Grace Eleanor Bolin

Grace Eleanor Bolin

I was born Grace Eleanor Bolin on a Tuesday, Dec 29, 1896 at Arthur Illinois.

These are some of the things I can remember my Mother telling that I did when I was very young and don't remember doing. I guess about the first was when I started walking, then we have to climb next. In the 18 and early 1900's the salt, pepper, sugar, syrup and jelly were left on the table to save steps. Also when the dishes were washed and dried, they were never left to dry like we do now, enough dishes to set the table for the next meal were stacked in the middle of the table and covered. I was walking but it wasn't known yet that I was starting to climb. One day Mother said she went outside for a little while, when she came in I was setting in the middle of the table playing with the dishes. Then another time I wanted a spoon to play with in the dirt, Mother would not let me have it so I was mad and went outside when I passed the window I made a face at her and she happened to be looking that way. I guess I got my first spanking for that.

One time my Dad had killed a skunk and cleaned it so Mom could use it to get the grease to mix with turpentine to grease us with when we had a cold. She roasted it and pulled it out on the oven door to cool. I went in the kitchen and was very quiet. When she went in to see what I was doing I was pulling a piece of meat off the skunk and she was horrified when I ate it before she could get it away from me.

I can sort of remember one day she said my Dad was in the kitchen reading, the door was open so he said - Grace, go shut the door its cold. I went over and put my hand on the door and said - No the door not cold, but of course I had to shut it anyway.

About the first I can remember was our neighbor across the road. Always when Mom took us there, Mrs. Floyd would say - Gracie, don't you want a cookie? Of course we all got a cookie. One day we went over and went in, there was four of us then. I followed last and when I got to the door I stood there and said - Mrs. Floyd, do you have a cookie. Right quick Mom said Gracie, when I get you home I will whip you. The old lady said No Annie, that is just what I have been waiting for. One day over there Nellie, the oldest girl was swinging us in the old barrel stave hammock and I rolled out. I wasn't hurt but I sure cried, it hurt so bad to think her of all people she would let me roll out and then swing over me before she could stop.

I must have been four or five when we had a red milk cow with a small black and white calf, every time I would go any farther than the well the old cow would run at me, she never let me get closer to the fence than the well. I remember her.

I remember when Grandma Bolin and Great Grandma Purvis, Grandma Bolin's Mother lived with them, they both had pneumonia at the same time, both died and were buried the same day. Ruth and I both had pneumonia at the same time. The Dr. set by the bed all day and night and gave us each a tablespoon of whiskey every hour. I remember once they gave us each a tablespoon of castor oil. Ruth kept hers down but mine all came back up on my pillow. Tom Floyd was setting close to me and I was a the foot of the bed, he reached in his pocket and got a few pennies and gave them to me, He was Mrs. Floyd's oldest son.

Ruth and I were better so they let us get up and dress and go into the parlor for the services before they took Grandma and Great Grandma to the cemetery, then we had to go right back to bed. They had pennies laying on one's eyes, I wanted to know why and Mom said it was to keep her eyes shut.

At that time and years later they were always kept at home and were buried as soon as they were dressed and taken straight to the cemetery and not very many went. The casket was put in a home made wooden box and set in the back of the wagon or a spring wagon. That was in Jan. 1902. It wasn't long till Grandpa stayed with us and Aunt Pencie was married and her and Uncle Henry lived on Grandpa's place. Aunt Pencie had a house down in the creek bottom, after she was married they moved it down to our house to make it bigger.

My Dad was having trouble and the Dr. told him to sell the place and fix up a covered wagon and just travel, he said he had consumption, which is now called tuberculosis. I think it was the next year that we started moving in the covered wagons. Dad drove one and his father drove the other. We started school in Illinois, I was in the first grade when we came to Montana the first time. We went to the Kerlew school and lived on the place where Harry and Grace Mittower live now, the place then belonged to Siples, Dad sold it to Charlie Rose. While there I had a man teacher and I didn't know men could teach school. I sure was disappointed when I saw him.

I can remember we stopped at Grandpa Pippey's house and us girls Ruth, Ester and I went for a walk and coming back we seen such a big yellow cat setting by a bush, I know it was the biggest cat I have ever seen. I can't remember much about the trip moving, but I know when we got to the big bridge at Stevensville the horses were afraid because of the high steel top. Barney the big footed horse was afraid, we set there for a while and then forded the river. Mother was so afraid the water would wash the wagons down the river, Dad was sure Barney would run away and he knew he couldn't hold him. We couldn't have stayed there long because in April 1904 Norman was born in Benton city, Missouri. Where we lived in Missouri was a nice big white house and was close to school. That was where we bought the new Surrey with the fringe around the top. A surrey is just a two seated buggy and you use two horses to pull it instead of one.

One time three men were putting on a show, three blind mice, and stayed at our place over night and blacked their faces to look like Negro’s, it was put on at the school house and we went to see it. When we were small they went to all the Barnum & Bailey shows to see the circus. That year the mice were so bad they ate up everything and there was no grain crop, so they left there. Once when we went by a school house at noon or recess, the kids were playing ball and they all stopped to look at us, as one kid said - Oh look at the gypsies another one said no they are not gypsies, just look at those big horses. Mom said it was somewhere in Missouri.

The second year I was in school we were back in Montana, lived down across the railroad track where the highway is now. Dad worked for Whit Flowers. It was that year that Lizzie Rose started to school. She later was one of Virginia' s teachers. It was there that I made my first biscuits and Mother got bawled out when my dad came in and caught me rolling them.

Then we were in Canada one time, I remember one time when it was terribly cold and a couple of men drove in to our house and wanted to stay over night. My Dad told them to sleep in the wagon they were driving. I think they gave them some covers and they slept out there. Mom was so worried because she was afraid they would freeze to death. dad said they had so much whiskey inside that they couldn't freeze and they didn't.

One day going to school we seen a huge snake by the road, back of its head was a large bulge. We wanted to know what it was, Grandpa said it had swallowed a frog so he took out his knife and caught the snake and cut into it and out came a big frog and hopped away.

Norman was just walking, he had a real pretty blue and white checked pleated skirt and blouse, the little boys then wore them till they were three or four years old. I know we were there in the summer time as we were working in the garden one day and later Norman went back and pulled up the row of green onions we had for winter onions.

Grandpa used to walk to school with us every day and come after us in the evening because there were so many range cattle. One day they were gone and Grandpa didn’ t get home in time to come after us so the teacher had a boy take us home on his horse. He was the meanest kid in school. He put Ruth up, then Esther and was going to put me up

in back. I wouldn’t get up there and slide off, no matter what he said, I wouldn’t get up there. He would say Grace, the cows will get you. I didn’t care, I would walk and walk. I did, but he wouldn’t walk even if I didn’t get up. I walked by the horse all the way but the cows didn’t bother me.

We didn’t have any fruit there only dried peaches, apricots and apples. they didn’t raise any fresh fruit but in the pasture along the creek we found real nice strawberries and had a short cake, it was sure good.

Once we went to Washington, we lived in Ritzville for a few weeks. The whirl winds were sometimes awful bad, we lived close to a Catholic church.

One time we went to Texas and stayed three weeks, Grandpa had a sister there at Houston. It was right on the coast and sometimes the storms were terrible. They had one lemon tree that had one lemon on it, it looked like it was as big as a pint cup. They wouldn’t pick because they wanted to see how big it would get.

One time we stopped along the river, there was a turn in the road and a real wide place, was a perfect place to camp with trees close to the river. We stayed there a few days and Dad put up a rope closeline and Mom washed, seemed like all the time till she got our clothes all washed. While there I remember our Dad said if we took a hair out of the horses tail and put it in a can of water it would turn into a snake, of course the next morning we went to look but there was nothing in the can but water.

I don’t know where it was, Dad worked sometimes in a lumber yard hauling lumber.

When we lived in the Ozarks in Missouri we had a big peach orchard on a hill side. We had a garden and peanut patch and a couple of rows of sweet potatoes and white potatoes down between the orchard and the creek. It was sandy down there. They cut a tub full of potatoes to plant. Ruth and I had to carry that tub down there to plant, it was so heavy we just couldn’t carry it any farther so we set it down. Then a big snake came crawling our way, we picked that tub up and run as hard as we could and didn’t even know we had anything.

I was eleven then and Ruth was twelve. Our sister Ester who was nine and a half died there late in august just after school started. She had a sore throat for several days. (diphtheria)

Ruth and I had been at the neighbors one afternoon and going home we seen some small animals playing in the road. We had to go through a big woods, we slipped up easy and grabbed one by the tail, they were small, about like kittens. We thought we might have a bear and we run and kept watching for an animal, a bear or something. We got home and Dad said - Well you got a coon, He put it in a box and let us keep it overnight and turned it loose.

We left there after they got the sweet potatoes and peanuts in. We had a big gunnysack half full of peanuts and a wagon box rounded up with sweet potatoes but the other potatoes didn’t make anything. That fall they went back to Illinois and Grandpa died in February 1912. We left there that spring and went back to Montana, as badly broke as anybody could get. We traveled in the wagons for about three years part time. I just can’t remember much about it, Mother said we moved to Montana seven times from other places. We lived in a house across the creek from the Cherry place for a while, then Dad bought the Cherry place back from Roy Everson’s Dad and we lived there till late fall and Dad built a log house across the river from Bulie Lidell. The next spring Fritz, Frank and Johnnie were born.

I remember evenings, Grandpa Bolin would set by the fire and us kids all set around with s small one or two on his knees, and h would sing to us. One was:

Old Dan Tucker went out a hunting,
First thing he saw was an old sow rooting
Her nose in the ground and her tail up a shaking
Was too late to get his supper
Washed his face in a frying pan and
Combed his hair with a fine tooth comb
Supper’s over and breakfasts a cookin
Get out of the way for Old Dan Tucker

Then there was one about Mr Bull frog wit a courtin to see Miss Molly settin on a lilly pad, but I can’t remember any more of it.

Our Dad died at Stevensville, Montana in February 1927.

copied from twillastinytreasures.com