THE COUNTRY TWO-ROOMER:

I wasn't old enough to remember but sometime after I was born, we moved to a two roomed house a few miles east of Eldorado. The place was about a quarter to a half mile west of Shumakers. Across the road was Amy and Roy Walker's farm. Amy's mother, Mrs, Massie, lived with them. Mother said that Mz Massie found a small glass bottle, put a few tiny pebbles inside, stuck in the end of a couple of strings inside and screwed the lid on tight. They could tie it to the side of my crib and when I hit it, the little rocks rattled.

Daddy still worked in town. They had a sow in the pig pen. By now they a had a small flock of laying hens. Folks who didn't have chickens were glad to buy eggs from them. Mother and Daddy would sell their eggs to the rural farmers for the same price as the town store. So, on Saturdays they ran their egg route as they went to town for their weekly supply of groceries. The price of eggs had been rising and for a little while the price had stayed at 8 cents a dozen. Any extra eggs they could trade to the store for items they needed. One day as they made the egg run and collected 8 cents for each dozen, they were especially happy with so much money to buy a few extra products they really needed. When they arrived at the store they were dismayed to see that the price of eggs had dropped to 4 cents a dozen. There was nothing to do, but to buy less. On the road home they reran the egg route and returned 4 cents on each dozen they'd sold that day. It is with this integrity that Mother and Daddy lived their lives. It seems so extraordinary by today's standards. But that is how everyone lived back then. Maybe homemade rattles and 4 cent dozen eggs aren't so bad after all.