The next memory is of a very cold day when we had a sun porch and even at that early age, I was responsible for my little sister. I remember mother calling from her bed, "Please go out and bring Fern it, she is out on the front porch and it is very, very cold." I went out to bring her in and I asked her what she was doing out there. She was calling in a loud voice, "Oh, Uncle Arvil, oh Uncle - come and see me we have a new baby." I got her by the arm and brought her back into the house. No one ever told me the story, I just remember that Uncle Arvil was on his way to the mine and my sister remembered the time when he would pass by. It was sometime later that Uncle Arvil came in to see our other baby sister named Elva Jean. She was a beautiful little girl with long black eyelashes. I remember her eyelashes distinctly because later in life wne of my first experiments to improve her appearance waas to trim her eyelashes. Some say i resented her because she had such long, beautiful eyelashes.
There is another incident I remember vividly. It is hard to describe exactly how this house was built, but if you can, imagine a kitchen with an old fashioned wood stove and a heavy oven door that opened up. If my mother was opening the oven, she had her back to the door of the cellar, which was kept closed at all times, and was supposed to be opened by Mother or my Father. By this time, my brother Doug was big enough that somehow as my mother was taking bread out of the oven, he opened the cellar door just as my mother took a step back and she fell into the deep end of the cellar.
I remember distinctly her long, brown braid flying into the air as she fell. I don't remember just how it affected her, but she was not hurt so badly that she had to be hospitalized. However, she was in bed for quite some time after that. I am sure my brother felt the guilt. I don't remember the punishment he got for opening the door. My mother never got completely over the injury to her back, although she was able to have a number of children that I will tell you about later.
The work at the mine and at the mill was pretty scarce and my father, although with a larger family, was still in the adventurous spirit and so we went again in the covered wagon with all of my belongings to a little town called Baker, Nevada. We found a house to live in. The first job my father had there was carrying freight from Baker to Ely, Nevada. He was gone for long periods of time and I remember my mother being very sad much of the time. I also remember the joy when he came home, usually with presents for everyone. We would celebrate when he was home and then it would be time for him to go again.
While we lived in this house, surprisingly enough, one day my mother asked me if I would be responsible for the family and take care of things because she was going to have another baby. We had lots of fun places to play and I took this as an adventure I would be responsible for, but she told me to stay out of the house. So we packed a little lunch and one of the places we went to play was prety far from the house, almost out of calling distance. I took my two sisters and we went and played by our favorite tree. My brother refused to go; he wanted to stay close to the house because he thought my mother might have some trouble and she might need him. There were no close neighbors and I think my father had already gone to get the midwife. Later the story was told that my brother Doug stayed and this ordeal took most of the day and he heard the excitement and he heard my mother's cries. When it was over with his remark was, "Here you girls go off and leave your mother and what did she do but have another girl. She should have had a boy." The baby born at that time was my sister, Elinor.
