The Old House

The Old House

By Margaret Ingram

Have you ever gone back to the house you grew up in and found that "The old house still looked the same"? The memories can flood over you from the sound of the striking clock atop the piano, the pop and crack of the fire in the wood stove, to Papa's rocking chair.

LIVING ROOM

The living room of the house was called the parlor, front room, drawing room, or the sitting room. A fireplace may have been used for heat. More probably, it was a wood, oil, or coal stove.

In the bedroom, the kitchen, dining room, and into the living room, the floor covering was carpet, area rug, or linoleum. Mother remembers the wood floors that her Father treated with linseed oil, and then covered with the area rug or linoleum.

The living room was for relaxing after a long, hard day at work on the farm or for visiting with family and friends on Sunday afternoon. the seating was a sofa, rocking chair, sanitary cot, or overstuffed chair. My grandmother covered the chair or couch with a bed blanket or a knitted or crocheted covering.

After supper Father or Grandfather enjoyed reading the newspaper, farm journal, or the days mail while sitting in the living room with a kerosene lamp for light.

Evenings at home after sundown, Mother or Grandmother drew the curtains closed for the night. The curtains or drapes were made from leftover scraps, handed-down by friends or relatives. The wood stove was for heat in the living room. The wood shed was the place to store wood and kept it dry, a place Father took naughty children for a time of punishment, a warm shelter for the dog, or storage. Keeping warm in the evening while reading the newspaper or discussing what was up for the coming day - all took place around the woodstove.

Grandpa watched the clock, listened for the striking clock, or checked his pocket watch for the 9:00pm hour, as he said, "Early to bed, early to rise."

Somewhere in the living room, there was a table, with a variety of houseplants.

Grandma or Aunt Sue serenaded Sunday visitors playing the piano or organ, or maybe favorite songs on the old Victrola. While the men labored in the fields, Grandma or Mother took time to listen to Stella Dallas on the battery-operated radio. Early mornings the men would be found listening to the farm report on the same device.

The living room - the mainstay of all rooms in the house - provided warmth, entertainment, and relaxation.

LAUNDRY

We survived the pounding and rubbing clothes with smooth stones, the washboard, the hand-cranked machine with wringer and washtubs.

It's Monday morning. Following your breakfast your mother says, "Today is wash day. If you have dirty clothes put them in the hamper." Familiar words heard often about a common household chore.

Remember the washtub, wringer washer, boiler, pitcher pump, and the clothesline, and clothespins?

While the water heated in the boiler atop the wood or gas stove, mother sorted clothes, the whites, colored, pants, and the extra dirty or most apt to fade.

Mother used a wood stick to lift the clothes, too hot for delicate hands, to the wringer and into the rinse tub.

After several boilers of water and plenty of rinsing, the clothes were loaded into a basket and taken to the clothesline. The young ones assisted with hanging the clothes on the line.

I recall the first laundry Grandma asked me to help with. My answer was, "But I am too little," which didn't satisfy Grandma. She told me to hand her the laundry and the clothespins and she would put them on the clothesline. She handed me the bag of clothespins and placed the basket of wet clothes in front of me. The laundry was soon on the line. Each clothespin was slipped over the garments and wire.

The utility room or laundry room contained appliances and equipment for heating the house, laundry, or for cleaning. Laundry was done off the kitchen, the back porch, in a shed or in the basement. The washing machine, a clothes hamper, a mop, a cupboard full of soaps, bleach, and a box of miscellaneous tools shared the utility room. Mom shaved soap off the bar of Fels Maptha to put in the washing machine. The wood or oil stove sat in one corner of the utility room.

From the corners of Johnny or Susie's closet the dirty duds were put into the hamper.

OUTHOUSE / PRIVY

The distance to the outhouse varied depending on your location, but the journey soon became a well-traveled path.

Mother or Father may have offered a guiding hand to the outhouse, followed by many, many times walking the wooden plank to the open squeaky door. Sometimes it was a cold morning, a hot summer afternoon, a late night, or maybe a frequent trip.

Parents shared stories of using the chamber pot kept under the bed to avoid the trip outside.

Sears or Wards catalogs was used for toilet paper.

FRONT PORCH

From where you left the highway, the front porch was in clear view. A long wooden plank led to the three steps, onto the porch. The porch was a gathering place in the heat of summer or the cool of the evening. Sitting in the old rocking chair or the swing, the front porch was an extension of the living room.

During the hustle bustle of the holidays, the sounds of footsteps onto the porch and the rap on the screen door or the holler "Anyone home?" was familiar.

Sometimes when the upstairs seemed unbearably warm, Mother would say, "Kids, grab your bed coverings and you can sleep on the front porch."

KITCHEN

The kitchen smelled of bacon frying, coffee perking, or fresh homemade bread fresh from the oven.

In Grandma's kitchen was an icebox, wooden chairs, pitcher pump, flat iron, kerosene lantern, drop-leaf table, party-line phone, woodstove, maybe a pantry for the flour and sugar bins.

The back door squeaked and banged as Grandpa came in from chores to have breakfast. In the kitchen, Grandma was cooking, washing dishes, and preparing for the next meal.

Remember Grandma saying, "Sit that on the back of the stove to keep it warm until chores are done," or, "Better lift the lid and stoke the fire." Or maybe there was a soup kettle full of leftovers sitting at the back of the stove.

PANTRY

Bins of flour and sugar, a marble top for rolling out dough, and shelves for spices and baking utensils were found in the pantry. The icebox, with a block of ice, was also in the pantry. Grandma or Mother's canning was on the shelves surrounded with the smell of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, apples, and prunes.

DINING ROOM

In the dining room meals were served, families gathered to eat, the table was set, and the chairs placed around the table. In the hutch or nearby cupboard were the dishes, the family silver in the drawer, and maybe the napkins and holders.

Homework was done at the table under the watchful eye of one of the adults. Puzzles and games were also played at the table.

BEDROOM

It was upstairs to bed. On cold mornings, children scurried downstairs to stand around the woodstove while breakfast was cooking.

The light was a kerosene lantern, with a chair, a desk, a closet, and coverings to the windows. The walls were wallpapered.

The bedroom was also a place to think, read a book, or to entertain your friends.

HOME FURNISHINGS

The couch, Dad's overstuffed chair, Mom's rocking chair, the wood table and chairs, the wringer washing machine, wash tubs, and clothes racks for drying, to the beds, dressers, stands, commodes or chamber pots, to the swing on the front porch and the canning cupboard or shelves in the basement, all may or may not have been furnishings in the old house.

Sometimes the furnishings included those gadgets such as canning jars, clocks, pitcher pump, teakettle, flat iron, crank telephone, flour and sugar bins, washboard, cream separator, icebox, broom, or battery-operated clock. There were many more "gadgets" or "furnishings" in the old house. Wouldn't it would be nice to go back and take one last journey through the old house?

CHORES

The chores to be done included a task for Dad, housework for Mom, and duties for you.

Outside the house there was mowing and raking, pumping water, chopping and stacking wood in the woodshed, and sweeping the front and back porches. On the farm there was milking cows, feeding the farm animals, mending fences, gathering eggs, planting and hoeing the garden, and picking the veggies, cleaning the barn, haying, plowing, cultivating and watering.

There were clothes to wash, dry, iron, and fold. After the meal was over there were dishes to wash, dry, and put away. The dusting, sweeping, and mopping, floors, washing windows, laundering the drapes, or beating the rugs made a good Saturday job. The flowers, inside and outside, must be watered, fertilized, and tended to for sunlight.

Sometimes during the day, it was make the beds, change sheets, pillowcases, and bedding, and hang the clothes in the closet.

Everyone had their turn at churning the butter, taking out the garbage, mending, putting kerosene in the lamps or replacing light bulbs. On the farm, the cream separator must be cleaned and fresh fruit and vegetables to be canned.

Mom saved string, pennies, brown paper bags, flour sacks, buttons, and marbles. There was string to wind into a ball, pennies to count, sacks to fold, or put the buttons or marbles in a jar.

It seems the chores were for everyone from an only child to the family or twelve or more. Monetary remunerations often turned to a thank you or words of "job well done." Sometimes it was a dime or a quarter to see the Saturday matinee, or a favorite toy on your next trip to town.

School chores were taking out the trash, cleaning the blackboard or erasers, raising the flag, and lunch patrol. The chores were done volunteering or maybe for punishment.

Washing the car, babysitting a younger sibling, or feeding the family pet were other chores that needed to be done.

ATTIC MEMORIES

The step-stool, the ladder, or by the strength of arms, and an added boost by Dad or Mom, put you up in the attic.

The journey was dark and musty with cobwebs everywhere and only room to crawl in search of shoebox, trunk or newspaper-wrapped bundle of cards, letters, diaries, and journals. Inside were the private, and not so private, words from friends, family; the feelings, thoughts, and opinions of a child, teenager, adult, mother, or grandparent to be found. It was a second chance to recall the past.

The cards were from birthdays, graduation, wedding, announcements, invitation, sympathy, or 'just because.'

The treasured letters were from family, friends, a 'special someone' living across town. Other letters were congratulations, 'I Miss You,' 'Thinking of You,' or to give information.

Happily, in the trip down memory lane, you found the box full of personal, heartwarming, and fondly remembered treasures.

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