Chapter 1- It was Tuesday October 24th 1929. Even though I was only 7 I think that is one date that will always be etched in my young mind forever. Even though the adults didn’t quite understand the full facts of what quite happened yet.

One evening in early November as the family sat around the living room as the fire lit the room, I could hear mama and daddy talking some in hushed tones as mama worked on mending a shirt of daddys. She was bent near the fire. Because the younger children, Nellie, George and Thomas were found playing with the wood doll house I couldn’t hear everything they said. There had been several cravings made into the family members over the years. There even were some made for grandma and grandpa.

William being the oldest had his nose stuck in a book and was lost to the rest of us. I always wondered if he would become an author or something along that line because he loved to read so much. His uncombed brown hair was all over his head like he had been wrestling one of the other boys outside. For almost 11 year old Louis, he was good at working with his hands. He always talked about staying on with Daddy and grandpa at the mill but he could change his mind later on. 

As I watched my older brothers I waited for Betty to come back from our shared room with a puzzle. We had a little over an hour before we had to be in bed. 

“What do you think about having my folks move in with us?” I heard Daddy ask Mama.

“Where would we stick them Clyde?” Mama asked as she paused her work and looked up at Daddy. “I’m not saying they can’t move in. It would probably be the best thing we did.”

“We could move our room to the back here,” Daddy motioned to the back room behind the living room, “and then put them by the steps in our room, or we stay there and let them have the back room. I was just thinking of them being closer to a bathroom.”

There was a bathroom on the second floor and then just a toilet and small sink out in the mud room. Daddy had done that years ago so us children when we played outside and were dirty we wouldn’t drag too much dirt inside for mama. She wanted one just as much when she was outside doing gardening and other outdoor things. 

I caught myself thinking about that when my brown haired sister came back around the corner. In her hand was a puzzle. I wondered if they were really thinking of having them move in with us. As long as I could remember they were right down the road from us and both grandparents were always over visiting us or us with them. Grandpa was shorter than grandma. It was cute. Grandma was 5 feet and 7 inches while grandpa stood at 5 feet 6 inches. Grandpa was shorter but solid from years of hard farm work. You could tell grandpa spent many years outside working the land with his bare hands. His hands were worn down. Grandma, on the other hand, was tall but petite. Her hands were rough from working the land some as well but hers was from gardening mostly. She had good steady hands which made her great for her delicate work as a seamstress. I wondered if us girls would be taller like her when we were older and done growing. I had a feeling I would be the smallest of the children. I was always smaller and shorter than the others at this age. Even Nellie would seem like she would be tall because she had long arms and legs. But we wouldn’t really know until we are older. I find it fun sometimes to think what you would be like when you are older. Or am I just weird for thinking like that?

Grandma barely talks about her life before she met grandpa. Maybe she talked to mama and daddy about it and just not to us children. Although I once overheard her telling mama that she has no one and she was thankful mama wanted a big family, which made her miss her family. I never told another soul I heard. I wanted to ask questions but I knew I would be in trouble for asking. Especially if they weren’t talking about it or if it is something they don’t talk about in the first place. Even at 9, I knew how to be polite and even be rude at times as well. But I try to be good.

 Betty walked over and plopped to the ground beside me and opened the box for the puzzle. From there we started pulling pieces out. Before we knew what happened, we hear mama say,

“Alright children, time for bed. You need to go and get ready awhile.”

“Awww mama, a few more minutes?” 5 year old Thomas asked. Before grinning. He knew the answer before he asked but wanted to try.

“Very funny young man. Now go get ready.” Just as we got up and started off to the steps for the second floor and our rooms, I asked,

“Can someone read to us before bed?”

“You can read for a few in your own beds.” Daddy said.

“Awww. Can’t we double crash up on some beds, or in Williams room on the floor with quilts and things? Just for the night? PLEASE?” I begged as I held my hands together like I was praying. The other children did as well. Before we knew it, daddy started laughing and said to grab a book. I grinned big as I ran to him and hugged him big. He patted my back before letting me go. I grabbed Peter Pan from the small book case in the room. As long as I could remember I always liked the story.  

Before our parents knew what happened, we had our teeth brushed, faces washed, hair combed and dressed into our bed stuff. Grabbing our bed things we raced into Williams room. He was lucky to have his own room. Although I could imagine it could get lonely at times. But there wasn’t anyone in your room pestering you either.

William climbed into his bed as the rest of us made up our makeshift beds on the floor. Betty and I made sure to find a spot together. We used our two thickest quilts for the floor and laid them on top of each other. Then used a thinner blanket to cover up with. The twins made a pile with their bed things and laid on top of their things. Louis laid his out as well. William grabbed Nellie and let her lay down in bed with him. 

After Daddy and Mama found a small place to sit, Daddy started to read. He didn’t get far as each of us children drifted to sleep. That night I dreamed about the grandparents moving in.

–

That Sunday after church as grandma and grandpa were visiting daddy and mama moved them into the living room. While the grandparents found a nice comfy spot, Mama made sure all of us children were upstairs and doing something. Daddy said before we went up,

“If any of you children come down here before I call you down, I will punish you with the switch. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir. We all answered together. After Daddy nodded to us, we ran upstairs.

After daddy knew we all were staying up and weren’t coming back, he walked over to the sofa and sat down beside mama. He reached over and put his right hand on her knee. She had her right knee up and bent over her left knee. She then reached over and pulled his arm closer to her breast. She snuggled closer to Daddy and his heat. The house had a chill to it and mama was an anti cold person. Daddy always ran hot and she always joked that he was good to have in bed solely for his heat. And baby making.

Once they were seated and comfortable, Daddy started the conversation.

“I’ve been thinking. Instead of us paying for taxes on the land and such here and you paying rent where you are, how would you feel about moving in here? We can either put you in the front room beside the living-room or back there.” Daddy said as he motioned” to the back room. “I don’t mind us going back there so you both are closer to a bathroom.”

“Oh son. You don’t have to put your home life on hold and move things around for us. Besides, you don’t need your parents living at home being a pest.” Grandpa stated. I had a feeling that both grandparents would protest about moving in but knowing that grandpa was already against it. He also knew where daddy was coming from when he said about helping each other because of the price of things as is. 

Grandpa had given Daddy the house after he married mama back in 1917(?). Daddy and mama agreed that the grandparents could stay in the house up to a year the first year after they married. Then find a place because mama and daddy wanted to start a family. Grandma made sure that grandpa had found them a place after a month or two because she knew how it was when she first married grandpa. She knew she wouldn’t want anyone in their home for the first few months at least. But then again, that is something an 8 year old couldn’t quite fully comprehend. Mama and daddy like telling the story that when they asked for permission to marry, grandma asked,

“Once you marry and if we decide to give the house to you both, just promise me that we get to come by a few times a week and all day Sunday, weather permitting, after church?” She barely got out before daddy answered absolutely. 

“Then once the kids start coming and they are old enough they can come visit y’all at your place. Same for us. We promise to visit.”

“Really?” She asked.

“Yes. Why wouldn’t we come visit? We would visit you both even if you didn’t give us anything.”

And that is what we did.every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday they came to visit. Then once us children were old enough, well William mostly, we could go alone without the parents or grandparents walking part way. But after I was kidnapped they made sure either set of adults were able to see each other and allowed us to walk that way. The adults kept a very sharp eye on us after that happened to me. Which I don’t blame them because I was scared for weeks after it happened. 

After they talked about it for a bit more, they agreed to have the grandparents moved in by the end of the month. That was a little over 2 weeks away. I agreed right away to help keep the twins and Nellie occupied since Nellie was 3. Betty said she would help with helping with the food stuff and some with cleaning.

–

The next 2 and half weeks were hectic. I kept Nellie, George and Thomas upstairs as best as I could. Daddy made a wall in the attic that had a door so when the children started coming he and mama had a room to start for our play room. Then on the other side of the wall was the actual attic. Daddy started a play room in the attic for us older children when William was little. Once they had me they started to not put so much into it. 

After a few days of us working around the house when we finally sat down that evening for our meal, I asked,

“Daddy?”

“Yes Emily?”

“If the grandparents are moving in, where are we sticking their things? 

“What things?”

“Their things from their home? Like their sofa and stuff? It won’t all fit in their new room.”

“Oh no. What they need and use will go in their bedroom and or out here. Their chairs they sit in their home will be out here. Trust me Emily girl, we will make it work because we can get most of their things into the attic. They have stuff but not enough to not be able to bring it all here. We could fill their home up several times before they could fill just a room or two here.”

–

The following weeks after grandma and grandpa moved in things were very crazy. Us children had to remember they were here and it took us time to not act out much like we used to. But it was hard. Thankfully grandpa stood up for us quite often with grandma. She wouldn’t stand for us to be out of line most of the time. But there were also times she would be found snuggled up with just one of us children on the sofa, for some one on one time, with a book that was open and the two of us fast asleep. She would make hot cocoa for us as well. It was my favorite time with her. Even though her reading was hard at first to listen to because she barely had schooling and reading was the hardest thing for her. Especially bigger words. It didn’t take long for me to understand that she had very little schooling growing up because I thought all adults could read or do other things. I never said anything to her about her not being able to read well, because as a child, I also struggled with big words. 

As I got older though I would help her by sounding out the words in a way that didn’t make her feel dumb or being disrespectful to her in any way. There had also been times when us children were older and school wasn’t every day after the depression hit, we played school at home. Then have the adults play with us if they could. Grandma loved to play with us the most. The other adults never knew why she did so much. Well, Grandpa probably knew but would never say anything. 

Grandma had made a day of the week that was just for each grandchild. Well, that night was just set aside to read to us. Even though grandma was rough with us and made sure we were being raised to be good people, she also was one of the sweetest and softest of people. There had been times I wanted to ask her about her family but we were also told from an early age not to ask about it unless she started the conversation about her family. Which was rare. I wanted to know but I didn’t want to get the switch across my bottom for being rude. 

Chapter 2 – It was two weeks before Christmas when we were walking to school when it started to snow. The snowflakes were big. Us children were happy it was snowing for the first time. We were all chattering as we walked to school. We have not gone to school five days a week since the depression hit that fall. We were very lucky to have classes once a week. Somethings if that, that was until the supplies lasted. But Ms. Lane made things work. Like we used brushes and water on wood or the walls to write words. Then used dirt and sticks to do math work. If we were lucky to own any books at home we then could  at least read. But that was about the extent of school work for us that first year at least. 

Once we made it to school, we made sure we weren’t tracking mud or snow inside and went inside before the door was slammed shut. We placed our lunch pails under our seats and sat down. Ms. Lane had the stove up and running before anyone showed up at school. The fire felt nice and toasty. We didn’t get far in our lessons when Ms. Lane said,

“Listen up children. I think we are going to go home early today. The snow is coming down pretty hard now and I want everyone to get home safely. There is about 5 inches or more on the ground already.” While we gathered our things and started to get our jackets, mittens, hats and scarfs on, Ms. Lane was telling us what our homework would be for the following week.  

With that, we slipped out of the one room schoolhouse and made sure the door was closed all the way. Ms. Lane will make sure the fire in the fireplace is out and the black boards were wiped off. Within a few minutes after all us children had left for home, Ms. Lane had left as well for home. We walked home quickly due to the cold and snow. We were laughing when we came up to the house. Mama and Grandma were in the kitchen making some homemade bread when they paused as we came inside after taking our wet boots off in the mud room. Grandma asked in surprise,

“What in the world are you children doing home from school at this hour?”

“Ms. Lane sent all the children home early because of the snow. There is almost 6 inches or so of snow on the ground.” Louis said. 

“Is it snowing that bad?”

“Yes ma’am.” Mama and Grandma had stopped kneading the bread and walked to the door in the kitchen and looked through the curtains. Mama exclaimed in surprise,

“Oh my goodness! It really is coming down out there. We haven’t been outside or even looked outside since you children left for school. We have been just so busy.” They both walked back to the table to continue working on their bread. Nellie came downstairs holding her rag doll. She smiled big when she saw us back home. I said,

“Mama, could Betty and I make doll clothing for Nellie? So she can change her doll.”

“I don’t see why you couldn’t. You girls know where the old scraps of material are kept. Why don’t you go look for some things for a while.” With that, Betty and I went over to Mama’s sewing machine and started going through the pieces of material. After a few minutes we thought we found enough material to make 2 new dresses, 2 new aprons and a pair of flower underwear for the doll as well. Once we had the material, we went to Mama and asked,

“Are we allowed to use this material here Mama?”

“Of course you may. Oh, before you girls start on that stuff, do you have any homework that needs finishing?”    

“Mama is right Betty. Let’s do our homework in our room.” With that, we went up and told the younger girls to go play downstairs. Thankfully they did. That way we could dive right into our homework. 

Our homework usually goes by quickly when we put our minds to it. Once done, we gathered the material and started drawing out a pattern for the doll clothing. Once it was drawn out, I cut the patterns out so we could start pinning them onto the material. Betty pinned them on the material while I cut them out. We walked downstairs with the cut material to see Mama and Grandma. There we found them working on lunch. Once we walked back downstairs, Nellie and Rachel had run back up to our room to continue playing. I asked,

“Do you need any help Mama? Grandma?”

“No thank you girls. Did you finish your homework?”

“Yes Mama.” Betty and I said together. Sitting down at the table, Betty held up the cut outs for the dress stuff and said,

“Look at this, Mama. We have them cut out. Can we start to sew them after lunch? I just know Nellie is going to love them.”

“I know she will. And yes you may sew them after lunch.”

“Thank you mama!” We both said with big smiles. With that, Betty got up and placed the things on the table in the living-room, and then we helped set the table. 

After the lunch things were on the table, Grandma hollered upstairs for the young children, while Mama hollered outside for the men and older boys. The men folk came in and made sure to knock off the snow from their boots before coming in. One by one, they slipped their boots off right outside the kitchen door (still inside the mud room) and stepped through the door frame. Once Papa was inside, he closed the door. We were extra thankful to have a fireplace in the living room. Grandpa had made sure he had extra firewood inside earlier in the morning. We will want to keep a fire nice and big going throughout the day and night. 

After we all ate and the dirty things were in the sink and washed, we sat down to listen to the radio. Daddy had turned it on and because of the snow storm outside, it was nothing but static. Instead Daddy asked,

“How about I read some from a story book? In fact, grab that book right there on the coffee table. What is it?” 

“Moby Dick.” George said as he handed the book to Daddy. While he read the book, Mama helped Betty and I with the doll. Grandma was darning some socks as she listened. Daddy had read several chapters as we sat around and listened on. If it wasn’t for the darkening sky outside, the whole evening would have slipped away from us. Mama and Grandma had gotten up and started on beef stew for dinner. I couldn’t wait, since beef stew was my favorite. It was great with lots of buttered bread. The boys sat with Daddy and Grandpa in the living-room while Nellie played with her doll. Betty and I helped Mama and Grandma in the kitchen.

Once we all were sitting around the table, Daddy said,

“Emily, why don’t you say the prayer tonight.”   

“Dear God, thank you for another good day. Thank you for the snow and I hope it doesn’t snow too much. Thank you for the hands that made dinner and for everyone’s health and that we stay healthy. Amen.”

“Amen.” Everyone said. I had asked at one point,

“Daddy. The animals will be okay right?”

“Yes honey. Grandpa and I will go in and out to keep an eye on them all. This isn’t the first snow storm they have seen or been in.” We would still have to milk Betsy and gather the eggs from the chickens. But other than that, we wouldn’t have chores. We didn’t do much outside during the winter months like we did during the summer. There wasn’t much we could do. 

The second day of snow as it was still snowing hard, we didn’t get to go back to school. They didn’t want to risk something happening to us children going to and from school with so much snow. We worked on our spelling, reading and math. There wasn’t much we could do other than that. While the boys cleaned out the animals pens, Rachel gathered the eggs while Betty and I fed them.

While walking back to the house, I wanted to ask if I could go see Rose. She was my best friend and she hasn’t been in school for a few days. I hope she wasn’t sick. Once we all back inside, I found the adults sitting around the fireplace. The women were working on either fixing holes in socks or holes in pants. The men were reading the newspaper. I asked,

“Daddy?”

“Yes Emily Rose?”

“Could I go to Rose’s house?”

“How come?”

“She hasn’t been in school for a few weeks and I just wanted to see if she was okay.”

“Well, I think you should wait and see if the snow lets up some before you do since it is still coming down. She might not be able to go to school right now.”

“Why?”

“Because families don’t have money to buy school stuff so their children can go to school.”

“No disrespect, but we don’t have much money and we have 6 children in school.” 

“Yes, you’re right. That is because we are lucky enough to have a teacher who has ideas to keep teaching you. And if that is with you writing on walls with water and brushes or doing your math in dirt, then so be it. I don’t think you should complain about how y’all learn.”

“Yes sir.” I walked off to find Betty. I wanted to see if she wanted to play checkers with me. The boys were in their rooms reading. Nellie was in our room playing ‘house.’ 

Once Betty and I were sitting on the floor across from each other at the table in the living room, we started placing the pieces onto the board. We played a few games before the boys showed up and wanted turns. At one point Nellie came downstairs and asked,

“Could we go outside and play some in the snow before lunch?” Daddy got up and walked over to the front door and pulled the curtains back to peer outside. Whistling he said,

“Well, the snow left some. There looks to be over a foot and half of snow out there. So, I think you children could. But only for a bit. I don’t want any of you catching a cold. And once you come in, we will have something nice and warm for lunch. Maybe some hot chocolate afterwards as well.” We all jumped up cheering to be able to go out and play some. Since we got to go out to play, I figured I would ask again,

“Could I go see Rose? Please?”

“Only if Betty agrees to go with you.”

“But, why can’t I go alone?”

“Emily. Either she goes with you or you don’t go at all. We just want you to be safe and know you get there safe with the snow. If it didn’t just snow almost two feet, I would totally let you go alone.”

“Fine. I just want to see if she is okay.” 

The other children and I all got bundled up warmly. While the others went off to play and make snowmen, Betty and I slipped off down the driveway. It took up almost 40 minutes to trod through the snow to get to Rose’s home. 

Rose lived far back into the woods with her 9 member family. They had just a two room cabin. The kitchen and front room were one room and there was a bedroom next to them. They were very poor compared to our family. Rose’s parents and 3 younger sisters stayed in the bedroom on the floor while Rose and three brothers stayed in the front room. How they managed to stay there and sleep at night worried me. Mainly during the cold months. I didn’t quite understand how a family could live in such a small place and be fine. I always thought families had money and could move into a place with rooms like my family. I was too young to completely understand money like adults do for bills and such. Being young, I never could understand that not all families weren’t okay like my family with money. Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t always have money but we could grow our food or had a way to hunt for food and never had to be evicted like so many families during the depression years so far. I couldn’t always understand how one family was literally dirt poor like most surrounding families.

Going to the front door, I pulled my glove off and knocked. After a minute, Rose’s mama came to the door and opened it up. Quickly slipping outside, she had her thin jacket on with shoes as she slipped outside onto the small porch. Folding her arms across her chest, I asked,

“Hi Mrs. Jones. Is Rose home?”

“She is. But you can’t come in. Most of the children are sick, that’s why you didn’t see them in school. I don’t want whatever they have to go home to your family. I hope you can understand that.”

“I can. Will you please tell her I came by? I really miss her.”

“I will.” She replied with a small smile. 

“Can you give her a hug for me?”

“I will. Thank you for stopping by and asking about her. It means a lot.” After we said our goodbyes, Betty and I turned back for home.

Finally back at home, we stomped our boots off before going into the mud room. We slipped them off and went inside. Hanging up our coats on the hooks and stuffing our gloves into the pockets, we found the others in the living-room sipping on hot chocolate as they listened to a story. Daddy stopped reading as he saw us turn the corner. 

“Hi girls. We weren’t expecting you two for a while yet.”

“Rose couldn’t play. Mrs Jones said most of the children are sick and didn’t want us to come back home with germs and get someone here sick.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe I could make some soup for them and take it over to them tomorrow.” Mama said.

“Some homemade bread would be nice as well.” Grandma added. Grandma got up and cupped our faces to help warm them up. Telling us to go sit near the fire, she went into the kitchen and started getting cups from the cupboard. She was going to make hot chocolate for Betty and I. I got up to help her before she shooed me away and back in front of the fire. 

Betty whispered in my ear that Rose and her family will be okay and not to worry.  I nodded as I thought she better be right. I didn’t want anything to happen to my best friend.

Chapter 3 – With christmas out 10 days, mama finally gave daddy an okay to get a christmas tree. Of course us children knew there wouldn’t be gifts this year. But we knew having both grandparents healthy and living with us would be the best gift. As the men went off with William and Louis for our tree, the rest of us stayed home and started to bring things down from the attic. Grandma and mama then started a helping of popcorn. We would get to string it up so we could drape around the tree. We would also do extra to drape around the room. 

It was an hour and half later when the men came home with a tree and turkey. We hadn’t had one in a few weeks. If mama worked on it right away we might be able to have it for dinner. I guess they had talked weekends prior about what tree they wanted to use so that is why it didn’t take them long to come back home.

–

Hours before Christmas morning I found myself sitting on the sofa looking at the tree. The others had been in bed and had been sleeping for several hours before I had gone down. I don’t know what made me do it but I found comfort around the tree. I guess I felt a certain way because it was the first year we had the grandparents living with us. I guess I had fallen asleep because the next thing I remember is hearing grandma telling me to wake up. When I opened my eyes, I jumped because she hardly ever goes into our rooms. Then I remembered where I was. I sat up on the sofa in a start.

“Good morning Grandma. I’m sorry I am here.”                        

“Why are you sleeping here instead of your warm bed?” She asked as she laid me back down and pushed the blanket around me more. She wanted to tuck me back under the blanket I had on me. 

“I woke up around dusk and wandered down here. I wanted to look at the tree and I guess I had fallen asleep again.”

“Oh. You are silly. You can go back to sleep for another hour if you would like.”

“Sure if you don’t mind.” I said before I yawned big. With that, she brushed my hair back as I closed my eyes. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.

Once again, I woke up an hour later to the others running downstairs from the second floor. When I sat up and brushed the hair from my face, I glanced over at the tree. There were gifts under it. Scrunching my face up some as I looked over at the adults, I started to wonder what the gifts were and who got them. They all were the same size and wrapped in the same brown paper. The other children ran over to the tree before I had a chance to get up. Just as the other children ran over to the tree Grandpa hollered out,

“Absolutely not!” They froze. His voice echoed throughout the room. They then slowly turned around to face the adults. “Until Emily has a chance to get up, and ready y’all aren’t to go near that tree.”

Surprisingly they listened. In fact they waited until after breakfast as well. As breakfast was being prepared, George asked,

“Daddy, can you read the Christmas story while we wait for breakfast?”

“Sure. Go grab the family Bible.” With that, George ran over to the table in the living room and grabbed the Bible. When Daddy had it in hand, he opened it up to the book of Mattew and found the story. From there he read it while the women worked on the food. Us children worked on getting the table set up.

–

After we prayed and could eat, we ate our fill. Flapjacks were one of my favorite breakfast foods. There were flat jacks, eggs, sliced ham and fresh bread. There was butter and jam for the bread if you wanted it. I always had 2 slices. One with butter and jelly and the other had butter for a slice of ham. We would eat our fill before we would jump up and help mama with the dishes. We worked together and within 15 minutes after the meal was done, we were all in the living room again. The adults found their oversized chairs or the women in their rockers. Grandma had sat down that year, mostly prior to moving into our house again she had worked on a piece by piece quilts for each of us children. She made sure to make them all to be a twin size blanket for us so we had them for many years before we would marry and for afterwards. If we decided to. 

That Christmas was one of the best I could remember. As I wrapped my quilt around myself I stood back as I watched the family laugh. William went over to the piano and started to play some Christmas music as we started to sing along. Mama had gone off and started to make some hot cocoa for us as she sang along. Until it was time to start the meal we spent the morning singing Christmas music.