(From My Golden Rule Days)
(Hermann) was the town where we did our trading. We went by team and spring wagon and it took a long time. Our Dad always took two of us along, and I remember before Helen and I started school how one day we happily climbed up on the single seat and we were off, enjoying the changing scenery. When we got to ton and the team was tied up, Dad always took us in a store to get us an ice cream cone.
This day as we were walking, a man came stumbling all over the sidewalk. I asked, “What is the matter with him?” Dad said, “He is drunk.” In the store, the owner told us that he had a new item called Soda Pop. We were given bottles of it, and when I when I tasted mine it was so sharp that I thought it must have been what made the man drunk, and I wouldn’t drink it. Helen loved it and drank mine too. How I did miss my ice cream cone that day.
Our house was not made of bricks; it was old weather-beaten boards. It had two rooms, and it had a low attic where we kids slept. There were no railing where the stairs opened up there, and I would get scared every time I looked at it. There were tall cedar trees by the house and cardinals — we called them red birds — would fly up on them to eat berries. It was as beautiful as any painting. there was a path through the cedars that led to a pump. From there, we carried water for the house and watered the horses and the cows. A large oak tree was there, and we would milk the cows under it.
The barn was just big enough to put in the eight cows, the team, the wagon and some hay during the winter months
P. 2-3 – Copyright Esther Barnhart
