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each other most every evening, but of course they never allowed themselves to be seen. But some animals didn’t feel that way about it. Late one afternoon, my sister and I were out in the road a short distance from the house. Our dog was with us. Suddenly about a quarter of a mile away a huge black bear came limbering out of the woods and planted himself in the middle of the road, looking at us as if to challenge these foolish intruders who had violated his territory. He was not a bit frightened, but let me tell you, we were. We stood as if rooted to the ground. Then I guess he decided that we were not worth any more of his time, and he slowly ambled back into his woods again.

These first years were hard in our new country---especially hard on my mother and father. But now as I sit reminiscing with you (my mother, father and sister all gone) I feel a sort of deep down joy that I have contributed at least a small part to that time of pioneering with three people I loved best “back in the olden times.” In later years I was destined to return to the heart-home of my beginning, but the relationship had shifted. Now my little family of three is my husband, Herman Bushing, my daughter Jean and my soon-in-law, George Makas.

Mrs. Herman Bushing

1627 Wenonah

Berwin, Illinois 60402

AN HISTORICAL MANSION

I believe there would be no housing shortage now if people lived as they did when I was a little girl!

My father, Earl N. Pickett, and my mother, Theresa, made it possible for the Picketts to boast of having four generations living under one roof at the same time.

There was ample room for all to be comfortable in the spacious, three story brick house of eleven gables, located in the Town of Unity, Clark County.

The many rooms were more spacious than the blueprints showed because the contractor, Eli Pickett (grandpa’s brother) got the outside dimensions on the inside. Thus each room was much larger than planed.

Upon completion, Grandma looked at her house “Of Seven Gables” and cried because it was so squatty. It wasn’t beautiful as she had planned.

After some lamenting, a plan was conceived to improve the appearance. A third story was added, along with four more gables. This was finished off into a large square room with a window in each direction. It was always known as the third story.

Great grandma, Eliza, was a neat little Pennsylvania Dutch lady. She drew her hair up in a tight little pug on top of her head. She was blind when I was born so she never got around much then but I do vaguely remember her. She left the family group January 12, 1920 when I was two and a half years old.

Little Grandpa (great grandpa), Samuel, was a white haired and white bearded, wiry little Welchman. I dearly loved him as he did me. I vividly remember sitting on his lap, sucking peppermints and listening to his great watch. My brother Rex also shared this experience but being two years younger, he doesn’t remember them as clearly.

Little Grandpa passed away March 16, 1922. This was a very memorable event for me. Grieving, I should say not! My mother, dad, brother and myself lived upstairs. We shared one bedroom at the end of a long hallway and the kitchen was on the other end. That Christmas I received a beautiful tin doll buggy. The tin wheels made so much noise running back and forth from one room to the other. Grandpa was so sick the noise bothered him, so my buggy was put away. So that night of March 16th was a joyous time. I can still hear my great uncle Sam call upstairs saying, “Earl, grandpa’s gone.” My exclamation was, “Good, I can play with my doll buggy tomorrow.”

My sister Audrey loved grandpa too. He used to hold her and she playfully pulled his beard until the tears rolled down his cheeks.

Grandpa’s death ended the living of four generations under one roof.

Today my brother , Jack; his wife, Sylvia; two sons, Brian and Earl; and daughter, Michelle, live in that great historical mansion. Michelle is the youngest of the fifth generation of Picketts to live in

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THE HOUSE OF ELEVEN GABLES.

Ione Pickett Cooper

Route 2

Colby, Wisconsin 54421

CATCHING THE SCHOOL’S THIEF

When Miss Florence Garbush was engaged as the principal at the Goff State Graded School in the Town of Reseburg, she boarded at our house.

Because she lived with us I became familiar with some of the problems she had to cope with.

Solving problems for a roomful of children is a chore in itself but coping with a thief is another matter.

Early one day in the spring, Jack Frances (one of the students) reported his entire lunch was stolen. The bag as well as the contents was gone.

Like a good teacher, Miss Garbush inquired of her students, “Does anyone have any information as to what happened to Jack’s lunch?” Her question drew a blank.

After that Jack’s lunch disappeared at regular intervals but Miss Barbush did notice that when the children brought their lunch indoors during inclement weather, Jack’s lunch was intact.

At least the thief did not dare to steal the lunch under Miss Garbush’s watchful eye. That is what she thought.

By now the matter was getting quite serious. Jack was getting pretty angry. It was a frustrating situation. There were no clues leading to a suspect and he felt a victim of sabotage. He complained loud and clear. Why was it always his lunch? No one else had theirs stolen. He’d be damned if he’d continue to go hungry. (He did get a collection of the extras so he wasn’t starved!) If Miss Garbush couldn’t prevent his lunches from being stolen, he’d quit school.

All this time with the patience of a sleuth, Miss Garbush kept on the alert to catch the thief. She kept a close eye on Jack’s lunch. By doing so, she learned the lunch disappeared only when the children left their lunches on the open platform at the top of the wide open staircase leading into the entry. She also found out the lunch disappeared while she was holding class.

That was a real poser. How could she keep an eye on the lunch while she was holding class.

One day my husband thought it was time to check the soil in the southwest field for spring planting. As he was in the field he happened to glance toward the schoolhouse. Our dog was nonchalantly crossing the field, hopping on his three legs heading home. (He had lost a hind leg in a mower accident.) As the dog came closer, Elmer noticed the dog was carrying something in his jaws. So he called him to his side. The dog obeyed the command but first he dropped his newly acquired possession. Elmer walked over to where the dog dropped the object and upon inspection of the contents, knew the mysterious disappearance of Jack’s lunch was solved.

Our dog had been making daily trips to the school. He carted Jack’s lunch and only Jack’s lunch, because he was the only one who carried it in a paper bag.

The other children used lunch buckets so there was no way the dog could get into them. And why should he try when Jack’s was so handy?

Needless to say, everyone heaved a sigh of relief when Elmer Kuester brought the beaten up bag of lunch back to school. The mystery was solved. Jack did not have to go hungry anymore and he dropped the subject of becoming a dropout.

Ursula Kuester

Route 2

Greenwood, Wisconsin 54437

FROM THE CLARKS-------

To begin with, my wife Hilda Okerman, before her marriage was born in a log house one and one half miles north and east of Eidsvold. Her family was farmers who carved out of the wilderness a very

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nice and prosperous home. They were loggers also.

I was born in a log house about one mile east of old Eidsvold. We had lived in Eidsvold until our marriage. My family were loggers too.

The first I knew of anything was when we lived at Rapids Dam in some logging camps on the North Fork of the Eau Claire River about a mile up river from Eidsvold.

Father put in timber with his yoke of oxen and watched the dam for the lumber company.

The logs floated to Eau Claire. There were two dams on the river father up, one was called Whipple Dam and the other Hemlock Dam. Eidsvold was known as North Fork.

 

TO THE CLARKS AND OTHERS WHO MAY WANT TO KNOW----

I have been requested to compile a sort of history about the families of your mother and mine for those of our people who have gone before, the ones in our present time and for others who are to come. So bear with me, please, as we travel along the old river road with its many memories; but before I do, I want to express my sentiments in the words of J. Ritchie Smith which is the way life has been for me:

My thoughts turn backwards over the long way the kindly years have lead me.

I have learned the way is hard to him who seeks to climb, and finds no place to rest below the Stars.

I have not known a day without a cloud,

Nor have I known a night without a star.

For always love is near, and prayer is heard, and faith and hope abide,

When senses fail, and turn the ebbing sands of life to gold.

Evening draws on; why mourn the parting day?

The sunset is as radiant as the dawn, for doth the world’s horizon bound the sky.

Earth’s day of toil is measured by the sun:

The lights of heaven appear when day is done.

To begin with, our family originated in Scotland. Thomas Clark, my Grandfather, was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, in the year of 1819; his wife, Grandmother Clark, whose maiden name was Belle, was born in Ireland in the year of 1821. Your Grandfather claimed the honor as a child of being held in the arms of Queen Victoria when she was on many of her tours of Scotland. She visited many of the Highland cottages. The Clarks were affiliated with three of the Scottish Clans; the Chattans, the Camerons, and the Campbells, and who doesn’t get a thrill when they hear the bagpipes, be they Scotch or Irish!

So from the shores of Golway Bay, from Donegal, Cork, the Lakes of Killarney and the banks of the river Shannon, also from the Banks and Braes, the Highlands, the hills of purple heather and the land of Cakes and Bonnie Scots, the Lads and Lassies, they came to America to make their home---some as tradesmen, pioneering in the wilderness.

The English families of Clarks came early to this country. One was a passenger in the Mayflower. Others signed some very important documents pertaining to the history of our country and it can be said they have participated in every war in America. My father-the oldest son of Grandfather Clark was born in Scotland in the year 1838, coming to this country with his parents when four years old, by sail boat taking six weeks to make the crossing.

One child, Anne Clark, then two years old, died on the ay and was buried at sea. Grandfather had two brothers with him on the trip. They came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the year 1842.

There, one brother John stayed but Grandfather and his brother George came on up to Juneau County by ox team, to make a home in the hills of Wisconsin which reminded them of the Highlands of their native Scotland. Father grew to manhood in that part of Wisconsin where they first settled. He married a Miss Ann Fuller, and had two children by this marriage, Ina and John. Their mother passed away when these two were quite young. After this father was employed as a raftsman on the lumber rafts from Portage to St. Louis. In the course of his travels he met and married Sarah Catherine Burke from Sangamon County, Illinois. There were ten children by this marriage, I being the youngest.

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They were Tom, Hannah, Kate, Euphemia, George, Mary, Hugh, Rob, Nell and Jim. Mother was born in Sangamon County, Illinois, in the year of 1854.

Grandma Burke, her mother, whose maiden name was Likens, had Abraham Lincoln as a visitor in her home. We are told that our Great Grandmother on that side of the family made the first pair of cloth breeches that Lincoln ever owned. He had worn buckskins before that.

My wife’s people were of Scandanavian descent. The mother whose maiden name was Borghetta Johnson, was Norwegian, the father, August Okerman, was Swedish. Both of my wife’s parents grew up and married in the old country. Her father was a stonecutter by trade. Her mother before marriage was employed in a pharmacy in Christiana, Norway. Most of the family of seven children were born in the Town of Thorp, Clark County, Wisconsin. The other sister Ann, also was born there. She passed away in childhood.

In the early 1900’s father decided to come to America. He left the family there until he could send for them. Owing to the depression, it was some time before he could bring them here.

After about two years mother with the five small children made the crossing. Mr. Okerman was one of the early settlers in the Town of Thorp, Clark County, where they carved a farm out of the wilderness. He was one of the most successful farmers in that community. The Okerman family has now all passed away except for your mother. We have many dear memories of earlier days as we were both from the same community and those were never to be forgotten days. It would be useless for me to go into detail of all the happenings, of the joys and sorrows of a lifetime. I can only say God has blessed me with a wonderful wife and children named Idaline, James and Maybelle and with my grandchildren. May God bless and be with them always.

The Scripture says: As the evil days come not and years draw nigh; then let us look forward to that home not made with hands eternal in the heavens. God bless you all forever and always.

Jim Clark

Maple Plain, Minnesota

Note: The old Clark County Atlas lists A. A. Okerman on 80 acres in Section 22, Town of Thorp.

THE BASKET SOCIAL

In the days before school consolidation and school buses, there prevailed a quaint custom in rural areas known as the Basket Social.

Basket Socials are what we called them in our school district, but in other areas they were better known as box socials which they really were.

My first recollection of a basket social was before I started school. My mother made one for herself and I helped her. She covered a shoe box with white store wrapping paper. We pasted pictures cut from picture postcards as we had no magazines. The paste was made from flour and water. We also used Christmas tinsel to make the basket more attractive.

In later years when I was in school and older, the baskets were more sophisticated for colored crepe paper was used and we could make flowers out of it for decorations. Crafty people made some truly creative ones using round boxes, colorful ribbon, and lots of imagination.

The best time for these socials was in October and November with Halloween and Christmas holidays providing themes. The black cats and witches, orange pumpkins, yellow moon, and colorful autumn leaves were all used.

February, with its many famous birthdays and, of course, St. Valentine’s Day provided popular ideas and color for creative use of red hearts, cupid and white lace. The red, white and blue of our flag was also used effectively.

Brothers often engaged in sneak previews to find out what their sister’s basket looked like so they could tell their friends the right one to buy.

The ladies and girls would pack a lunch for two in the basket. The food was usually sandwiches, cake, cookies, pickles or fruit. Some would have homemade pie and fried chicken.

Basket socials were usually held in the school house which was the center of social activity in the community. They were held at night. Kerosene and gasoline lamps brightened the school house.

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The school house was appropriately decorated by the students and they had a program for the holiday they were celebrating. There were songs, plays and recitations put on under the direction of the teacher. It was really an exciting time.

The weather and roads always played an important part on these occasions. If roads and weather were good we usually walked. But if the roads were muddy or there was a snowstorm we went with horse and buggy or sleigh.

The role of the basket followed the school program. I can still see the long table covered with the many pretty baskets, attractively decorated according to the occasion. The school girls were giggling in one part of the room and the boys were nervously counting their coins trying to decide how much to spend on a basket.

Older girls’ and mother’s baskets were sold separately from the school girls’ which sold for less. Free coffee was provided and sometimes other food might be sold. Baskets would go anywhere from five cents to several dollars depending on the times.

The center of attention was the auctioneer who usually was a very likeable fellow full of jokes and who really tried to get the best price for each basket just like at any auction.

A husband usually bought his wife’s basket which had enough lunch for the family below school age and all ate together.

The school teacher’s basket usually brought the highest bid if several fellows knew which one was hers. The bidding would really go high and was most exciting. The student bidding was shy in comparison.

The proceeds were used to buy something special for the school like a phonograph, records or maybe a soft ball and a bat.

The evening was concluded by having a dance with music furnished by someone playing an accordian. This also was lots of fun and was where most of us learned to dance. A collection was taken to pay the musician for his service.

I suppose today a basket social would be considered “square” but fifty years ago they were the “in” thing!

Lilly Cass Laasko

Route 2 Box 91

Owen, Wisconsin 54460

DESTINY

Because I believe destiny is planned it obligates me to tell you some incidents concerning my teaching heritage.

I’ve heard of people “being born wit a silver spoon in their mouth” but I’m sure Audrey and I were born with a pencil in the mouth and a ruler in the hand.

Grandpa E. A. Beeckler told us many stories of his teaching. He bragged of being a great disciplinarian, but by the same token said he never pulled a kid’s ear. All he did was take hold of the ear and started walking. If the kid rebelled the ear was stretched.

One time he presented a large capital A to a little girl, saying, “Annie, this is a capital A.” “God, that looks more like our old hen coop,” was her response.

Grandma, Sarah M. Pickett told of her walking through the woods on her way to school. She thought she heard a new born baby cry but it couldn’t be out in the woods at that time of day. She heard it again. Then she retraced her steps. It was a baby--a baby porcupine lost from its mother.

Both grandparents taught in Clark County. Grandpa in the Lynn area and Grandma in the Beaver area.

Grandpa’s six daughters and a son also became teachers.

My mother, the third daughter, Theresa Beeckler Pickett, taught at the Chili School. Chili was too far away to walk and as luck would have it the Old Northwestern Train picked her up at the farm crossing and she returned at night by the same way. She would have had to walk a mile to the depot if they hadn’t stopped at the farm crossing. Monday morning Mom was always waiting and Friday night

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returned to the home place.

Some of the big boys in her school were determined to make trouble for their teacher. They chewed big juicy spit-wads and hurled them at the ceiling. There they stuck. This continued until the ceiling was nasty looking. They laughed and challenged her to get them down.

She said nothing, but she was way ahead of the boys. She’d gone to the school board to get their backing. So the next day she announced that no one would go home until the ceiling was cleaned.

The boys asked, “How can we reach the ceiling? It’s too high!”

After deliberating the boys went to the woods, cut poles and cleaned the ceiling. There were no more spit-wads that year.

Her younger brother, Rex, taught in an area where many poor children attended school. Underwear was sewed on in the fall and taken off when springtime came.

The superintendent of schools visited him and complained about his housekeeping. Uncle Rex said, “Sir, I was hired to teach school, not keep house.”

Mom had her Uncle Charlie Beeckler for her teacher. He was afraid someone would fell he favored her, so tried to trick her in math, but this only improved her ability.

Maybe I should write a book, the stories are so numerous but I don’t want to so will continue telling of my teaching.

My first day of school in September 1923 at Willowbrook School, Town of Unity, was the beginning of my teacher training. However my formal training began some years later at the Clark County Normal, Neillsville. My very able instructor was Miss Hazel Baker.

The second part of our education took place in the spring, when each student was assigned to be a cadet under the leadership of some very capable rural teacher.

After you were granted permission from the rural teacher you began your plans for the future two weeks of cadetting. What a busy time this was. Everyone wanted to get as much done as possible because all that was completed now would be to your advantage later.

The first day as a cadet you observed the techniques and skills of the teacher. She would supervise and advise you the next two weeks. The second day you taught some classes. By Friday you were teaching all classes in grades one through eight.

The second week, the home teacher was permitted to go and come as she desired. This provided the cadet a chance to be on her own.

Usually it was sometime during the second week that the crucial visitation came. That was supervision by the County Superintendent of Schools and the supervising teachers. This visit would determine your ability to teach. And now you remember the things you’d forgotten.

I was assigned to be a cadet for Miss Pauline Martin, Sandhill School, Town of Colby. Evidently I did all right because I was graduated with a “First Grade Certificate” which permitted me to teach two years without continuing my education.

I was hired to teach the next year at Sandhill, as Miss Martin moved on for more wages and a school closer to home.

The following summer every spare moment was spent preparing for the coming year. Charts to promote good attendance, health, courtesy, and achievement were made. New curtains were made, new oil cloth was purchased for the washstands and the likes. Orange box cupboards were built for necessary supplies, and decorations planned for bulletin boards.

Besides this, plans were made for each of the 32 or more classes taught in grades one through eight each day.

Finally, the last week of August came. Soon I’d be a wage earner. What a thrill!

My dad, mother, brothers and sisters were all as thrilled as I was and proud too. All had participated in the great preparation.

The first day about 30 students were on deck, bright and early. The first grade was my pride and joy. There were five children: Ione Gosse, Ruth Stoltzman, Paul Weix and twin boys, Marvin and Merlin Schuman. It was a coincidence having Ruth and Ione in the first grade because that was my given name.

Many times during my first years of teaching I had a guilty feeling because of learning so much. I wondered if I gave back what I received in education.

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In the first years of teaching you were required to build your own fires, sweep the floors, carry out ashes, keep the water fountain full and clean toilets--and even trap your own mice.

All personal supplies you provided in addition to extras of any kind.

After departure of the youngsters at night assignments were put on the blackboards for the next day, seat work checked, and individualized help given.

Darkness came so soon during the winter months, a half hour nooning necessitated. Kerosene lamps usually furnished lights for exceptionally dark days and programs.

A piece of unusual equipment in most schools was a long pole with a hook on the end of it. This was to lower windows from the top and hook lost mittens from the toilet hole. The soiled mitten was then wrapped in paper and carried home in the pocket or dinner pail.

A pt bellied stove or furnace provided heat. Dinner pails were brought inside during the winter to keep lunches from freezing. At last recess about 2:30 p.m., wraps were brought inside from the halls, so they’d be warm at dismissal time of 4 p.m.

The older students were “teacher aids” for they would help do the chores, assist the young children with wraps and even lessons.

If the teacher wished to, she could hire her sweeping done for five cents a night or one dollar for the month. A waiting list was always at hand. Sweepers were only permitted one month of work. All had to be given a chance to earn their own money.

The second year of my teaching was when the REA went through the county. Our school was to be wired for electricity. We wanted a radio so we could listen to a conservation program and “Let’s Sing.” In October we had a “big” school carnival. The free attraction was the Halloween Program. This was to earn money to pay for the radio. We got a radio for $20.00 and even had some left over for a bat and ball.

At Christmas time the lights were turned on in time for the program.

As I planned to teach at least five years it was a “must” to begin furthering my education. I was able to drive back and forth to Stevens Point for night classes with a group of teachers from the area. After many night schools and summer school sessions, I was graduated from a two year course at the Point and after many, many more, got my degree.

Now, I am a “teacher drop out” and farm wife. Thirty-seven years teaching for me saw many changes in the profession.

My sister, Audrey, began teaching four years later than I. She is still teaching in the primary grades at the Granton Public Schools.

As I said in the beginning, we were destined to be teachers. Neither of us would ever think of trading our modern day teaching for that of days gone by.

Ione Pickett Cooper

Colby, Wisconsin 54421

SOME MEMORIES OF THE PAST

At the time I didn’t realize how fortunate my sister and I were to have the opportunity to attend high school. My parents, Mr. And Mrs. Otto Schulte, who lived about seven and a half miles southwest of Colby, did have a lot of work to do on the farm. So they needed our help.

My dad bought a 1924 Ford Model T roadster. Later he made it into a truck. At the time I was 14 years old so I needed a special driving permit to drive to school. He took me to Neillsville before the judge to get it. Then I had to learn how to drive it.

I could drive a tractor but that was a little different. With the help of Mom and Dad I learned to drive. By those standards, today I wouldn’t have passed a driver’s test, but Dad thought I must drive rather than stay in.

The first time I drove I parked the car a distance from school so I had clear going when I started out.

In the winter only the main roads were plowed, so that the side roads weren’t plowed. We had to stay in Colby at our grandparents. We didn’t like that. There was nothing to do and we didn’t have any extra money to spend. Our school supplies were enough to buy. We did have the opportunity to attend the home basketball games. If we got a season ticket that was $1.25. Also the PTA. meetings were very entertaining. Usually they had a very good program and many of the high school students would go. At least the assembly room was filled to capacity.

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On weekends we would go home. Granddad kept a horse and cutter in town. Sometimes it was very cold, but it didn’t matter, we looked forward to going home. If it was very cold Grandma had the foot warmer ready for us so we would keep or feet warm. That was heated with charcoal which was put on a tray and slid into the foot warmer.

In the spring when the snow was gone we drove the car again. Roads weren’t as good as they are now. There were a lot of sink holes. Many times you had to wonder which rut to take.

At least one time I got stuck several miles from home. I called dad to get us. He brought the tractor, a Titan. He pilled the car out and the battery stayed in the mud hole. So he had to pull it all the way home. In those days the batteries were under the floor boards. It took a lot of nerve to drive because you had to think of going through those bad places morning and night. The more that traveled through the sink holes the worse they got. That’s a little of the fun we had going to school.

Mrs. Evert Johnson

Route 1

Unity, Wisconsin 54488

THE OLD SHOTGUN

When my parents purchased a tract of land in Clark County, most of the area was in woods and timber. There were a few turnpike roads and we took a winding trail through the woods to reach our destination.

We lived with a neighbor friend for three months until my father built a home on a small clearing he had made.

The surrounding woods was a natural habitat for an abundance of wild animals.

My father warned the family to stay close to the house after he had seen several wolves lurking at the edge of the clearing, just before dusk on a cold autumn day. My father was tending the livestock and as he stepped out of the log barn to carry in hay from the stack outside, he spotted the wolves in the shadows, peering in the direction of the buildings.

With the intention of shooting at least one wolf, my father carefully made his was into the house to get his 12 gauge shotgun. By the time he returned to the barn and edge his way into position to take aim, the wolves sensed danger and fled into the woods. My father fired an aimless blast in the direction of the fleeing wolves to frighten them into a hasty departure and discourage their return.

When the episode occurred I was preschool age, but I still have a vivid recollection of my father’s reaction to the episode.

Never suspecting that any wild animal would attempt an intrusion of such a bold nature in the light of day, the incident upset him. He was disturbed and uneasy.

That night at the kitchen table and in the presence of the children, my father discussed the situation with my mother. He pondered these questions: Had the wolves lurked so close to the premises on previous occasions, waiting for an opportunity to pounce on their prey? For the present they were scared off bit would they return increasing their number? Was it starvation that prompted their boldness, impelled by an uncontrollable hunger for food? Who was their intended victim--a child or a farm animal?

The thought that it could very well be one of the children unnerved my father. He cautioned every one not to go outside after dark and to remain close to his side during the day. Needless to say we all heeded his advice.

Because of this episode with the wolves, my father always had the gun within reach in a convenient place when he cleared land or worked in the yard.

To this day I can still visualize the 12 gauge shotgun propped up against a large pine stump. The gun was used as a means of protection from other predatory animals as well. To me the old shotgun represented safety. It gave me a sense of security knowing my father would use it to protect his family and our means of livelihood.

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Ursula Kuester

Greenwood, Wisconsin

 

THE OLD SWIMMIN’ HOLE

Can you see the sun a shining

Mid the heat of summer’s day?

Hear the locusts lazy droning

O’er the meadows sweet with hay?

--See again the creek inviting

You and Jim to take a splash--

Clothes divested in a jiffy--

In you plunge with whoop and dash?

Feel the water--cool, refreshing,

Diving, ducking, paddling, floating,

Holding under Jim a sputtering

All the while with glee you’re gloating?

Memories of boyhood days still linger

Though the years so swiftly roll,

But the sweetest of them cluster

Round the dear old swimmin’ hole.

Jim Clark

 

JUST ANOTHER DAY:

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO----?

How would you like to go out to the woodpile every morning and whack up enough wood for the breakfast fire in the old range?

--Or to hike over to the ice house every morning and get a chunk of ice so Ma could keep the milk sweet and the butter firm?

--Or to go out to the well every morning and fill up the water buckets so Ma could wash and cook all day?

--Or to trim the wicks on a lot pf kerosene lamps and polish the chimneys with old newspapers so you could read at night?

--Or to dance all night with your best gal and then walk home four miles through snow swinging an old oil lantern?

--Or to go to bed every night with the chickens because there wouldn’t be anything else to keep you awake?

If you would like to do----then you would like to have lived in the Good Old Days.

Jim and Hilda Clark

Maple Plain, Minnesota

THE OLD COUNTRY STORE

The country store we knew of yore--

It is a place of hallowed memory,

Where body and mind could always find

New stimulant and energy--

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Where men were wont to congregate

And settle the issues of town and state.

Near the old wood stove contenders strove

For the local checker championship,

And sat and sat as marksmen spat

At the gravel box with scarce a slip;

And never the slightest move they’d make

Except a “man” or “king” to take.

The long cheroot, the brass-toed boot,

The bustle and red underwear;

The peppermint stick, the oil lamp wick,

And stuff to slick unruly hair--

Oh, the things we saw and the scents we smelled

Can never be by time dispelled.

We wish that now that store somehow

Was part of the present way of life--

That the world was free as it used to be

Of the agony of bitter strife,

And disputes that now make nations snarl

Could be settled ‘round a cracker barrel.

P.S. Old timer. Do you remember the old Eidsvold store 77 years ago? I do. I was there. Were you?

Jim Clark

THE CLARK COUNTY WHEELMEN

It was March 24, 1895 when a group of eleven spirited men got together to form a bicycle club in Neillsville. A. J. Hein was chosen as temporary chairman to preside and G. R. Klopf acted as temporary secretary.

H. Enckhausen was elected president; Geo. A. Huntzicker, vice president; Fred Huntzicker, secretary-treasurer.

They were off to a good start with a motion that any member riding on the sidewalk on Hewett Street between Fifth and Seventh Streets be subjected to a fine of one ($1.00) dollar. For some reason or other Fred Huntzicker handed in his resignation to the office of secretary-treasurer and Carl Stange was elected to replace him. Maybe he didn’t like the method of collecting money.

G. L. Master, S. F. Hewett and Geo. A. Huntzicker were chosen for the Racing Board.

The next meeting followed on March 31. On that date there was no quorum and the April 16th meeting brought out the Constitution with Article I Objects: included the promotion of athletic amusements; the cultivation of sociality and engendering in the public mind of a sentiment favorable to bicycle riders and cycling.

The second Article listed the officers with the addition of four directors, captain and lieutenant. Listed with the duties of the officers, the treasurer was to report to the board of directors the name of any member who shall be in arrears for quarterly or other dues for two months after coming due.

The captain had the rank next to president in all wheeling events. He was to control all the details of the road, appoint a bugler, call club runs, be privileged to assume whatever position in line he deemed necessary or proper and to assign individuals their positions in line. He was to report to the board of directors any insubordination on club runs.

The lieutenant was to aid the captain and assume his duties in his absence.

The membership included active members eighteen years of age or over who were amateurs. Associate members were to be over eighteen who wished to avail themselves of the privileges of the organization. They had no voice in club elections or discussions and were not eligible to office.

Honorary members were persons whom the Clark County Wheelmen desired to honor and they were exempt from all dues. Non-resident members were those residing outside of the county and were not eligible to office.

 

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