Grandpa had four daughters and may have wished for a son at wheat harvest time. That was when horses and wagons were used and the work was hard. When my mother was 16, she volunteered to help her dad in the field. He agreed to give her a try, and she proved to be very helpful. Her proudest moment came when he trusted her to drive a wagonload of wheat to town. It was an awesome responsibility to handle the team of horses the six miles to town, but the hardest part came at the grain elevator. The wagon had to be positioned in just the right place for the wheat to dump in the bin.
She accomplished the task and carefully drove the team and empty wagon back home and handed her dad the receipt for the wheat. He was very pleased. She didn’t know just how pleased until a couple of weeks later when her sisters told her that. their dad had something for her. Curious, she went to him and asked if he had something he wanted to give her. Not being accustomed to giving gifts, he hesitantly handed her a beautiful gold bracelet that he had bought in the jewelry store. Although he didn’t say it, she understood that it was to show his appreciation for her help in the field. She kept the gold bracelet all her life.
Penny M. Smith
Oberlin, Kansas
Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then Capper’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from Capper’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.