Back to work

January 2, 1932 - We are taking advantage of vacation and sleeping late.  We cleaned up the house and Mother started fixing a dress of mine.  Florence came up and we went down town this evening.  We went up to her place and played Rummy.  Ray and Edwin went out to Ola's today.
January 3, 1932 - We went to church this morning.  This afternoon out to Annie's for ice cream.  This evening to League.  We're studying the books of the Bible.  Ray, Florence and Edwin took me back to Walker's this evening.
January 4, 1932 - The schoolhouse looked so nice this morning.  The girls cleaned it Saturday.  Harry didn't come to school today.  He isn't coming until March. The girls showed me their Christmas presents this evening.

I am guessing the girls that cleaned the schoolhouse were the Walker girls.  And I agree, that was very nice of them.

I bet Grandma jumped right in to studying the books of the Bible, especially if that meant she too the opportunity to memorize the names of the books.  As we know, she loved memorizing lists of things and repeating them to herself when she was trying to go to sleep.  I don't recall her mentioning the Bible necessarily, but most often all the Presidents of the United States, alphabetically and in the order they served -- and the same for the Vice Presidents.  I am pretty sure she had the counties in Nebraska down, too.

The phrase Grandma told me to help me remember the first letter of the last names of the presidents in the order they served would go this far in 1932:  When a joke made me a joker, Van held the poker, the fiery poker because Long John Grant had gone and chased his crazy mooses 'round the Western Hemisphere 'cause Hughie . . . .

I remember adding to the phrase as far as Nixon (. . . . Riley trapped eleven kangaroos jumping northward), so it must have been during his administration when she told me about it.  And I take, or at least took for a time, after Grandma regarding the presidents.  In school when we had a snow day and couldn't go out for recess, I wrote the names of the presidents in order served (through Nixon, that is) on the chalkboard more than once.