My family was very proud of their heritage.   This farm had kept the family safe and fed through many hard times.  

Times of drought and times of rain.   Times of war when food was rationed and times of plenty.   This is all we had.   The land.  

As my Papa often said, "One hundred acres of the best farm land in the county."  

It was important to my Papa that we keep the buildings clean and painted, the fields free of thistles, the fence rows cleared of weeds and bushes and the lawns mowed and kept up.  

Life was hard work on the farm.   Chores had to be done.   Crops had to be harvested, no matter what the weather and -- fences had to be painted.  

I knew that with the hay being baled and taken to the barn today, most probably, Davey, Papa, and Mama would work late, maybe even after dark, to get it all done.  

Hay couldn't lay out in the field or it would get damp and moldy.   Once it was cut, it had to be baled up and put away in the dry barn.  

Mama would take a break to get lunch and supper, but she would be in the fields helping too.   That was life on the farm.   Everyone in the family had to help get the work done.  

I knew what my chores were.   After breakfast, I had to go to the shed and get corn and feed the chickens.   Then I had to gather the eggs and wash them and put them in a wooden crate in the cool basement of the house.   The egg man came on Saturday and bought the eggs from Mama.   She put that money away in a blue tin cannister and kept it to buy Davey and me school clothes.  

As soon as I was done with the chickens, I had to feed my pet rabbits and clean out their cages.   I then put fresh water in the dog's dish and got him some food.   Then I had to check the vegetable garden and hoe out any weeds that might have sprung up overnight.  

When my regular chores were finished, I had to help Mama with anything she might need.   Sometimes that was helping her hang the wash on the outside lines, or pick vegetables from the garden.   Sometimes she had me sweep and wash down the porch that was built around three sides of the house.  

Mama had beautiful flower gardens all along the edges of the lawn.   Sometimes I got to pick a bouquet of flowers for the kitchen table for Mama, but I didn't consider that a chore.  

After I got my chores done, I could do whatever I wanted to.   I usually rode my bike down to the neighbor's hose to play with my friend Ellen Klemmer.   Sometimes, if Davey was busy and not down to the other neighbor boy's house, I rode down and played with his friend Danny Spencer.  

Almost every day, I rode my bike to my Papa's mother's farm.   She lived on the other side of our woods.   My Grandpapa had died a couple of years earlier and Grandma was all alone and got very lonely.   She liked to have me come for a visit and always made me butter and sugar sandwiches.  

Davey's friend Danny was a year younger than me, and he let me play with his electric train set or shoot his B.B. gun, or we would play hide and seek in their barn.  

Danny's parents were rich and he didn't have to help his Papa with chores.   They had a hired man that lived with them and helped Mr. Spencer so Danny had plenty of time to play.   Danny was an only child and his mother didn't spend much time with him.   I knew he got lonesome so I tried to spend time with him so he wouldn't be bored.