PARTY LINES, PUMPS, AND PRIVIES                           FEEDING OUR FAMILIES

                                                Memories of Hoosier Homemakers

   

     I inherited these two books from a special aunt, Eleanor Wolf.  Lately, perusing them has been a delight in Hoosier antics of bygone years.

Eleanor Arnold was the author, from Hoosier Homemakers through the years. My things have certainly changed for the woman of the house. 

The interviewees tell of their life as children and women in the time from 1890 to 1930, a time of busy, industrious small communities and rural areas. The interviewees are from many Indiana Counties with their own tales.

Some of the chapters in both books are;

Milking and churning

Feeding the workers

Butchering and Curing Meat

Cobs, Coal Oil, and Kindling

Pumps, Baths, and the Path

Rag Rugs, Brooms, and Straw Ticks

What a delight to re-read these books.

Opal: We had a washtub and you put water in it out in the sun to heat, and then you heated a teakettle of water to put in that, and that is how you'd take your bath. Usually out behind the house, in the Summertime.

Juanita: In the wintertime, everybody cleared out of the kitchen, and you took it in the kitchen.

Opal: Right by the cookstove with the oven door open!

Opal: I think we took a bath once a week; that was to get cleaned up to go to church.

If you ever want to spend a quiet winter evening, reveling in stories from the past that make you appreciate the amenities we have today, go to your library and look for books such as these. It will certainly make you thank God for those that have paved the way with modern appliances and conveniences that we often take for granted today.