August 10, 1986
ANOTHER BIT OF PARADISE
On one corner of our home place things took place. Here was the building in which we rendered lard and made bologna. Just across the alley was the building that housed the carpet-weaving machine of Matilda and Christina Newman. The lard and sausage making was done by Fred Nichols. His home stood right where the high school stands now. It took several hours to render a batch and it was very hot. Everyone was careful not to get a drop of water into the lard. A little water would clear everyone from the room as it spatters. Now and then the roof would leak and that was really dangerous.
Mr. Nichols had a son, Tippy. I can’t remember his real name. He was mad at his father one morning and he tossed a snowball in the window, which landed in the lard. That caused the lard to boil over hitting the fire, and a raging blaze engulfed the building, burning it to the ground. The fire department came with Old Betsy. Our building was gone, but they saved the Newman Carpet building. Mr. Nichols didn’t scold Tippy, which made the boy suffer more than if he had spanked him. Following this incident, Mr. Nichols retired and the lard rendering kettle was moved to town.
When the lard was done, it was dipped into a press and the liquid pressed out, leaving the cracklings. These were good and fresh and crisp. Families who were poor came and got them to use as flavoring in stews or just to munch on. We would tie a string on a tail, leaving the string hanging out. Long before the lard was rendered the meat on the tail was done. We could then pull the tail out, go over to the bakery and get a loaf of fresh bread and what a feast!
Back to the Newmans and carpet weaving. This machine was powered by someone using foot power on the treadle. That is where we boys came in to good use. People brought strips of cloth to have a rug made. The women didn’t like to have visitors. Therefore, it was sort of mysterious. Beautiful rugs came from there.
We couldn’t locate Charles Prior, so George and myself went out at 2 p.m. and back at 5:20 p.m. Didn’t travel so many miles as we stopped and looked at flowers. We drove northeast out by Bethel to see how the new road was coming. Next Sunday it will all be torn up. Some big changes will be made mostly for the good of us all. Doug Prather’s home was down in the bottom. Realizing the road would be high above him, he built a new earth home in the side of the hill. He is far from high enough yet. George was out Saturday gathering flowers for church Sunday. He brought in a specimen, but no leaves. We went out there today and the leaves told the story. It was wild lettuce. We saw both common and shrubbery primrose, Joe-Pye-weed, beautiful swamp milkweed, five-star bellflowers and gumweed. Went to Stephens Forest across from the Thousand Acres. Going down into the area we discovered it had rained. Lucky for us it was just a few yards and we ran out of it. We went on through Stephens Forest and on into the Thousand Acres. J. T. Crozier and my father were interested in buying this land years ago, but John H. Curtis, Wiley’s grandfather, outbid them. My father was always glad he didn’t get it. Saw several beautiful new homes that have sprung up. Discovered later that Prior had gone to Des Moines to see how the preparations for the fair were coming.
No comments:
Post a Comment