ities was a toy shepherd and my constant companion..Tha women brought all kinds of preserved foods for storage, the men donated bushels of potatoes and apples for the bins, and bacons. and hams. . ·. Young men brought their fiddles and guitars and there was· · dancing all night in the barn. .Breakfast was on long tables laden with steaming plates of biscuits, bacon, eggs, jars of jam and milk and coffee and cider. · . · . I remember a foggy day when I woke up with a sore throat and weakness. I cried. Outside I saw Barney come out of the barn and lie dowri on the ground. He gave one long moan, then lay stilL He was dead. The other horses were sick too, Dad · said. Through a mist I knew people were coming·and going; someone sat at my bedside coristaritly. The doctor came out · from town and said I had scarlet fever. We were quarantined and I was given calomel.' It made my teeth fall out, and som.e of them never grew in again. I floated on a river away from · everything, and the do"ctor said; "She won't live until morriing." Mr. Donaldson had gone on an errand to town. He brought back a bottle of medicine called "Swamp Root;" . "Give her some of this," he said .to my father. '~Well, the doctor has given her up; we can do no less.than try it," my father . said. He somehow got the dose down me, and I awoke in the morning smiling. I·was a skeleton, the skin peeling from my ·body, but I was better. I reached out my hand and said "Milk," and they gave me milk, fresh and warm from the cow. I lived because of the love that surrounded me; Outside, the world was breaking into spring and it was a time of resurrection. . And early in that spring my brother was born. I was five years old. · The sow had six pigs, all of them females, and Dad took · that to mean that his surplus for.the community would be pork. Every member of the community raised a surplus-to be distributed among the members. Mr. Donaldson had a large · orchard with a variety of fruit, and he fattened cattle on the river bottom during the summer. Mr. Carney had.sheep; he · furnished mutton and wooL So it went. The timber crew came and the clearing of the land began. Dad had been busy slashing out a lot of the underbrush, but it was necessary for skilled men to take out the big trees. The logs were floated down the river to sawmills downstream, but some of them Dad took up to the high sawmill, and they were cut into lumber for our house.·In taking out timber the pioneers were always careful to leave some, so each homesteader had part of his place left in forest. This, too, is better thinned out, the dead and diseased trees used for fire wood. Stumps· were blasted out with dynamite, but one must know how to handle that stuff. There were about 25 families in our community, and each · community was determined by the boundaries of its school . district, although each ran into the other and exchange went .on among people for miles around. The areas of the farms varied. Some had not claimed their 160 acres limit, but each. October 1976 RAIN Page 13 . tried to raise as much for his own family as he could and depend on t_he surpluses for the rest. Surplus and labor were always free. You did not insult a man by offering him money for his help. . , Each two weeks the members of the community met at the school house..The first thing the men held a meeting to assess · the progress of the community and to decide the order of . work. for the next two weeks. Every man would explain his own needs, and volunteers would be assigned to help him in · whatever he had to do. · When problems arose there was voting, and usually all . members abided by the will of the majority. There were no elected officers; but generally they sought the advice of Mr. Donaldson, who was the oldest and most experienced. When the men had decided exactly what was to be ·done in the next ·half month, the youJ!g men held their meeting and discussed vital issues of the day, often scheduling debates on vital issues affecting the state or nation. Noon time lurich was on long tables outside, or, if it was rainy, inside the school house. The ladies then displayed their handiwork for all to admire. After that they discussed problems concerning housekeeping and children. Evening brought entertainment. Young men played their · instruments, someone sang, and children recited poems. During the early evening there was a time devoted entirely to young children, when any one of us could say anything we wanted, tell our problems, or just show off. Each member, big and · little, was made to feel his.importance to the community as a whole. If.a decision went against a member, he was offered opportunities to perform some important service which was ·designed to restore his confidence. Each family was a unit revolving within a unit of the community. . As girls grew up, they were given opportunities to stay for short periods in homes other than their own to learn different ways of doing things than their mothers did. Or they often worked outdoors gardening or grooming animals. There was a . wide range of choices, one of which was to help with birthing and care of infants and mothers. Our midwife was an Indian lady, who was always ready to tell others the necessary things to do. She usually only stayed until the baby was born and
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