Story Time With Daddy

Scooting back his chair from the breakfast table Daddy started chuckling a little. We knew he was about to share another story from his childhood and settled back to listen.

Since I came out of a family of twelve children it was always a treat to be the one that was allowed to accompany Dad to town.


On this particular Saturday Dad had hitched our dependable old horse Bill, to our single open buggy and asked me if I want to ride along with him. I hurriedly scrambled up and sat down beside him I was barefoot even though the air had the nip of fall in it. We didn't talk much as we drove to town but both enjoyed the beautiful fall colors of the sugar maple leaves and all the other brilliant reds,oranges, and yellows. The wide brim on my tattered straw hat flapped in the breeze. We arrived in town and stopped at the feed mill where Dad got several bags of feed while I sat on the buggy waiting for him. After Dad had paid for his purchases we went to the grocery store where he picked up a few things that Mom needed and then to my joy he bought an ice cream cone for me to eat on our way home.

As we were driving along we noticed a young boy walking beside the road ahead of us carrying a pail. As we drove up almost next to him he suddenly turned around and flung the whole pailful of cold creek water right in our faces. The shock of the cold water hitting our face and chest had us both gasping for air. Dad immediately stopped the horse and handed me the reins and jumped off the buggy. He grabbed hold of the boys neck and marched him right into his parents barn to tell them what he had done.

I sat shivering on the buggy waiting for Dad to get back. I never did find out what happened in the barn but was proud of my Dad, even as I sat there wishing for warm dry clothes.

Storytime With Daddy

One of our favorite parts of inbetween Sundays used to be right after breakfast when Daddy would push his chair back from the table and start telling us stories from his childhood. We each had our favorites that we would ask to hear.

Breakfast dishes could wait while we were transported back in time where we could almost see and hear everything as we listened to Daddy's descriptive reliving of his childhood moments.

We lived on a small dairy farm which provided plenty of work for all of us. We milked the cows by hand every morning and night, and during the day we let them out into pasture to graze.


Dad didn't have any fences, saying that with all the boys he has there is no need to build a fence, that they can herd the cows. My brothers and I practically lived outdoors during the summer and herding cows has got to be one of the most monotonous things a boy can do. The cows knew where they could be and most days we each sat at the point assigned to us and watched the clouds float by, we each had a knife and we often whittled while we waited for a cow to stray so we would have an excuse to get up and head her back where she belonged thus breaking the monotony a little bit.


On one such day I was sitting under a big old oak tree. I was tired of watching the clouds drift by. The cows were all laying contently chewing their cuds I sprawled out under the tree and fell asleep. I have no idea how long I was sleeping when I was awakened in the most rude manner. A big Brown Swiss cow had stepped right on my stomach. I screamed, but the cow wouldn't budge. I screamed some more and my brothers came running to see what was wrong. They finally got the cow to step off of me and by now I was sure I was going to die.


I had a few pieces of candy in my pocket that I had been saving for a special occasion, so while one of my brothers ran to get Dad I ate it quickly before I die. It hurt so bad that I passed out and when I woke up I was laying in a hospital bed with nurses beside me. Mom was sitting on a chair beside my bed. She stayed with me until the doctors let me go home.


I didn't work for the rest of the summer and I actually wished I could go out in the pasture where there was nothing but clouds and sunshine, waving grass and cows, instead of being in the house with my six sisters fussing over me.