Montana farmer-stockman. [volume], November 15, 1949, Page 16, Image 16

About Montana farmer-stockman. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1947-1993

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
The Montana Rural Home
Amy Martin
Household Editor
Thanksgiving Menu
Smiles
a la Baby Dear
Children's laughter
Sweet and clear
Jokes
Old, time-honored ones
from sire to sons
Sweet entremets
Handed down
Memories
Garnished to grace the day
and wit
And hope for new things begun
And for dessert we'll say
Thanks
For Thanksgiving Day
—Mary Brennan Clapp
and fun
Wisdom
An Editorial
Inheritance
'DURING THE MONTH of No
vember it is the custom of the Chil
dren's book council to call attention
to children's reading and children's
books. The third week of this month
parents, teachers, as well as chil
dren, will be hearing about the im
portance of making friends with
books.
The adult is to be pitied who can
not sit down and enjoy an evening
with a book—travel, biography, his
tory, poetry, a novel. If he early
learned to recognize a worthwhile
book he can always be sure of good
company.
As parents we are interested in
the proper nourishment for our
children's bodies. If their teeth de
cay or they develop anemia we
wonder if we supplied the necessary
body building elements. No mother
would give her child the contents of
an unlabeled can. It might contain
something detrimental to her child's
body. In the same manner it is
dangerous to put just anything into
a child's mind or experience. It
can produce a blemish for life.
Those who know tell us that much
juvenile delinquency comes from
ideas that children get from some
of the so-called funny books. Sug
gestions which will poison may be
contained between the covers of
such "unlabeled books.
• '
It is particularly fitting that the
Children's book council in co-opera
tion with the American Library as
sociation has chosen this particular
season for focusing attention of par
ents on books for children. Christ
mas is the great occasion and op
portunity for giving books. It costs
no more to give the right book than
the wrong book to a child.
Your county or city librarian or
your child's teacher are happy to
help with suggestions for book gifts.
A young woman who is one of the
finest high school English teachers
we know told how her grandfather
gave her the great interest in good
books. "My first remembrance of
him," said she, "was sitting on his
lap while he read to me. I felt so
safe and secure with his arm around
me. We said the nursery rhymes
over and over together. Later came
poetry, biography, history, travel.
Shakespeare and the Bible were
alive as they came from his lips.
When he died he left no material
wealth. He didn't need to: he had
given me a wealth money could
never buy nor any calamity or
catastrophe take from me."
What greater inheritance could a
child have? — AMY MARTIN.
Thanksgiving Has a Deeper Meanin^
a
By Blanche Watson
THE FEVERISH activity of the
harvest time was slacking off. Each
day the sun narrowed its arc toward
the south and winds sweeping down
from the north smelled like snow.
Squaw winter had come and gone;
nature had posted her warnings so
that her children could have ample
time to prepare for winter.
It had been a good year. The barns
were filled to bursting and cattle
were sleek and well conditioned for
the cold months. In the cellar were
vegetables, fruits and preserves,
lard, salt pork and uncounted stone
jars and jugs filled with those nice
extras a country woman likes to have
on hand. The house was banked with
straw and the woodpile in back grew
larger every day.
Great-grandmother Jones, small
and wiry, scurried around picking
up stray ears of corn, a handful of
apples hidden in the grass and even
the leaves on the cabbage stumps
which she lugged to the chicken
There were two great motivating
tuck it away against the winter.
most "possessed," as her daughter
put it, at this time of year to gather
every scrap of anything edible and
We Give Thanks'
Then, just before Thanksgiving
she would wander through the barns
and into the crowded cellars, rubbing
her gnarled old hands together and
saying over and over in her broken
English; "Barns full, cellar full, is
good—we give Thanks."
That was many years ago but so
firmly did great-grandmother im
press upon those who followed her
the conviction that harvest time and
Thanksgiving were synonymous that
to this day it has the same sig
nificence.
Mothers Tell How They Interest
Children in Books
MANY MOTHERS MAKE use of
the facilities of a library, if it is
available, in selecting books for their
children. Cascade county is for
tunate in having both a county and
city library. In discussing the sub
ject with the librarians, Mrs. Amy
Patterson and Miss Margaret Ful
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Story Hour
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—MOTiiana Farmer-Stockman Photo
Youngsters gather round as Marilyn Stewart of KMON tells the story of "Toby
Tyler" at one of the story hour sessions held at the Great Falls public library.
forces in her life; Her fearsome
memories of the rocky, impover
ished soil of her native Wales upon
which only the barest subsistence
could be raised and that with the
maximum of physical effort and her
literal translation of and belief in the
Bible.
To prepare for the lean years dur
ing the fat years was a command
from on High. In this beautiful new
country it was possible to do this
... a fact which never ceased to
be a marvel to her. In Wales there
was never enough to go around, even
in fat years. Fat years to them
simply meant enough potatoes for
the family and sufficient coarse hay
for the beasts.
And Every Day
And so it was that Thanksgiving
was a day set aside for mild feasting
and giving thanks, with the greater
So we had a huge
Mother put it in the oven right
after breakfast. It sizzled and
emphasis on the latter. She under
stood English poorly but she had
her Welsh Bible, and a church serv
ice even though not understood in its
literal' sense was still a gathering
blessed by His presence and a holy
place for quiet mediation.
As for giving thanks—she did that
EVERY DAY. Never, never, could
she take for granted the luxury of
the varieties of food in abundance
as she had come to know them in
America,
The holiday dinner always fea
tured spareribs and stuffing. Tur
key we knew little about. They were
hard to raise. Father said he "al
ways thought a hog was the most
stupid creature there was. until he
tried turkeys.
sparerib, tenderloin left on, country
fashion,
mer, mention was made of particu
lar mothers who have shown a
genuine interest in reading for their
children.
Here are excerpts from letters
from a few of these mothers:
To be truthful, I had never thought
that my reading habits were so dif
browned slowly in its own juices
until about an hour before dinner
when she tucked big scoops of sage
stuffing in the hollows of the ribs.
Then it went back and baked some
more.
Feast of the Year
The rich, sweet juices of freshly
dressed pork soaked into the stuffing
and the overflow dripped into the
bottom of the pan for brown gravy.
It was the feast of the year. Mother
opened a jar of spiced peaches end
brought up from the cellar a last
minute bowl of pickled red cabbage
and a glass dish of preserved Blue
Damson plums to go with the meat.
Dessert was usually a cake full
of butternut meats and thickly piled
with whipped cream. Mince and
pumpkin pies were too commonplace
for holiday fare; people of that day
ate pie for breakfast.
Thanksgiving was much like Sun
day except that the children could
play games. Sundays the games of
Lotto, tiddle-de-winks and old maid
were put away—we read our Sunday
school papers and took a walk.
Even as children we sensed The
relaxed tension which came at
Thanksgiving. From planting time
on it was a race against time and the
weather. If the farmer relaxed his
vigilance for a moment, pestilence,
crop failure and the eternal pres
sure of time would defeat him.
But he was strong and fearless, in
dependent and thrifty. He planned
carefully, worked hard and guarded
his independence jealously.
If and when the lean years came
he was prepared to see them through,
Taking chances on wind and weather
was part of a farmer's creed; it was
what made him strong; it was the
law of the land and the law of life
. . . and it left a man his pride.
ferent from other people's. Then I
started thinking about it and finally
came to the conclusion that my
mother was instrumental in getting
me interested in good books.
As a child I was sickly, and along
with being sickly I was exceedingly
high strung, so mother had a hard
time figuring a way to keep me
contented and also make sure that I
had all the rest that was necessary
to my growing well and strong. She
must have struck on the idea of
reading aloud to me because she
could keep me quiet and often get
me to sleep by reading to me from
books that interested both of us.
We spent many happy afternoons
reading books of all kinds and de
scriptions, from "Moby Dick" to a
story about a lost colony of medie
val folk who became lost in the wil
derness as they were making a pil
grimage to the Holy Land. They
are still living in their old manners
änd customs even to this day. She
also had books on the explorations
of Livingstone in Africa that she
read to me and let me look through
to my heart's content.
From this I would gather that an
adult would have much influence on
the reading habits of the young, if
the time were taken to read aloud
good books that interested both par
ties.
I have started reading to my own