The best memory I have of the one-room schoolhouse I attended is the day every so often when we each brought a little bag of dried beans, brown, white or whatever, and the teacher, Mr. King, brought a large kettle and a piece of bacon and we had a “cook-in” on top of the stove. We older girls took turns keeping an eye on the beans, adding water as needed which was brought from a spring in back of the schoolhouse. We each brought our own cornbread and whatever else we wanted to eat with our beans. Just imagine the aroma and the taste of corn-bread and beans on a cold snowy day! My school, Melton, No.8.
Gladys Toliver
Orleans, Indiana
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.
