OliveMorganHaggettMemoirs

I remember:

Going to Dad's woodlot (out of Norwood) to cut wood. Dad had an old truck and we would bring a load home at the end of the day. We took a bag lunch with us. Being a "Tomboy" I cherished the time I spent with my Dad. I helped him work in the garden by pulling weeds and putting the hay in the barn. (forking it in - not bales)

I remember one 4th of July we kids could not have our fire works until we picked the potato bugs from the plants. Fred (my brother) and I helped plant sweet corn. As the story goes, Fred got tired of his job so he dug a hole and put the rest of his seed in it.

The railroad track was below our house on the Bray Rd. We would take a pail and pick up the coal that had fallen off the train. We carried it home to burn in the Round Oak stove that was in the living room. (Hard times?)

I remember Dad working at the Norwood Creamery wrapping butter. One day (at noontime) I walked from school down to the creamery to ask Dad if I could have 5 cents to buy a rubber ball. Many kids at school had one and I wanted one also. Nickels were hard to come by so we seldom asked for anything.

I remember taking my lunch to school wrapped in newspaper - homemade bread and butter sandwich with maybe a pickle to go with it. ---how I envied the kids that had store bought bread. It was a rare treat to have potted meat. Sometimes I had an apple also. We didn't have much but I never went to bed hungry.

I remember Dad tapping trees to make maple syrup. He built a sugar house out by the barn. He sawed old rubber tires up to burn to boil the sap. A lot of black smoke but, a hot fire.

We had a cow - maybe 2. Dad borrowed the neighbors bull to breed the cows. He wouldn't let me go to the barn for that. Maybe I could have learned something! (ha ha)

Bill (Almon) Matson came to the house to court my sister Ethel. He was so bashful he would sit on the floor between the wall and the Round Oak stove. I wonder who proposed?

Mom (Alta Marsh Morgan) had a cook stove and an oil stove with an oven. Many days she would have both stoves going to do her baking - even on the hottest days of summer. She baked cookies, bread and donuts to sell. She sold them to McCormick's grocery. I believe she got 25 cents a dozen for donuts and cookies - 15 cents a loaf of bread. I can see her now wearing shoes all run over - she was almost walking on her ankles. How her back and legs must have ached at the end of the day! She didn't do all the baking to sell until after she had raised a family of 9.

I came home at noon one Saturday after working at Alcoa to find Mom just starting a washing. I asked her why she was so late, not realizing that she had already put in a full day baking as Saturday was her busiest day.

But Oh, how I loved her! I don't ever remember of telling her so.

People didn't express themselves like they do today.

We didn't eat out much so it was always a treat to go to a covered dish supper at church or a church picnic.
I remember Mom holding me (she called me 'Lolley'). She sang a song to me. I wish I could remember it all - all I remember is 'Chick-a-dee-dee, Chick-a-dee-dee' and merrily singing its Chick-a-dee-dee.

Sunday, many of my brothers and sisters would come at suppertime - Johnny cake and milk mostly. This one particular Sunday Mom had made a cream cake (real whipped cream - not Cool Whip. My brother Ray came in and stuck his finger clear to the bottom saying "That's my piece".

Another Sunday night one of my sisters (Alice) boyfriend came to call. Mom told my sister, Betty and me that there was just 2 sandwiches apiece. I reached for another when Betty said "Olive, you have had your 2".

I remember Fred tying our sleds to the bumper of his car and giving Ethel and me a ride. He would take the back roads hitting all the snow drifts he could to knock us off. What fun we had!

We didn't have running water. Dad had 50 gal. drums under the eaves to catch rain water. When there wasn't enough, Dad put the drums in the truck and filled them with river water from Yaleville. If Mom was going to wash, Dad would get hot water from Martin's paper mill in Yaleville. That saved Mom from having to heat it in a copper boiler on the cook stove.

I remember getting an orange in my stocking - m-m-good. What a treat! And we think we have it rough!
Knowing what I know now - I could have done so much to have made it a little easier for my Mom & Dad.

I praise and thank my Heavenly Father for my upbringing and all of the sacrifices my parents made and for all the memories that I have of my Mom and Dad and all of my siblings.

Nov. 12, 2007