Story of Grandma, Part 2

Here is more of Grandma's 14 pages.  It is interesting that she calls Grandma Anna "Mama" when she is talking of a period when her dad was alive, but later on she calls her "Mom." 

Ray says he remembers that at meal time Papa would draw the outline of a state for us to name.  Papa belonged to the Volunteer Fire Department.  One day Ray had coasted down the hill in his wagon to meet Papa who walked home for dinner.  Papa pushed Ray up the hill past the Methodist Church and then home.  When they got to the house the fire whistle blew.  There was a chimney fire at the Methodist Parsonage and Papa hadn't seen it when he was pushing Ray.  Mama told me that story.

Papa also served as a substitute mail carrier.  I can remember that one time Ray and I rode along.  It was a sunny day with scattered clouds.  How Ray and I enjoyed it when we were in the shadow of a cloud.

Papa died October 29, 1920 after surgery for ruptured appendix.  All I can remember is that Mama must have come home from the hospital in Wayne and Bonnie Moser -- a good friend -- had come to the house.  Bonnie, Mama, Ray and I were standing over a register in the living room.

This isn't much to know about your father.  I've often wished that when I stayed at Uncle Chris's I would have asked him about what kind of a person was Papa - talkative? serious? joking?  I'll never know.

Papa had bought a farm near Gordon, Neb. and we were going to move there in the spring.  But we never moved.  Mom started to sew for other ladies.  I'm not sure who started her on that path.

We had a Nash -- not a sedan -- side curtains if it started to rain.  It was called a 7-passenger.  There were two little seats that opened up from the back of the front seat.  Ray and I usually sat in back and it was a question who got to sit behind the driver.  If we were gone at night we both tried to act asleep when we got home so we wouldn't have to get out and open the garage doors.  Never worked though!

Summertime one year was spent playing with paper dolls.  Marjorie Misfeldt and Mildred Moser lived in the two houses south of us.  Our paper dolls were cut from the catalog.  We always had a family with 3 or 4 children.  We cut the people from the catalog -- no fixing tabs to put on different clothes -- just a different 'doll.'  Catalogs then had furniture so a magazine was used to be a house, a page for each room.  Our paste was flour and water.  Our west bedroom upstairs was a spare bedroom.  Mom let us scatter our mess there for weeks at a time.