Spring - Social and Community Activities
The end of the school year each spring meant that there were special
programs or performances by children, or perhaps a school dance
or picnic. Families were invited, and friends and neighbors
visited, as everyone celebrated childrens' school achievements
and the end of another school year. Warm weather made it easier
for farm families to go to church. Each Sunday morning, most families got up early to milk cows and feed livestock before driving
several miles to church in a horse-drawn wagon or a car. Occasionally,
churches sponsored potluck dinners. Each family prepared a meat
dish, vegetable, dessert, or bread to share with others. Children
knew that church potlucks and school picnics meant good food
and a chance to play with friends.
 "We
were at a cousin's house for a family dinner. My dad and
a group of his friends would play ball in the afternoon,
and they played baseball out in the pasture. And I can
just remember when the fire whistle we had there. There
was a country telephone line. If there was a ring that
had two long rings and a ring, ring, ring beyond that,
you knew that was an emergency ring. Everybody should
go to the phone and listen….We found out that it
was our house that was burning…Our dad… was
upstairs changing clothes into his baseball clothes. And
he jumped over the banister and down the steps… They
saved the baby buggy and… sewing machine that were
on the porch. They could pull those out…but everything
else perished. All our precious things… all the
things that my mother and dad had worked for all those
years had gone up in smoke." -- Norma Ehlers  (Quicktime required) |
Written by Claudia Reinhardt.
|
Social
and Community Activities
