June 8 , 1986
This is an article about my father and huckster wagon days. As George and myself travel over the old roads around Oakley I can visualize my father traveling in his huckster wagon eighty-five or ninety years ago. We in luxury and he bumping along as bolster wagons were not in as yet. This wagon was a good deal like the ones that crossed the plains. Wagons, like cars, improved as the years went by. What was a huckster wagon? Staple goods were carried on this wagon which were in turn traded for chickens, turkeys, butter and eggs. Orders were also taken for the next visit two weeks later. Remember, people didn’t come to town only two or three times a year. Churches were mostly rural. Father carried Bibles on the wagon and you could trade your produce and put something down on a Bible. When you had enough credit the Bible was yours. We used to have one at home and it was nice and quite large. Why so large I don’t know. It was a home Bible, not one to be carried with you. Occasionally someone tells me they have one. I have tried several times to talk people out of one. I wouldn’t think of buying one but have offered a fancy new one in trade. No luck. Father left a pair of pincers at the Kirton residence. Pincers were the forerunners of pliers. Every farm or working person had a pair. James Kirton, a young man of twelve, found them and saved them for Father’s next visit. For being honest my father gave him the pincers. This story was related to me by James Kirton and he showed me the pincers not too many years ago. I wanted to give him a new pair in exchange but he declined as he said they would be mine in the end. As such things go I never saw them again.
This following episode I have heard my father tell many times. There was one home he always tried to miss at lunch time. He had the only dish and fork, as guest, and everyone else ate out of cans. One day a rim came off a wheel and he was stuck there at noon and until repairs could be made. At dinner the only food was a deep blue mixture. He felt he just had to ask what it was. It was blackberries and mashed potatoes mixed together. This could go on for page after page. However, this short account tells you of the huckster wagon days. Shortly before Thanksgiving turkeys were brought in. They were in the back room of the store with feet tied. One got loose, flew the length of the store and out through a glass window and was not found. Perhaps that was a forerunner of wild turkeys.
George and myself took a three-hour ride Sunday p.m. without Charles Prior. We traveled southwest, south and southeast on the little traveled roads. Birds are scarce this time of year as they are nesting and some are molting. Flowers were more in evidence. George spotted a European bellflower. Look it up in your flower book. Yarrow and cinquefoil were plentiful. Saw lots of rocket, a good deal like phlox. Found several flowers that I haven’t had time to identify as yet. Sometimes it takes a little time but it is fun. Just talked to Emma Thomas about the European bellflower. She is one of Ruth and my pupils. She has been working on flowers and birds for fifteen years and is very good at it, better than myself. She saw this flower in Mae Gasser’s garden corner. That is going back a ways. It was later transplanted in the Yocom Hospital gardens. No one I have contacted as yet has seen this bellflower in the wild. George gets the credit. He has a sharp eye and will jump out many times to find something. We also watch car safety as we stop.
This is an article about my father and huckster wagon days. As George and myself travel over the old roads around Oakley I can visualize my father traveling in his huckster wagon eighty-five or ninety years ago. We in luxury and he bumping along as bolster wagons were not in as yet. This wagon was a good deal like the ones that crossed the plains. Wagons, like cars, improved as the years went by. What was a huckster wagon? Staple goods were carried on this wagon which were in turn traded for chickens, turkeys, butter and eggs. Orders were also taken for the next visit two weeks later. Remember, people didn’t come to town only two or three times a year. Churches were mostly rural. Father carried Bibles on the wagon and you could trade your produce and put something down on a Bible. When you had enough credit the Bible was yours. We used to have one at home and it was nice and quite large. Why so large I don’t know. It was a home Bible, not one to be carried with you. Occasionally someone tells me they have one. I have tried several times to talk people out of one. I wouldn’t think of buying one but have offered a fancy new one in trade. No luck. Father left a pair of pincers at the Kirton residence. Pincers were the forerunners of pliers. Every farm or working person had a pair. James Kirton, a young man of twelve, found them and saved them for Father’s next visit. For being honest my father gave him the pincers. This story was related to me by James Kirton and he showed me the pincers not too many years ago. I wanted to give him a new pair in exchange but he declined as he said they would be mine in the end. As such things go I never saw them again.
This following episode I have heard my father tell many times. There was one home he always tried to miss at lunch time. He had the only dish and fork, as guest, and everyone else ate out of cans. One day a rim came off a wheel and he was stuck there at noon and until repairs could be made. At dinner the only food was a deep blue mixture. He felt he just had to ask what it was. It was blackberries and mashed potatoes mixed together. This could go on for page after page. However, this short account tells you of the huckster wagon days. Shortly before Thanksgiving turkeys were brought in. They were in the back room of the store with feet tied. One got loose, flew the length of the store and out through a glass window and was not found. Perhaps that was a forerunner of wild turkeys.
George and myself took a three-hour ride Sunday p.m. without Charles Prior. We traveled southwest, south and southeast on the little traveled roads. Birds are scarce this time of year as they are nesting and some are molting. Flowers were more in evidence. George spotted a European bellflower. Look it up in your flower book. Yarrow and cinquefoil were plentiful. Saw lots of rocket, a good deal like phlox. Found several flowers that I haven’t had time to identify as yet. Sometimes it takes a little time but it is fun. Just talked to Emma Thomas about the European bellflower. She is one of Ruth and my pupils. She has been working on flowers and birds for fifteen years and is very good at it, better than myself. She saw this flower in Mae Gasser’s garden corner. That is going back a ways. It was later transplanted in the Yocom Hospital gardens. No one I have contacted as yet has seen this bellflower in the wild. George gets the credit. He has a sharp eye and will jump out many times to find something. We also watch car safety as we stop.
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