Unsupervised Kids in the 1930s

This posting may prompt some lively discussion and storytelling of unsupervised kids other than my mother, Bernyce Smith Gates. Remember those family stories are invaluable treasures. Be sure and share them often. Incidentally, Happy Birthday, Mother!

My Mother On Her Own As A Child

                My grandparents worked side by side in the field and in every aspect of farm work to get by during the Great Depression. Sometimes my mother stayed with her grandma, Rosa Rainey, and her aunt, Alice Rainey. Yet many times she was left unsupervised at the house. Her family lived on the Betts’ place now owned by descendants of Marilyn Betts Mills and Eloise Betts Mitchell (Most of my life, Wayne and Eloise Mitchell lived there.).

                Many days Mother explored outside. She loved to run. One day during her adventures, she encountered what she identified in her young mind as a mountain boomer. The reptile remained motionless, except moving its head to see Mother. She froze still as a statue. Her grandpa, Bill Rainey, had told her a mountain boomer would chase her. (The mountain boomer is the collared lizard, Oklahoma’s state reptile.) Mother didn’t move a muscle, but yelled and screamed until her parents ran from the field where they were planting corn. She had misidentified the creature. It was a horned lizard or as her daddy said, a horny toad.

                One day she spotted a rabbit. As it darted away, Mother thought she had stumbled onto a racing challenge. She began running like the wind. No one had told her otherwise, so she outran the rabbit, caught it, and immediately let it go.

Gladys Rainey Smith, my grandma, and
Bernyce Smith, my mother, at the age
when trying to learn to iron with the
sadiron. 

                Unfortunately, her lack of supervision led to more serious ramifications. She knew Grandma’s trunk was off-limits. But in her active mind, she thought This is my chance. There’s no one to stop me. She opened the trunks's lid and found a beautiful ring with a large reddish stone in it. She wanted to hold that jewel in her little hand.

                She began prying the prongs away from the scarlet gem. With each movement of her fingers, her young heart beat, “You shouldn’t be doing this.” Yet she continued in her naughtiness.

                Triumphantly, she finally released the precious stone from its setting. Before her parents returned from their outside work, the worst possible thing happened. Mother lost the beautiful jewel!

                The scripture, Be sure your sin will find you out, played out that day in the Big Bend. Grandma realized her young daughter had been in the keepsake trunk. The empty ring setting belied how my mother had been utilizing her time.

                Mother was horrified to learn that it was the wedding ring with a substantial ruby that Grandpa had given Grandma. As Mother recounted that day, she expressed surprise that Grandma’s reaction was minimal – no spanking, no other form of discipline. She thought Grandma knew she should have never left her at the house alone. As she told me the story, I responded, “If I had done that to your wedding ring, I wouldn’t be here right now!”

                Mother had aged a bit. She was always a good worker. Looking around the house, she glimpsed ironing that needed to be done. She thought This is a way I can help Mama.

                In those days, ironing wasn’t a matter of simply plugging in an electric iron. They used a sadiron. Its name derived from an Old English word sald which meant “solid.” It was heated on a stove and then grasped with a padded holder for the ironing to begin.

A sadiron that is now repurposed as a doorstop in
Mother's home. (Mother recalled watching little
Betty Jo Woods ironing furiously with a gasoline-
powered iron, which was malfunctioning with
flames shooting out the back of the iron. That didn't
stop Betty Jo. She had been told to iron, so she
was ironing no matter what the iron was doing.
Kids were tough in the Bend in the 1930s!)

                Mother successfully heated the sadiron and lifted it with the pad to press wrinkles from one of Grandma’s dresses. Alas, since the sadiron had no heat regulator, Mother’s inexperience caused her to pucker the fabric on Grandma’s dress. As Mother described it, “Her dress was history.” Again, Grandma didn’t make a big fuss. Evidently, she looked at the intent of Mother’s heart in trying to help. I jokingly told Mother I am not sure she would have reacted with such understanding if Angie or I had ruined her dress!

                Grandma “working outside the home” wasn’t all negative. As I have written in other posts, Mother began honing her culinary skills at age seven. She acquired an independence that didn't rely on people to entertain her, bring her happiness, or contentment.

                As I  recalled this time in Mother’s young life, I took several inspirations from it:

• Forgive and understand as Grandma did with my mother, remembering people are always valued above stuff.
• God always warns us within when we are making poor choices, just as He did with Mother 85 years ago.
• We may experience solitary times to develop or acquire skills to enrich our lives, as well as the lives of others.

  

  Betty Jo Woods and my mother

  Here are two links to additional blog postings about Betty Jo's Family -
• https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2015/06/one-of-most-unused-sources-of-power.html
• https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2016/07/softball-singing-and-skin-tests.html