The Hardest Job
When our family moved to the farm in October of 1930, my mother was twenty-two years old. She had two children, one five (Arvel) and one three (Ardis). We moved into an old house that had been unoccupied for some time. Imagine the spider webs, dirt dobber nests, wasp nests, and general disrepair. Remember, it was essentially a two-room house with one large room and one much smaller. There were only three windows with no screens, and two of them could not be raised. The door had no screens and the main door (front) was closed with a bar which was opened by pulling a latch string from the outside.
The nearest neighbor, as well as the mailbox, was a quarter mile away. There were no phones, no radio, no television, the well was dry, and water had to be obtained from a spring some two hundred yards away. Imagine the difficulty in getting some organization and cleanliness in the house. Also, remember there was no outhouse and there would not be one for about ten more years. With no contact with others, you were largely on your own. If someone became sick, as they surely did, you had to make do with castor oil, baking soda, alcohol (whiskey- there was always a medicinal bottle), and maybe some aspirins.
One year later (8/19/31) a daughter (Alzie) was born, which meant that there were now a six-year-old, a four-year-old, and a baby. The baby was of course born at home. The doctor was some seven miles away and had to be notified in person since there were no phones. I don't know for sure, but I believe my daddy walked to Dr. Klein's house near Snead and then rode back with the doctor in his car.
At this point my mother had a baby and two small boys. Her typical day would be:
- 1) Take care of the baby and boys.
- 2) Cook breakfast on a wood stove after building a fire in the stove. Everything was done from scratch. If you bacon with the eggs, it had to be cut from the middling and soaked overnight to remove some of the salt. If you had sausage, a canned jar of sausage had to be opened since there was no refrigeration. For bread, Mother made biscuits every morning from scratch. After breakfast the dishes had to be cleaned and put away.
- 3) The most important possession of every farm family in the thirties was the Jersey cow. After breakfast the cow had to be milked. Part of the milk was put inside the well on a rope or in the spring to keep from spoiling. The remainder was placed in the churn. When it clabbered, it was churned to remove the butter, with the remainder being butter milk.
- 4) After milking and caring for the milk, the work of the day was just beginning. Water had to be brought from the spring and lunch had to be prepared with everything done from scratch. If you had chicken (which was only on Sunday) someone had to catch, kill, and clean the bird. If it was spring or summer, the garden would be a source of food. Someone had to go to the garden, pick the beans, grabble the potatoes, or gather the fruit. If the garden was not in season, where would be stocks of dried peas, pinto beans, and various canned vegetables. When you added corn bread made from meal ground from your own supply of corn, a meal could be prepared. The noon meal was called dinner with the evening meal called supper. Usually supper was simply left over from dinner. Many of our neighbors had a supper made up of butter milk and corn bread. The large meal of the day was breakfast. It was at breakfast that you would have fried chicken, fried fish, bacon, sausage, ect. The large meal was needed to furnish energy for the morning work, which began at sunrise and ended at our house at about 11:30 A.M.
- 5) In addition to meal preparation, the house had to be cleaned, the beds made, and tree small children cared for.
- 6) Although there was not a lot of clothing, there had to be a wash day. Diapers had to be washed along with clothing and shirts. Washing required going to the spring, filling tubs with water, building a fire around the wash pot, rubbing the dirty clothes on the rub board, rinsing them, and hanging them on the line to let nature do the drying. All the time this was going on, the children had to be cared for.
- 7) Because of the lack of cash, clothing was worn a long, long, time. The lady of the house had to find time to mend (patch) the overalls and darn the socks. In addition, using cloth from flour and sugar sacks, plus purchased material, dresses and shirts had to be made fr the whole family. As the family was growing in size, additional quilts were needed. The quilting frames were almost always up in our living room. They were suspended on rope and could be lowered or raised to have them ready when there was time to quilt.
- 8) As if the activities enumerated were not enough, the wife was expected to be in charge of the garden. She had to find time to plan, plant, and care for the plants and gather the vegetables when they were ready.
- 9) Nothing was allowed to spoil or waste. When the vegetables were available, all surplus were canned in glass jars. This was the responsibility of the mother of the house since very few men helped with any house work.
- 10) In May of 1934, the fourth child (Marjoe) was born. This meant that the family now had a nine-year-old, a seven-year-old, a three-year-old, and a baby. The overall duties were thus increased.
The saying that a man's work is from sun to sun but a woman's work is never done was certainly true in the thirties. There was no respite. Every day the cow must be milked twice, three meals prepared from scratch, and children cared for. This continued year round. There was no vacation. You couldn't get away for a day unless a neighbor could be obtained to milk and care for the animals.
In listing the jobs performed by the wife, I have neglected to include the care of the farm animals. The chickens had to be fed corn in the afternoon, the eggs gathered, and always the hogs had to be slopped.
I have totally overlooked one huge job. When the weather was cold fire had to be kept in the one fireplace sufficient to have the room livable for children. This required that the wood in the fireplace be replenished often. In addition, to prepare the noon and evening meals, a fire in the kitchen stove had to be made. I can imagine Mother placing the baby in a baby bed and rushing outside to get firewood to maintain some warmth in the room.
My parents never had a day off from the time they married in 1923 until the farm animals were sold in the early fifties. Even the thought of a vacation was absurd. The cow had to be milked twice daily, the mules fed, hogs slopped, chickens fed.
On rare occasions, emergencies arose which required the presence of Mother and Daddy. Sickness in the extended family or deaths of family members would necessitate their leaving home. On these occasions, they would visit a neighbor and ask for help. The neighbor and his wife would come and milk, take care of the mules, hogs, and chickens for the day or two they had to be away. The Otis Kent family was always the special friends with whom we exchanged help.