By Marv Roper
I have wanted to write this for sometime, but a television request by the Salvation Army for 770 toys for children who supposedly will not receive one for Christmas, prompted me again.
Sixty-three years of experiences have dimmed my memories quite a bit of this year. The depression’s grip was relieved somewhat by many government programs, such as the WPA, The CCC, and many other programs. My father was extremely conservative and refused to accept any government aid, even though with ten children this meant, operating a coal mine in the winters, herding sheep, day labor in the hay fields and any other type of activity to feed his family.
As I remember Dad took sick in 1937. He was having severe headaches. They tried pulling some teeth, treating for sinus and I don’t know how many other things were tried with limited medical facilities and knowledge in those years. Finally he was taken to Salt Lake and diagnosed with a brain tumor. As I remember he went to the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake, and was operated on. The tumor had grown so large, that they were only able to remove part of it and relieve the pressure. As I was writing this I referred to Oather’s history of Dad, which proves my memory is vague. He states that he took ill with the headaches early in 1940. That the tumor was diagnosed in Vernal, he was taken there by ambulance, because his bad health had deteriorated to the point he was unable to ride in automobile. They removed the scalp and removed part of the tumor. Immediately as the pressure was relieved his health improved. This lasted only a short time and then he was confined to bed.
Our living quarters were a small living room, two bedrooms, a kitchens, and a partially completed add on room. A tent was erected outdoors, with a wooden floor and a wood fired stove in it. Another small wooden structure was by the house, this had large spaces between the boards and had no heat. There was no plumbing in the house or city water on our street. This meant that all water used had to be carried by hand with buckets from the irrigation canal that ran across the west side of the property. The distance was probably 150 to 300 feet. The outdoor toilet was probably 250 foot from the house. All hot water had to be heated on the coal and wood fired stove in the kitchen. A large potbellied stove was in the living room for heating that area. I don’t remember the furniture too well except there was a small table and a few chairs, maybe one rocking chair. Morrie, had made an old wooden slatted bench, which was in the living room. It was terrible to sit on for long. In each room a light dangled from the ceiling which held one light bulb of about fifty watts. Their was a switch just above the bulb that was used to turn the light on or off. As I remember their were no decorations, no Christmas cookies as we are used to today.
We had a large underground cellar in back of the house. There could be stored hundreds of bottles of canned fruit, with bins for all of the vegetables we grew. This worked really well until late spring, when the vegetables would turn soft and rot.
We had a milk cow, who when fresh, meaning not too pregnant, would furnish milk enough for the family. Parsnips, potatoes, carrots, some onions, were main meals. Sometimes when it was cold enough an animal if we had one could be slaughtered wrapped in white cloth and hung high on the north side of the house, to keep the dogs from eating it, would provide variety to the meals. Sometimes there would be eggs from the chickens.
This year was very taxing, as dad was unable to work, Oather and Ornal and Mother spent most of their time taking care of Dad. By this time his throat had gone paralyzed and he was fed through a tube running through his nose into his stomach. He had to receive morphine shots about every two hours. Where the money came from for these I don’t know. A little twin bed cot was placed in the living rooms and he lay on this. Bed sores became a real problem even though he was rotated often as possible. The discharge from the tumor had a terrible odor. The doctors said he would go crazy with the tumor, but this did not happen as he was rational until the day he died.
With him being sick and lack of funds I don’t think much canning was done that summer. We had a wooden granary on the property, which had several storage bins. From previous years harvest the bins had been partially filled with wheat and barley and oats. I remember helping one of the brothers, I don’t remember which. We sacked up probably a half ton of wheat, harnessed the horses and loaded it into the wagon and headed to Vernal to have it milled. I remember how cold it was and so we walked behind the wagon most of the way there and back to keep warm. The mill would take the wheat and take a portion for milling, giving the remainder back in white flour and as I remember pancake flour. So we had flour to make bread. Mother used potato water to make her yeast most of the time, as yeast cakes had just come on the market, but one needed money to purchase them, and then they had to be kept cold as not to spoil. The bread was good, but it was hard to control the temperature while cooking and sometimes the crust would blacken. We had a box behind the stove that was filled with wood and coal. It was one of my chores to see that enough wood and coal were there for us. Imagine making bread to try and feed all who were still home. Four of the children had left home this time.
Even though I paint a bleak picture we had food, just not variety. I remember either Christmas eve or thereabouts, the Bishop, brought some bottles of fruit to the house. What else was brought I do not know. Now this came from the fast offerings that were paid in kind in those days. I remember how good it tasted.
Christmas eve we hung our stockings on nails on the wooden bottom portion of the walls behind the pot bellied stove. I don’t know how but next morning there was a handful of nuts, some hard candy, an orange, and I don’t remember whether or not there was a toy. I remember peeling the orange and eating all of the white pulp off the peeling, it tasted so good. Delight, delight. In those years snow fall would be heavy, and so we would just shovel a trail, to the water hole, the outdoor toilet, the coal and wood pile and to the corrals. At nights the canal would freeze over and so we would have to chop a whole in the ice. And also chop steps in the dirt bank as it was about ten feet down to the water. As the ice would thicken to over two foot, we would have to kneel down and reach way down to fill the buckets. How many buckets of water do you think it takes to fill a large galvanized tub that was placed on top of the cooking stove to heat water for washing clothes and bathing, and doing dishes etc.
I remember some visiting our house that day and my dad saying goodbye to all of them. Mother’s Father (James Naylor Jones Jr.), who my dad had a good relationship with spent part of the day at the house. It was apparent that he thought he would soon pass. He lived another three months. I’m sure the house was noisy, with games we played and such. There was a large hill about three quarters of a mile from our house that was good for sledding. We always had a pretty good sled. We went there and spent a good part of the day sleigh riding. By the time one walked to the top of the hill pulling the sleigh and then three people getting on, one on top of the other, riding to the bottom of the hill, which was about a quarter of a mile, two rides to the whole day. We would go out on the frozen canals and see how far we could walk on the ice.
Our clothing was not very adequate in those years. Flannel underwear meaning one piece long johns were sometimes available in the winter. Underwear such as we know today, was several years away before we had money to buy and wear. We learned very fast how to beat our arms around our bodies to keep warm, or how to blow on your hands and warm them. Sometimes old overshoes were available to keep our feet dry and warm. I never remember having had gloves when young. Sometimes we would get to use our brothers sheepskin mittens.
I think this was the year one of my cousins received the book “Gone With The Wind.” He never went to bed until he finished reading it one or two days later. About this time monopoly came a year or two later. I remember going to school and the teachers asking what each had received for Christmas. I was always embarrassed, I don’t remember what I said. I probably envied many of the youth my age, for the material things they received. As I have aged a few years I almost feel sorry for the children today, because of the material side of Christmas. We were warm, had food, and great memories of Christmas. Christmas in the following years changed dramatically. It was never the same.