purchased mother always went to make the
deal. Father came home with the runt of the litter just once. Mother had a special
‘touch’……she could really stretch the money. She could make the best
meals from so little and also with sewing and homemaking.
Father worked for ‘Gessel Press Brick
,’ [3] [4]
owned by his father-in-law Gottlieb Gessel and Sons. Father stayed at the brick yard at 6th
West and 6th North in Logan sometimes 18 and 20 hours a day when the bricks
were baking to fire the kiln just right and keep the heat at correct temperatures. He was
very dependable and on the job making bricks as in any job he did it was done the best. He
never received ‘overtime’ for his long hours. He was never paid regular. Mother
carried on the family garden and animals. In the winter months, father was home more of
the time because, the bricks were made only in moderate weather. He did a great deal of
the cooking---he could make the best Potatoe Hot Cakes. He was very neat, in keeping his
clothes cared for.
In the winter months father hitched the
team on the Bob Sleighs and we would go to Providence to visit our aunts and cousins on
mild winter days with a lot of clean straw on the sleigh box and there were sleigh bells
jingling on the horses. We would always go early and get home well before dark.
We never had electricity in our home until
I was about [twelve] years old. Mother schooled us on the danger of the oil lamps we had
to use. We were taught to be very careful because of a fire hazard.