oak table. The oak table was located in the centre of the room and was adorned with what the family considered then a beautiful lamp. It had a large base and globe with a painting of a horse and rider on it. At the bottom of the table was a bible which to my knowledge was never used. The parlor was mainly used whenever company came.

Behind the parlor was what we called the back kitchen. It had a high cupboard in it where most of the things used for bakingwere kept. The flour barrel was also there with a large bake board placed upside down on top of it and covered with a small tablecloth. The cloth hid the barrel we“ and made it look like a side table. There was also a stove in the back kitchen. I recall that in the winter time it was used as a kitchen since it had more shelter from the north winds. The lounge was brought in from the main kitchen and it was my father’s place of rest after completing his daily chores on the farm.

One winter the mice moved in the back kitchen and tried to take it over. They gnawed their way in through the bottom of the big cupboard. Although the family fought hard to get rid of them, the mice seemed to have the more powerful army and became very bold, indeed, using the kitchen as a recreation room and having races around the floor staying close to the walls. My brothers often tried to get them with a broom, sometimes with success. Ifthe cat was in a playful mood, he liked to catch them and let them go, and then run after them again until he played them out. At this time my father brought home a couple of mouse traps that could catch four mice at a time. The round traps were about four inches in diameter and one and a half inches in depth with holes spaced around the sides. They were hated and set from the bottom. In the mornings we often found tails of eight dead mice protruding from the round traps. A couple of single traps were also used. The family finally raised the flag of victory. It was not at all uncommon for mice to invade the kitchen now and then, but at this particular time the mice were overwhelming and it was a hard battle to get rid of them.

Behind the main kitchen was a large porch and outside that was a large square platform. In the warm weather the washing and churning were done on the platform. When the weather turned cold, this work had to be done in the porch or kitchen. A barrel type churn was used that had a handle which was worked back and forth until the cram turned to butter. The buttermilk was drained off and was kept either for the family to drink or as feed for the pigs. The butter was then washed until it was certain that no traces of buttermilk existed. Then it was salted, made into prints, and wrapped. Sometimes some of it would be stored in a crock and kept in the cellar, which was usually very cool because the walls were made of clay and stone.

There was a corner cupboard in the porch where a supply of homemade soap was kept. I can still smell the soap when I think about the comer cupboard. It wasn’t an unpleasant smell—just different. The soap was made from

scraps of animal fat which was saved until there fit ’3 was enough to make a batch of soap. I am not sure

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