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We had pretty fair crops in 1926. The threshing was done by Joe Brehm on a neighborhood circuit. There was a Saturday morning when there was a very heavy fog. I walked out to the threshing rig. It was located in the north east corner of our pasture. The rig could not be seen from the house. It was too wet to thresh that morning and no work would be done until the fog cleared. I do not remember the brand name of the wooden thresher but the engine that powered it was a Titan. I was free to walk about the pasture in the damp gray mystery of fog. It was kind of a delicious feeling since I had heard stories of people getting lost in fogs and wandering away. It was imaginative pretending to get lost and have the security of fences so as not to wander off into the unknown. The stories about fog were somewhat similar to those we heard about people getting lost in snowstorms but usually not so fatal.
In 1926 or 1927 a telephone was installed at our house. I remember when the poles were planted and wires strung. We were the only family who had a telephone within about radius of two and a half miles. I do not know nor remember anything of the financial arrangements. The telephone was a box that hung on the wall about 20 inches long, 8 or nine inches wide and about 5 or 6 inches deep. It was high enough on the wall so that children could not reach it unless they placed a chair underneath. Calls were signaled by short and long rings that were made by turning a crank on the side of the box. It also engaged in lot of sparking, ringing and flashing during thunderstorms even though there was something called a lightening arrester outside the house. About 1930 a neighbor's daughter was visiting us and sudden severe prairie thunderstorm came up and of course she couldn't go home. The telephone was in the room that faced her home on a hill north of us. She was concerned about what was happening at her home during the storm and would run into that room to look out the window. The telephone would spark, snap and crackle and ring. She was in a state of hysterical panic running into the room to look through the window and run back to get away from telephone noise. She was screaming most of that time. My parents did their best to control and reassure her but pretty much in vain. I think her behavior scared us children. We were told to stay out of that room during a storm and we were familiar with the peculiar behavior of the telephone. Today we have learned that it is when children are with parents and in familiar surroundings that they can conquer fear and feel secure and safe.
The telephone was a great aid to us several times during those years. As 1931-32 arrived the telephone lines went down and remained down. The depression was having its effect. The rural community of this area did not again have rural telephone until after World War II.
Five members of our family were born during the nine years we lived on the Stott farm. Gordon, Marvin, Arthur, a baby that was stillborn and Elizabeth Lorraine. Mother was determined after losing the boy baby that the next one would have a better chance. Sister Elizabeth was born at our Grandparents' home at Edgeley. Mother and daughter were to be under the care of Dr. L.B. Greene who had also delivered Lois and myself.
In 1927 there was plenty of rain and we had a very good crop. Hard luck and difficulties come in many forms for farmers, in September it started to rain. The land owner had a prospective renter for another farm he owned and this prospect had a steam threshing outfit. He wanted the man to thresh my father's crop and it was so agreed. A steam threshing outfit would finish the job more quickly. They threshed one day at our place and it started to rain and it must have rained for almost a month. During that time our mother" with the help of a hired girl, cooked for the crew. It took its toll on mother and seriously depleted the cash return because 9fthe grocery bill. Finally the sun came out and dried the crop and they finished the threshing and left. Our farm owner decided to go one half on the groceries that were needed but my mother and hired girl did all the work during that time. The men slept in the haymow and were also restive which didn't help matters any. Mother was also pregnant with Arthur when this ordeal occurred. Never again would Dad consider a large threshing outfit after this experience. All of our threshing after that time was done with neighborhood threshing rings. In such a ring one paid for the threshing but also reduced costs by working as part of the crew. The owner of the steam threshing outfit put up his steam thresher and engine and never threshed with it again.
The rain that fall must have reduced greatly the amount expected from the crop. Even at that time it would have cost a good deal to feed a crew of eight or ten men as well as our own family. The prices for farm grains were depressed and would become more so. It was one of the tasks that farm women of that day were expected to assume. It could be noted it is usually the men who talk about the good old days of threshing crews, steam engines and water and coal wagons. The women seldom say much except there was an awful lot of cooking. In any regard, whatever my parents had expected from that crop that might have gone to payoff part of the mortgage debt went instead toward feeding a crew of men. It was disappointing year.
Mother was worried about the delivery of the child and deeply concerned about the non-availability of a doctor. Arrangements were made with Mrs. Joe Brehm, a neighbor living about three miles away, who also had some experience in assisting at a birth. She was willing to be with mother during this time. A memory of January 3, 1928 is of mother scrubbing the floors while Dad went over to pick up Mrs. Brehm.
Mrs. Brehm came over and helped make the arrangements for the birth. The bed had been moved into the living room as there was a stove there and it would be warm. It was Christmas vacation so all of us children were home. At about noon we children were confined to the kitchen and the doors were closed and we were told they were to stay closed. There is a great probability that Dad or Mrs. Brehm visited the kitchen if for no other reason than to get hot water or to put more on the stove. We knew a baby was being born and we were excited. Sometime during the afternoon a lusty cry came through the doors, open or not, and we knew a baby had been born and we had heard its first cries the same time as mother, Dad, and Mrs. Brehm did. It was a boy, Arthur Lowell Cofell, born January 3, 1928.
This was an experience that many older children often had when babies were born at home. I know in recent years some families have had older children present at the hospital birth of a new brother or sister. We only heard the birth cries but very soon afterwards we were shown the brand new baby and loved it. I think it all has something to do with inclusion as well as with welcome.
In the spring or summer of 1928 men were working installing the poles and wire for a powerline that ran from a transformer on Highway 281 into Montpelier. (SCR Vol. 24, No. 39, Thurs May 17, 1928.) There was a good deal of talk about running a highline from Highway 281 into Montpelier and we had all kinds of misconceptions. We had seen pictures on oatmeal boxes and other groceries and had talked about the highline railway bridge at Valley City. At that time the bridge was almost a railroad wonder of the world at least for our area. I had an image of something like that running into our town. Had one like it been erected, it would have been a tourist attraction for years. It was part of a my process of learning that words have all kinds of referents. Before the powerline was constructed electricity was supplied by Albert Eitel's power plant in town. He not only ran the power plant but he was the one who wired most of the buildings and put in the feeder lines. One of the reasons that I remember this so vividly is that one morning when they were setting the poles there was also a prairie mirage and to the west of us everything was a vivid visible illusion.
There were parties and occasions of celebration for children in those days as well: "Monday, March 5, Mrs. Christ Sevik had a birthday party for her son Paul who is eight years old. Those present were Anna Se.iler, Joseph Seiler, Frances, Leola and Teddy Trowbridge, William and Lois Cofell and George Hunt." (SCR, Vol. 24, No. 30, March 15, 1928.) I remember admiring and envying the large box of marbles that Paul had succeeded in capturing. Those were the days when almost everyday on the school grounds there would be games of marbles in progress. Possession of an especially beautiful and capable shooter was particularly important. There were some pupils who developed considerable skill in playing the variations of the game. For appearances sake playing for "keeps" was forbidden since it was a form of gambling. However, it was awfully hard to catch those playing this variation. If you lost your marbles you did not dare tell, whether winner or loser it made no difference in punishment as far as teachers were concerned.
These years were hard for our parents. I doubt that they ever got near to being out of debt. Sometimes crops were not so good although Dad often had better crops than some of his neighbors or claimed he did. However if one farmed on shares then half of the crop went to the landlord. There wasn't enough left to payoff the mortgage on livestock and machinery or to retire other debts. There wasn't much left for the family. Prices of farm products were almost universally low during the 1920's and 30's. Those years were not only tough on us but also upon other farm families. Many families living in rural towns and villages faced substantially the same problems as farmers. This was being strongly felt in 1928 which was an election year.
There are memories of that election. If the election of 1928 was not the origin of my interest in politics, it was certainly contributory. I was in the third grade beginning in the fall of 1928. There was a great deal of tension regarding that election. Our parents were pretty staunch democrats and sometimes Nonpartisan Leaguers. Dad had a kind of Loyalty to William Langer but in the national elections voted with the Democrats. My mother was a Democrat from the beginning even when she couldn't vote. Her father had grown up in south Texas during the Civil War. I suspect he may have had Democratic leanings.
Grandpa Cofell was a staunch Republican with very conservative leanings. He thought of himself as allied with bankers and businessmen and had himself been a business man at one time. The rest of our extended family also held rather unfavorable opinions regarding Catholics at that time and of Al Smith in particular because of his "Wet" leanings. Al Smith being on the side of the drinking man and had promised the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. For them, Hoover was definitely the man to elect.
We went to Edgeley during the time of the campaign and Grandpa took my Dad into the living room and explained why he should vote for Herbert Hoover. There was some arguing about who to vote for and I did not understand everything that was said. My father said regardless he was going to vote for Smith. There were more words and the discussion ended when my father said, "I'm not decided yet but I am really thinking of voting for Norman Thomas." Norman Thomas was running on the Socialist Ticket. My Grandfather came up out of his chair and said, "Oh! You could never do that!" It ended the discussion. My Dad knew how to irritate his father and I believe Grandpa figured his son was a hopeless case. I can remember some other remarks such as "You can't vote for a Catholic." "You can't vote for that AI Smith." Well, I think my parents could and they did. I believe mother would in any case vote the opposite of what her Father-in-law did.
We were not Catholic and only slightly moist not really wet but we were Democrats and we were voting for AI Smith. The man who drove our school bus was also voting for AI Smith or at least said he was. There was a high school girl, a Presbyterian Republican, who rode on the bus with us that year and her family was voting for Herbert Hoover. The bus driver did all kinds of things to challenge her. He had Al Smith's picture on the dashboard or the windshield.He would also say something against Hoover or for AI Smith and an argument would be in full swing. The high school student was not afraid to argue and defend her position but she also got upset by some of the deliberate illogical statements of the bus driver. Well, we had the chance to listen to a political campaign all the way to school. During the day she would read the papers and in the evening be well armed for another assault on the positions taken by the bus driver. I think we had a different kind of political education.
Norman Thomas was a Presbyterian Minister who in turn ran on the Socialist ticket for Mayor of New York City, Governor of New York, and as candidate for President in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, and 1948. He never won an election. In my opinion he was probably one of the most thoughtful candidates ever to run for the presidency with the possible exception of Adlai Stevenson.
In my opinion the election of 1928 is an example of people voting according to their liquor and religious prejudices. One can never be certain what the really important issues were. Anyway Hoover was elected and continued a policy of doing very little to help the common people of the country. The economy did continue to decline for farmers and laboring people. There were many different movements that arose at the grass roots during this time. The movement with which I am most familiar was the Farmers Union which was able to organize a sizeable segment of North Dakota farmers and gave them a strong spokesman in high places. The able direction of the Talbott family made the Farmers Union into a powerful voice for North Dakota farm people. I do not know the peak membership of the organization but it was active in our area of North Dakota. The local in Manns Township to the east of us was one of the first locals in the State. Manns Township was also a stronghold of the NonPartisan League. Our father refused to join the union when asked in 1928. I'm not certain whether he was just an "independent farmer"---there were a number of those. In my opinion this was an image fostered to keep farmers from joining with and assisting each other. My mother mentioned several times in conversation that the man who owned the land and held a mortgage on our livestock and machinery was opposed to union organization. I don't know that I agree with that either. Our parents may have thought that he was but I doubt that he would have made it an issue. On the school grounds we were well aware of other children's loyalties to organizations to which their parents belonged. We were aware that organizations and churches had status value. If your family did not belong you were kind of left out. Just as those who were known supporters of AI Smith were also subject to censure. It was a hard life to determine which of these organizations one should condemn or support and Join.
The election was held, won and lost. Life goes on. We provided facilities for occasional entertainment for our neighbors. Those of our neighbors. who had the accommodations would hold a round of parties during the cooler months of the year. We had one such party in early December 1928. There was a gathering of neighborhood families. The younger children slept and the older ones tried not to. The adults played cards or danced. Music was provided by Ed Hunt and Philip Skattum. The practice at those neighborhood parties was to have lunch served about midnight and usually each. family brought something to serve at lunch. On this occasion lunch, covered with a cloth had been placed on a table in the entry shed 'so it would remain cool. At about midnight when the women went to set out the food---it was gone! Someone had stolen the lunch! There was considerable consternation and no clues. When the theft became known at the party some people spoke in whispers. Who could have done such a thing? (SCR., Vol. 25, Vol. 18, December 20, 1928.) The lunch probably was taken by some young people who were at the party and left a little early. Mother later found one of the dishpans used to hold the sandwiches in a buckbrush thicket about half way between our place and a neighbor.
It was one of the years in the late 1920's when we decided to raise turkeys. We also raised barred Plymouth Rock chickens and they are a very motherly breed of chicken. There were always plenty of hens that wanted to be mothers. Our parents sat these motherly hens on a variety of eggs. Life was really tough on those hens that sat on duck and geese eggs, especially when the youngster came in the vicinity of water. We also had perhaps a dozen turkeys~ Narragansett's, a turkey noted for brown or almost red feathers. The Turkeys would lay eggs and we would try to keep their nests empty setting the eggs under the Plymouth Rock chickens. We were successful in hatching perhaps a hundred and fifty young turkeys. There were some that died but by the time the grasshoppers were plentiful we had about one hundred twenty five left. We fed them at home but also let them forage in the Alfalfa field where there were all kinds of delicious insects. One day Dad was working in a nearby field, he saw the turkeys flying into the air in an unusual way and went to investigate. A prairie wolf took off and dad rounded up surviving turkeys and drove them home. There were perhaps a dozen and a half left. He checked the alfalfa field and found very few carcasses. He did not believe the wolf had carried that many away but it may have scattered them around the country side. We believed afterward that one of the neighbors rounded up some of those turkeys because later in the fall a few turkeys returned that had wandered off from some place. I can remember how disappointed mother and dad were over the loss of those turkeys. They had lost a vision of ready cash the turkeys would have supplied.
The summer of 1928 was a wonderful time for Lois and I. We each had the opportunity to stay at our Grandparents home at Edgeley for about a two week period. My stay with our grandparents was noted by a visit of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Cofell in the Edgeley Mail and that I had stayed with my Grandparents. (Edgeley Mail, Vol. 39, No. 38, July 12, 1928.)
There were several memorable events during that stay. There was a very heavy rainstorm and part of the farm yard filled with water and was drained away by plowing a ditch. Another was the day that Grandpa wanted to move the bull named, Omar. Well, Omar did not want to be moved at least not in the direction that Grandpa and my uncles wanted him to go. Grandpa was on the ground and my uncles were on horseback. There was a swinging wooden gate that opened into the fenced barn yard. The top rail was about six feet from the ground. Grandpa told me to get up on the gate near the foundation post. I did. They were trying to get a rope on Omar. Suddenly he turned and raced for the gat- and went over it gracefully or ungracefully about four feet from where I was sitting. Omar went around the corner of the barn and my uncles had to open the gate before they could get out with their horses. Grandpa ordered me to run to the house which I did.
It was an especially good visit because Grandma took me to visit the Palace of Sweets which was still operating in Edgeley. I was also privileged to be a very good consumer of Grandma's cookies.
Lois's stay was also verified by an item in the Mail. (Edgeley Mail, Vol. 38, No. 42, August 9, 1928. I do not know what Lois's adventures were but I remember when she came home she was very excited and exuberant about her visit.
It was also during the summer of 1928 that Mrs. Louis DeLair gave birth to twins a boy and a girl on Thursday July 24, 1928. Mother mentioned this several times. I suspect she may have had something to do with Mrs. DeLair being taken to the hospital in Edgeley. The babies died. I remember going to the DeLair home with mother when she visited after Mrs. DeLair returned home. Mother sat with her for a while trying to comfort and console her. I do not know how many people mother tried to help in this manner. I only know these were visits that were a near imperative for her. The feeling that surrounds the loss of a child is heart rending and oppressive. Mother was trying to help which is certainly understood in greater clarity as an adult than it was on that visit. We, who have had the benefit of modern hospital and medical care, may not appreciate the worry, the sorrow and hardship women faced at that time. It must have been even more difficult earlier in our history. Many pregnant women worked in the fields and barns along side their husbands and children. Times were tough for these farm people and often there were no funds to pay a doctor and women and children and the men also suffered. It was also not an easy matter to travel to see a doctor. One finds items in the country newspapers of people getting on the train to go somewhere to see a doctor or dentist. Sometimes in order to catch the train they first had to drive several miles with a team of horses.
In 1928 times were tough for our family, even though We had not yet faced the depth of the depression or the drouth. I suspect that my parents did not expect much change in economic conditions. They were somewhat cynical about the Hoover administration.
We still had one advantage over people in villages and cities. We always raised a large garden and we (I use this advisedly) worked at preserving food. There was a lot of canning. The hard work again done by our Mother, but we all had to help in. some way, whether weeding the garden, spraying for potato bugs, picking and shelling peas, cutting green beans, shucking and cutting ears of corn. We canned a lot of tomatoes. We also canned a great deal of rhubarb if it was available. Our parents would often mix another fruit with the rhubarb. For several years we canned wild plums.The plums and rhubarb were used for sauces served as dessert. Several summers we also dried sweet com. Mother made pickles, we preserved sauerkraut in great round jars, the same ones we used at times to make beer and wine in. We also canned meats, beef, pork and chicken. At other times we butchered pork which would be salted and placed in a brine, we also made corned beef. This all took a great deal of time and effort. Since we did not have a pressure cooker, for the canning of vegetables and meats mother used the hot pack method. This meant keeping a fire going under wash boilers for three, four or five or more hours.
In addition to all the above we also saved a lot of squash, pumpkins and had potatoes, carrots, beets and sometimes heads of cabbage. All of which were put down in the cellar. We pretty well lived on what we raised. Mother canned about 100 quarts of peas one summer. We apparently had a very good crop. I remember both picking them and then shelling sitting around wash tubs filled with several million pods. A job that at the time seemed never to end. One year, Dad took about 50 bushels of wheat to a mill at Kulm, North Dakota and had it ground, he came back with sacks of flour, grits and bran.
We did not do that every summer since the crops and garden varied. We never approached that number of peas again. The following year it might be a abundant crop of tomatoes or several bushels of wild plums. There was always something until the drought came.
The year 1929 was a bad one for our family. It would have been considered a bad year even without the National Depression or the Wall Street crash that occurred in October. There are memories of something bad going on in the rest of the country but what was happening locally was of more concern to our family.
There was a good deal of illness in our area and in February mother was taken to Edgeley. "Mrs. Floyd Cofell of Montpelier has been quite ill at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Cofell. The latter has been numbered among the sick folks also." (Edgeley Mail, Vol. 40, No. 17, Feb. 14, 1929.)
Nick DeLair and our father took mother to Edgeley and had just returned about the time we arrived home from school. They were talking in the living room about the awful disease Spinal Meningitis. I believe that was the diagnosis. There were others who were so diagnosed during that same time. In the same paper there is an item relating that Miss Blanche Cumber, Isabelle Cumber and Iola Davis were in the hospital. Whether mother actually had meningitis, I don't know. Another newspaper item reported that she had appendicitis but mother had that removed when she was eighteen years old. An operation that was performed at a small hospital at Eyota, Minnesota in 1911.
The health must have improved and everyone felt better. We went to Edgeley in early March. "Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Cofell of Montpelier were Sunday guest ofW.H. Cofell." (Edgeley Mail, Vol. 40, No. 20, March 7, 1929.
In 1929 our crop was pretty good and all went well except that farm prices remained low. We had a family of itinerate workers who did all the shocking of our crop that fall. They set up a tent about a quarter of a mile away from our buildings and camped near the fields. They were paid off and they left to find work elsewhere. It was discovered when threshing began that the grain was not properly shocked. They had laid a bundle on the ground and leaned other bundles butt down around it. Proper shocking required all bundles butts down. This meant that about every seventh bundle had some spoiled grain and might be just a bit damp.