Every house in town had a barn to the rear of its lot. Earlier residents had a cow, chickens and maybe a pair of horses if they were lucky enough to own a carriage or wagon. By the time we lived here animals were not as prevalent. But i do recall walking a distance to a house to buy goat’s milk! Mother wanted us to be healthy and goats milk was one avenue to good health!
Our barn had mothers’ old Overland car where the wagon or buggy had stood in earlier days. In the other room of the barn were three single stalls and one double stall. The single stalls each held corncobs, wood and coal for the kitchen range and parlor heater. The double stall had a ladder on the wall that went to the upper level where hay and straw had been stored in early days.
Mother allowed us to clean the upstairs for a playhouse. I can smell the dust just thinking about the sweeping that it took to get the floor somewhat clean. We soon tired of cleaning as the broken window let birds in. It was fun for awhile. Neighborhood children joined us. They were Pernille and Virgil Wick, Gina and Curtis Tasa, the Gatzmeyer boys (Dennis, Chester and Lyle), Leland Taylor and later the John Trongard children. We set up stores, houses, or put on shows. If there had been a celebration in town we would imitate that. Or we would play school. Imaginations ran free!
To look like the celebration downtown, we would gather all the old rugs and blankets that Mother had. These we would hang on a clothes line to make booths for the various attractions we would have. Some of the kids would be in the booths, and others of us would pay admission with various sizes of stones. A small stone might be a quarter, and a larger stone a half-dollar.
NOTE: The big boys Curtis and Leland liked to harness the legs of crickets and grasshoppers by using string to tie each insect to a nail on a large board. This was how they would stage races! We girls were the cheering section for these game as we did not want any tobacco stains on our fingers.