Kinexxions ~ Tales from the Life of Hazlette Brubaker

Kinexxions

~ Tales from the Life of Hazlette Brubaker ~

Part 4 ~ Back to the Goose Lake Farm

BACK TO GOOSE LAKE FARM
In the spring Grandma and Grandpa Brubaker moved to their home in Columbia City as we settled in at the farm. Before they moved we had to keep to our rooms upstairs as we made Grandma so upset. So we were happy to be free to roam again.

We thought our house was pretty nice, with the new mission furniture and Mama always had nice stands with pretty covers. Grandma left her organ for us and this made our living room. The dining room, which was our family room and place to study, was used as a dining room only on special occasions. It was furnished with table and chairs, always a heating stove, and the telephone was here in the corner. It was a boxlike affair and was very new.

The rooms were carpeted with rag rugs, woven by looms, and in the front sitting room, a manufactured ingrain carpet. These were laid down with carpet tacks every few inches, then someone would stretch the carpet as tight as they could and finally tack it all around the room. When cleaning the carpets, salt was strewn on the floor and then swept with a broom. In winter, snow was used to keep the dust down. No one had ever heard of vacuum cleaners!

THE FARM YARD
I shall try to describe the farm and the house, as it was when Jane, Bill and I were kids. The house sets back from the road quite a distance, so that the front lawn was much larger than most places. As you drove into the barn yard thru the gate, you passed the granary which held both oats and wheat, and a corn crib which also served as housing for the spring wagon, buckboard and buggy.

Just north and east of the granary was the huge barn. The watering tank was placed under a large maple tree and it was always cool around the tank even in the hottest summer. There was a good fence around this part of the barnyard. The cows could stay under the barn's overhang, which was on the south side and on the east side above the stable doors. When we were small we could not go near the barn unless Grandpa took us - and it was a wonderful occasion when he would consent to a trip to the barn.

When we visited there one summer, I think it was in 1909, Grandpa owned a beautiful Stallion. When people brought their mares over to visit us children were absolutely not allowed to be there. I can remember the older members of the family saying that Grandpa was too old to have such a Stallion around.

The hen house was north of the barn but on an even path from the house. It was built new about 1909 and Grandma was extremely proud of it as it was very modern with a cement floor and had separate areas for feeding and watering and another for rooting.

Back of the new hen house was the one that was used as a hatching house even after Papa owned the farm. Each broody hen was put on fifteen eggs and there was food and water put in the building so that the hens could eat and drink. Thirteen weeks later there were little chicks all over!

Then we go to the house - first is the woodshed filled with wood, as that was their fuel for cooking and heating. It was cut during the winter months from the wood lot down near the lake. To the left is the windmill with the well supplying water to the house first and then piped down to the holding tank under the big Maple tree.

From the wood shed to the door and into the summer dining room we have been walking on a brick walk. And the small yard in front of the dining room and around the windmill was brick. This brick must have been there for years because even in 1909 it was green with moss.

THE HOUSE
I think that summer dining room was quite unique. There was an iron water tank in one corner that was enclosed by a modern cabinet with a lid on it; the tank held about forty gallons of water. This room was screened in on the north and south with a storage room to the east and the kitchen to the west. There were wooden doors that enclosed it all in the wintertime. There was as large cupboard that had been built years before and Grandma always had the room looking cool and nice.

The next room was the kitchen. I guess I can hardly tell you anything good about it, yet I learned to cook there on an old wood-burning stove. The entrance to the cellar was a trap door in the floor, you opened it and went down the ladder and hoped no one would fall into the opening while you were down below. The cellar was where the potatoes and onions were stored along with the canned fruits and vegetables; a hanging shelf was our refrigerator. The kitchen table was in the space beside this trap door and many was the time that we would have to open the door for milk or cream after we were all seated at the table. The ones that sat on the side near the door, usually Jane and Me, had to stand guard till the trip for cream was made.

On the other side was the buttery and pantry; it was just a big dark place to put everything. There were shelves and a table or sink. It was always dark as night, there were no windows and no kerosene lamp could take the awful dark away - or at least that is the way it seemed to me! There was a plastered room for meat and anything else eatable that freezing wouldn't hurt. This room was always locked.

There had been an addition to this kitchen and in the space between the pantry and the back door was a cistern pump with an iron sink. In 1909 this was quite a modern improvement. The stove was opposite the sink with the wood box and a cupboard.

It really seems very primitive but there were many delicious meals prepared and eaten in that kitchen. There was a screen door between the kitchen and the dining room, which was used as a dining room only on very rare occasions. But the screen door had been put up when we were very small so that Mama could keep an eye on us while working about the kitchen.

The dining room had wainscoting about three feet high all around and this room was my favorite. It had the heating stove beside which we kids would always get dressed on cold mornings. There was a table upon which we played games and got our lessons, Grandma had a nice cupboard here and a couple of rocking chairs. There was a wall desk that I just adored - the front came down revealing pigeonholes with lots of things in it that us kids were not to touch! The telephone was in this room, which was the heart of the house.

And it was in this room that I recall my first Christmas tree. It was just before Billy was born. I had kept saying that I wanted a yellow doll (a doll dressed in yellow) and after all the gifts were removed and opened from beneath what I thought was an enormous tree, Papa lifted me up and there in the tree was a beautiful doll dressed in yellow!

Off this room was the parlor. When Grandma lived here it was very cold and formal. In fact I don't believe we ever went into this room except for Uncle Hale's funeral. But when we moved into this house in 1911 all that was changed and we used it always whenever we had company. Later Papa bought us a piano and we took music lessons and I guess this room just came alive.

Off this room was the great bedroom, which became Jane's and mine when we grew older. There was another bedroom off the dining room, which was the master bedroom. Mama would let me stay in that room sometimes when I was sick; I remember the pink roses in the wallpaper. This room was at the back of the house but you could see the orchard from the window. It was really lovely in the spring.

There were two large rooms upstairs and an enormously interesting attic. The large room in front had a closet that ran the full length of the room, this was Hale's room and it was sacred to Grandma and was kept locked. But after Uncle Hale died and we moved into the house this is where we kids slept. It was papered with a white rose paper that was lovely. The crab apple tree, which even now stands west of the house, would then touch the windows of this room and the perfume from the blossoms was so lovely, I can still remember spring mornings in that room.

The other room was never papered, the stair well was here and the entrance to the attic. And oh, what an attic! We were allowed to play here on rainy days and it was delightful. Grandpa had a civil war gun with musket and his knapsack. There were candle molds and the butchering equipment was kept here - sausage stuffer and lard renderer, the great big meat grinder attached to a bench. There were trunks of old clothes and books that I would give a lot to see now. This room had just one window but the chimney came up through here and it was always cozy. It also had mice and wasps, which nearly scared me to death - but I loved to go there anyway.

Part 4 ~ Back to the Goose Lake Farm

Tales from the Life of Hazlette Brubaker