Mother was thirty-three when we moved from the jail. My father had a beautiful brick home built as a present to her. Eight rooms, Halls and basement under the entire house with gas for lighting which was a real luxury at that time. There my youngest brother, George Frederickwas born . He is ten years younger than I. Our "Jail Bird" brother is eight years younger than I.

Our new home which was a beautiful brick house was on Main Street. Across the street at that time was a lovely grove with a few trees. The grove was used as a circus ground.

We had fun feeding the animals and once we helped to wash the fat lady. At that time they inflated balloons with gas to send them up. It took quite a while and usually a man would go up in a basket.

Once some friends of ours were sitting on a porch upstairs, which had no roof over it. The door blew shut and the balloon came down on them. The people the balloon came down on lived over a mile from circus ground. This section now built up with lovely homes.

We continued to play with our same old playmates, as their father was a carpenter, and he built a very nice roomy frame home on the street back of us and a little to the north.

I think we conceived the idea of exacting our first telephone. Our home was several feet higher than their home. Being on a hill or at least a slope.

Our telephone consisted of driving a long nail through a spool, two spools being used, nailed to the window sill, about twelve or fourteen inches apart. We had a strong string passed around both spools on our windowsill over to their home and around the two spools on their windowsill. Then we could tie our notes to the string and pull the string around till it reached the other house.

It must be a full block, and took lots of string as it reached twice the length. It also was across the alley but our home being higher and of course our telephone was on upper windows in both homes. And too, transportation was not so tall as we have now.

While living in our new home my father had three nice lots. He sold the one north of us to a friend. We had our new home on the middle lot and kept half of lot south of us. That gave us a lot and a half, and we sold the south half to the neighbor on the corner. Which gave them a lot and half.

The people who bought our north lot built a nice new home on it. After the joice was laid and no floor the boards for floor was piled way back at one side. We were playing ball one day and our ball went into new building and across room and landed on the boards piled up for the floor.

I volunteered to get the ball and walked across the joice with nothing to hold to. The houses on the street were built on hill. The front level with street. The back down hill. That made a deep basement under the entire house.

After I was about half way across the room I stopped and looked down. When I saw the danger I was frightened and fell through. Cut my head open on a stone. Mother and Father were not home. My mother's mother (my grandmother) was home. She sent for doctor and did all they could for me.

I had the fall on Saturday afternoon, before school started on Monday. (was September) I was laid up for the year. Of course not in bed only short time but never went to school the entire year.

The doctor said my head was cut open to the skull bone.

After I was entirely well my father had a brother who was eleven years older than I was. He always came to visit us and brought some gifts. We were very fond of him. Once he came and brought my sister and I each a lovely hoop to roll. Mine was orange and sister's was blue. They each had four little round bells on inside, and nice stick came with them to use to roll the hoop.

Then when we ran and rolled our hoops he would run with us. I think we almost wore him out.

Then when I was about ten years old, my youngest brother was born. That made the fifth child. That was April 8th. About a month later we moved to the farm.

We only lived in our new brick home two years. Mother and father decided to trade it for a small farm of thirty acres and large stone house about three miles south east of town. So we moved to the country when I was ten years old.

My father used the ground as a truck garden. He raised many bushels of peas, beans, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, and loads of cabbage, melons, corn and every thing for food. Also about an acre of strawberries. Also other berries, currants, gooseberries, and a large apple orchard.

We also raised lots of corn, dried plenty and cane for molasses and too lots of cherries, peaches and plums.

Here we must go nearly three miles to school. My sister, myself and brother often all three rode on the back of a white horse covered with brown freckles to school in the morning and home at night. We always called the horse "Old Fan". Father had a stall rented for us to keep her in through the day, with feed, near the schoolhouse.

We often had to go through very cold, and much snow in winter. Then in spring thaw was very, very muddy. Just such sticky clay.

Then too we had a nice two-seat sleigh, which we enjoyed.

Our transportation in summer was a two-seat spring wagon. We all went to Sunday School and church that way.

We had cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and ducks. We had lots of company and lots of fun.

The river was about a quarter of mile from home. The riverbed was stone. It was shallow in summer and deep and swift in winter. If the weather was very cold we often crossed with the horse and sleigh on the ice which didn't seem very safe as I think of it now. We all helped with the garden and berries and all the work in summer, and played in the woods, just over the fence, and at the river too. Once when we had some children visiting us from town we took small baskets and knives and went to the woods to gather flowers. Just over the fence about a quarter mile back from our home stood a large beautiful burch tree at the edge of the woods. The bark is very smooth, and light in color. So we decided to peel the bark off with our knives. We all worked at it and took off the bark clear around and as high as we could reach, never thinking we were hurting the tree. When the owner saw it, he of course felt terrible about it, and told my father. Of course he was shocked.

The owner told father not to be too troubled he would have it cut into lumber and sell it. He was a bachelor and very kind. I have always regretted we did it and am sure it was the most beautiful tree in the woods.

While living in the country my father, who had been a soldier in the civil war was not well. He was developing what then was called consumption (or tuberculosis) and my sister was not well. Mother could not keep up all the work and many times in winter the weather would be so bad, she had to milk the cows, do the feeding and hitch up the horse and drive we children to school and come for us in the evening, besides all her other work. And leave father home to care for the two little boys who were not old enough to go to school.

Before we got the white freckled horse we called "Old Fan" we had one we called "Old Kit". Once when mother went to hitch her up she bit mother on the thigh very badly. She suffered with it a long time and had a black, blue and green spot there as large as a dinner plate.

We had some neighbors about a quarter mile south of us. They too lived in a large stone house.

There was a man, his wife and daughter, at the time we went to live near them she was about eight years old, and a niece lived with them and she was ten years old.

Either my parents or their parents took us all to school when possible to drive.

One evening our neighbor came after all we children in a big wagon with two horses. There were five children. The neighbors two girls, and my sister, myself and my brother.

We could go home by crossing a covered bridge in town, which was much farther, or by fording the river near our home, which was much nearer as there was no bridge near us. In spring the river would raise very high, was then very swift and dangerous. At times no one would dare to go into it. This particular night after school and getting dark our neighbor, with we five children drove into the river to cross, the worst it was said anyone ever crossed. Well we made it. The horse lowest down stream was swept off her feet and lay floating on her side with feet and legs just floating. By gently urging the other horse it finally pulled the floating horse, big wagon five children and a man across a raging torrent about two hundred and fifty feet wide.

He said he would never try anything like that again. Had the upper horse fallen we would all have been lost.

This man's parents lived with their son and family. They owned a nice large farm. His parents were neither one able to walk. The largest old people I have ever seen. Their combined weight over seven hundred pounds.

They never left the home. I had never heard of a wheel chair at that time but they had great, sturdy oak chair and slid around the floor on them.

My birthday is January 19th and so was the old grandfathers. The day I was ten he was ninety. And his wife and my mother had a nice party for us. My Aunt Ida who had lived with us was away then but she came back to our party.

We had a neighbor about a quarter mile north of us. She was a writer. She wrote beautiful poetry. I used to like to iron for her so she could write and she would read to me what she was writing.

They had the largest and blackest St. Bernard dog I have ever seen. She had a little boy. When he was out she would say "King go out and see what Earl is doing". If King thought Earl needed care he would very gently lead him by the clothes, being careful not to tear them, or he would get beside him and push him where he wanted him to go. And she would say "King please bring in some wood", and he would carry in one stick at a time and fill the box or until she would tell him it was enough.

Near the back of our little farm we had five or six large hickory nut trees. Each tree had a different kind of hickory nut. I have never seen finer and always full. Each fall we had a barrel or two. Also black walnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts and beach nuts. The latter were good but a nuisance to eat. Too small to bother with when the others so nice and so many of them. We also made cider from our own orchard. Took the apples to a mill. At night we had popcorn, apples and cider. We also raised our own popcorn. Our gardening and crops increased until father rented about thirty more acres. We had the richest land I have ever seen and our own and the rented had three fine springs on them. Large ones so we always had all the water and more than we could ever use.

We lived on the farm four and one half years. We moved back to town. Before we went to the country we had our own lovely home on north Main Street which father and mother traded for the farm.

When we moved back to town we rented a brick house on south Main Street. From then on we did not have so much, was losing out. The house we moved into leaked. There came a rain, we had to use all the utensils in the house to catch the water. So we moved again in six weeks.

The house we moved into was not large but comfortable. We lived there about a year and a half. There our nearest neighbor was a lawyer and family. A son and two daughters, also his wife.

We played with the children every day. My youngest brother took measles, and gave them to our neighbor children. After they grew up the eldest daughter went abroad to study music. She met and married a Duke.