I decided to venture out of my typical reading genres this week and read a biography. Now I know biographies are not the most exciting things to read, but pick the right one and you could end up viewing some pretty funny stories.
I read "Angel in the Country" By James Huelsman, my uncle, at my grandparents house one weekend trip. I've always been drawn towards geneology and I love uncovering stories of my relatives' past, so in a way this book is right up my alley. It's about Mary Pohl Huelsman, my great-grandma (my Grandma Schoenlein's mom) on my dad's side. It started talking about the early years in Mary's life and how she grew up on a german farm in Ohio. Mary died when I was around four and I only can remember a few details about visiting her so it was neat to see her story and get to know her better.
I loved the funny stories-and there was a lot of them. I also got to see how life was like in the early twentieth century. I was sitting on the couch at my grandma's house when I read "If the girls were good that week, Henry would give each girl a penny to buy something. Invariably, each girl selected one stick of gum since each stick would cost a penny. The cashier would break open a pack of gum just so each girl could buy a stick." (Pg. 19) I turned to my grandma after reading this and told her about a stick of gum costing a penny. She explained how everything was cheaper back then. My dad added when he was a kid, he could buy a king size candy bar for twenty-fice cents and that they were much bigger then than what they are now. I couldn't beleive it.
Chores back then were a lot different too. Today we can throw clothes in the wash and dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Back then, they didn't have that technology and had to do chores the hard way. In the book it says " When Mary was around five years old on a Monday wash day, she got her arm pinched in the crank wringer." It went into to sying how she walked backwards into it while her mother, Anna, was wringing out clothes. "She let out a loud cry and blood was dripping. Anna ran to get her medical Remedy for cuts and gashes, a bottle of Kentucky Bourbon...Esther grew curious. While Anna wasn't looking, she managed to satisfy her curiosity and took a 'swig' of Kentucky Bourbon...It tasted terrible." (pg.22) I couldn't help but laugh out loud at that part. But even though it might not be what we use today to clean out wounds, the alcohol will clear out the germs. Each week they also had to beat dust out of the rugs and place news papers under them-something I found odd. Anna also taught mary how to be a good steamstress.
There was also no electricity on their farm. When a salesman came out and talked to Henry about the benefits of electricity, Henry still didn't want it. He said how it was way to costly and "too involved." They had done without it for years and they could live without it in the future. The book says "Besides, farmers were expected to bear the cost of transmittion at as much as $2,000 per mile." (pg.26) Today I can't even begin to think what life would be like without electricity.
It explains in the book how the children except Erma attended Home School, a one room school house that taught all eight grades. It says how children used the outhouses in the far corners of the lot. The boy's and girl's outhouse were located at opposite ends. The main sorce of heating was a potbelly cast-iron stove that scorched the children sitting near the middle of the room where the stove was and left the ones on the outside to freeze to death. There was also no water fountains in the school like there is today. The water came from an outside pump served with a little tin cup hanging from the pump. Also, the older boys of farm families would miss daays to help out on the farm, really only coming in the winter when there was not as much work to be done. Back then, farming came before school. Today, school is top priority.
Picture of a Potbelly Cast-Iron Stove
Today cars can cost a pretty penny and we take driver's ed in order to get a licence at sixteen plus. The book says " ...took the big step in 1918 and bought his first automobile. It was a 1918 Ford Model T. It cost around $500, came only in black, and offered few amenities." and "Henry bought it with the understanding that the car dealer would teach him how to drive it." (pg. 35)I was shocked that back then you either had to teach yourself how to drive or the car dealer would teach you. Either way, the class was not very effective. "Gaining confidence and feeling good about himself, Henry accelerated the car towards the barnyard, gradually increasing speed. Once in the barnyard, not realizing how fast he was going, he was unable to manuver the turn, lost control, and crashed directly into the doghouse which, in turn, rammed into the chicken coop."(pg.37)
1918 Ford Model T
I was the most surprised when what we had been learning in 8th grade history came up in the book. "The 1920's was the period of Prohibition. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution proclaimed the making and selling of alcohol illegal, punishable with jailtime.Many people ignored the highly unpopular law and purchased liquor from 'bootleggers'." (pg.50) I had no idea about my family history with this event. My Great-Grandpa Schoenlein was actually a 'bootlegger' that would transport the alcohol. He never made any alcohol, but transporting it was considered just as bad. People had to do it back then becasue there was no jobs available and no way to get money. although he didn't do it often, I still think it's cool that he did it.
In conclusion, I recomend reading some historical biographies sometime. I know they might not be a story with an epic battle at the end or a fluffy romance story, but it's neat to see how far we have come over the years and learn about how things were done in the past.
