An incident that happened at the one-room country schoolhouse that was funny: we could take something to warm on the pot bellied heating stove for our lunch. The Messick family had several children in school and used to bring a gallon syrup bucket with beans. One day they didn’t get the lid loosened quite enough. Everyone was studying and the lid blew off and plastered the ceiling with beans. No one was burned, which was good as those of us close could easily have been burned with beans. It was close to a program we were having, so the older kids stacked furniture and tried to scrape the beans off the ceiling. The lid really went flying and clanging!
Mildred Jones Waldren
Tribune, 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.
