Bob awoke laying on his
back looking at the ceil
ing . He could see his breath in the cold attic from the light
shinning through a crack in the floor. Directly below he heard
the familiar sounds of his father in the kitchen. He was putting
on his heavy wool coat and leaving the house for the barn to
milk the cows.
Bob knew that he had to get up this morning and quickly get his
chores completed. It was Friday and the last day of school ,
and two days before Christmas in 1927.
He dressed in haste pulling on two shirts , bib- overalls wool
socks and laced up his ankle high boots. Once in the kitchen
he filled a pan with warm water from the reservoir on the wood
stove to wash. He then |
took a crust of bread and
in the same motion grabbed his coat and was out the door.
He joined Henry, his dad with the milking in the barn and feeding
of the animals. The last chore was to fill the wood box in the
kitchen before sitting down for breakfast. On his way in with
the last load of wood his sister Ruth passed him going to the
chicken coop to collect eggs.
Louisa, his mother had the breakfast on the table and they sat
down to cat. Breakfast was bread, oatmeal and coffee. After they
finished Ruth made sandwiches and cut a piece of cake to fill
their lunch pails which were empty molasses cans.
It was a cold December day overcast with a chill in the air from
a north wind blowing across the bare fields. Bob and Ruth were
off to school bundled in wool coats. The backwaters of the Flambeau
River had frozen over and now provided a shorter route to school,
rather than staying on the roads for the whole distance. It was
nearly two miles to school.
The school was a one sto |
ry building painted white
with three windows on each side. By the time they arrived the
other children were entering through the front door. Once inside
the warmth of the potbellied stove could be felt in the hallway.
The teacher had arranged the slates on the desks of the students
who would be studying math and writing to solve their problems.
Paper was a scarce item and the months supply had been used for
the Christmas decorations on the Christmas tree.
Near the end of the day candy was given to the younger children
and some lucky students even received apples and a rare orange
as a Christmas gift As with most items not provided by the school
budget they were donated by local merchants of families from
the area.
Before they left for home they said good-bye to their friends
at the end of the day wishing them a merry Christmas. They would
be looking forward to seeing them soon to trade tales of their
Christmas exploits.
On the way home Bob noticed several Canada geese in the open
water near the shore of the river. Most of the water was frozen,
but where the geese were was an inlet of fast moving water. He
didn't see them on their way to school in the morning.
When he arrived home he told his dad about the geese he had seen.
His dad seemed interested and thought that if they were stiff
there on Saturday afternoon they should see if they could hunt
them. A goose would be something really special for Christmas
dinner.
Late on Saturday afternoon Henry brought out their Morgan horse
and harnessed it to the wagon. They stayed on the road and tied
the horse off on a fence post where they could see the river.
By now there was a cold mist in the air and |
