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STORY INDEX Service still most important product at Ligonier Telephone Co. A black and white sensation: Tiny Screens a big attraction in early years of television A man works from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done Indiana Extension Homemakers better the lives of families Small towns once supported their own movie theaters William Jennings Bryan among among orators at Rome City's Western Chautauqua Dr. David Rogers - Man of mystery, and benevolence DNR restoration programs working: Once abundant wildlife returning to area Rise of girls athletics have changed face of school sports Decades of intramurals: Ruth was greatest player ever: Frick Frick's predictions for 2000 not far off Small Wolf Lake big winner in 1942 basketball regional Four in a row: Finally with a gym of their own, KHS cagers went to 'Sweet 16' four straight years Ink to flow into 21st century at county's newspapers Broadcast media: Manahan was pioneer in Noble County broadcasting WAWK's history dates back to 1959 Health trends: Changes through the century occurred in medicine, health care Scarlet fever, polio were early health scares From sanitarium to partnership: A century of Noble County's medical care Funeral directors ran ambulance service in county prior to '74 'EMS arrives in time for '74 tornado LaGrange County doctors once made house calls by horseback Country doctor delivered babies in his home and drove a Thunderbird Service to mankind condensed to footnotes of history Who are the people of the Amish faith? Two controversial religious sects from the 1970's have impact on Noble County Churches with rich heritages served parishioners in LaOtto, Ege
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A man works from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done
"We didn't get electricity until about 1916. The first
electricity we had was generated here in town. The lights came
on at 6 in the morning and went off at 10 at night." "We used to make 5 gallons of cottage cheese every week
and had to carry all that sour milk up the cellar stairs and
scald it and work out that sour milk. One of the grocery men
took 5 gallons every week ... and oh that was a task." "We liked to cook and we liked to eat, too. I got dinner,
by myself, for 64 people for my mother's birthday ... (When I
was a child) we had basements, cellars at the time, and they
were cool. We kept vegetables, potatoes and apples down there
nearly all winter. And we had a hanging shelf and on this shelf
we would put our butter and milk and it was kept cool. I remember
when we got our first ice box. I remember when they used to cut
ice from Shipshewana Lake and bring it to town ... We had to
empty the water pan underneath the icebox where the ice melted." Threshing was a hot, dirty, hard job, yet families enjoyed
it because it was a time of getting together with other people,
helping them and laughing together. "My poor mother - I don't think she ever got any rest.
(She had 11 children.) On Sundays the kids in the neighborhood
came, too, and the preacher, he'd always say if no one asked
him on Sunday he always knew where to go ... It seemed like we
didn't have any money, but we sure always had plenty to eat." "In those days we had lots of pie, we didn't count calories
and a pie was a pie and we ate it and didn't think a thing about
it ... It was nothing for mother to bake every day, bread, and
make six loaves at a time." "Grandmother said, 'You use three handsful of flour and
one handful of lard and a pinch of salt, and water to make a
thick dough.'" "I would start to school in the morning on a well-filled
stomach with pancakes, maple syrup, sausage and sometimes sauerkraut." "The thing I didn't like was churning the butter. I had
an old stone churn and I sat there and I'd churn and cry. Then
I'd churn, then I'd cry. 'Cause the butter wouldn't come." "The Great Depression was something some of us that have
lived through it will never forget. The money that my husband
was earning at the Fort Wayne post office was a very small amount,
but nevertheless, by dividing it up with our family we managed
to see that everybody had plenty to eat and a place to live.
Frank's brother came back ... completely broke ... they had 10
cents. They had their own eggs, his wife would bake their own
bread and they got along for several weeks with absolutely no
money ..." "As long as I knew my mother she never drove a car ..." "Farm women always did work outside the home ... but
working away from the home, why that was an unheard of thing
when I was first married ..." "We went to church on Sunday. That was one thing we always
did. It wasn't whether you wanted to go - it was the rule ...
Saturday night was bath night and then everybody had to see if
they had a pair of socks to put on clean Sunday morning. If they
needed mending, they had to mend their own socks. The boys had
a great time. They wanted to take a few stitches and pucker up
the hole ... They had to learn to darn their socks and that was
quite an ordeal." "I can remember, as a kid, I wanted to rake up some leaves
on Sunday afternoon, just to play in them. But Dad said, 'You
are not getting the rake out. We don't do that on Sunday. We
honor the Sabbath Day.'"
"The first few dates that I had, we went in horse and
buggy. Mostly it was dates that we had after church and on Sunday
evenings. When I was a teen-ager they started what they called
the literary societies in each church. The young folks, we'd
get together one evening in the month and have a program, either
music or readings ... or a debate ... They were interesting and
educational as well as having a good time together. The literary
societies from different churches would get together for special
programs sometimes." "The church I went to was the German Reformed Church,
and in the morning the preacher preached a German sermon and
in the evening he preached an English sermon. I attended both." "Neighbors would get together early in the morning (for
butchering). The men would kill the hogs and get them into the
boiling water and as they cut up the animals the women would
work on making the sausage and things like that." "There were two kinds of patent medicine that we always
kept on hand. One was called 'World's Benefactor.' It was something
on the order of sweet oil. The other was a 'summer complaint'
medicine. It was just as hot as fire, but if you'd get cramps
or diarrhea, it was good." "One time I remember Mother making mush and putting it
on the bottom of my feet. I don't remember my ailment, but I
shall never forget that mush oozing between my toes." "The first radio I ever heard was a crystal set, and
you had to have earphones. There was only one person that had
a radio in LaOtto and everybody would go over there. They would
take their turns listening to that radio with the earphones." "There wasn't anybody in town that had running water
when I was little. We had a pump. The pump for the drinking water
was outside, but we did have a pump on the inside that was connected
with a cistern. The hot water was fastened on the stove in a
reservoir and that's where we had the hot water, on the little
cookstove." "Mother would go outside to do her work and she'd say,
'Now, Della, you see to it that you bake this morning.' But you
know it was fun. I baked bread and cakes and pies and everything
from when I was a little one." "When I was little our washing machine was one that we
had to turn the handle. It was on the back porch and my brother
and I had to take turns ... Monday was wash day and Tuesday was
ironing day ... Those were the irons that you had to heat on
the stove." "We had running water. You pumped water in a bucket and
then you run with it!" "All of us worked in the fields. We raised onions by
the train carload ... It wasn't hardly fair - the men would come
to the house at noon; they would feed the stock and they they
would sit down while Mother and us girls had to get the lunch
ready .... There wasn't any rest for us - we just had to go back
to the field. Same way in the evening ..." "We didn't have much leisure time when I was young. I
was working all the time. Today they have too much leisure time
... I think the children would be better off if they had more
responsibilities." "Can you imagine my mother washing sheets from nine beds,
rubbing them by hand, then boiling them ... She would can around
1,000 quarts of fruit and vegetables a year ... She sewed for
seven of us besides helping the neighbors sew. And if there was
a new baby in the neighborhood she always went and stayed the
first three or four days ... I always said she was 20 years younger
than any daughter she had." "When they talk about the good old days, forget it. I
LOOK AHEAD! Absolutely." |
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half of this century was very, very hard.