Life in the Brick House

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Barnyard Pranks

John and I were three years apart in age so we were together in fun a lot of the time. Ray and Dorothy were closer in age so they played together. Ray is five years younger than I, and Dorothy was three years younger than Ray. John farmed a lot so I played alone, but when we were together it seemed we could think up things to do that got us into trouble.

Once we found a couple of buckets of paint and some brushes. As I recall the colors were red and yellow. I remember this because I really wanted to have the red paint, but John, being older, got first pick. We painted anything and everything we could find – fence posts, unused equipment (thankfully, we knew enough not to paint newer equipment or any buildings), trees, rocks. Dad came along at some point after we had joyfully brightened the barnyard. He took our painting supplies, made us wash our hands in gasoline, gave us a swat with his leather gloves, and sent us to the house. Paint stains here and there reminded us of our disastrous deed for years to come.

Another time, we were combing our way through the can box where all opened cans were thrown to be disposed of. We came across a little spice can with its contents, red pepper! I don’t know about John, but I certainly didn’t know anything about red pepper. We decided to play doctor to all the barn cats and treat them with the contents of the can. I imagine that we “treated” ourselves as well, but I don’t remember that. I only remember that, once again, Dad found us, cleaned us up, and sent us to the house.

We could also get in trouble with cousins Jane (Uncle Will) and Mary (Uncle Lucien). There was a shed on the far side of the barnyard away from the brick house. It had a fairly steep, peaked roof and an open machine lean-to type shed on the back. So the roof line came down from the peak at a fairly sharp angle, but flattened out over the additional shed. We took grain shovels up to the top and rode them down the shed roof. We would turn the shovels around so the shovel handle would be ahead of us and we rode them like sleds (grain shovels have very broad scoops). When we got to the machine shed, we put our feet down to stop before flying over the edge and onto the ground.

This was great fun, made possible by doing this activity on the side of the shed away from the brick house so no one could see us. We were eventually discovered when Jane didn’t put her feet down in time, and off over the edge she went, landing astride a wagon tongue. Needless to say when she ran to the house in extreme pain, the game was over – for good!

Sunday Sabbath

To understand Sundays in the brick house, one has to know about my grandmother’s Covenanter Presbyterian background. Her father, as I said before, was a pastor so she was raised with strict church teachings that Sabbath was to be observed. That meant a day of quiet contemplation with only necessary house and farm chores performed – nothing else except, of course, attending church services. So, on Saturday, we prepared the Sabbath meal except for last-minute touches. On Sunday morning we dressed for church. Church was the United Presbyterian Church in Weiser. It wasn’t a Covenanter church, but my grandmother expected us to behave as good Covenanters should.

Apparently Grandmother had no control over the men of the Turner family. They did not attend worship services although they adhered to Covenanter teachings for the rest of the day – only feeding the livestock and irrigating crops. John and Ray, however, joined me to attend church. My dad’s sister, Bertha Turner Sonner, and her husband Munith (Uncle Bill) arrived at the appointed hour and we all went to church together.

My memories of church life are good. We had Sunday school followed by the regular “church service.” I remember what I determined must be the Turner pew, and I remember sitting between my mother and grandmother. I looked forward to the time for the sermon because Grandmother carried a little coin purse filled with peppermints. We children were each allowed one of the peppermints during the sermon. The trick was to try to make the peppermint last as long as the sermon – it never did!

After church, we returned to the brick house for dinner. I need to note that “dinner” was at noon, and the last meal of the day was “supper.”  Sunday dinner was always fried chicken, potatoes, gravy, a vegetable and dessert. Then the afternoon was ahead of us, and we children were expected to be quiet so Grandmother and Aunt Bertha could have an afternoon nap and spend the rest of their time in contemplation and prayer. In the summer, we could play outside, but away from the house so our noise couldn’t be heard. Wintertime and other times when we didn’t want to be outside were another story. My mother had plans to keep us quiet and not get into trouble making noise. She made sure that each of us had our own little radio in our bedrooms upstairs. And she taught us where to tune in to get the Sunday afternoon mysteries – The Shadow is the one that comes to mind. We could listen to those from about 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. One wonders if Grandmother knew what was going on inside the brick house on the Sabbath. If she did, she never let on.

Continued on Page 4 (of 4)

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From Kathryn Turner Baker