The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1941-04-18

w IHEN | was a little girl,
w living in the mountains,
" we had to fill lamps, and
push down the wicks, and wipe
off the chimneys, every day of
the year.
We cooked on an immense
iron range that had to be cleaned
about every ten days. This
meant putting newspapers all
over the kitchen floor and tying
up the head of every woman in
the family with rag.
When we had soup or baked
beans or mince pies or layer
cake each one meant hours of
work. Except in emergencies
we never had bakery bread"
We had one bathroom in a family
of 10. We had two fireplaces in a
Broom house; the rooms without
them were iceboxes from November
to March, and the rush to bed at
night was an arctic adventure. We
children used to straggle out and
dress by the sitting-room fire in win
ter mornings, say our prayers in a
circle around it at night, and fill our
hot-water bags as part of the eve
ming ritual.
Many Children's Ailments.
Diphtheria was death in those
days. Children had brain-fever, hip
disease, fits, spasms; possibly be-
cause the diet of quite small chill
dren included sausages, bananas
and hot breads, often at the same
meal. IAN my babies are. bilious, 4"
said the wife of a prominent San
Francisco judge to my mother. My
gentle southern grandmother told
me that when she was a girl, young
mothers expected to lose the first
baby or two. A house servant was
paid eight or ten dollars a month;
she washed sheets, petticoats, men s
shirts, table-cloths for a large fam
lily before breakfast Monday morn
ing, was given Sunday afternoons
off, usually with a child or two for
company, and was forbidden callers.
Lizzie. who was that with you
in the Kitchen"
That was Mollie from next door,
Mum"
well, you tell Mollie not to daw-
die when she comes over here with
a message"
Sons were supposed TO SOW wild
oats" in those palmy days, and the
struggle 10 keep brothers safe in
the family circle evenings was one
sisters were destined to remember
all their lives Girls had only what
money they could cajole out Of the
males OF the family. Wives asked
meekly for a few dollars when the
head Of the house had finished his
coffee
Sewing-Part OF Life.
Sewing was done by meek, quiet
women who arrived at eight, had q
| lunch tray in the hot disordered sew.
ing room, and we're paid a dollar a
| day, with carfare II the trip home
was long. They ripped. lined and
/ inierllned garments. washed them in
. spanish bark, dCbdtCdfOr hours with
/ the woman Of the house. her moth.
/ er. her two oldest daughters ant
/ her three sisters as 90 the choice
I between making II up into a schoo
/ dress for Missy or using the blue
velvet and putting in panniers for
/ Miss Mary. Children sat on the
| floor and carefully ripped away the
buttons and passementerie or
| dresses which. being beyond all use
were to be sent 10 the poor.
Every woman had a ragbag hang
ing IN some inconspicuous closet OF
corner. every little girl had a buttor
box and played buttons with her
chums after school II her mother
flched back a special crystal or chi
ma button, she felt aggrieved.
Teaspoons went on the table
standing up in q spooncup; soda
crackers were always IN evidence