My mother remembered catching sap
from sugar maple treesand boiling
it down in big pots right in the timber until it was just right. The children
would mold it in little pans and make pretty little sugar cakes.
When they would have Indian raids,
Grandmother would put the children under the bed and give them some of these
little cakes to keep them quiet so the Indians wouldn’t know they were there.
My grandfather was in the War, and
once the Indians took all their horses, cows and provisions, and Grandmother
and the children nearly starved before Grandfather got home. Grandmother said
she would always thank God for the sugar cakes because she felt they saved the
children’s lives.
I wonder if the hardships of the pioneers didn’t draw them closer
to God and keep them praying more. We all know that the closer we live to God
the happier we are and maybe that is why they are called “the good old
days.”
Bertha Ford
Follet, Texas
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.
