Page 24 - memories-of-golde-dicks-markham-(1996)-golde-dicks-markham

Memories of Golde Dicks Markham (1996) Golde Markham Dicks 9/125

We used kerosene oil1'lamps that hung on the wall. The wicks fed the oil through a
burner that would light. They also had round pieces of shiny tin on the back of them which
reflected the light over the room. These lamps had chimneys on them, too.

In the kitchen, we had a wood-burning four-cap iron stove and what we called a “cook
table” (homemade) in the opposite comer from the stove. Later Pa bought a comfort range

with warming closets and a big hot water tank alongside of the wood-burning firebox. This
gave us hot water to wash dishes. In the wintertime, we hauled buckets of water from the
well, filled the tank, and built a big fire in the stove. Presto! In one or two hours the tank of
water was hot. We placed the zinc tub by the stove, filled it up with warm water, got an old

rag and a chunk of homemade lye soap, and had a nice bath.
Barrels of flour, grits, and meal were stored in one of the kitchen comers. We bought
such commodities in big quantities because it was so far to go to town in horse and wagon.

The flour was sold in barrels or 100-pound sacks. Pa took enough com to the mill to grind
out fifty pounds or more of grits.
Our well had a small spring to furnish' the water which made the water cooler. In the

summer, Ma put milk in a glass gallon jug with a finger holder on the neck. She put a cork
stopper in the jug and a rope through the finger holder, and then lowered the jug down to the
very bottom of the well. The milk cooled in just a few hours. We pulled the jug of milk back

up to drink for supper.
The woods were closer to the house then. The road was on the west side of the house.
A railroad, used for hauling logs to Watertown to a huge lumber mill, ran west of the house.

The train dumped the logs in Watertown. Lake. I saw that lake so full of logs that sometimes
we couldn’t even see the water. It looked like a big field full of downed trees. The lumber

for our new house was grown from trees right in front. They were sawed at the lumber mill
in Watertown.

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Every morning we ate grits for breakfast along with biscuits and side bacon. During

the winter, Ma often served ham with grits for supper. Sometimes there wasn’t any other
food, so we would have grits at noontime, too. But we had hot biscuits and syrup with
nearly every meal. Ma parched green coffee beans in the oven and ground them in the coffee

mill to make coffee.
After breakfast was over, Ma made up our two beds, combed and fixed her hair, then
fixed mine. We both had long hair. She parted mine down the middle and platted (braided) it,

pulling it so hard that it tightened the skin on my face.

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