Beacon Aug 2023

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Page 10A THE BEACON August 2023 The following excerpt is from a book written in 1930 by a lifetime resident of Ripley County, Yorkville, and Manchester. The BEACON is honored to share another chapter of the book each month thanks to Mary Randell’s descendants. Previous chapters are available online starting with the August 2022 print edition at goBEACONnews.com/ print_edition. This issue features part two of chapter 12. The first half of the chapter can be found in the July issue of issue of The BEACON. By Mary M. Greiner Randell Chapter XII- Part 2 of 2 At this place we used no matches. We had a big fireside and kept a hickory chunk covered with ashes that would hold fire for a week. When I was fourteen years old my father took me to Greeensburg to find a place to work. In those days, the girls would go to the minister’s house and the minister’s wife would find a job for her or maybe have lined up already. If the girl wanted to give her a piece of money she would Author Mary Randell take it, but she made no charge. I found a place with a young couple who had one child. In those days the working girls did the washing and the ladies all wore trails on their dresses. They would walk downtown that way with their skirts dragging the sidewalk. Every time they went out they had to put on a clean dress. It took more time to do up those dresses than to do all the other housework. About eight or nine o’clock at night I had to carry the baby to sleep while the parents were reading. Sometimes I would be so tired I would almost drop the baby. When I would tell the mother I was www. goBEACON news.com tired she would say, “Oh carry her a little while longer.” When I would stop walking the baby would cry. One day this lady took me to Cincinnati with her, and then it was worse than ever. She would go out to see her friends and I was left with the baby to take care of. We were there five weeks and if I could have found a different job I would not have come back with her. But in those days work was scarce. So when we came back she put on those long dresses again and I got tired of washing them. My mother came to see me and she acted so hateful that we sat up all night and the next morning my mother went home. I didn’t stay long after this. I wrote to Indianapolis and asked the minister’s wife to get me a place to work and told her that I would pay her for it. So I told the lady I was going and her sister found it out. The sister begged me to stay, but I said I couldn’t stay any longer. She was a very good woman; she and her husband went to the same church that I did and before I left they bought me a Bible. They told me to read it and not to forget that Jesus suffered and died on the cross to save the whole world. They prayed for me before I was converted. So I did what they told me. I have never forgotten those words. They have helped me all my life. When I went to Indianapolis to work I worked in another girl’s place until her mother got well. The name of this family was Tudweiler. But she didn’t get well, she died when she had been sick a month. Then the girl came back and I got another place to work. At this place I didn’t have to wash by myself. The lady of the house used to go out riding. She would take the children with her and one day one of the children took a spasm and fell off the seat onto the sidewalk. I heard her scream. I picked up the child and put it in a tub of warm water, then took it out and wrapped it in a flannel blanket. By this time the doctor had come and she asked him if that was the right thing to do. He said, “She couldn’t have done anything any better.” Then she asked me if I could unhitch a horse THE STORY OF MY LIFE Making My Own Way and I told her I had unhitched many a horse. I liked this place of work, but I was only a helper and I was afraid I would forget what I knew about cooking. In those days they didn’t have any cook books; at least I had never seen one. At another place where I worked they were American people. Mr. Span was a real estate man. The first child was John, the second James, the third child was a girl named Mamie, and the fourth child was Charley. This man would go to market and buy quail and wild ducks. One time he bought a half of a deer. He hung it in the wash house and his wife asked him where he expected us to wash our clothes. This was on Tuesday, and on Sunday I put the last of the deer in the oven to roast. There were ten in the family, counting an aunt and a niece. At this place they had a woman to help me wash, but not to iron. No shirts were sent to the laundry either, and in the winter the washing had to be carried up two long flights of stairs to the attic. These people had also a girl to do the upstairs work and wait on the table. They had a colored man to black their shoes every night and set them in the hall in a row. He tended the furnace every morning and took care of the yard. He went to market with Mr. Span and carried a heavy basket; and in the afternoon he took the family out riding. This man bought two houses, and had them moved away so he could have a place for the boys to play croquet. One day these boys brought home some limburger cheese and put it in the cupboard. Their mother was such a little woman that she couldn’t reach everything even when standing on a chair, so she had to hunt for it. They had put it in a tureen with a lid on it. The two oldest boys were about 20 years old when I worked there. After I left they went to New York, and when each came back brought a wife with him. The morning I left they gave me two vases and I have them yet. Well, in the next place I worked I could cook, and that suited me fine. They were Jewish people and believed in lots of cooking. I had chickens to dress and geese and ducks; and we surely did enjoy eating them. I learned to pluck geese before I got there. At this place I had big loads of wash. The girl that did the kitchen work always had to do the washing and the ironing. The upstairs girl had to wait on the table and take care of the children, and take them out in the evening and undress them and put them to bed. When it came her turn to go out and be free one afternoon each week and every other Sunday, I would take the children out. Of course, this pleased the mother very much. She would give me some money to spend for the children. One time we went to an outing and stayed until dark expecting to come home on the street car. When the first car came along it was crowded; then I waited for the second and it was more crowded, so we started to walk home. I put as many as I could in the baby buggy. There were four children and we were three miles from home. Sometimes I carried one on my arm and wheeled the buggy with the other hand. This gave me a lesson never to go that far from home again. I got three dollars a week at this place and all the clothes that I needed to wear. The names of this man and his wife were Mr. Lieberman Mosler and Rachel Mosler. The first child was called Issie, the second Isabel, the third Moras, the fourth Blanche, and the fifth Gertrude. It may be that some of them may come across this book. My name then was Mary Margaret Greiner, but they called me “Maggie.” There were eleven in this family, and I had to do all the cooking for that many outside of the wash days and ironing days- in those days they didn’t know anything about sending their clothes to the laundry. Skirts had to be done up at home, and in the winter I had to carry them up two flights of stairs to the attic to hang them up to dry. That was sixty years ago. With all this work I got only three dollars and a half a week. This was before girls could work in factories. Nowadays white working girls are scarce. With all the work I used to do, I would go to her sister’s next door and sew on the sewing machine. I made clothes for the children to get more money for myself. I was with this family five years and they liked me so well that they bought nearly all my clothes. When the nurse girl would have her afternoon off, I would arrange my work so that I could take the children out. I was also paid for that. That was on Thursday afternoons. While I stayed at this place the lady of the house went to Cincinnati to see her parents. She took one child with her and one Saturday night; the robbers cut the slates on the shutters and a piece of glass out of the window so they could unlatch the window. This was in the second story. The man slept in the same room where the children slept. We girls slept in the third story and never heard anything. He said he had $80 in gold under his pillow. The robbers took that and his gold watch. Once when I was working at Indianapolis all or nearly all of the horses got sick and they had to send away to get oxen to pull the bakers wagons, the milk wagons and the butchers wagons. The folks that went to the grocery had to carry their goods home or do without. Those that had carriages had sick horses and those that didn’t have haulers to do it for them had to carry their goods home themselves. The hired girls had too much to do to go to the stores. In those days the girls had to pick (pluck) the feathers off chickens and dress them. Nowadays they go to www.GarrettBacomLaw.com 204 Short St. Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 812.260.8154 The BEACON - Great News for Great People. the butcher shops and get the chickens all dressed, also geese and ducks and turkeys, quail and pigeons and guineas. Everything like that had to be done by the hired girls. The bare kitchen floors had to be scrubbed, kneeling; nowadays one uses mops and vacuum cleaners. When I was sixteen years old women wore dresses with trails when they went downtown. When they came back of course the dress had to go in the wash. In those days there was no laundry. If a girl didn’t know how to do up skirts, she couldn’t hold a job as kitchen girl. Kitchen girls had to do the cooking except on wash days when the upstairs girl had to do it. One thing I failed to mention was that hired girls would quit their jobs and get work in a new place to avoid buying new clothes. After this I got another place to work, with an American family, where I had to have lots of patience. The lady I worked for was always dissatisfied about everything. One day her minister’s wife came to see her and offered her a music box. But, she said, “I couldn’t stand any music.” Then the minister’s wife offered to bring her Polly parrot down to Mrs. Pattison for company, but she refused that too. Then the minister came to see her and she complained to him that the high board fence bothered her. He said, “Well there won’t be any in heaven,” and he went home. At this place I had time to sew. I got $2.50 a week and had a chance to make some of my wedding clothes. There were three in the family, Mr. and Mrs. Pattison, and a girl named Nellie. This girl laid her diamond ring down on a chair and three men came to put up a stove, but I saw the ring and saved it for her. This woman wasn’t very kind; she had trouble with her feet, and was very hard to please. So I did my sewing at the minister’s house. While I was there I also took care of her children, so the minister and his wife could go out calling among the members. One day she wanted me to do some stitching for her. I didn’t think it suited her, but I didn’t rip it out because I knew it was alright. I used to tell the minister’s children some of my childhood stories and I don’t think they had time to think of their father and mother, let alone cry after them. One day, when they came home, the children said, “I wish you and Daddy had stayed out longer, Mary has been telling us some stories.” Now, all those that can’t tell children stories should get a book and read to your children. A child likes to be entertained. I always loved children. Just two years ago, I was at my son’s house and a lady came with two children. She began to worry about them and I offered to take care of them. She said, “Oh, what a relief.” I showed them some pictures and when they got tired of those, I cut out the pictures and mixed some flour paste and spread newspapers on the floor. They pasted until they went home. I kept a wet cloth lying on a chair so I could wipe their hands. When they were just outside the door began to clean up the mess and it didn’t take five minutes. Children should be treated in such a way that they should have confidence in you and come to you with their troubles instead of going to the neighbors. I have raised seven good children.
August 2023 THE BEACON Page 11A How’s Your Garden Looking? Some of you are gifted with a green thumb. You have the right touch, attention, and know-how to make things grow. Me, not so much. My wife and I joke about our reputation for killing plants. We were once given an Air Fern as a gift with the statement, “You can’t kill this thing.” Guess what? We killed that sucker too! I don’t say this to brag but rather to say how pathetic we can be at taking care of things that we claim are important to us. The Bible speaks many times about the fruit of our labor. In particular, in Matthew 7, Jesus makes several statements about what the fruit of someone’s labor reveals about them. Matthew 7:16-20 gives us several statements about the quality of the fruit that we are producing. “By their fruit, you will recognize them…”. As we are in the midst of our growing season we look at our gardens and have to make some decisions about what it is producing. Is it going to produce the amount and quality of fruit that we want to feed our family? If not, what do we need to do to get the garden back to good health; water, fertilize, weed, prune? Time is short, so we better do whatever is necessary to end the growing season well. The garden metaphor holds true in our lives. Consider these things to help you get your life back to a place of good health and start producing the life you desire. 1. Make an honest assessment - Look at what you have in your life. Is it what you dreamed of and desired? Did you have a vision for a particular job, marriage, lifestyle, etc…? What does that look like today? Are you on M DEAR ARIE By Marie Segale marie@goBEACONnews.com Dear Marie, I was stirred by the column you wrote last month about retirement. I am a single retired person on a limited income. I live on Social Security. The investments I made have not produced the income I expected and my savings account has dwindled along with my bucket list. My list was never very detailed or exotic, the largest item being to see our beautiful country in my own big motor home. I wanted track? Are you happy with the progress? Are you frustrated and seem to be off course? Answer these kinds of questions with honesty to make your best decisions moving forward. 2. Decide your next action steps - Fertilizing and Watering - Are you giving your life the daily essentials needed to grow? Daily habits and practices that build what you have. Going to work or school, taking care of yourself, taking care of relationships, practicing your faith. etc… Weeds- Are you so busy with things that take your energy away from what you want in your life? Do you need to reduce your busy schedule? Learn to say “NO” to being overly committed? Stop worrying about things you have no control over. Weeding is sometimes necessary because weeds steal energy and nutrients from what is good. Maybe it’s time to get rid of the things that are stealing your energy. Pruning - Are we doing things that simply take away from what we claim we want in our lives? Similar to the weeds that draw the nutrients and energy away from us, pruning is necessary because we are doing things that take energy away from ourselves. Even a healthy tree needs pruning sometimes, so it will bear more fruit. We may have to cut back on some good to get to the better things in life. We also have things and activities that we may see as “guilty pleasures” or “vices.” Do these things need to be pruned out of our lives? 3. Protect your garden - Just like storms, intruders, and diseases that will attempt to destroy or steal from our to travel to see the countries from which my ancestors traveled in ships across the ocean in the 1800s. Realistically I knew I would never do those things by myself. I am more likely to read all of those books I said I wanted to read and perhaps learn to play chess. I may write that book that has been churning inside for many years. I believe some of my bucket list is still achievable, although travel may not be attainable. As I have gotten older, I can see how much effort is needed to travel. I’m not sure I have the energy or the desire anymore. So many have put off retirement until age seventy, and many have gone back to work because of need. I have seen some very elderly greeters at local stores. This whole retirement thing needs to be sorted out and planned before it begins. Linda in Dearborn gardens, we have the same in our lives. We must recognize that these things are possible and guard against them. It could be the unforeseen loss of a job, diagnosis of cancer, or a thief that breaks into our house or steals from our business. We must set up the necessary precautions to protect our future. 4. Enjoy your fruit - A farmer doesn’t plant his crops only to give them all away and starve himself to death with nothing to eat. First and foremost, he reaps the benefits for himself and his family! He enjoys and is nourished by the fruits of his labor. He can sit back and see that what he was able to produce is good. One of the simplest pleasures in life is the feeling of contentment from a full stomach. In that moment there is a sense of being fulfilled. We too should take the time to have that fulfillment in our personal lives. It is what gives us the energy and hope to know that our life has a purpose well beyond ourselves. As we see this growing season coming to an end, take a moment to think about where you are in your life’s growing season. Are you producing the things you claimed you wanted? Or, are you getting more frustrated as you see a lack of production or a poor quality of production? Just as a quality garden must be grown intentionally, so too is a quality life that bears much fruit. Merrill Hutchinson is the President of Rock Solid Families, a faith-based marriage and family coaching organization in St. Leon, IN. For more information, contact 812-576-ROCK. Dear Linda, You are so right. Having a retirement plan is more important now more than ever. The younger a person can start adding to a 401K or personal plan, the better the future will be for them. Having a bucket list of dreams to fulfill does not mean it has to wait for retirement. You can start a new hobby anytime- learn to dance, go bird watching, hiking, fishing, baking, mentoring, and volunteering. So many activities that are not expensive and can keep you active. Being with people having fun and laughing is important for one’s health at any age. Establish good habits while you are young to keep you going well into your golden years. Have a pressing issue? I can help. Please email your question to Contact Marie@ GoBEACONnews.com Join Our Team at Ripley Crossing The Joy of Giving Back! DCRTA and Foundation attendee Back Row: Pat Harper, Jo Sloan, Jascia Robinson, Etta Boswick, Janet Hart, Betty Bourquein, Mark Guard. Front Row: Cathy Mund, Judy Mosier, Peg Loots, Sharon Moder, Jim Pierce. Local Retired Teachers Win Statewide Awards Volunteerism among Dearborn County retired teachers took center stage at the 58th annual Representative Assembly of the Indiana Retired Teachers Association (IRTA). Long-time Sunman-Dearborn School Corporation teacher Jim Pierce received the Association Member Benefits Advisors Award in Area 10 for his outstanding service, receiving the Volunteer Clock Award. As well, Etta Bostwick, Marlene Dozier, and Janet Hart were honored for their continued volunteerism. The Dearborn County Retired Teachers Association (DCRTA) also completed the most total volunteer hours in the state with 32,642 hours. Dearborn County also received Outstanding Awards for its public relations, communication, and website work. MEET OUR TALENTED TEAM Kelly Roark Family Nurse Practitioner Don’t be surprised if you see Kelly walking with a patient in the parking lot. Kelly takes extra steps to learn about patients before crafting the best diagnosis and remedy possible. This caring mom lives on a small farm with her family. She’s just another reason we are More than an Urgent Care. ripleycrossing.com They made our community great (and they did it without cell phones!) Now is your chance to share their stories... AND GET PAID FOR IT! Ripley Crossing is a beautiful Senior Health Campus. Services range from Independent Living to specialized dementia care. Excellent pay and Benefits. Call today for more information 812-654-2231 ACCUDOCURGENTCARE.COM PAMPERED PETS CERTIFIED GROOMER GROOMING SPECIALIST SMALL CLIENTELE FOR BEST RESULTS CALL 513-374-9231 MAUREEN 1st Visit 10% Discount Specializing in Yorkies, Shih Tzu’s, Lhasa’s, Smaller Terrier Breeds and Other Small Dogs BOARDING AVAILABLE Get it All at www.goBEACONnews.com
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