100 years ago part 1

The Husband & I have been so busy this last 3 months of 09 I haven't had the time to post on the blog. I have to be relaxed in order to write & think... and relaxed is not what I've been. We went to Palm Springs on Christmas day with the hopes of rejuvenation and relaxation... while at the Palm Springs Museum we heard about the architect, Albert Frey and his philosophy... "You don't own possessions.... they own you"

When we returned home to a cluttered "after the holiday" living room we started cleaning house vowing to eliminate what we do not need... hoping to clear our home of clutter and

our minds would be clear too.

Came across the letter from my great great aunt Lil that she wrote many years ago. In the letter she is reflecting on life in the early 1900's ... 100 years ago. She talks about her move from a farm town, Dudleytown, to a bigger city in Seymour Ind, 1910

A perfect read for 2010... a description of what life was like for a young girl 100 years ago. Here I've been wining and moaning about how hard things have been since the economic downturn.... whaaa I'm too this or I'm too that.... whaaa whaaaaaaa!!!!!

This was a major attitude adjustment reading about my great great aunt's life. They had it much harder than we... but there was plenty to be thankful for. I felt a little ashamed...

Here is an excerpt...

Moving day from Dudleytown, Indiana to Seymour, Indiana early 1900's

" How simple life was then, - we were content with the basic necessities, happy and secure in our home, nurtured and loved by two very strong individuals, our dear parents. Now a new way of living would begin for us in Seymour, a change and a challenge as well.

I recall so little of moving day, I was very young - only confusion as our furniture was brought into our home. Hulda and I were very curious, in everyone’s way. Once we discovered the stairway, we ran up, and found so many rooms there, all empty. We went to the windows, and found we could see all the action taking place below as our household goods and boxes were taken from the horse wagon and

carried in the house.

Our new home seemed so large to me: a two & half story frame building, eleven rooms, a spacious attic - a basement with coal furnace. Gas provided light, and there were toilet facilities on the second floor. The house is still being protected by a slate roof, which has stood the test of time. Now with more space and modern facilities, most of us more able to assume responsibilities, all contributed to an easy adjustment.

Our family was warmly welcomed to Seymour by our neighbors, members of our church. One evening the “Mannerchoir” came to meet all of us, - they brought a lunch, and during the evening entertained us with many of their songs. This was the evening we met our Parochial teachers, teachers Lange and Wilde.

Our first Christmas we were wakened at midnight by Immanuel mixed choir singing beautiful carols. They were standing in our side yard, - there was a deep snow on the ground, we looked through our upstairs bedroom window, - the moon was so bright,- we could see them all so plainly, a silhouette of each one standing in the snow. What a beautiful memory: Emma said Mother asked them in for a bit of wine, but they refused, wished us all a Merry Christmas and left singing. I was recovering from typhoid fever at the time and recall how disappointed I was that I had to miss the children’s Christmas program, and how happy Pastor Phillip Schmidt made me when he came to my room Christmas eve and brought my “treat that every child receives.

My father was no stranger to Seymour. When he graduated from the Medical School in Louisville, for a time he worked in a drug store, in the pestle and mortar business as he used to say, - became acquainted with the doctors, and was wondering where he might be practicing medicine. It must have been at this time that he met our Mother, his beloved “Yettie”, as he referred to her in a lovely poem he wrote. Several years later, in 1891, he served a term in the Indiana State legislature, and while they were in session, Carl was born, and delivered by Dr. Green. This is something Emma told me as I was not born yet.

Our first September in Seymour, the five younger ones of our family were enrolled in Immanuel Parochial School, and completed our years of secular and religious training. We were entrusted to the willing and faithful service of our teachers to teach us the truths of the Bible. We were required to memorize so much of the Scripture, Many hymns and Psalms, all still fresh in my memory, to guide and direct me now when the hills and valleys of life seem insurmountable as I grow older.

As in Dudleytown, if disciplinary measures were necessary, a strap was used on the boys, a ruler on the palm of the hands for the girls. Our school building here was two-story brick, with a basement, heated by a coal furnace and toilet facilities in the basement. In bad weather we played in the basement. In the front entrance were long racks for all our winter coats, and a long shelf held all our lunch boxes of many shapes and sizes. Country children walked to school as well as those living some distance here in town. We were fortunate, - we had but one block to walk."

.... to be continued