When I was small and Cleo was still at home, Cleo, Lolly and I slept in the same bed in the west bedroom. (The pink room.) Being the youngest, I always had to sleep in the middle. That was okay in the winter, because having a sister on each side of me, I kept warm. However, in the summer it was quite uncomfortable. Many times in the summer we took our mattress outside and slept under the stars. (But invariably we ended up inside before morning, when the room had cooled down – also we were afraid a snake might crawl on us). Most of the time there was a nice breeze from the south window of the bedroom, and sometimes the bed was placed there. I used to love to listen to the wind blow around the corner of the house at night. It made a lovely sound. I also used to love to listen to the sound of the teakettle’s hissing sound when it sit on the wood burning kitchen stove. Sometimes our hands would get very chapped because we worked in the cold outside milking cows. You had to wash the utter before you milked to get the dirt from them because they would have to lie down on the straw and manure in the winter. We didn’t have hand cream, so to sooth and heal our hands, we rubbed lard or tallow into them. Lard is the fat from pork and tallow is from beef.
One night I can remember snow falling off the roof of the kitchen and we were very scared. We thought someone was outside and going to “get” us. Daddy had given mother an oak china cabinet for a wedding gift and it sat in the kitchen on the west wall for many years. The rifle was always kept on top where children could not get to it. It was not kept loaded, but the box of bullets was kept next to it. You had to stand on a chair to get to it. I now have this china cabinet.
Julie Baker says
Were mattresses different back then. I know it’s a lot of trouble to move a mattress. I cant im
agine how much trouble it would be for 3 children to lug a mattress up and down stairs!!!!
Naomi Vetter says
Yes! The one we had was only about 4 inches thick. The one I have on my bed now is about 10 inches. It is so heavy I can’t even turn it like they recommend. Our innerspring was just that…a bunch of coiled springs also about 4 inches thick. I wonder if that set is still in the old house.
Cleopha Howard says
Naomi I hate to mess with your story ,but I got to say this: I never slept in the what you refer to as the pink room. The west room was always the boys room until Mahlon went into the service. When Mahlon left home you and Lolly were allowed to take over that room(the boys room)and Lloyd and I were in the east room which was for a long time referred to as the girls room. I was allowed to pick paper for that room and decorate it for a Home economics class project. It was at this time or sometimes after that your room became the pink room.
Aunt Lolly says
I don’t remember our taking the mattresses of our beds in our bedrooms out in the yard. I thought there were some old ones in the smoke house that we used. After Mahlon left home we probabley just used blankets to put down on the grass. The thing that was so great about that, was We never ever got chiggers or ticks or mesquito bit while laying out there.
Christina Rowland says
That is quite amazing…..I get bit if I just think about a mesquito…..Ouch!