| I have a cousin who told me a lot of great stories
about growing up on a farm in Nebraska. Our mothers were sisters
and they came from a large family (13 siblings). Vera's mother was the
second born and my mother was the 10th child. Needless to say, I have cousins
who are closer in age to my mother than myself. This is the situation with
Vera and myself. She was born in 1923 and grew up in Nebraska. I was born
much later and was born and raised in California. We were in the same room
once or twice through the years, but we got to know each other a couple
of years ago when she visited my home for a week while we worked on a family
book. The following is a story about Vera and her family.
Vera's mother sewed all of her own clothes including
her own bras and aprons. She also made all of Vera's clothes, even her
coats. She also made shirts for her brother. Vera was fortunate to have
2 cousins who were 6 to 10 years older than she was. And her mother made
clothes for Vera from their
hand-me-downs. Vera belonged to 4-H Club, starting
at the age of 9. She took sewing as her first project. They hemmed a dust
cloth, made a tea towel with an embroidery design, and also a pot holder.
Vera rode their horse, Barney, 3 miles one way, to the club meetings. She
wore a straw hat as it was very hot; usually in the 90's or sometimes 100's.
The 4-H Club met at the Vera's house on her 12th birthday (1935). Her mother
asked her to go down into the cellar to get the strawberry jello dessert.
When she came back into the room, the girls threw envelopes that contained
handkerchiefs. It was very fashionable at that time to take 2 matching
handkerchief to use as a collar and cuffs on your dress.
In those days, salt, sugar, and flour feed sacks
usually had blue printing on them. Sometimes it was red, Vera's mother
would bleach them (no Clorox in those days). She used homemade soap that
was made from pork cracklings, water and lye. They would soak overnight
and the next day, she would scrub them on a washboard until the print was
gone. Sometimes it took the skin off of the top of her fingers. Then she
would wash the sacks in the washing machine and then put them in hot soapy
water in the boiler on the stove and let them boil for a while. She had
a clothes stick made from a wood broom handle and she would twist the sacks
around the clothes stick as tight as she could so as not to take any of
the soapy water out to the rinse tub. There were hung on the line and the
good hot sun would help to bleach them white. She would hem the 5 lb. salt
sacks for handkerchefs. The 10 lb. sacks were used to make quilt blocks
or 4 could be sewn together to make tea towels. The 24 lb. sacks were used
for tea towels, slips, and panties for Vera plus other things around the
house. The 100 lb feed sacks made pillow slips, sheets, lining for quilts,
and night gowns.
Sharon McKenzie, Pleasant Hill, CA
SMcKenzi@aol.com |
