PAGE 16 She remembered the old couple, Cora and wheeler, who had bought the table at the sale. She had seen it a few years later where it was used as a dining table in a summer kitchen, which had been made from a wood shed, for Cora and wheeler belonged to a type that lived in the summer kitchen so they need not mess up the house. But Cora had died years ago and wheeler had been gone a Ion? time. After Cora's death, wheeler had married again but to whom? Oh yes, Martha Uillard, the woman who lived in the white house on the corner and took in sewing. She was younger than he and maybe she might be found and, on a chance, know something of the table, A letter was directed to her in the old home town in Iowa and in three weeks an answer was received from her in California where she now lived. She wrote "Yes, there was an old walnut table, when we moved to Omaha we left it in the basement. That was a good while ago, but if you care to go there you might, by chance, find it. If you do you are welcome to take it". She gave the number of the street and the house number. It was some time before an opportunity came to visit the city and start on the wild goose chase after the table. But the chance finally came and on passing through she stopped and looked up the house to which she had been directed. with a queer feeling of being on a very hopeless errand she rang the door bell. The woman of the house meeting her at the door seemed rather amazed at her request but consented to take her to the basement, and there in the dark, damp cellar was the grandmother's drop leaf table. It looked very much the worse for wear and neglect but the same old drop leaf table. Now, of course, you know the rest of the story for the table has been refinished and is even more beautiful, it seems, than it could have been in the old days. It occupies a place of honor in the living room and the fifth generation play about it and a tall and charming thirteen year old girl is inquiring if some day she may have great-great-grandmother's walnut drop leaf table, In those early days Mother bought green coffee which were like small beans. She would put them in a large baking pan so there would be a thin layer and roasted them in the oven. It had to be very carefully watched to get it the right brown color. Then there was the coffee grinder, a box shape, with a small hopper and a handle. These are now museum pieces, we placed the coffee mill between our knees and turned the handle. The ground coffee was taken out of a small drawer in the lower part. Some people had a grinder fastened to the wall. This grinder was also used to grind the pepper beans for our pepper. Later we got the roasted coffee beans in a paper package labeled Arbucke. we children never drank coffee, except Clara, and she was fond of it all her life. Our cooking was done on a wood or coal range and mostly in large black pots or kettles which fitted into the top of the stove when the stove lid was taken off. The bottom of the kettle would be so black from the soft coal which we always burned in western Iowa. Sometimes there would be strings of soot on the bottom of the kettle and we never washed that part. we baked all our bread, cakes and pastry. After I was married we might buy a loaf of bread but it was doughy and undigestable. A young married couple living near me were having some domestic trouble and a neighbor remarked, "Uhat could you expect - she doesn't even bake their own bread." It seemed I was always getting into trouble. One day when I was very small, Mother Page 17 smelled something burning. On following the odor she found me under the b?d with matches and a box of carpet rags starting a very lovely fire. Another time she took me visitins- her cousins, Mollie and Ida Stapleton, and while they were visiting I was sent out of doors to play. I evidently got into the garden for Mother said I had pulled up the very small radishes and was washing them in the horse watering trough when_discovered. Father's cousin, Eddie Gibbs, and his wife lived near us and across the field, when I got up one morning I wanted to know where my Mother was. Uncle John, who was then my youns- uncle, was looking after we children. They told me she was at Eddies so when I got a chance I started out and went there too. I remember a tiny baby on a pillow in a rocking chair that I saw when I got there. I was very fond of Eddie and Alice, his wife. I remember a prairie fire but it must have been some distance away but we could see the fire and smoke. Another time Father got we children up to see a romet. He was always anxious for us to see and know about affairs as much as we could in those times. Another time I got into trouble was when visiting my cousin Blanche Smith. Ue were walking on the picket fence and, of course, I fell off and tore my new dres= I otten went to Blanche's home as she was my age and liked to have me there. Lyman Smith was Father's nephew, son of Father's half brother, and one that was in the arm- with him. They had a larger house than we had with a large barn where we had fun Playing in the hay. Then we went to the Hopkin's house where there was Nellie, my age, and Ida, Clara's age. Uncle Edson, another half brother of Fathers, who was also Nellie Hopkins- uncle, gave her a gold ring because she was such a quiet, c?ood girl. I always tried to be that way when he was there but he never gave me a ring when we left that part of Iowa we stayed in their home a couple of days before we started. His daughter, Jennie, the one I was named for, was in a play, had a beau and was so beautiful and interesting, and remained so, as I have known her and visited in her own home. Another half brother of Father's visited us there. He was Uncle John Aldrich and his mother s oldest son. He ran away from home when he was a boy and went to Nevada. He probably lived rather a wild life as he was a miner and trained wild horses. He married and had one son who wrote to me a while after Uncle John was there. Me thought him very wonderful as he played with us and paid a Lot of attention to us. He had long whiskers that came to his knees and which he kept tucked up under his chin and fastened with hair pins. One would scarcely notice that he looked unusual Pi^rTt^en- of^im.beard- His beard was 27 inches lon5 as z read on the back 0£ a Uncle John amused us by lassoing us with a rope. One day I was running and he dropped the rope suddenly and instead of dropping it around my waist it caught me about my neck and burned me quite badly, while he was there we went to the wedding ot our cousin Emily Aldrich, Uncle George's daughter, and he held me in his arms so I could see what was going on. Uncle George was another of Father's half brothers, and his mother s son. Uncle John bought for Clara and me very lovely wax dolls. Th^ faces were of wax and painted, when cold weather came the wax cracked. Then we'put them back ot the kitchen stove and then the wax melted and looked worse than before. Mother got china heads for our dolls and those were better but not nearly so pretty we heard from Uncle John and his son, George, a few times but then never again. Ue did not live far from the school house and I remember some of the teachers. Mother was very fond of Miss Hearne and a Miss wolf. Mother made white sunbonnets for Clara and me and kept us looking very nice. There were osage hedges along the Page 18 road to school and after a rain or wind the thorns would get into the road and into our bare feet. For division lines there were osage hedges or board fences. In those days there were no wire fences. These osage were planted close and grew into high shrubs almost like trees and had thorns. They had large green oranges on them which turned orange color. They were not edible. The Muggins were our nearest neighbors and they had 2 children, Taltie (for Thatcher) and Mattie. Mrs. Huggins was such a fussy, dressy woman, we had school picnics in Dutton's Grove with a stage built up where we spoke pieces and then had a big dinner. Rather think the big dinner was first. In those days overshoes were unheard of but Mother would pull over our shoes much worn and much darned woolen socks that Father had discarded. She tied these around the top and they really kept us quite warm and our shoes dry. Ue did not have overshoes until we were ten or eleven years old. we wore long home knitted stockings and long woolen underwear. The underwear was usually a gray and uncomfortable garment which made us "itch". Some people, especially men, wore red underwear. As to shoes, when we were small we wore copper toed shoes which had a narrow strip of copper on the toe so they were not easily scuffed out. As we grew older we wore buttoned shoes with the buttons on the outside. It was very necessary we always keep track of a button hook. My shoes, when I was married, were very nice indeed and laced up on the inside of my foot. It seemed to me we always wore high top shoes which, of course, were much warmer for winter. A very important event in Clara's and my life was the time Father took us to Burlington to see General Grant. Father was a great admirer of General Grant as he was with him at vicksburg in the Civil war. He wanted us to see him and be able to say we had shaken hands with him. It was really something very special for Father to take us anywhere alone. I expect this was before Amy's arrival or Mother would have gone too. we went on the train and the Mississippi River was a wonderful sight. I do not remember so much about the trip there, but I do remember we went to a hotel where there were a great many people. There were policemen and they kept telling the people to stand back. One told Father to stand back but like everyone else we wanted to keep near the front to sea everything. After awhile this same policeman came along again and said to Father "I told you once before to stand back" and this time we did. I suppose the officer recognized the man with two little girls. Not long before Father's death he asked me if I remembered about it and I did as I suppose it made quite an impression on me. After a while the procession started and in due time we had the opportunity to shake General Grant's hand. On this trip to Burlington was the first time I had ever seen colored people. They were beautifully dressed and getting into a. fine carriage and I supposed that was the usual thing for all of them for a good while. Uncle Ues was Mother's brother and he was quite a dandy. He sold sewing machines and drove a fine team to a carriage. Afterward, when he and Aunt Adda were married, they lived on a farm. Aunt Adda always used the Old wheeler and Uilson sewing machine as long as she lived and I think it was one that she got at that time. The cloth came under the pressure foot from the side. Rose, Ruth and Katherine were their children and they lived in woodbine where I lived after I was married. Uncle Ues had a large apple orchard. Later they moved to Pasadena, California where they spent the rest of their days. Father was very fond of apples, as we all were, and in the fall where we lived in Page 19 Eastern Iowa Father would to to firandfather's and bring home a wagon box full of Uinesaps, Beutious and other varities. These two were his special favorites for winter eating. There were summer Red Junes and Fall Large Yellow Billaflowers and others. One evening after supper, when Father had been getting apples, Frank and I went out to the wagon. when I jumped from the wagon wheel my underskirt caught on the brake and there I hung. Father came out and rescued me. Another time when I was grown up and had gone to Persia with Frank, it was the custom when alighting from a wagon or buggy to step on the wheel, and placing one's hands on the shoulders of the man, spring lightly and gracefully to the ground. On this occasion Frank had hitched the team in front of the Burton store and I was descending as graceful as usual, my full skirt caught on the brake and I must have cut quite a figure and I was so terribly embarrassed, In the spring of 1881 we moved from Des Moines County, Iowa to Fremont County which is in South Iowa. That had been a terribly cold winter with deep snow. I remember this very well as I was nine years old. Father had a sale and there was a lot of people there for dinner. The auctioneer stood in the wagon. A number of stone jugs were put up for sale and no one bid on them. The auctioneer said he would give them to the homeliest man there. Just then Uncle Quinn walked up but had not heard the auctioneer's remarks. He give him the jugs and the crowd had a good laugh. Father- did not sell the household stuff but loaded it in a freight car and he came out in the car along with the horses and cows. Uncle John came with a bob sled and took Mother and us children to Grandfather's. The board fence caught the snow and it was so deep and so hard that Uncle John drove right over the fences, when getting ready to leave Mt. Union Mother had a dress maker make new dresses for Clara and me. They were a dark brown wool material. Clara's dress had a pleated ruffle down both sides but mine was plain. Then we had our pictures taken. I had some wide black rubber bracelets of which I was very proud so when I was having my picture taken I slipped them down on my wrist so they would be sure to show. Clara had lovely curley hair and Mother kept it in curls which looked very nice. Mine was straight as could be so Mother shingled it and with a part in the middle I looked very plain. No doubt it was more easily cared for but how I longed for curls. No choice then but now all little girls have curls. I had always wanted a bird in a cage so before we left eastern Iowa Mother got one for me. I called it Susie but being a female it never did sing and was not very interesting, and what was more I got rather tired of keeping her fed and the cage cleaned. I did feel very badly, though, when one morning we found poor Susie hanging from the perch where she had caught her foot, I never wanted another bird. Before leaving we went to Uapello where Uncle Edwin (Father's half brother) lived. He was County Treasurer, had a very nice house and was such a fine looking man. we boarded the train there. Mother, four children, bird cage and all. when we arrived at Randolph, Father was there to meet us as he had gone several days ahead. The farm there was five miles from town and had a very attractive one story white house, a white picket fence in front. There was lots of fruit trees and others and shrubbery and was really a very homey place. Almost as soon as we were settled I became very ill and lay in the corner behind the heating stove as I was so cold, A doctor was sent for and I had measles and I was so sick. I probably got them from a girl on the train that I had played around with. Of course, Clara, Frank and Amy all had them and I expect Mother was glad we were over that. we all liked this place very much and we had such nice near neighbors. There were grand large trees which Frank and I climbed and a grove of smaller trees, we went to school and Clara and I read in the sixth reader with one boy in our reading class. I was beginning to struggle with Page 20 tractions but couldn't do very well. Clara seemed so much older than I was and she could do them so well. She never played with Frank and me but did more grown up things, we went to church and Sunday School at Farmers Lily, which, notwithstanding the name, was only a church school house with a few other houses. It was three miles, and one Sunday when Father thought the horses were too tired we walked there and back. I thought we never would get home. That summer some people in a covered wagon drove up into the yard and a tall whiskered rough looking man said to Frank and me, "Can you tell us where M.C. Smith lives?" and when we said "right here," he said "that's the place we are looking for". It was Uncle John Scott and Aunt Mary, Mother's sister, and their family of several children. They had eight finally, 7 girls and 1 boy, and I think most of them were there, well, it was quite a crowd and they all had whooping cough while they were there, which any one knows was bad in those days. Poor Father could hardly take it.