"Memories of A Small Child"

in

THOSE WERE THE DAYS

in Montana in the mid 1920s - 1930s

written by Lillian Hein Remmick

Copyrighted Aug.2001

 All rights are reserved. This story, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Published by Remmick-Hubert Corp.221 Main Street, Suite 1300, San Francisco, California, 94105

When one sits down to write about ones childhood so many memories, both good and bad, crowd ones mind and it becomes hard to chose which to write about.

There were no radios or televisions and one seldom went to town so a child's mind had room for imaginations and experiences that children today miss completely.

Old Charlie

There were rides with my Mother in the surrey (one hose buggy) to the country store.  When my mother would get out to open the gates,  I'd get to say :"Getty-up" and drive through the gate and then I'd say "Whooh" on the other side.  At the age of three this was a great feeling.  No one ever told me that the horse (Charlie) was trained to do this automatically.

Red Feather Hat

There were the days at the country store when Mrs. Folger I'm her name sake and she and her husband were the owners of the country store) and my Mother decided I needed a new bonnet for church. The one they choose was of black velvet with a deep rose red velvet trim. Now, in the mean time, I'd found a bright red feather lady's hat that I decided was my cup of tea. Well, all my foot stomping and refusal of the hat the two of them had chosen was of no avail and the next Sunday I appeared in church with the black velvet bonnet.

Gift of Shoes

There were the black patent slippers trimmed with white patent leather around the sole and heels which was from my God parents, Mr. and Mrs. G. G. Gaub.  My the shoes were snazzy.

I and a Dove

It was harvest time and in Montana it is a very hot time of the year. In fact, the heat, it seemed to me, came up out of the earth in a scorching my feet on this particular Sunday afternoon as I walked down the dirt road toward the farm gate. As far as I could see the earth was brown.

Looking down the hill I could see Cabin Creek was just a trickle and directly beyond the creek bridge was a cut-bank through which the road cut and beyond the brown hills merged one into another. The ruts in the road were from the wheels of buggies, wagons and Model T Fords.   This activity had pulverized the earth and was like fine pastry flour.  This was where I was walking and letting the fine hot dust curl up between the toes of my bare feet.  Suddenly it seemed that time was frozen and on the fence post to my left sat a snow white dove with eyes more  beautiful than any gems I've ever seen. The dove and I looked at each other as through our souls merged for just a moment and then the beautiful bird was gone and the motion of life had returned. Such a perfect time.

Maggie's Wedding

Then there was Maggie's [Magdalena's, Lillian's eldest sister]  wedding day which was at G. G. Gaub's house because there house was larger then ours. All the kids had to eat in the kitchen which at three and a half was disgusting and a "put be down" all rolled into one to me. I couldn't understand why I should eat noodle soup in the kitchen while the adults were eating and drinking all kinds of goodies. Well, I simply refused to eat in the kitchen so as usual I got my way [after all this was my God parents" house].  I was given a place at the table of the adults and rank good apple cider and ate the good adult food. The poor dumb kids  were in the kitchen, I thought.  After dinner I became a kid again and we were outside rolling metal wheel hoops across the planks in front of the granneries. Happily all of us were screaming and yellling as the hoops bounced down the side and then on down the hill.

The Flood

There was a sudden downpour of rain one night. A could burst the adults called.  The results was a great deal of  water came  pouring down from the hills in all directions. Within a short time Cabin Creek had become a sea of rushing muddy water. Father awoke us and told us that the water was rising up to house and we'd have to move to higher ground which was into the granneries. "Not me, boy!" I exclaimed, because Oscar  [her brother] had told me about all the mice that lived in the granneries and since I hated mice I decided I'd take my changes with the flood.  So, there I sat and no one was going to be able to change my mind.  We  [all remained with intent to escape if the water rose any higher than the first step] spent a long time watching the water rise closer and closer to the house steppes and the skies which were constantly lit up with lightning followed by the clap of thunder which echoes all around.  And with the  thunder came the roar of the wind and the pounding rain striking everything with noise of one kind or another.  If you've never been in a Montana electrical storm, you've missed an experience in your life.  Luckily for us the water never rose beyond the first step.

Move To Sidney and The Lone Tree Fort

When I was three an a half years old, we moved onto the old Bell place which had been the Lone Tree Fort.

I loved this old place with it's thick log walls... In the parlor the windows had deep seats in which I could sit and when I was older I'd sit  there and read my books.  

There was the large berry patches which produced lots and lots of berries to be eaten with sugar and cream.

The large old barn held hundreds of doves [mostly grey] who built there nests in the indentatations above the loft and near the roof's edge.  I would peer in and count the eggs and then watch the babies hatch and grow.

The old massive lone tree  was by the Lone Tree Creek in which we'd wade during the summer and catch minnows.

There was a vast meadow around the Lone Tree Creek where in my dreams I'd see the battle fought between the Russians and the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War [of 1905 fought on the east coast of Russia of which many German-Russians had taken part]. This battle was very real to me and the images had uniforms and artillery. I've often wondered how as a small child of five years old could have had such vivid images about battles of which I knew nothing about...

There was , also, a fenced grave sight up on the meadow closer to the railroad tracks which I'd often visit in the spring when the irises were in full bloom in the Spring.

Our house [fort] had an attic and I'd crawl into it where there were many old relics and papers from the time when it was a fort.*

My Brown Bear

No one knew it but from the first night I had a great big brown bear for a pet which I kept in the closet by day and allowed him out only at night when no one else could see him.

Telegraph Messages

Near the house was a meadow and there I'd lay in the warm sun watching the trains rushing passed this way than that way.

Near the train tracks were the telegraph wires.  Now, these wires were a great mystery to me. Since I had never been to a real post-office where I understood someone collected the messages that went over the wires,  I had no idea how the messages traveled from town to town, so, I decided the actual messages were in envelopes that  traveled along these telegraph wires.  But then another mystery occurred.  How did the messages get by me and why didn't they get stuck at each telephone pole that seemed would block the paths of the messages?

Now, I've barely reached the age of five and I've rattled on what seems forever so I'll stop here for now and take a minute to visit the babies grave in the glower garden. It was covered with bright red oriental poppies under a tall tree.  

Talk to you later.

Mom