September 14, 1986
George Dunshee, Charles Prior and myself took off at 2 p.m. Sunday. We went northeast in George’s car and I rode in the back and those two in the front. This way I have everything my way in the back seat. We checked the work on the new road by Bethel Cemetery. It is coming along fine. Prefab culverts are a great new thing. They have elbows up, down or sideways. We spent quite a little time at Zion Cemetery checking on some of Charles’ relations and just a general survey of names. Our flower find of the day was scarious blazing star. It is beautiful and very seldom found. George spied it out by Stoneking Cemetery. I have seen it only four or five times in fifty-six years. We arrived back at 6:07 p.m.
I was born and raised two blocks from the Mallory Estate. It was a big part of my early life. The stories of the Estate are endless. I intend to write several articles about this fabulous place and all are based on what I know to be factual. There was always a mystery about the place. Signs were everywhere saying “NO TRESPASSING.” There were two Mallory ponds. The big one was in the valley west of the Christian Church. It is now all filled in. This pond was one and a half blocks long and one-half to three-fourths block wide and was known as Big Mallory. It ran north and south. Little Mallory pond ran east and west and was up where the tennis court is now and some east of there. Ilion Avenue stopped at Twelfth Street and didn’t start again until Sixteenth Street. This was the Mallory private lane, hence no street. For many years the no trespassing sign around the big Mallory pond was not enforced. Then again the owners would fix the fence and try to keep people out. It never worked real well, but one didn’t want to get much farther back into the land beyond the pond.
Winter time seemed different as to trespassing rules. Great sliding parties were held, especially at night. Four or five-person bobsleds seemed to be the big thing. We were too small to have a bobsled of our own, but we hooked lots of rides.
The Mallory land was comprised of 999 acres. Mr. Mallory made his money by building the railroad from Chariton to Indianola. Most all horse-drawn equipment was used. The steam engine used was around until WWI, when it was used for scrap metal. It was unique in that the boiler rested on a wooden frame of heavy timbers. It was too bad, but one had to be patriotic.
In later years the Mallorys were gone and people who worked there lived in part of the big house. Having children our age, it was only natural for them to have playmates. That is how we learned about the castle inside and out. You had to be invited to come. Luck was on our side, as we went often and of course they came to our house as we had the bakery nearby. There was always a reverence about the house. No running around or playing in the rooms. The people who lived there had much respect for the castle. More later on this.
A week or two ago I pulled up one of those sprawling plants, taproot and all, from a crack in the sidewalk. I took it inside and put it in distilled water. A day or two later I looked at it under a microscope and saw literally thousands of tiny flowers about one-fourth the size of a common sewing-pin head. Beautiful perfect flowers. This is the forerunner of the moss rose or portulaca. It is too late now, but try it next year.
A few weeks ago I bought an old-time meat cutting block from some people out in the country. It was in their barn when they bought the farm forty years ago. It is three-legged, 18 inches thick, 36 inches across and is one big slice of a hickory tree. Most blocks are made of many 3 x 12 inch oak blocks standing on end to keep from splintering and held together by stay bolts through the block. Most all old cutting blocks have a legend on the bottom giving the man’s name who put it in service, his age and weight. This round block was put into service by Harry Rubadeaux, age twenty-nine, weight 400 pounds, height 5' 8”. I learned that he was the father of Sue Roten, wife of our first baker. I also have another round block put into service by William Lane Beck, age twenty-seven, 5’5”, weight 259 pounds. It is also one slice of a hickory tree. It was originally a bright green trimmed in red.
A word about carriage trade. All stores had this and it was a good business. Usually the wife would drive up in her carriage, or a little later in her car. The merchandise she asked about was carried out to the vehicle. As a rule this was in the early part of the day. It took extra help. Sometimes nothing was sold and the customer moved on. Sometimes she would come back and all was done over. All in all, the average of a sale made was pretty good.
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