MY EARLY CHILDHOOD

A Story of the McQuary Family
by Reca McQuary Hardy
Written in 1986
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Mother always had a full hard day, up early and to bed late. Millard asked her one time if she ever slept. He said she was up when he got up, and she was still up when he went to bed. But we all had our share of duties.

We had a large kitchen with windows across the north end. There was a counter top across the end with large bins, drawers and shelves underneath. We had a large wood burning stove with a large reservoir for hot water. A warming closet at the top of the stove was [where food was] kept for late arrivals. There was a large pantry. I enjoyed everything about cooking and cleaning. I liked baking the bread and the canning and the cakes and the pies, etc. We did lots of canning as we had two gardens. The potatoes, cabbage, apples and turnips were mostly put in long trench lines and covered with straw and earth. They kept well until spring. We also had the cellar for cans of fruit, vegetables, cabbage apples and turnips for use in winter. The gardens were always interesting. The men plowed and harrowed the soil readying it for planting, which Mama and we children mostly did. We planted in long straight rows. After the plants grew came hoeing and harvesting. There was nothing better than new lettuce and onions with bacon bits with a dressing of hot grease and some sugar, salt and vinegar. Then the new cucumbers, tomatoes and sliced onions were delicacies. We could hardly wait for the new potatoes, peas and green beans, the sweet corn. There were strawberries, gooseberries, currents, watermelons and cantaloupes, plus the orchard. We had our own beef and pork, also the chickens and turkeys for our meats. We also had guineas and geese. I also had white and mallard ducks. We could also have all the flowers we wanted. Looking back on all this I have to say, “That was the life.” You can see that we had plenty to eat, plenty to do, and our big family was never lonesome.

We had Epworth League for the young people in our church and had nice programs and parties, etc. Sometimes I was selected as a delegate to our district meetings, and that was a thrill to meet and be with the delegates from other churches. We always had inspiring programs.

When Broyles was just learning to walk my parents took us to Kentucky to visit relatives. I have been told that he had a mind of his own and didn’t want to be carried. He would rather walk on all fours, which amused the relatives and probably embarrassed the parents. Mama’s aunt Jennie and husband had a Ford car. I am told that we all enjoyed riding in it. I wish that I could remember that.

Before we went to New Mexico we had a family portrait made at a studio. Lena was born after that and she always wondered why they did not have a picture [made] after she was born. I am sure all of you are saying, “What a dull life.” Not true. We enjoyed our neighbors, and we got together a lot at our homes, our school and our church, plus a lot of activity on the farms. We also had lots of visits from our families from St. Louis, Kansas, Iowa and Kentucky besides all the Missouri relatives who lived near us. Sumer was a great time when the cousins came to visit our grandparents and us. They spent lots of time with us. They loved the farm and the good country food.

We had a friend who came to the house often, Waldo Simmons. Another was Hollis Bloomberg. One evening they came by after they had been hunting. As they left that night they decided to take a shortcut and crawled through the fence at the front of the house. Waldo’s gun got caught in the wire fence. It fired, and shot him in the leg. We did not hear about it until the next day. He was very ill for several days and then died.
I had a close girlfriend, Alice Shelmadine who became very ill with dropsy. Her body would swell so much that her skin would break. She died at an early age. Her birthday was June 14, Flag Day, and I seem always to think of her on that day.

I remember the first funeral I attended. A young married woman, our neighbor, passed away. She had been a teacher. All the children were very sad. That was the first time I had ever seen flowers from a florist shop. They were beautiful.
We had a lovely elderly lady, Mrs. Waller, who lived near us. I visited her often. She told me many stories about her life. She had come through many hardships, but also had many happy times. She gave me a blue glass bowl and six dishes which had been given to her when she was a child. I have passed them on to Bonnie. I also have a small walnut drop-leaf table that Mama bought from Mrs. Waller. We knew her daughter-in-law, Sophia Waller and her two small daughters. They stayed with us a short time after her husband died and she was so sad. The little girls did not understand it at that time.
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We never knew our Broyles grandparents except for what our mother told us and through their letters. Grandpa Broyles was a carpenter and built the Methodist church near them. Your father and I were in this church in 1973 when we visited relatives in and around Plato and Somerset, Kentucky. We visited one of my mother’s cousins, Mason Emmett (M. E.) Burton, and his wife, Minnie May Testerman, also Glen and Irene Broyles. Emmett (M. E.) and Minnie took us to see some of the other relatives and to the places where my parents grew up. There were many great aunts, uncles and cousins who grew up in this are. Most of them are gone now. They had lived interesting lives: teachers, preachers, music teachers, artist, etc.

Mother also had several half-brothers and sisters: Edgar, Lena, Burnette, Cordelia (Delia), H. P., Osborn, Swannie, Edith and Edna (twins). I got to know in person only the few who visited us. Aunt Lena and her husband and two stepsons spent several days with us once. She had beautiful white hair. She died of cancer. Uncle Hiram Polk (H.P.) lived with us for a while as did cousin Blanford Broyles while Papa was in Colorado Springs in a T. B. Sanatorium for treatment. Our family doctor had recommended that he go there. They only found that he was run down from the long hours of hard work. He was there for about nine months, I think.

H. P. and Blanford were Christian young men and helped our family in many ways. Our mother certainly needed them with our family of seven children and all the farm work. But it seems to me that she was never sick herself, always had time for us and was even lots of fun. Papa was fun too, but he was more serious. He didn’t let us go to the neighborhood parties if they were going to dance. He also thought card playing was wrong. Mother played games with us such as Old Maid, Rook, Checkers, etc. We each had a set of jacks made by stringing corn on a circle and of course, we had marbles. When we had Epworth League parties we played Charade, Spin the Bottle, Finish the Story, Dare, Base, we sang, and of course, we ate. ***

I don’t remember any bad youngsters in our community. No family that our parents ever said we couldn’t visit or be with, except Melvin Burch. Ha! We never locked our doors.

Some of the families were not so clean. Some were lazy. One father, Dan Foley, slept with his clothes on, shoes and all. Another neighbor, Mr. and Mrs. Hatler, lived in the first house south of our school. They were very dear people and when they had some extra housework to do or hired hands to cook for, she would ask me to come and help her. I always enjoyed that. When Mrs. Hatler heard that I was to get married she told my parents that “he had better be good to me or at least not ever let her hear about it.”

Our friends Mr. and Mrs. Smiley at the store let me work there a lot of times. It was a nice walk from our house down the railroad tracks to the store. I learned to candle eggs, test cream, to sell groceries and yard goods. There were so many interesting things for sale there. The cheese came in a large round cake and was kept in a glass covered case. Crackers were kept loose in a big barrel. Big pickles were in a large container.

Mr. Smiley didn’t go to church, but he was a kind and good man. I enjoyed working for him. His wife was a faithful church worker. Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Sims lived across the road from the Smileys. They too were good Christian people, and they had a great influence on me. Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Sipe and their girls were great with us and with all of our relatives, and all the people in our church and the community. I loved them dearly and felt that they really cared about me. I should have accomplished more and become a better person than I have in the years I have lived. I had such good examples always around me.
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I was nine years old when Woodrow Wilson was elected President in 1912. I knew by that time that my father was a very staunch Republican. Wilson was reelected in 1916. His policy during the First World War was strict non-intervention, and I remember my mother saying she was going to vote for him because he would keep us out of war. But by April 1917 things became very hard and war was declared. Uncle Wayne, Papa’s youngest brother was in the 12th Engineers and in great danger. We were all very concerned, and my grandmother was sick with worry. They could not hear from him often. There was some pictures of his group being shown at the theater in Macon. My grandparents and Uncle Tom went. As the soldiers marched by on the screen grandmother was sure that she saw Uncle Wayne and she fainted. A few days later they got word that he had been killed, beheaded. That was hard for us. Later, word came that it was a mistake, and that he was on his way home. He never wanted to talk about his experiences while overseas.
I was a freshman at high school in Atlanta when word came that the war had ended. There was great rejoicing everywhere as almost every family had someone in the service. Some of the students made a dummy of the Kaiser, dragged it around over the school yard and then burned it.

It was three miles to the Atlanta school. I walked, rode a horse, drove a horse hitched to a buggy, even rode a mule part of the time, and I drove our Ford too during my four years. I had lots of experiences with the Ford. In those days the cars were started with a hand crank. I had to learn to drive when I was twelve. Papa showed me what to do, and I practiced driving in the meadow south of the house. I took lunches to the workers in the fields away from home. I took produce to Macon and brought back large sacks of feed for the stock. I remember one day it rained while I was gone. We had only dirt roads, and on the way home I skidded and slid into a ditch. As always it seemed I had help in a time of need. A man came by and unloaded the feed, then got the car back onto the road. He reloaded the feed and then everything went fine. One day we had a big snowstorm and I had driven the Ford. Uncle Tom McQuary came to my rescue and drove home for me.

Each spring after the corn came up there was a replanting in places where the seeds failed to sprout. That was one of my jobs. Papa would leave a big sack of the seeds at the field. I’d ride a horse to the field and do the replanting. One real hot sunny day I decided I’d had enough of it. I was really sunburned. I dug a big hole and poured the rest of the corn in and covered it up. Then I rode home. I don’t know if Papa ever learned about that.
Papa and Mama bought a secondhand piano. We and our friends enjoyed that and did lots of singing. Sundays were wonderful days after Sunday School and church. Friends, and often our minister, would come to our place or we went to theirs. It seems pleasant now that I think back over it. And there never seemed to be too many people and we always had enough food. We had a large dining room and a large table. We cooked on Saturday. No one thought of eating at a restaurant.

I don’t remember youngsters fighting or not liking each other. I know that we seven really enjoyed and loved each other. I know that we had good times. We had a bicycle, just one, and we liked it. We ran footraces, rode our pony and we played lots of indoor games. When we were small we made trains and houses with the chairs. We played school and had church and programs. We tossed beanbags too.

We liked to spend time with our grandparents, and at Uncle Tom and Aunt Ethel’s house and with Uncle Orland and Aunt Carrie and their four children. Aunt Dean Gragg lived in St. Louis and had four boys. They all spent much time with us during the summer months. One time, Arthur, Aunt Dean’s son, was at the grandparents’ home. On Sunday after church a family with a boy Arthur’s age asked him to go home with them. After dinner the boys went swimming in the pond and Arthur drowned. This was a sad time for all of us and especially hard for our grandparents.
We had a windmill on the farm, and all the city cousins liked it. They also enjoyed the garden, the chickens, ducks and geese as well as the other animals.

Grandpa and Grandma McQuary canned fruits and dried them, made hominy, butchered hogs and calves. Taking care of the new fresh meat was a big job. The beef had to be canned. The pork was cured. It was treated with a special formula and hung up in the smoke house where it was smoked with hickory wood. Some of the meat was ground for sausage which was fried and canned also. Some of it was packed in stone jars and cooked in the oven and then covered with lard. It could be sliced and served.

We always helped our grandparents with their work and also the other relatives. It was fun to exchange work and being together. Everyone cooked with wood stoves the year round, and it was hot work in summer.
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Some grade school happenings I will tell you about here. I always liked my teachers. I only remember having to stay in at recess one time one time, and I don’t remember the teacher ever having to use the paddle on anyone either. The seats and desks were for two, and I don’t remember any trouble over that. Maybe we knew that if we got into trouble we would tell our parents on each other and then there would be worse trouble.

Some of the children were just lovely, but there were a few who wore the same clothing day and night, were bed wetters, and I thought they never bathed or even brushed their hair or their teeth. I remember one man teacher who found this hard to take. In those days the smaller children were called up to the teacher’s desk to recite. The teacher would say, “First grade, rise, pass” and they would march up there for the lesson. For those bad smelling ones he would hold his handkerchief over his nose. For the fifth grade through the eighth there was a recitation bench in the front of the room. The worst smell though, was when some of the older boys went hunting and had the misfortune to meet up with a skunk. We could hardly stay in the room with them.
We had a well on the school ground. We had a large bucket that we kept filled with water. It was at the back of the room on a shelf. There was a large dipper that we all used to drink from.
On Fridays the teacher would usually let us do something special after the last recess. Sometimes she read to us, other times we sang, other times we would have a spelling or arithmetic match. One of the older students was selected to take charge of the first four grades and entertain them in various ways. Each day in spelling we were given head marks for perfect lessons.
One year we kept one of the teachers in our home. We were not allowed to go into her room unless she invited us. In those days teachers were something special, and we were taught to respect and trust them. It was wonderful to have this teacher in our home. We didn’t want the other pupils in the school to feel that we were the teacher’s pet because she lived with us.

We had outdoor toilets in back of the school. Some of the girls wanted to keep theirs in tip top shape. We put pictures on the walls and scrubbed often. This we did at recess time. I don’t think the boys were quite so neat with theirs.
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There were many travellers in those days called gypsies. They came in covered wagons, several wagons together. They camped in the school yard just about 100 yards from our house. They would come begging, asking for chickens, eggs, milk, etc. We always gave them some since we were told that if you didn’t they would come at night and steal. They always wanted to tell your fortune for money. I can’t remember that any of us had our fortunes told. Their children always were so dirty. Their hair was matted and horrible. I wished more than anything that I could give them a bath, some clean clothes and wash and comb their hair.

We also had tramps, bums or whatever you could call them. They were walking and carrying a pack on their backs. They would sleep at night in the schoolhouse, and they begged for food. Mother would fix them a plate and let them eat on a table on the screened-in porch. They were never clean either.

I wanted a camera called a Kodak. I saw an ad to sell subscriptions to a magazine and get one. That I did and got a cute little Kodak with a 12 pack film. It took good pictures and I was very proud of it. I still have it in my few special possessions. I have always wanted an up-to-date one.

I didn’t know much about music except that I liked it. I could read the notes, the time and play the piano and organ some. We had a piano, and we all enjoyed it very much in those days. Several children in the neighborhood wished they could play. Several homes had pianos and [there were] a few with pump organs. These you pressed pedals with your feet. That was what they had at church, and I used [it at] Sunday School and Church. I decided to give lessons. I could at lest teach them as much as I knew. My parents gave their consent. I was excited about doing this. I kept a notebook about their assignments and their pay, which was 25 cents a lesson. Most of them had their own song books. It was fun getting ready. I had to harness the horse, hitch him to the buggy and then get myself ready. Some of the homes were not very well kept, and some of the organs were in poor condition. I only did this for one summer when I was not in school. I always wanted to be a teacher, and more than anything I wanted to teach music, lead a band and direct an orchestra.

I was ready for high school now. Atlanta High School was the nearest, and that is where I entered. I will end my story for now. Later I may write about what happened to me in my four years at Atlanta and afterward.
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Epilogue

It's interesting to note that Reca's sister Hattie Lena, her only sibling born in New Mexico, grew up and married Albert Kruse, who worked a 600-acre family farm just southeast of Dexter.
Albert and Lena had two children, a daughter named Linda and a son, Charles Edward.
In 1985, Charles E. Kruse was appointed Missouri's new Agriculture Director by Governor John Ashcroft.
And, of course, John Ashcroft today is the U.S. Attorney General.

Reca married Hurschel Hollis Hardy on July 7th, 1923 in Macon County, Missouri. The couple had five children, for whom Reca wrote this account of her childhood. She died on November 5th, 1996.

To my knowledge she neither wrote an account of any other part of her life nor reorganized these recollections of her childhood. It seemed inappropriate for me to rearrange them for her. Instead, I’ve added printer’s ornaments to separate topics and, in a few instances, inserted a word or two within brackets, to complete a sentence.