DICK AND MABEL (KELLOGG)
- AS OF 1931
Perhaps it would be well to leave this part of the story
rest, and yet there are so many memories of the Kellogg’s. When we moved to our forty acres in 1927 they
were our nearest neighbors, less than a mile to the northeast; or was it Norman
Hearth, almost due north and maybe a little closer? All three of our places sat well back from
the townline road.
I guess it was in vogue in those rural times to maintain extensive
distance between adjoining farmsteads.
Bauman’s lived to the south, somewhat east in the general direction of
Oakdale, and their spread was on the lowlands.
Because of our higher elevation and because of surrounding woodlands
which limited our northern horizon, theirs was the only house and barn visible
from our farmyard. And, of course, there
were larger open fields and pastures down their way. Much of Bauman’s farm was peat, muck, marshland
and the “like of that”. They rented, or
was it leased, from an absentee landlord, a distant city man whose name was Sam
Zimmerman. I never knew how much land he
owned; but vast areas of it had never been touched. There were dense stands of “popal” trees and lots and lots of willow brush. There could have been 160 acres or even an
entire section.
We will reminisce briefly about the Kellogg’s. In 1927 their family was still intact, but
right at the point of dispersing and inheriting the earth. John was the father and Mom’s name was
Jenny. She had begun her life as a Hanchet. Again, I am
not sure of the spelling; but in its general phonetics it resembled “Handshake”
more than it did ”Henschmunk.” There were two sons, the older was Charlie,
and as far as I know he was also the firstborn.
Charlie was in the process of leaving home, going out to find his life,
and to win his fortune; and therefore I don’t remember too much about him. Several years later he was back in the
country for awhile; that could have been 1932 or 1933. Charlie had made his way east and had gone to
work as a general “hand” in either a circus or else a carnival of some
kind. While he was back home he had
brought his wife along; I cannot recall her name. It seems like she was native to one of the
The chassis of the old car was the main thing Dad wanted,
and he worked that over into a farm wagon.
It was closer to the ground and it rolled far easier than did those old
lumber wagons. Oh yes, one cold day,
late in autumn, Charlie was in our yard with his “good” car; and he knew that
this car could move Dad’s wood saw, that is, if Dad would agree to the
idea. Well, naturally, the wheels which
carried this equipment were frozen to the ground. Dad hooked a chain between the big
Earl, whom I’ve mentioned before, was the youngest of the
family, sort of an afterthought; or had it been just another unfortunate
accident? I was with him at
One day at school he had taken some minor item from
another boy’s desk. Maybe it was a
special eraser or pencil, or even a cheap jackknife; I never knew. Anyhow, when the teacher was informed Earl
suddenly had to “go to the bathroom”; he went and hid in the old outdoor boy’s
toilet. This was a rather common
occurrence whenever a schoolboy sought to evade the teacher. By way of additional explanation, all my
grade school teachers were women. Well,
our teacher took the victim of Earl’s depredation and followed the “accused”
right on inside his “hideout”. The rest
of us came close enough so we could at least hear what was going on. “Earl, why do you take things that belong to
someone else?” “But I didn’t take
nothin’; my sister gave that to me”. The plaintiff then interrupted, “But that is mine;
I know what belongs to me”. The sounds
were becoming stronger and more emphatic.
And Earl was close to desperation as he reaffirmed his innocence. He was nearly screaming, “My sister did
; my sister did”.
Between Charlie and Earl there were two sisters. I always assumed that Bessie was the older of
the two. Like her older brother she was
in the process of trying out her wings; although the implication of that
metaphor was not necessarily angelic.
However, I do have more memories of her than I do of Charlie. Bessie was what you would call a pretty girl;
and that was one of her problems; the “young bucks” simply could not leave her
alone. There were some rather wild
stories as to what had “gone on” between her and some of the older farm
boys. It’s a sorry observation, but it’s
also generally true that young men are attracted first of all by what they see
on the surface. Too many girls with real
character are often inclined to “feel” left out; and that can also lead in the
wrong direction.
Mabel was the “home-loving” type; it wasn’t going to be
easy to push her out of the nest.
She was inclined to wear her older brother’s left-over work clothes, and
she was right “at home” assisting with the men’s farm work. She was well “spoken of”; most of the
neighbors really liked her. One time,
unannounced, she showed up at our place.
She was visibly upset. “Something
awful just happened.” she exclaimed.
It sounded as though the horses had run away and smashed things up or
maybe a tree had fallen upon her father, or perhaps the house had caught
fire. Actually it was something
concerning their Model “T”, so we “dropped over” right away to see for
ourselves. It was unusual, alright, and
although it didn’t often occur, it was still frequent enough to be
expected. The inner tube had “popped”
out from inside and forced the tire partially off a rim. The more usual frustration was when a tire
would explode at a weak spot. That, of
course, would be announced with a report akin to a shot gun blast. Everything would go thump, thump, thump, and
the car would be brought to a stop as soon as possible. These “blow outs” seldom left anything that
could be patched or repaired; better go looking for another tire. Tire problems were so “state-of-the art” back
then that it was not at all unusual for brand new cars to come equipped with at
least two extra wheels having tires already mounted. Balloon type, lower pressure tires were in
process of being developed and introduced, and the idea certainly had its
merits. What we saw at Kellogg’s that
day did look quite horrible. This is the
only time I recall having seen such a thing, although there are photographs in
pictorial history books. To begin with,
the color of the inner tube would be blood red, and upon its sudden release
from the tire it would “balloon”, becoming greatly stretched and swollen,
something on the order of a cow’s rumen, if you’ve ever seen one.
The culmination of these memories is that in due process
of time Mabel also left the home nest.
Dick Greenough had spotted her from afar, and
he had zeroed in on his target. Dick was
from over by
And there are some other things I remember about Mabel,
real well. By 1931 Jenny, her mother,
had “flown” the coop”, and John and Earl were all that remained of the once
happy family. Perhaps “once optimistic
and hopeful” would be closer to reality.
John had concluded that he “might’s well” get a divorce; that seemed to
be about the only safe and sane route for him to take. For the time, at least, Mabel and dick were
making their home with John and Earl; and Mabel was telling our mother a few
things about her new husband. It seems
like she was frying pancakes one morning; and by the time Dick was filled up he
had consumed thirty one of them! I am
remembering that Dick was tall; however I still find it hard to believe that
Mabel’s pancakes were nearly as thick as some my mother turned out, nor as big
around as those my father sometimes fried.
Any how, it would still be safe to say that even thirty, or say twenty,
would average out to be a very substantial breakfast, any time or any place.
And somewhere along the way, at still another time, Mabel
was telling my mother and father about her younger brother: “That Earl has had
only one decent lickin’, and that I “gived” him”. Poor
Earl! I remember how his father would
“go at” him, verbally of course. “Well,
by profanity) Earl”, Git to work,” he would
yell. “Stand there, a gawkin’ at the landscape”.
Believe it or not, but there was talent buried beneath his undesirable
and unpromising exterior. I often envied
his ability to make things for himself, home made toys and such. But really, it wasn’t easy to give Earl
credit for anything; and obviously the boy needed all of the credit he could
get. He sure had some disadvantages
stacked against him.
