Maxine's Story
Earliest Memories
It was the red glow in the night sky--the running, the shouting, the feeling of fear. That is my earliest memory---fire! Fire in the dead of night and seeing it through my window.
I suspect that some of the incidents remembered from my early childhood are a combination of not only memory, but also stories told and retold by my Mother and Grandmother. And from the black and white photographs taken with an old box camera. But it was fright that stamped that memory in my mind. I was afraid then and I would be afraid now under the same circumstances, even 70 years later. Mother never talked about that fire. I doubt that she even remembered it for very long, nor knew that I did. Was it a house---a business---or maybe even a barn. I don't know. Our little house in Paul Idaho was close enough to town it could have been either of
those.
Actually I had other things to worry about in the third or fourth year of my life. How funny the language was! I remember saying the words "bird" and "board", and not being able to distinguish between them and wondering how anyone could understand what you were trying to say!
Then there was getting dressed---the undershirt that always seemed to go on wrong side out! The bloomers that got twisted around, the back in the front. The slip---was it backwards or wrong side out? Take it off---put it on again---frustrating, but not as hard as those garters! My little fingers could not get those complicated fasteners to work and I had to have garters to hold up my long stockings! From the baggy-knees in those black and white pictures, they weren't very successful even when my Mother helped.
There was another problem in my life---milk. In a family that kept a cow and enjoyed bread and milk for supper occasionally, a daughter who refused to drink milk was a frustration. Even honey didn't help much---I remember trying, but I just didn't like it.
Otherwise my life was a happy one! And those pictures prove it---had my mouth wide open laughing in most of them! We got a new baby sister! "Iris" was number four in the family in five years, but she was probably the best gift that my Mother ever gave us. I was five years old by then, and can remember the excitement of a baby coming to us right there at home. I learned to spend money. My Mother and my Grandma stayed on the sidewalk and sent me into the drugstore to buy my own ice cream cone---they were so proud! I've become very good at spending money, a talent that no one else has ever praised me for, certainly not my husband, but I knew for sure that I'd done a great thing that day when I came out of that drug store with an ice cream cone! And I also remember the cones of the day---Y shaped, with chocolate on one side and strawberry on the other if you wanted---and for a nickel!
It was the sunny days of summer that were the very best. My Grandma would let me play in her water! Water was a big deal to my Grandma. When it was "water day", she opened the gate and let it come in and run down the ditches, through the garden, lawn, or anywhere she wanted it to. She carried a hoe and worked while I could just play and do whatever I wanted to with her water. I remember standing in the garden and seeing the water coming, trying to stop it, and failing, crying! And Grandma telling that story over and over. We both remembered that incident!
My Grandpa was kind of cranky, but he wasn't with me ... he always had candy to share with me, and even pennies---and sometimes nickels! I can remember one thing he taught me, how to make a "sugar titty", for when my baby sister was crying ... and it worked too!
Those were good years for me. My country was in the depths of the great depression, but I knew nothing about that. I had everything that a child needs or wants---A loving home and family. And enough to eat---clothes to wear---I neither knew nor cared that we were really poor. I was to realize that fact soon enough.
PS. In case you are wondering what a "sugar titty" is, I will tell you! Take a piece of (hopefully) clean white cloth, put a spoonful of sugar in the middle, then twist it into the shape of a nipple. The moisture in the babies mouth produces the sweet taste! An old fashioned pacifier! And of course the only pacifier available in that time.
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Website by Maxine