1890s – “Ma hired a hand to do the heavy plowing and put the crop in. This gave Fannie and me [Sue Sanders] a little spare time, and so we began to think about keeping company. We managed by hook or by crook to get a beau apiece. I wouldn’t want to say they were the best, but from what I’ve seen of males since then, they weren’t the worst, not by a long shot. They took us to dances, of which there were two or three a year in out neighborhood. Even though we had a hand to help us, Fannie and I still worked like men. We did the laying by, which is the hardest and hottest work of all. Ma promised us that if we finished laying by the corn [plowing over the weeds] in time for the Fourth of July, we could go to Thurber, where my sister Addie lived, for the three-day celebration being given. There was to be dancing every day and night of the celebration. This would be the biggest treat we had ever had. So we lit right into the work to finish in time. We hit the [lowing at daylight and fought the horses right on through the day with only half an hour off at noon. Up and down the rows of high corn, hour after hour, we were visible only when we swung our plows around at the end of a row. About two hours by sun of the last day, Fannie’s poor old horse up and quit. He was plumb give out, and wasn’t good for any more plowing that day. Unless we both plowed until dark, we couldn’t finish up, and unless we finished, we’d miss one day of the festivities. Fannie unharnessed her horse, watered him, and got enough life in him to get over to a neighbor’s to borrow another horse. The neighbor was also getting ready to go to Thurber and didn’t have a horse to spare, but he lent Fannie an old white mule.” more tomorrow