"Mildred Zingler, daughter of Eric Erickson, wrote most of her memoirs  in the late 1970's. They were written by my grandmother's sister who passed away a few years ago at the ripe old age of 90 and are transcribed just as written. Her memoirs are a true reflection of how different life was back in the early 1900's."

I am writing these things down just as they come to mind.

Ours was a happy family - there were 7 of us until Violet passed away
at age 18. One boy and 4 girls. The last three girls were just one
year apart, me being the youngest, but all 4 girls had their birthday
the end of September. Grandma Petersen used to say "Erick must have
been very happy at Christmas time." That was the only time in those
days there was liquor in the house, which usually was one bottle of
wine, could that account for it? I remember the wine sat on the pantry
shelf and I used to sneak in there and get a little sip once in a
while. Maybe that's why wine is still one of my favorite drinks.

Mom said Pa and Uncle Martin where the best sawyers in the area. That
was hand sawing with a cross cut saw - it took a team of two.

The folks bought their first 40 of land in about 1901. It was
completely forested, they had to clear a piece to put up their
buildings which father and Uncle Pete did themselves. The house
was frame but the other buildings were logs except the wood
shed and privy which was just vertical unfinished boards. The
first winter Pa worked in the woods (to make extra money) which
of course left mother home alone a great deal with Edwin, who was a
baby at that time. In a couple years they got a few cows and Dad
told (?) alaus to go fetch them always with a grin. One time
a wild cow followed him all the way, jumping from tree to tree.
After the girls started cowing they decided they had to have more
land in order to support more cattle for a larger income, so another
forty was purchased. It also had to be cleared. I remember helping
to pick up branches and roots and making a huge pile and then burning
them. The fire part was fun - the other was hard work but we all had
to help. I also remember hearing the wolves howl on cold winter nights
which was scary.

All of us had to help with the farm work and each one had his own
special chore each day. Mine was wiping the dishes and after school
help carry in fire wood for the winter nights. All cooking and
heating was done with wood stoves and of course the lighting was
kerosene lamps. Us girls slept upstairs and (?) harr we rushed
through the hallway and stairway, it was not heated. All four of
us girls slept in one large bedroom and it was heated with a single
floor register which was above the dining room heater. Mother came
up every night to tell us goodnight and hear our prayers and then
to blow out the lamp. She carried another small lamp up and down
with her.

We finally got and Aladdin lamp and that was really great. The corners
of the rooms got some light then, otherwise with the other lamps only
the immediate area was light.

In later years I remember Mother telling me she stood in the grocery
store wishing she could buy some of the bananas she saw, but could not
afford it. That really hurt me.

We had chickens and the egg money was Mother's to buy groceries with.
Occasionally there was a little left over and that was her "prim
money." All the groceries were bought at "Seriers" and Mr. Serier
always put in a bag of Jelly Beans for us kids. Pa always bought
ginger snaps or fig bars and I sure got tired of ginger snaps. After
we got a little more prosperous there was always a bag of chocolate
drops for us. We also each got a nickel to buy an ice cream cone
when we went to town. I remember the anticipation of that cone, the
horses couldn't go fast enough.

I guess it started with the arrival of the big catalogs in the fall -
Sears and Wards. How we paged through them and picked out the things
we'd like to have.

Pa always insisted the cows had to be milked about the same time each
morning and evening otherwise they wouldn't let the milk down. During
the winter months most of the cows dried up so Pa did the milking
alone. On Christmas eve we all coaxed him to go milk a little earlier
so we could get to open our gifts and how happy we were when he finally
lit the lantern and went to the barn. Pa always cut our tree in our
own woods and it was placed and trimmed in the "front room" and we
children did not see it until Christmas eve, then the candles were lit
and the gifts given out and how exciting it was. One year I was really
hoping for a little toy stove and I remember watching all the packages
as the folks came in from their Christmas shopping trip. I couldn't
recognize a stove there is was Christmas eve. It was made of tin and
the lids on the top were all painted on but the little oven door opened
and how happy I was.

One year Violet and Lil got new doll buggies with tops, "Get" and I
got the old one which had been shared by all of us. We each had 3 or 4
dolls and spent a lot of time sewing clothes (by hand) for them. In
those days each of us got one gift and I imagine the cost was about
50 cents, but we were just as happy with that (probably more so) than
the kids now days with their over abundance.

I remember the last year I hung up my stocking and I got a large orange
and a big red ball to hang on the tree.

Uncle Martins' and Uncle Willies' lived near us and each family had a
party one evening during the holidays. At each house all of the
children received a bag of candy and nuts. I remember Mother getting
the bags ready. She set our soup plates on the kitchen table (one for
each child) and divides the candy and nuts evenly. We received a bag
of candy at the school program and one at the church program also,
which was a real treat for us. The aim was to see how many candy bags
we could get. For several years the Winters' family (the cheesemaker)
joined our group so that meant another bag of goodies. Aunt Irene
always made a dish pan full of popcorn and sometimes popcorn balls
also. In the very early years when Grandma Petersen was alive she
always had a jar full of ebelskines for us.

I remember one year when there had been sickness in one of the families
Uncle Willies' had their Christmas party in March and the tree was still
up.

Mother sometimes managed to keep a little gift for us for New Years,
one year I remember getting a comb for my hair.

Uncle John and Uncle Pete (Pa's brothers) both bachelors always came
down from the woods for Christmas and of cousre they were invited to the
parties. One year Uncle Pete brought dolls for all of us, he liked
Lil best so she had first choice, but that didn't bother us, we were
so happy to get a new doll and one with hair which was really special.

One year they brought a friend along, he had over imbibed and
would spit on the floor occasionally. Then he would pay one of us
kids a quarter to wipe it up. Needless to say we were all willing
and just waiting for him to spit again. (tobacco juice)

There was always a program at Church during the Christmas season and
of course all of us were in it. That was another "Christmas Special",
Pa had to hitch up the horses and we all went in the big sleigh.
There was a shed built by the church with several stalls, if you got
there early enough the team had shelter, we usually got there too
late and the horses had to stand out in the cold, but there was a
nice warm horse blanket to put over each one.

There was always a large tree in church and lit with real candles. Two
men always stood watch at the tree and each had a long pole with some
kind of snuffer on the end of it. Just in case of a candle igniting the
tree. I think now how risky that really was, however there never was
an accident. After, the children got their bag of goodies, the high
point of the evening. We had to walk to church about 2 miles to
practice for the program. On one of these trips Violet got wet feet,
caught a bad cold which finally turned into pleurisy, and then
eventually T.B. It was a hard time for all of us, now it would never
have happened. She dies in August 1927. The folks did all they could
for her. Built a sun porch onto the house so she could sleep out there
and get a lot of fresh air and sunshine, the prescribed remedy in those
days. Also bought a hammock so she could lay out in the sunshine in the
apple orchard.

Mom sort of favored her through the childhood years, she though she
was not as strong as the rest of is and she probably wasn't. She always
got to go home from the field and help mother cook dinner, also she
didn't have to milk cows and sometimes we resented that. How I hated to
milk cows, a dirty, smelly job in those days.

How great a sorrow that was when Violet died and for the folks it must
have been doubly hard to bear.

Our winter evening were all spent reading aloud and eating apples. After
chores Pa always went to the cellar and brought up a pan of apples. They
were set on the heater in the dining room where we all gathered. We all
took turns reading aloud, mostly Zane Gray novels, they were read and
re-read. We had one magazine we subscribed to, it came once a month and
how we waited for that - "The Illustrated Companion." I still remember
one story "His Yellow Rose of the South."

Summer evenings (many of them) were spent sitting on the front porch,
Pa played the accordion and the mouth organ (Edwin also) and we all
sang. Many time the neighbors would come and join us.
 

The grain harvesting season was very exciting. The thrash machine came
with its huge steam engine, water wagon and separators. Then they
turned in the yard they always blew the whistle and a blast it was.
When they finished at one farmers place the whistle was blown a certain
number of times, then the next farmer knew they would soon be coming to
their place.

The thrashers worked hard, so they had to be fed a veritable feast. There
was always home made pie and there had to be enough so that anyone who
wanted it could have two pieces. The neighbors usually helped one
another so of course every one stayed to eat. The thrashers always got
5 meals a day - breakfast, lunch, dinner at noon, afternoon lunch, and
their supper. Sometimes they stayed overnights but just slept in the
barn on the hay.
 

One of the team was a mare and Pa had her bred twice. One colt was
raised and became a work horse for us - the little King was born
and when he was a couple months, old Thiele it was, he was
neutered, got an infection and had to be put to sleep. This really
hurt us because he was so cute and we all loved him. We sure disliked
that vet, they said he didn't keep his instruments clean.

In those days there were no busses to pick up the county students so
our folks had to rent rooms in Suring so we could go to High School-
just Lil and I went.

We had one large room with curtains drawn across it to make our bedroom.
Our cupboards were orange crates with curtains on. We had one oil stove
to cook on and a wood burning heater for heat. Oh how cold it was in
the morning when our fire went out over night. Of course there was no
plumbing so we had our potties under the beds for nights, and a big
slop pail for dish water and etc. There were usually three or four of
us stayed together and all had to take turns emptying the pail. We
were on the second floor ao we had to carry water and wood upstairs
also. The privy was in the wood shed and on how cold this was in winter,
that's when I first became constipated.

The folks brought us to Suring on Sunday P.M.'s with a lot of food and
usually came on Wednesdays again with more food. We didn't have much
money - I remember we made vegetable soup without meat.

The boys around town liked to come visit us especially on Sunday
night, then we had a lot of good home made cake. They would eat some
ot it, that made us mad at them, we would be short. Len Z. liked to
come up and make fudge. He swiped sugar and coca from home so then
we all had a treat.

In winter we came down in to the big sleigh. Cars were put up on jacks
in winter as the roads were not plowed. Al ot of straw was put in the
bottom of the sleigh and mother used to hear bricks for our feet.
Extra boards were put up on the sleigh box and then a blanket thrown
over the top to keep the wind out. Poor Pa had to sit on the seat up
front and drive. I remember icicles hanging from his nose.

We used to go sleigh riding on the big hill west of Suring (Hayes
Holl) and oh what fun that was.

One night the High School Principal and three of us students went to
Brandon to a basketball game. On the way we ran in the ditch and had
to get a farmer to pull us out. It was a real foggy, rainy night and
the people in the area were all Kentuckians. When we went into the
farmers yard to ask for help he said, "What a good night for a murder."
Needless to say we were quite shook. Finally got going again and got
to Crandon just as the game was over, so after a hamburger we
started home again. Ran in the ditch again and landed directly across
a tree stump, so had to go for help again. We finally wound up with no
lights, no brakes, and no reverse. If we missed a corner we had to get
out and push the car back. Finally got back to Suring at 4 am with the
sun coming up.

Incidentally the car we had was an old rattle trap ford which we had
borrowed from the father of one of the students who was with us. Guess
he didn't appreciate what we did to his car.

We never chewed gum in the privy, the gum was always deposited on a
fence post and then picked up on the way out.

Lil and I went over to Jim's woods across the road from home and lost
ourselves among the trees to avoid work. When mother asked if we didn't
hear her call we always said no. This happened especially when we
thought Violet would want to go picking raspberries.

I remember one day I accidentally knocked three cups out of the cupboard
and all were broken. The folks had gone to town and I shivered all
afternoon in anticipation of the lickin' to come. I was surprised
and much relieved when mother said, "I know it was an accident." and
that was all there was to it.

When Edwin got "mad" at Hilda he always got us three younger ones not
to talk to her either.

Hilda had a nasty habit of wringing out the dish rag while washing
dishes, and flipping it at us.

Hilda was the oldest of the 4 girls, ( 5 years older than I ) and at
8 pm she'd always start, "Ma make those kids go to bed."

When Edwin was older (in his teens) he went up north to work in the
woods. When he came home Mother's first job was always to de-louse him.
One year, guess it was in March, he came home with the flu. He was
behind the heater in the dining room (had chills), so close his
overall jacket caught fire. That made from some excitement.