On my very first day of school in a one-room schoolhouse, I assumed that on such a momentous big day my mother would give me a ride to school in our Model A Ford. I didn’t know my mother as well at 6 as I did in later years. She was a firm disciplinarian, and was not to be swayed from her beliefs. No. I was to walk to school in a grown up manner.
So my lunch was packed and I was sent on my way with her very best wishes. Our farm sat back from the road a ways, and it was necessary for me to go down a slight hill, then a long lane, and thence to the main road. As I started down the hill, I spied a dandelion – imagine that, a dandelion in September! That was something I had to show my mother, she would think that was quite unusual also! So I picked the flower and walked back to the house. Somehow she wasn’t as impressed as I thought she would be. She gave me a stern lecture that if I didn’t start immediately I would be late!
I started running, and was on my way down the hill when I stubbed my toe and went flying. My dinner pail flew open and out popped my piece of favorite pie, chocolate, as well as the rest of my lunch. It was firmly seasoned with gravel by this time. So, nothing would do, but I must go back and get another lunch! I had also skinned my knee in the fall.
Well, dear readers, you can imagine the climate in our kitchen by this time. By the time I was repaired, another lunch assembled, and packed, of course my mother HAD to drive me to school… Now in truth, I cannot say that I had deliberately planned this, but that is just the way things worked out.
Marladeen R. Penner
Anamosa, 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.
