Book 2 - Nathan, Amy, Madison and Ethan Berga

and small stemmed –ware containing William’s red,
raspberry sauce. Lena’s basic meal consisted of fried
chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy along with home
made bread served with fresh vegetables.
Lena’s plants occupied the window in William’s room.
A large Christmas Cactus sat nearby on a pedestal.
Every Christmas the plant would bloom red flowers.
There were bookshelves and a large rocker where William
sat at the end of the day to read and smoke his
pipe. This room had a closet and at one time was used
as a bedroom with curtains separating it from the dining
room.
The beautiful, maple stairway to the second floor could
be seen through the dining room entrance into the
parlor. The stairway had two flights with a spindled
railing and sturdy banister. At the landing between
the floors a small window viewed the east fields. At
the bottom of the stairs, in the alcove between the
dining room and parlor, hung large oval pictures of
Lena’s parents. When the house was new the stairs
were carpeted, however, later uncovered to reveal the
original wood.
The front porch was as wide as the house and extended
several feet out from the house with pillars between
the roof and ledge half way up from the floor. There
were wide steps leading to the grass. It was seldom
used because the family members and company used
the back entrance. On warm days the front door and
windows were opened to the porch.
The house was very large and required constant work.
The spring and fall housecleaning was a major activity.
Braided rugs were hung outside, on the rope lines,
and beaten to remove dust. Joyce Wada remembers
helping her grandmother dust the stairs and furniture,
shaking out the dust cloth and rugs from the secondfloor
bedroom window that opened up like a door.
The four bedrooms on the second floor each had large
closets. Each bedroom had a large double bed with
handmade quilts and feather pillows. The feathers for
the pillows came from the chickens and geese raised
on the farm. Lena had braided small rugs for the bedrooms,
and made the curtains.
The large front bedroom was on the northwest corner
of the house with windows facing north, looking
into the woods. There was a large walk-in closet, and
window-door combination for shaking rugs outside.
A large bed sat under the front window that matched
the very high dresser with drawers, a tall mirror and
small shelves on either side of the tall mirror for candles.
The room also contained Lena’s well used treadle
Singer Sewing Machine.
The large desk that sat in the bedroom had been
brought from Norway. It had a top section with glass
doors that were removed before they boarded the ship.
William had it brought from the Nordrum’s log cabin.
There had been several rat holes chewed through;
so he pieced it back together and varnished it. The
desk opened up for writing, with small compartments
inside and drawers in the bottom. Important papers
were kept there as well with the old, leather books
that came with the Nordrums, written in Norwegian.
The second front bedroom was nearly identical to the
large one with a large walk-in closet. This was Ted’s
room, and maybe Earl’s when he was home. There was
a matching dresser to the bed that sat under the front
window and another window was on the east side over
looking the flower garden and fields.
The small bedroom, near the large front room on the
west side was long and skinny with a window over
looking the driveway. This was Helen’s room with a
twin bed. The commode (small chest of drawers) was
painted white each spring, eventually covering up the
beautiful carved etchings on the drawers. It had small
white glass knobs and casters. William used it for
clothing, Lena’s Bible and kerosene lamp sat on top.
There were also hooks on the wall for clothing.
Victor’s room was across from the bathroom. The window
overlooked the west, a double bed and dresser sat
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