In the early 1900s my family, with
its two small boys, lived on a farm on a North Dakota
homestead. Spending our first vacation in Iowa with our parents in the old farm home
at Christmastime was a great joy to us. We arrived the day before Christmas, so
we could be present for the Christmas program at our country church.
We rode to the church in a bobsled
with high sideboards and spring seats along the sides. In the bottom was a
carpet of bright straw. The team had red tassels on their bridles and a string
of sleigh bells on the harness.
After walking down the aisle of the
church, seeing the bright lamps in their brackets, we found a seat facing the
tree. It was a big tree decorated with waves of tinsel, colored paper ropes,
and ornaments. Gifts were piled at the base. After the program and music, the
gifts were passed, and then the benediction closed the program.
My 4-year-old son, happy with the
evening, turned a somersault in the pew beside me, causing a few people to
smile as he exclaimed, “Well, the show is over.”
Mrs. Grace Thompson
Oelwein,
Iowa
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.
