DO YOU REMEMBER? Today it occurs to me that much of what the Lehman sisters experienced 100 years ago is probably a current way of life for some people today. Helping to clean a school building, hiding paper and pencil in a tree, worrying about a stranger with a hammer in his hand, toast made on a cookstove... Do you remember helping with the school house cleaning? How we used to have to scrub each desk, how Mother used to clean the furnaces, Dad mowed the school yard and cleaned out the privies? We really worked and I always hated to start but when we finally got done it always put me in a very special mood for school. I always felt I was more ready - and a bit ahead of all the other children - that had not helped get everything ready. I often think how hard Mother worked and most of her pay was cancelled with the books we had to buy. -Ethel I dont recall any other Swiss rhymes, Dort - but I recall how I used to go down into the woods where I had a special tree in a blackberry patch where Id sit and write poetry! I had a pencil and pad hidden inside of some loose bark. When they suited me well enough Id take them home and copy them into my scrapbook. One was Colonial Days!!! Then do you recall how I copied I Live For Those Who Love Me, sealed it in an envelope, stuck it in a hollow stump addressed To The Finder. Do you remember who found it? The boss of the Road Building Crew! He brought it to the house as we were sitting on the summer kitchen porch shelling peas with Mother! Was I embarrassed when he asked about it! His laughing remark was Its a lovely poem. I had a crush on him anyway. He was so tall, blond, and pleasant. However that crushed the romantic feeling I had! (Wonder what he was doing down there anyway!) -Carrie Marie I don’t remember if I wrote about this or not. When I was in Canton and came home one Sat. night. Mother was going to have a birthday party (surprise). We were eating dinner and someone drove in and Dort looked at me and said, They are coming. I caught on and ran upstairs and dressed up. I was always glad she said that. -Pearl The boys like to hear me tell about the tramps that used to stop at home. Ill never forget Heller who was talking to Dad. He had a hammer in his hand and I was so frightened that he was going to hit Dad with it. I remember Swollen share and his red bandana he wore around his neck and funny old flat topped hat. My mouth waters when I think of the toast and hot milk we used to eat for breakfast on Sun. morning. I think the old cookstove oven made the toast taste better than any other method of toasting. -Dorothea
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 11:44:02 +0000