A Picture on the Wall

Did you ever sit and ponder what your grandparents were like, say, in their twenties? As I studied the framed 1910 photo of my grandparents, these thoughts came to mind. There they sat on the steps of our precious old ancestral home, in the 1870s, with Grandma looking bulky in her many petticoats, long dress and homemade shawl, and Grandpa in a dark jacket and, oh yes, rubber boots, his long gray beard in evidence.

They look so placid, content with the completion of years of work and joy, sadness, love and fulfillment after many years on the ancestral acres. How they must have toiled and sweat to keep the many chores and duties of farm life in full swing.

Think of Gram laboring on a hot August day, heating a big copper boiler, in preparation for inserting quarts of ripened produce to process for winter use. Think of the preparation: getting vegetables picked, washed, peeled and sliced, packing them into sterilized jars and trying to avoid getting scalded. She put the partially sealed jars into the scalding water. And after the processing time elapsed, think of her taking them out and sealing them, boiling hot. Maybe she had to stoke a wood fire; perhaps, in later years, she was fortunate enough to have a kerosene stove. This work was usually done in what was called a "summer kitchen," set apart from the regular kitchen, thus avoiding heating up the whole living quarters.

You know, with Gramp so busy with farm work, she had a lot of garden work, too. Weeding and hoeing were her job most of the time. Sometimes they hired a boy from the Gilbert Home, nearby, to help with the extra work.

She had farm clothes, bedding and all to wash by hand on a scrub board, which involved lugging water and emptying it. She had cooking and baking to do daily, and mending, plus children, pets and chickens to attend to. A busy life.

But as I look at her aging face, I wonder about the pretty girl she must have been when Gramp courted her. Was she shy and a bit prim as he held her soft and dainty hand while he, handsome man that he was, proposed to her, hesitantly? I try to think of her as the pretty young lady she was in the "tintype" that I have of her. I imagine her girlish young heart, beating with shy love for her handsome fiancé. I have no picture of their wedding, but if I close my eyes, I can imagine the two of them on that special day—and all the joyous days that followed, as wedded life became a part of the process of living.

And now, there they sit on those porch steps—oh, the multitude of memories in their hearts! The joys of parenthood, the death of two children, the development of a successful farm of 160 acres, a life of self-sufficiency with plenty of fresh meat, eggs, fruits and berries of all kinds, milk and rich cream. And enough extra to use for trading at a distant store for the flour, sugar and such. Good neighbors were always there to enjoy or to help in time of need. Social life was a part of living in spite of long hours of work. It was a good balance.

Now that I have put these thoughts and imaginings of their past lives on paper, I can look at them in retrospect and get a lot of added pleasure from that treasured picture of my precious grandparents.