A TRIP TO ATWATER MINNESOTA (a true story) by Mabel L. Uglem, age 12 1917

      It was a spring day and my two youngest sisters and I were sitting by an apple tree. And one of my bigger sisters came out and said we had received a letter from our auntie and she wanted some of us to come down there. As it was going to be some celebration going on down there where my aunt lived. At first I was going to stay home but I wished I could go along too. But one day my mother said that she knew something. And they had made up their mind that I was going to go along. And that is what she meant that she knew. I was so glad that I could go along. It was my two young sisters Helma, Esther, and I, and my mother and father that were going to go.

The day soon came for our trip. We went to town in the afternoon. My oldest sister, my youngest, mother, and we who were going.

My youngest brother and my oldest sister were going to stay in town until the train came but it was too late so they could not wait for the train. We went to the depot to ask what time the train would come. I think it was at about eight oclock it would come. Soon we were on our way. We had to stop at a hotel in Viana. And we were always asking how many stations it was left until we got there.. And when we got there we were looking around to see if we could see the hotel so my father asked some boys where it was. And after we had had our supper at the hotel a little girl came up and asked us if we cold go with her down town. Then our mother said we could go with her. And when we got back it was time to go to bed. A lady took us upstairs and showed us our room where we were going to sleep. And when morning came we had our breakfast. Then we went to the depot to wait for the eight o’clock train. After a while the train came.

When we got there my cousin was at the depot, he had been waiting for us. Then we went with him where he had his buggy and horses. My mother seen a man on the sidewalk who she knew. And that man’s mother was of old age. She had been in bed for twelve years. My mother asked this man how far she was. He said she was not very well. Then we got into the buggy and went to see her. When we came there my mother and father went into the house. My mother said we should stay in the buggy until she came back again. Then my father came out of the house and told us we should come in and see her. She was my mother’s aunty. After we had been there awhile we went out to the buggy to go out in the country where my cousins lived.

When we came there my cousin came out and took our suitcase. There were two other girls that came from Litchfield with my cousin Mabel. Of course we did not know those girls. But when we had been together awhile we were well acquainted. One day my mother asked me if I wanted to go along to someone’s place by the name Umdahl. And we said that we did not want to go. We went with those two other girls to the pasture where there was big hills surrounded with water but one side was dried up so we could easily get up to them. My cousin Mabel fixed some lunch for us to take with us. We were trying to kill gophers but I don’t think we killed one. We would throw some bread on the ground and they woujld come up from their holes to eat it. Then we went back to the house. Then we took off our shoes and stockings and went barefooted. Soon they came home from Umdahl’s. Then soon it was bedtime and when morning came we went out to swing.

We were always up before those two other girls. The oldest one was Lucil, and the other one Katherine. One day we asked our cousin Mabel if they had a hammock. And she said they did not. So she said we should ask uncle if he had a rope to hang up a swing. Then he went to the grainerie to get one. Then he hung up a swing for us on the branch of an oak tree. And we were swinging in that swing just about all the time.

One day we went to somebody’s place by the name of Umdahls. It was not the same ones as we went to before. These people did not have any children. So we had to play by ourselves. It was my two sisters, my mother, my aunty, my father, and my cousin that went. They had a hammock on the porch. And Mr Umdahl came and fixed it up for us. And we swung in the hammock until it was time to go back to my aunty’s place.

On the way back we stopped at a place. My mother and father knew many people here. We were swinging with their little girl in a swing made from wood. And one of the girls came out with some lemonade for us. It was getting late so then we went home. It was lightening and it looked like it was going to rain.

One day we were outside drawing pictures of the house and the trees. One day we went to some people by the name Petersons. Their mother was dead so there was only big boys and their father that lived there. There was no girls there. But there was another girl there that cooked for them. We stayed there one night. That girl’s name was Ida Engan. She was very nice to us. I played on the organ sometimes. Sometimes one of the boys would play on the organ and one the violin. One night Martin my cousin was playing on the violin. And his brother Paul was playing on the Organ. We sat and listened to them. The dog sat upon a chair keeping time with his tail. My sister laughed so hard she rolled down on the floor. Ida and my mother went out to hear the cowbells. Soon my sister got sick. She had been laughing so hard and eating cookies and drinking lemonade. But she soon got over it again. One day we were playing outside and we seen a little snake on the sidewalk. We killed the snake. We walked with Martin over to the trees and were looking at them. One day Martin took something down from the wall and pinned it on my dress and said I could have it. One day my uncle Peter Peterson took us to a grove at a cemetery where my grandmother, grandfather, my auntie and two or my cousins were buried.

When we were going home we went through Grove City and uncle bought us a big sack of candy and handed it to my sister Esther. When we were going home we went past a lake. It looked very nice. Then another day he took us to Ida’s folks, that girl who was cooking for Petersons. It was lightning and raining while we were on the way. When we came there Ida’s sister came out of the house and then we went in. After while we were looking at some pictures. The lady of the house was Ida’s sister-in-law.  So this lady’s husband wsa Ida’s brother. And her father and mother lived there also. Ida’s brother had a little sister named Ruth. Mrs Engan came and said to Ruth that she should take Hilma, Esther, and I  upstairs and show us all her playthings. She had a cupboard full of playthings. And she had some dolls. Then Ruth’s mother called us down for supper. And after supper we went up stairs again and played school. Then soon we went back. It was not lightning or raining then but the roads were muddy.

Then our uncle took us up to Draxtons from Engans. Draxtons were the people where we were the first place to visit after we got to Minnesota. At the beginning of this story you remember I said our aunty wanted us to come down there for something that was going on down there. It was some kind of meeting. It was a large tent in here there was a piano and someone played on it and some sang. This started in the forenoon and ended in the evening. It lasted two days.

Then in the grove there were some long tables fixed where we ate our dinner and also our supper. And we had our pictures taken. I think there were about seven hundred people there. There was a man who talked through a big horn so everybody could hear it. Sometimes he’d say through this horn “Come in the tent and we shall sing a song” And he also said that everybody should come and have supper before they went home. And another thing he would say was “All those who want their pictures taken come over here.” He would say many things through that horn. Then when we had had our supper we went back to auntie’s and uncle’s place again. 

Then we started on our way home on Monday. Draxtons took us to the depot. When we got there we had to wait for the train. Then when the train came we went to the train and found our seats and told them all goodby. We stopped at Summit on the way home. The train stopped at a place and here we had to stay at the depot and wait a very long time for the train. We had to wait until about five o’clock in the evening until three in the morning. We were very tired. But we could not go to sleep because the train could come anytime. It was to come at twelve o’clock but it was late. My sister Esther was so tired that she fell asleep. It was no fun to stay there so long till three o’clock. Then we see the light of the train coming, and oh, we were so glad! Then we went out and got on the train. It was early in the morning and I could see the morning star.

When we came to Summit our friend Mr Boxeth was there to meet us. He said he had been waiting a long time. Then he took us to the place where he had his horses and then we drove out in the country where they lived.

After breakfast we went after the cows with Lilli. She was a girl that lived there. After we had done that we went into the house and went upstairs with Lilli. We were so tired after we had stayed at that depot so long and could not sleep at all after that.  So we fell asleep on the bed upstairs. After we woke up we were so turned around we thought we had been there one night all ready just because we had slept upstairs a while that day. It was in the afternoon and we thought it was in the morning. There was going to be church out in the country for two days. The first day Lilli, my mother, my father, and Albert Boxeth went. One day Mr Boxeth took us to some people by the name Utsets. We stayed one night over there. We were swinging on a rope in the barn. My mother and some of Utsets went to church. My sisters Hilma and Esther and I stayed there until they came back. They had a little boy named Carl and a girl named Nora. We were in the grainerie and Carl got his hand caught in a large trap and he began to holler. Nora told me to tell Ralph one of their boys to come and help him get his hand out. Then Ralph came and got his hand out of the trap.

Then we were waiting for them to come home from church. After while we seen them coming. Our father and mother did not come home after Utsets. They went back with Boxeths and were going with them to church again in the evening.  We stayed in Summit only two or three days. Then we went back home. 

The other day Tilda and Hilda two of Boxeth’s girls and Hilma, Esther and I went in a buggy together to town. Moma and papa and some of Utsets went in a buggy together. This is when we were going home. So we had to go to town to the depot. The train would not come for a long time yet. So we went to someone’s place by the name of Dingore who lived in town. The train would not come until about four o’clock in the morning and this was at night that we went to town. So me and my two sisters went upstairs to bed and about four o’clock our mother came upstairs and said we should get up and get ready for the train would soon come. It was four o’clock then when we got up. Then we had breakfast and then Mrs Dingsore put a coat on and went with us down to the depot. And we had to go out on the platform when the train was going to come because the platform was back of the depot. Then the train came and we were soon on our way home.

The folks did not know that we were coming home just that day. But when we got to Lake Preston we phoned home and told them we were in town and said they should come in after us. But just then we seen a man in town who we knew and rode out with him. So we phoned home and said they did not have to come in and get us.

When we came home Hilma and Esther layed down on the bed and soon were fast asleep. I layed down with them and I was soon fast asleep too. Then when we woke up we were again turned around like we were over to Boxeths and we did not know if we had been home one or two days. And this is the end of my story.

                        Mabel L. Uglem

The following is an extract from a letter I received from Sonia after Sonia had shown Mabel's story to her mother Esther, age 94, in June of 2002. Esther is remembering back to that trip they took together in 1917 -- 85  years ago:

"Esther remembers being about 8 years old and cousin Selmer Draxton playing with the girls and walking Esther around on his feet, great fun for her! 'We were trying to kill gophers but I donšt think we killed one' got a laugh from Esther. The 'aunty' Mabel refers to (one of them, anyway) is Sigrid, Torsten's sister, says Esther. There's a lot about swings. Esther remembers that she and her sisters, the younger ones with whom she was close, were always content if they had a swing to play on or anything to play with when visiting. The dog wagging his tail in time to the music got a good laugh. It may have been Esther who laughed herself sick. Esther's comment (June 2002 at age 94) about the bag of candy: 'Oh, my, that's dangerous! [to hand over that much candy to little girls]' Another comment from Esther: 'I didn't realize that trip was that long. We were good kids who could always sit quietly and play, and play, and play, and not be a nuisance. I wish that Mabel and Hylma were here with me to reminisce about it together. I enjoy the reminiscing, but can't do much at one time, get tired.' Esther remembers happily the picture of Mabel and Sylvia in the wheel barrow. 'Yes, your grandma Mabel did have a wonderful sense of humor and passed it on to your mom.' Otto says that Esther kept up Mabel's tradition of entertaining on the piano for old folks in nursing homes."