing and cleaning up. As long as she was at home, I did not have to do
much of anything. But when she got married and left home, then fun time was over
for me. I had to do dishes (ugh), make beds, sweep floors, carry in water, help with
the gardening, carry in coal and wood for the stove, wash, rinse, and sterilize
hundreds of canning jars every fall (just because my hands happened to be smaller
than the rest), and there were other unpleasant chores we will not discuss here.

My mother could mostly write our names and that was about it. She had very little
schooling. After my sister got married, it was left up to me to write letters for my
mother. She kept up correspondence with her family and my dad's family. After
every other line or two, she would have me read what I wrote to see if I had written
it right. The dictation was always the same so one day, after deciding the letters
were not very interesting, I started writing about more interesting things. After
awhile, mother began to notice I seemed to be writing more than she dictated but I
still wouldn't read what I had added to the letter.

Christmases were a lot of fun and exciting, although we did not find much under
the Christmas tree. She would do her best to give us as good a Christmas as she
could afford. We most always hung our stockings up and on Christmas morning we
found an apple, orange, hard candy, nuts, and maybe a candy cane. I loved it!
Sometimes there would be a gift for each one of us under the tree. I always loved
everything I got. But what I enjoyed the most was being with family and everyone
being happy during that time. 

Our home life was not always pleasant. There were problems, but my folks stayed
together and made their marriage work. Our lives were full of bumps and grinds,
with some precious happy moments sandwiched in between. I savor those happy
times and try to learn from the bad times.

There were times during the war years, my folks would become very concerned
about my uncles who were called to battle. I had five uncles overseas at one time.
I remember the ration cards. Each member of the family had to have one. I do not
remember what all of them were for, the ones I do remember were sugar and gas.
Sometimes we had gas for my dad's old model T and sometimes we didn't.
Sometimes we rode and sometimes we walked.

 My folks took us to the free movies and fairs a lot when we were children. We sat
on a blanket spread out on the ground outside looking up at a large screen. They
showed mostly 'B' movies, like westerns with Tom Mix, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers,
The Lone Ranger, and many others I cannot remember. I believe it was then that I
fell in love with westerns and still like them today. I would rather watch the old
movies than some of the trash they show today.

   My oldest brother Bob loved comic books and I loved to read anything I could get
my hands on so when he would go away, I would sneak into his room and take
some out to read and then I would try my best to remember how he had them
stacked so I could put them back the same way but he always knew when someone
disturbed them.

I had to lie a lot in those days but I am not proud of it. I was a terrible tomboy
having four brothers in the home and I would do a lot of things they would do. I
could shinny up a rope tied to a tall limb all the way to the top. I would go craw
dad hunting and skim minnows out of the water with an old gunny sack. During
the two years we spent in Kentucky, I would grab a big old vine and swing out over
a cliff. My brothers and I would climb into coal cars and climb up the side of tall
silos and go down inside never understanding how dangerous it was.

In Michigan when I was in my early teens, we lived out in the country in an old
house that had a pond nearby. When it would freeze over during the winter, we
would go out and slide on it with our shoes and sleds. We couldn't afford ice skates. 

Once during the spring of the year my brother Bob found some goldfish and
deposited them into the pond and they multiplied. Well, we had a very dry, hot
summer that year and the pond dried up. The rotten fish smelled forever it seemed.

Love, Louise

(These are just some of the memories that Louise Craft has shared with
ShepherdWeb and we are pleased to be able to share them with the rest of you.)
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