Mother

(1892 – 1988)

When I think of Mother in my early years several familiar scenes come to mind…….Mother reading aloud to us on winter Sunday afternoons and evenings…….Mother at her sewing machine or mending basket in an endless struggle to keep up with the family mending…….Mother being worn out, but drawing on her amazing willpower to keep going……Mother helping us with our school lessons and encouraging us to make the extra effort to do well in school.

Mother had a lot of responsibility and a lot to put up with in raising a bunch of thoughtless boys who were always hungry…. always tracking in with muddy boots (and slamming the screen door on the way in)…. always outgrowing their clothes, wearing out the knees and elbows and losing their mittens…. always dawdling at their work so that it took forever to finish the dishes….etc., etc. And she had a baby daughter to look after to boot. When you look back on it, she really had her hands full!

The severe lack of money in the 1930s was a big problem. In today’s economy when equipment or clothes start to wear out we simply throw things out and replace them. Mother didn’t have that luxury; she did a great job of “making do” with a very limited budget for running the household. She made essentially all of the clothes for kids under school age--usually from recycled material, such as one of Uncle Sile’s old shirts. We raised most of our own food and ate lots of whatever was in season. If we had a good apple crop Mother served stewed apples, fried apples, baked apples, apple pie, apple cake, apple fritters, apple salad, etc.--while canning many dozens of jars of apples to use the rest of the year. If we still had more apples than we could use, she made sure that they were given away to others--nothing was wasted. And Mother’s kitchen and equipment was not only primitive (old-fashioned by even the standards of its day), but sparse. Mother didn’t like cooking and kitchen work very much--but was really quite a good cook under the circumstances.

In her struggle to keep up with her work, one really couldn’t have blamed Mother for sometimes kind of envying the easier life women in the city seemed to have. For example, Aunt Mary kept house for Uncle Sile, but she had a full-time maid (Dessie), a laundress (Mrs. Portwood) and a part-time gardener (Mr. Murray).

Mother was in poor health much of the time we were growing up. She had trouble with anemia for many years and had stomach problems--a “Garman stomach” she called it. And often she worried so about how she was going to get her work done that she had trouble sleeping. The result of a heavy work load and these health problems was that Mother was frequently just plain tired out. (Today we would probably call it “burn out.”) Many diary notations refer to this: “I was worn out by suppertime, ” or “I had to lay down most of the afternoon.” She also had an expression that I have never heard anyone else use: “I’m not much force today.”

(Mother was much more lively in her later years in Decatur--when she was finally free from the heavy responsibility of taking care of a big family on the farm.)

Mother had the strongest sense of willpower of anyone I have ever known. Whether or not she felt like it, she made herself do things. She made herself keep going to get things done, even when she was tired out.

Despite every thing else she had to do, Mother faithfully kept up writing her diaries--and did a really outstanding job of it. She also put together five great Baby Books, made scrapbooks of clippings and photos, researched family history, etc. It is largely due to her diligence in research and work with John Jr. and Neil that we have such great Baird family history material today.

Mother was also quite active in church and community work. She was an elder in Prairie Home Church and often taught a Sunday School class. She was a leader in its Ladies Aid Society, which made quilts and put on church suppers to raise money. She was also active in Home Bureau.

Mother was always an enthusiastic scholar. We kids all took Latin in high school--but she knew her Latin far better than any of us. She was a beautiful writer and loved reading good books, especially those with a historical background. When we were young she often read aloud to us for hours; she liked to have one of us stand behind her and comb her hair to relax her as she read. She was so proud of us when we got good grades and always encouraged us to do our best in school.