DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Adelia M. Hoyt memoir and photographs

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Page 23

UNFOLDING YEARS 23
As I have related, mother left me and returned to the farm; but I have been told that the place was lonely without the little girl who had been so much care ever since her arrival. My parents lay awake nights talking it over, and finally decided to rent the farm and move to Vinton where they could be near me. Emma was teaching a fall term of school int he country and would later return to the Sate Normal, from which she would graduate in the spring. My sister Mary and her little girl had been with us for some time. Now that her husband Otis had joined her it was decided that after the corn was gathered the farm should be rented to them. Very soon my mother came back to Vinton and rented a small house. My father brought down a load of household good and once more I had a real home. However, my school work so filled my fays and evenings that it was agreed I should remain at the school through the week, spending the week-ends at home. 
The next spring when Emma came home we moved into a larger house. During that summer vacation I was sent back to Cedar Falls to visit my sister Mary on the old farm. I enjoyed this but already the place seemed strange to me and had little attraction. I spent a few days in town with my old chum, Ida Robbins, and after about a month I was ready to return home. This time I left my birthplace never to return to it. That fall, sister Mary and her husband decided to leave the farm and go to Des Moines, the Capitol of the State. This led my father to sell the farm, pay off the debt which had so long hung over him, and buy a small home in Vinton. This place was just four blocks from the school and I could go and come by myself. Here we lived very comfortably for several years. My father had taken up his old trade of carpentry. He had plenty of work, but the pay, according to our modern standard, was pitifully small. It seems incredible what I know to be a fact that he received only one dollar and fifty cents for a day's work, which extended from seven in the morning to six at night, with an hour off at noon. Soon he was taking contracts for small jobs which paid better. He was liked and trusted everywhere. The women

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UNFOLDING YEARS 23 As I have related, mother left me and returned to the farm; but I have been told that the place was lonely without the little girl who had been so much care ever since her arrival. My parents lay awake nights talking it over, and finally decided to rent the farm and move to Vinton where they could be near me. Emma was teaching a fall term of school int he country and would later return to the Sate Normal, from which she would graduate in the spring. My sister Mary and her little girl had been with us for some time. Now that her husband Otis had joined her it was decided that after the corn was gathered the farm should be rented to them. Very soon my mother came back to Vinton and rented a small house. My father brought down a load of household good and once more I had a real home. However, my school work so filled my fays and evenings that it was agreed I should remain at the school through the week, spending the week-ends at home. The next spring when Emma came home we moved into a larger house. During that summer vacation I was sent back to Cedar Falls to visit my sister Mary on the old farm. I enjoyed this but already the place seemed strange to me and had little attraction. I spent a few days in town with my old chum, Ida Robbins, and after about a month I was ready to return home. This time I left my birthplace never to return to it. That fall, sister Mary and her husband decided to leave the farm and go to Des Moines, the Capitol of the State. This led my father to sell the farm, pay off the debt which had so long hung over him, and buy a small home in Vinton. This place was just four blocks from the school and I could go and come by myself. Here we lived very comfortably for several years. My father had taken up his old trade of carpentry. He had plenty of work, but the pay, according to our modern standard, was pitifully small. It seems incredible what I know to be a fact that he received only one dollar and fifty cents for a day's work, which extended from seven in the morning to six at night, with an hour off at noon. Soon he was taking contracts for small jobs which paid better. He was liked and trusted everywhere. The women