Grandfather Stories: the Family Farm of the 1930's and 40's

Grandfather Stories chronicles the transition from family farming with a team of horses to the mechanized farm through the eyes of a growing boy. He recalls, Dogs called Shep or Billy came and went. Cats followed Granddad from the barn with his two pails of milk. Chickens fussed and squawked and produced eggs, which had to be collected every evening. Night hardly cooled from the heat of the day. Rotating fans served as the only air conditioning after electricity came. Heat lightening walked across the slate sky. The kitchen smelled of wood-fire, fresh peach or cherry cobbler, and churned butter. On the back porch where the work boots and the straw hats resided, the slop bucket full of old milk gave off its sourer odor to mix with the odors of kerosene and mud. There were chamber pots under the bed for nighttime use rather than trekking to the outhouse. Long-legged calves with runny behinds bawled for the moms during the day. These farmers in Gentry County, Missouri traced their ancestry back to the British Isles. Some fought in the American Revolution before they began pushing westward. These were self-sustaining farms able to produce most of the meat and vegetables and animal feed necessary for their survival. The reader will join Perry in feeding and doctoring pigs, harnessing a team of horses, visiting a blacksmith, and making hay. Come attend a Saturday night band concert and Sunday church followed by a church picnic. Sit on the lap of a former slave. Take the long train ride back home after a summer testing your growth. Sample a life now absent from most of the United States.