The Callans and McClarys, by John Edward Callan - Callanworld

emain comparable to that of her
friends and relatives, she took on
more work. Helen did not rebel
against the traditional gender
roles, on the contrary, she was
happy working in her home,
sharing her mutuality with
Clinton, even if the work was
hard and seemingly never—
ending.
Helen considers herself
lucky to have graduated from
high school because her father
died when she was nine years old
and in those times many living
on farms had to help with the
farming rather than attend high
school. At age 15 her main chore
was milking the cows, however,
she also did most of the baking
and helped with the canning,
sewing, gardening, livestock
feeding, and carrying in firewood.
To attend school she
walked two miles across fields to
catch a ride to school with a
schoolteacher. She studied hard
and made good grades. Home
economics class required her to
make garments at home as
homework so she made all of
her own clothes as well as some
for her mother. At that time
factory— produced clothing was
readily available in the stores in
town, however, garment making
was taught intensively and this
skill was highly regarded by those
who needed to be frugal. Her
home economics special project
was to do something social with
her little brothers every Friday
evening. Usually this consisted of
reading books to them.
“When Helen was 18 she
graduated from high school.
Most country girls worked at
home in those days, however,
according to Helen, town girls
often held jobs outside of their
homes until marriage. The
following fall Helen took a job in
the Agricultural Soil Conservation
office in Boonville. Starting
at two dollars per day in 1936,
her hours were eight to five
o’clock, Monday through Saturday.
She married Clinton
McClary in 1938 and planned to
quit her job with the arrival of
their first child. Helen was often
sick while carrying Judy and quit
her job early when she was four
months pregnant. Though she
hated to give up her earnings,
she remarks, “I didn’t like to
work outside of my home.”
Helen takes pride in describing
her home and family
and how her home has changed
through years of her and
Clinton’s hard work and frugality.
Helen’s pride in her family
and social position is shown by
her weekend routine. On Saturday
nights she always ironed the
girls’ dresses that they would
wear to church since the closets
of the little house were filled so
tightly that clothing would
wrinkle while hanging. Then she
polished their little white shoes.
On Sunday mornings she
washed the girls’ hair. It was
important to her that they looked
pretty for church.
In 1938 she started housekeeping
in Boonville with an
icebox. (There was no icebox on
~ 77 ~
the farm where she grew up.)
She also had a coal oil cook
stove and wood heat. Three
years later she got a natural gas
cook stove and in 1948 she got a
Frigidaire refrigerator. Her first
piece of “furniture” was a treadle
sewing machine. With this she
made all of her family’s clothes
and she states, “. . .even hemmed
the diapers.”
Helen’s life at home was
anything but restful. Following is
a description of one day of
Helen’s work from the early
years of her married life.
Wash day was Monday, so
on Sunday night Helen would
get Clinton to bring her wash
boiler in out of the shed. He
would set it on the gas stove and
then she would fill it with cold
water. Next she would shave a
bar of soap that she had made
previously. The shavings went
into a bucket of water to soak
overnight. Before bedtime
Clinton would bring the washing
machine in off the back porch so
it would be warm the next
morning. Monday morning she
would start heating the water
over two of the stove’s burners,
leaving one burner exposed for
cooking breakfast. After the
arrival of children, the washing
usually didn’t start until the time
school started. In her 11- by 11foot
kitchen she would have to
do some rearranging to have
space for the washer and two
rinse tubs. The house was small,
as were the rooms, requiring
multifunctionality. Their second
house is larger, allowing in-
The Callans and McClarys
creased specialization of the
rooms. She sorted the clothes
since all the clothes were washed
in the same water. The white
clothes were washed first, then
prints, then the dark clothes.
The wash cycle lasted fifteen
minutes.
At the end of the washing,
she would pick each item up
with a stick (because the water
was scalding hot) and put it
through the wringer into the first
rinse. She used blueing in the
second rinse. About half of the
clothes then needed to be
starched. Then they were hung
up to dry. Due to the rush of
getting the washing cycle and the
rinsing done, there was usually
no time to hang the wash to dry
until all of the washing was
finished. The wash needed to be
hung outside in dry weather,
even if it was quite cold; a very
unpleasant task in the winter!
The tubs were emptied by
dipping and pouring the water
into the kitchen sink. The
washer had a hose-type drain.
She tried to get to this stage
before Clinton came home for
lunch. Then at lunchtime
Clinton would move the washer
out for her. She would prepare
the noon meal, feed and change
the baby, and take care of the
toddler(s). After lunch she would
get the kids down for a nap and
hang up the clothes. Then she
would prepare the evening meal,
take the clothes down if they
were dry, and fold them. In the
evening she would then dampen
the clothes to be ironed and roll