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Lou, Gabby and Babe Welsh

"Cool Water"

One of the most exciting times on the farm was during the harvest of oats and wheat. We were on a big threshing run and would have to wait until it was our turn. I can remember sitting on the porch swing and watching the big black steam engine pulling the threshing machine on the way to our house. We thought it was fun, but to our parents it was work. All of the neighbor ladies would come to our house real early in the morning to help prepare the dinner for all of the men as well as the children and for themselves. We had such wonderful meals, and now I wonder how they did all of that work.

When I was about in eighth grade, Babe Welsh and I would haul water for the men in the field to drink. Babe was about my age and she had a horse and buggy. We would fill crockery jugs full of cool water, cover them with a gunny sack soaked in water to keep the water cool for the men in the field and haul them to the field.

There were a lot of men out in the field loading hay frames and one on the ground and one in the wagon. It kept us very busy getting that cool water to them, but it was a lot of fun and we thoroughly enjoyed our job. Later Pop and a neighbor purchased their own threshing machine, so it wasn't quite the same after that.

Louise Tyler