I don’t recall having snow days off while attending a one-room school. Of course, there were no school buses then, either. Every family provided their own transportation. Bad weather meant putting on the chains and plowing through. If some couldn’t make it in the farm truck, those students stayed home, but school went on. The teacher probably had it worst, having to drive out all the way from town.
Smell is the sense most evocative of memories. My nose certainly remembers the distinctive singed odor of mittens steaming dry, close to the hot stove.
Carol Darnell
Columbia, Missouri
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.