1914

together again
In Feb. 1914 papa took us back to Red Mesa. So Jennie could take care of the family while mother was sick. Jennie and Doris both were pregnant. Iowa was born in March. Doris had little Milton in April. The family was back together again for a little while.

away from home
That summer Milton rented a big hay ranch in Hay Gulch and a woman wanted a girl to help her, so Mother wanted Daphne to take the job, but she did not want to so mother sent me. I had never sleep in a room by myself and she put me in a room off from the main house, one night I head a sound like a screaming woman and I laid there all night. I told them about it the next morning and Mr. Huntington say it was a Mt. lion, they tried to find it, but it was just going through. the county.

Mrs. Huntington took me to Durango and bought shoes and a dress for school, and we went to the fair. Mrs. Huntington had two boys one my age and one Daphne's. She wouldn't leave me alone with them; she helped me grow up a little bit. I was first, like Tootsie and I just grew up. I stayed with her till school started; I picked berries and wash dishes. She was really good to me; She and her husband took me to Durango to the fair and bought me some cloths for school.


baby george

The spring of April, Mother had a little boy he was with us one month, I remember all of us kid standing around papa when little George died, and papa closing his little eyes.

The summer of 1914 papa had the farm pretty well going we had a big alfalfa field and he put in lot of wheat, raised a big garden and we were getting along pretty good. Milton was staying home and helping papa, Alvin was with us in the summer and going to Santa Fe New Mexico to school (school for the deaf) in the winter, Don was getting big enough to help on the farm. Jennie was staying in New Mexico to help Aunt May.

rabid
One summer we had a mad dog scare. One dog went mad and went across the county biting everything close to it. Cows, Horses, Dogs and everybody was afraid, they would worn all us kid to get out of the way if we saw a stray dog. I would go to bed at night and dream about the dog. I bet I climb every fence post along the road in my dreams, I wake up shaking like a leaf.

typhoid
One summer an old cow died on the head of the dike where we got water and everybody that drank it got typhoid fever, mama and papa had five kids down with it at one time, I did not get it because I never drank the water. Mother would fix a bed on the floor in the setting room, lay them all in a row. Then papa would took a long stick and put some paper on it, cut the paper in strips, then make me set there and fan fly off them kids. I would get tired of fanning them and one of them would call out to mother and I would have to start over. I work hard to get the fly’s out of the room and shut the Door. Then they would cry it was too hot for them, after they started to get better we would have to carry them around, they were too weak to walk.