Prairie Life

 

 

Emily

 

Emily, her beliefs so strong,

Knew to bully others, was wrong.

 

To schoolmates, she was always kind,

She wanted no friend, left behind.

 

 

 

  

Emily: the Kind Suffragette, won second place in the Heart of America Christian Writers Network 2014 Writing Contest in the Children’s Story Division

 

Please note this blog posts the first and third weeks of the month.

 

 

 

Prairie Girls

Emily

My name is Emily Ealy, and I am a ten-year-old girl. I live in Hamilton Camp in a mining community with my mum, daddy and younger sister, Katie. My parents worked in a general store in Illinois before they moved to Hamilton Camp. They now own the store in the mining community. My uncle died in a terrible mining disaster before I was born. I’m glad Daddy doesn’t work in the mine.

I attend Globe school. One of the students is often mean to others. I try to treat him and everyone with kindness. I will tell you more about my experiences in Globe School and in the mining community soon.

Big Brutus

              By Judy

Around thirty years ago, I took my young sons to see “Big Brutus,” which is an electric shovel used to mine coal by digging it out of the ground. My sons were impressed--and with good reason. The shovel is taller than a 15-story office building. The dipper part of the shovel holds enough coal to fill three railroad cars.

A year or so ago, I took three of my grandchildren to see “Big Brutus.”  They, too, were impressed. If you look closely at the bottom of the above picture, you will see my husband and a couple of the kids. It is a big piece of machinery. The shovel ran twenty-four hours a day for 11 years before it ceased operations in April, 1974.

When I first visited it with my sons in the late 1980’s, it was possible to climb to the top. With no hesitation, my sons and I proceeded to do just that. Not so the last time I visited. Visitors were no longer allowed to climb to the top, and that was just fine with me. The grandkids thought it would have been an exciting climb, but I was not so sure. My knees were in good shape and so were my lungs. Physically, I’m sure I could have made it with only a couple rest stops along the way. First, though, I would have needed to loosen my grip on the stair rail and waited for the color to return to my white knuckles. What might have been a good idea in my thirties didn’t seem like such a good idea in my sixties.

Coal Mining

Coal Mining

                                                      by Collette

Coal mining is one of the older industries in America, and the United States has numerous areas where coal can be mined. Before the Industrial Revolution, pieces of coal were picked up on the surface and used as a longer burning heat source compared to wood. As mechanization developed, transportation systems improved, and the steel industry exploded, coal became the source of heat these industries required. Coal was just one of the natural resources discovered and developed that moved the country into the Gilded Age and made America an industrial giant.

Sources abound for information about the kinds of coal, the methods of mining, equipment used for extraction, uses for the different kinds of coal, reclamation of land destroyed by the companies and regions with coal deposits. The following would be useful to glean more information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal

www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/coal_mining.htm

www.kgs.ku.edu/Extension/cherokee/coalmining.html

www.factbites.com/topics/History-of-coal-mining

 

Irish Recipes

Irish Recipes

                                                                           by Collette

Each ethnic group arriving in America brought their own food specialties with them. The following could have been a favorite of Emily’s Irish family.

Dublin Coddle Recipe

1&1/2 pounds pork sausage, chopped in pieces     1 quart boiling water
1 &1/2 pounds smoked ham, diced in pieces          2 large onions, peeled
4 tablespoons chopped parsley                                  & sliced thinly
Salt and pepper to taste                                          2 pounds of potato
                                                                                 peeled and sliced thickly

Place sausage and ham in boiling water and boil 5 minutes. Drain, but reserve liquid. Put meat into a large saucepan with onions, potatoes and parsley. Add enough stock to not quite cover ingredients. Cover and simmer gently for one hour or until liquid is reduced by half and all ingredients are cooked, but not mushy. Remove lid from pot during the last half of the cooking process, if needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with fresh bread. Serves: 8

The fresh bread to eat with coddle could have been Irish Soda Bread.

Irish Soda Bread

3 cups sifted flour                                          ½ cup chopped green candied
1/3 cup sugar                                                       cherries (optional)
2 ½ teaspoons soda                                        2 teaspoons caraway seed (opt.)
1 ½ teaspoons salt                                          2 cups raisins
2 tablespoons butter                                        1 ¾ cups rolled oats
1 egg                                                              1 ¾ cups buttermilk

Blend flour, sugar, soda and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter until blended. Mix in oats, cherries, caraway seeds and raisins. Combine buttermilk and egg; add gradually to flour mixture, stirring until blended. Place batter into greased 9 or 10 inch cake pan. Cut a deep cross in top of batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes.                                                        

         

Coal Mining

“Poverty at its Worst”

                                                             By Collette

During my life, I have visited several mines. Each time I was struck by the extreme poverty of the region where they were located. While the people with whom I traveled were interested in the innovations of the equipment used by the companies, I was drawn to the people who actually worked in the mines. Museums located on the site included pictures of the miners. They appeared shabbily dressed, covered with coal dust and invariably were very young.

The only mine I have visited near where Emily’s story takes place was operational nearly 40 years ago. The cage my husband and I rode in to the mining level had room for only two people at a time. I was just a little claustrophobic as we descended into the darkness. The other memory I have about the mine was I could not stand up straight in any shaft (remember I am short?). It also would have taken forever to send a crew of miners down the shaft with such a small cage, as well as, return everyone to the surface at the end of the day.

The other mine that I recall vividly was much larger, but non-operational. In fact the company was in the process of reclaiming the region and cleaning up damage done over many years. The cage at this mine held ten or more miners packed in like sardines. Again, it was difficult traveling up and down in such close quarters. I was also next to the bird cage that held a yellow canary that traveled with the miners each day and was used to determine if poisonous gasses were present
in any shafts. (A dead bird meant get out of the mine immediately.)

Working below ground with no sunlight every day, breathing the cloying dust that blackened lungs, doing back-breaking work for a penance each day and living in utter poverty was one of the worst jobs during the 19^th and 20^th Centuries. Only newcomers to America desperate for work would have worked under such miserable conditions.

 

 

New Year's

               


Time

                                                                By Judy

It is the beginning of another new year. I’m not sure what happened to the last year. When I was five, time passed slowly, but it has picked up speed over the years. When I was forty, time moved at a pretty good clip. My hair is now a natural silver shade, and I feel like I am barely hanging on as each day rushes to nighttime. It seemed I used to wait about three years for Christmas to come. Now the period of time from one Christmas to another seems no longer than three short weeks.

Another thing about time I don’t understand is why it passed at a snail’s pace while I was pregnant, but sped by at the speed of sound for a loan payment due at the bank the same day as the baby was due. It seemed, too, the period of time between paydays was shorter than the period of time between house payments.

How come an hour eating a good meal is shorter than an hour cleaning the kitchen? The time waiting on the first snow of the season speeds by faster than the time I spend waiting on the last snow of the season. Time I spend cleaning closets crawls slowly by while time spent shopping or playing bridge moves faster than a speeding train.

 I was happy when all my children learned to tell time as I thought our family would finally get to school or even church on time. Silly me.

“Turn the television off now, it’s time to go,” I announced.

“Wait, I just want to see the end of Tom and Jerry,” a child answered. Speaking of time, does Tom and Jerry ever end?  Hasn’t it been on forever?

“Does anyone know where I left my shoes?” another child asked.

“Yes,” I answered. “Right inside the door. Next time, could you put them to the side of the doorway and not directly in it?” There was not a reply to my question.

At last, though, the family was in the car. Of course, each kid made several trips back to the house. After all, it is hard to get books, coats, hats, scarves, gloves, and gym clothes gathered up and out to the car on the first trip. There was one last trip back to the house for homework. I counted the kids, one, two, three, and four. Yes, it was time to go.

“Wait….” Has anyone seen my car keys?

Apparently time doesn’t change everything. I still often can’t find my car keys.