Schedule a reunion and they will come. A Govert reunion. No one would miss this reunion. No one. Not Howard Jacobs. Not Charles and Zee Laflin. Not Mitch and Nikla Kulisich. Not Forrester and Louise West. Not Nick Lale. Not the Giese sisters or the Hafner brothers. Not Smokey Joe. Not Gus Toble. Not Theodore Vogt or his brother, Ernest. Not Evaline West or her sisters, Alice Mae or Shirley Jean. Not Marie Kulisich.
No one would miss this reunion. Not Govert Van der Boom. Not his wife, Emma. Not his sons, Virgil, Gordon, or Roger. If a reunion could roust the founding family of Govert from the grave, why would other Goverites hesitate to break a path back to Govert, South Dakota, back to the beginning?
No one would want to miss this reunion ... a reunion where every man, woman, and child bearing allegiance to Govert, South Dakota, would gather to share the stories of their lives.
Schedule a reunion and they will come.
They appeared over the horizon from every direction, these former neighbors. From North Dakota by way of Buffalo and Reva, crossing the Slim Buttes. From the west, leaving sunny homes where they retreated in retirement after years of buffeting by the icy Harding County wind. From the south, joining other reunion travelers northward by way of Rapid City and Belle Fourche and Newell. From eastern states they came, crossing the Missouri River to reach the prairie lands rolling away from the western bank.
They came hunched over from days astride the back of a horse, or bumping along in buckboards, rattling in carts, cruising in the relative comfort of a Model T or a Model A. They came perched on tractors and harvesters, roaring on motorcycles, cruising on bikes, and and peddling tricycles, little legs pumping hard. And some arrived footsore. But no one was going to miss this reunion.
Charles Laflin's wagon came into sight first, Govert newspaperman and booster, eager to gather again those he once rallied into community. Just then appeared Mitch and Nikla Kulisich in their Chevy, wheels flattening the prairie grass, small particles of soil rising behind them as dust. Forrester and Louise West pulled up alongside in their '39 Ford pickup truck. Gustav Toble, eating the dust of the Ford and Chevy, while raising his own, watched for familiar landmarks over the backs of the mule team straining against the weight of the wagon, the wheels turning, turning, over the prairie grasses, returning Gus to the place that gladdened and saddened his heart, toward the town that gave him a place to be during the Depression years.
Look! Do you see Howard Jacobs who, together with Govert Van der Boom, founded the prairie crossroads town of Govert? He's there - look - over there to the west - his buggy rolling sedately toward the Govert Store, Laura Belle sitting elegantly at Howard's side on the leather seat.
A 9-year-old Howard Jensen appears riding bareback, his lips pressed together insistently, his mouth watering at the thought of the chocolate and caramel candy bar he would buy on his father's account at the Govert Store.
The Hafners arrive as they did in 1913 from the east, in two covered wagons, trailing a herd of cattle and a herd of sorrel horses with startling blonde manes. Ollie Nelson, on horseback, joined his friends Peter and William as the three maneuver the herds forward toward Govert. Peter's wife, Clara, and Clara's sister, Lora Giese, reins in hand, pointed the teams and wagons toward Govert, eager to return to the place they raised their families.
And there's Dina Olthoff, looking uncomfortable sitting astride a white horse, still wearing the heavy Dutch dress she safeguarded on the ocean voyage from Holland, a dress better worn sidesaddle. Peter Rosenthal rides the black horse beside Dina ... Petrus ...the reason Dientjie made the journey to New York by ship, and then west to South Dakota by train.
Schoolmarm Dixie Blomberg sits lightly, trusting her horse to pick his way across the prairie, Dixie's eyes skimming the prairie grasses for the hint of purple of the prairie lilies. The schoolchildren abandon their game of tag, tearing across the gumbo flat, shirts and skirts flapping. Miss Blomberg! Miss Blomberg! Dixie pauses, surprised to see the small up-tilted ovals, eager, full of smiles and dirt smudges, the children, her children, clustering around her, drawing her back into their lives.
The matronly figure of a woman in a floral-patterned house dress, apron askew in the breeze, walks briskly from east of the Govert Store. As the distance closes, the Van der Boom boys run out to greet their aunt, Lydia Gee, and to get a better look at the two deep-green watermelons their cousins, Melvin and Russell, lug to the reunion feast. That this was not the season for harvesting watermelon gives them no cause for concern.
Schedule a reunion and they will come.
They come from the years leading up to 1909, when open range ranchers, and squatters, and then homesteaders claimed the prairie. They come from the 1910's and the 1920's when Govert was full of hope, and growth still seemed possible. They come from the '30s and 40's when only the very hardy dared to remain on the prairie. And they come from the 1960s when Elizabeth Marty May, now a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives, was a schoolgirl at the Govert School. The Brinks are there. Howard Jensen's son, Doug, is there. Everyone is at Govert for the reunion.
These are the homesteaders, the farmers, the ranchers who made their lives in and near Govert Township. These are the farm hands who stayed for a season or two, like Cornelius Kraatzenbrink ... and the families who left before the census taker ever knocked at their door, like the Putmans. These are the men, women, and children who felt the embrace of the Govert community.
As familiar faces and forms streamed over the horizon, Govert Van der Boom fidgets in the doorway of the Govert Store bestowing his bright smile on the earliest arrivals, favoring the children with the twinkle in his eye. Next door in the residence, Govert's wife, Emma, eager and impatient, cheeks red, stirs the pots and casts a nervous peek into the oven of the hot woodstove ... pausing now, one hand on her hip, straightening, to ease the ache in her back. She slides the roast out of the oven and the table trembles when the pan falls into line with the ham and the pies. A waft of earthy rich coffee from the big pot on the stove floats out the window overlooking the Slim Buttes.
Eunice Jensen's frosted layered white cake ... with the filling of ground raisins and nuts baked into a custard ... bounced on her knees as Hugo pulls on the steering wheel in a futile attempt to avoid the ruts deeply engraved into the dirt road passing in front of the Govert Store. Louise West's dozens upon dozens of oatmeal cookies bulged in the re-purposed cloth flour bags, a bounty proudly carried by Evaline and Alice Mae and Shirley Jean. Nikla Kulisich carried a brilliant strudio, her offering for special gatherings. Dina Rosenthal brought salmon croquettes. And someone brewed up a pot of oysters and milk into a bona fide oyster stew.
Others brought sandwiches layered on fat slabs of richly buttered, freshly made bread. They brought hot potato salad, cold potato salad, cabbage salad, chicken salad, deviled eggs, meat and vegetable casseroles of every description, and dishes with the exotic appeal of Croatian, Dutch, German, Belgian, Scotch, and English influences. Everyone brought a bowl mounded high, a heavily laden platter, a sloshing pot to add to the feast, because that is what they expected of themselves and their neighbors. That was the way they socialized in the years gone by when Govert was their home. That same community sharing, personal responsibility, and self-sufficiency remain the tradition in Harding County, honored ever more by the passing of the years. The joy of the potluck dinner lives on.
I wouldn't miss this reunion, not for anything. Would you? Heaven on earth is the opportunity to ask the questions you never thought to ask while you still could ask them.
Schedule a reunion and they will come. Follow this link to call the roll.
Listening to the wind blowing through the prairie grass. Kate
[Written with gratitude to SD Representative Elizabeth Marty May, SD Representative Sam Marty, Myrna Giannonatti, Howard Jensen, Patricia Dreesen, Frank Goodell, Marie Kulisich, the West sisters, to everyone who shared their family stories of Govert, South Dakota, with me over the years.
If you would like to return to the list of invitees in the future, you will find "Govert Roll Call" on the right hand panel of the blog itself at ThruPrairieGrass.blogspot.com.]
Showing posts with label Hafner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hafner. Show all posts
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Get Together, Pull Together, Stick Together (Part I)
Thirty-nine people paid two-bits apiece to become a member of the Govert, South Dakota, Parent Teacher Association (P.T.A.). Charles Laflin, the editor of the Govert Advance, would mark this bright enthusiasm as an unqualified success for the rural crossroads town of Govert. Mr. Laflin was not ready to admit the town of Govert, his town, the town into which he invested every watt of his own enthusiasm, was already beyond the glory days as a crossroads town, Depression or no Depression. The year was 1935. The month was February.
To learn of a thriving P.T.A. flourishing here within reach of the shadow of the Slim Buttes might have surprised the census taker for Govert township in 1930, when he wrote names on only 40 of the 50 lines of a single page of the official government census form. Govert township had 11 households in 1930. By 1935 only four of those families would have children of school age. But the census taker was a woman, June Laflin Knight, Charles Laflin's sister, and June understood the heart of Govert.
Just how important could the P.T.A. have been in Govert, South Dakota, that rural community in southeast Harding County? Thirty-nine adults supporting a mere handful of children is an eye-popping example of civic involvement by a small rural community. With the amusing entertainments and the excellent food, the P.T.A. served the important social function of drawing the community together in cooperative spirit. If the Govert P.T.A. had a motto, the message could have been "get together, pull together, stick together".
How could you not look forward to a P.T.A. night when laughter and friendly voices drifted from the schoolhouse to cover the prairie? The minutes prepared by P.T.A. secretary, Mrs. Gee, will speak for her, for the 39 members of the P.T.A., and for every other hanger-on who attended the meeting on February 22, 1935. The minutes were printed in the Govert Advance on 14 March 1935, published 79 years ago. Mrs. Gee wrote:
"The P.T.A. met in regular session Feb. 22nd.
"Reversing the usual order of procedure, the Program Committee took immediate charge and rendered a very entertaining, original and jolly program.
"Following the program, the business was opened by the Pres., who gave the object of the P.T.A. organization. The following were added to membership: Mrs. C.D. Calkins, Gust Toble, Bert Ellis, Howard Nichols. This makes a total of 39 members. Minutes were read by Sec'y.
"Nominations for committee then in order. Motion made by Adelaide Calkins, seconded by Mrs. Scofield that Mrs. W.B. Gee act as chairman of next program committee. Motion made by Mrs. Gee, seconded by Lillian Hafner that Margaret Wammen act on committee. Motion made by Dale Horton, seconded by Herb Scofield that Gust Toble act on committee. Nominations were then closed.
"John Donohue, Mr. Scofield and Lillian [Hafner] were nominated to act on supper committee. Nominations were then closed.
"Motion made by Mrs. Gee, seconded by Adelaide Calkins, that a program committee be elected for the April program, thus giving them ample time to make their arrangements. The following were elected on the committee of three. Lillian Hafner, chairman, Mrs. Joe Grandpre, Mrs. Herb Scofield.
"Mrs. Gee then reported that the March committee had been very fortunate in making arrangements with Prof. Taft of Newell High school to give a talk on Educational subject. He plans to be accompanied by members of his male quartet.
"The meeting then adjourned and the supper committee took charge and served a bona fide oyster supper to a large crowd. [signed] Mrs. W.B. Gee, Sec'y
The program Mrs. Gee mentioned in her minutes turned out to be, quite frankly, a product of creative genius. From Charles Laflin, the editor of the Govert Advance, we learn, "The get together, pull together, stick together spirit was evidenced by the response of each and everyone called upon in a novel, impromptu program put on by the entertainment committee, Miss Adelaide Calkins, Mrs. Wesley Horton and Frederic Laflin."
A "novel, impromptu program" ... now that is a P.T.A. program with promise, isn't it? The program was, without a doubt, "novel", but the "impromptu" part took buckets and buckets of planning and imagination. As evidence of an evening of unparalleled entertainment, please note the membership will increase by 10 to 49 by the March 1935 meeting of the P.T.A. The next time we meet here on the blog, we will look at February's "novel, impromptu program". For now, based on the coverage in the Govert Advance, we can gauge the cast of characters for the February 1935 P.T.A. meeting and program.
Mollie Brucker Calkins, age 58, wife of Clifford Delbert Calkins; in 1929 C.D. and Mollie Calkins traded Govert Van der Boom and Emma Vogt Van der Boom the Calkins house in Spearfish for the Govert store and residence.
Adelaide Christina Calkins, age 36, current schoolmarm, daughter of C.D. and Mollie Calkins; formerly married to "Odd Socks" Esler, a man said to be a small-time cattle rustler; she was well-loved by the children she taught.
John Donohue, age 25, single, rancher, brother to William.
William Donohue, age 20, single, rancher, brother to John.
Bert Ellis, age 50, rancher; Bert and his wife, Lottie, had no children but were loved by every child they ever met; they lived in the township west of Govert township.
Lydia Vogt Gee, age 48, homesteader in her own right in Meade County in her youth, now wife to Walter Benson Gee, mother to Melvin Gee and Russell Gee, who earlier attended Govert School; former schoolteacher, community organizer; sister to Emma Vogt VanderBoom, wife of Govert Van der Boom, founder of Govert.
Joseph Leo Grandpre, age 41, rancher, and his wife, Amanda Bekken Grandpre, age 44, who was born in Norway.
Delore Grandpre, age 16, son of Joseph and Amanda Grandpre.
Lilian Gudmunson Hafner, age 28, former schoolmarm, married to George Hafner, who was the son of Govert pioneers.
Dorothy Horton, age 9, and her brother, Rayford Horton, age 6, children of John Raymond Horton and Alva Oline Bekken Horton, sister of Amanda Bekken Grandpre.
Evelyn Marie Horton, age 12, and her brother, Dale Vernon Horton, age 10, children of Ida Wendt Horton, age 33, and Wesley Horton, age 42, brother of John Raymond Horton.
Waldon Jerome Jorgenson, age 15, raised by his Uncle Gust I. Jorgenson and Aunt Bessie Eugenia Holt Jorgenson, on the Jorgenson ranch.
John Govert Kulisich, age 13, named after the town where he was born, and his brother, Anton M. Kulisich, age 15, children of Mitchell "Mitch" Kulisich and Nikla Mijas Kulisich; Mitch and Nikla were born in what is now Croatia and were Govert pioneers.
Charles Eugene Laflin, age 61, owner, publisher, editor and distributor of the Govert Advance, president of the P.T.A., unofficial mayor of Govert, South Dakota; lived in the township to the north of Govert township; a Govert pioneer.
Frederic Orr Laflin, age 22, single, farmhand, son of Charles Laflin and Mary Zee Campbell Laflin; lived in the township to the north of Govert township.
William A. "Billy" Lale, age 8, and his sister, Elsie Lale, age 13, children of Nick Lale and Pauline Guka Lale. Nick and Pauline were born in what is now Croatia and were Govert pioneers; Nick Lale is a cousin to Mitch Kulisich.
Walden C. Lemm, age 24, single, rancher.
Howard Nichols, a man of singular mystery.
Herbert Leroy Scofield, age 38, and his wife, Signey Adela Bekken, age 32, sister of Alva Oline Bekken Horton and Amanda Bekken Grandpre.
Gustave Herman Toble, age 57, who immigrated from Krummenflies, Flatow, West Prussia, as a child; rancher, coal miner, and widower, uncle of Lydia Vogt Gee and Emma Vogt Van der Boom.
Margaret Wammen, age 22, single, schoolmarm at the Govert School beginning September 1935.
Who else beyond those mentioned in the Govert Advance would squeeze into the schoolhouse that night in February 1935 ... brothers and sisters, parents, bachelors and spinsters, neighbors old and young, from Govert township and from beyond the township boundaries. Consider this ... if Anton and John Kulisich were part of the P.T.A. program, their mother and father and little sister, Marie, who would start school in September 1936 with Margaret Wammen as her teacher, would have been there, too. Little Marie Kulisich would not have missed a P.T.A. meeting for a world of presents.
If these Goverites have names you've seen before, you can influence the direction of my next posting. Leave a comment or write to me at thruprairiegrass@gmail.com.
Listening to the wind blowing through the prairie grass. Kate
[Based on an article published in the Govert Advance, March 14, 1935, entitled "P.T.A."]
To learn of a thriving P.T.A. flourishing here within reach of the shadow of the Slim Buttes might have surprised the census taker for Govert township in 1930, when he wrote names on only 40 of the 50 lines of a single page of the official government census form. Govert township had 11 households in 1930. By 1935 only four of those families would have children of school age. But the census taker was a woman, June Laflin Knight, Charles Laflin's sister, and June understood the heart of Govert.
Just how important could the P.T.A. have been in Govert, South Dakota, that rural community in southeast Harding County? Thirty-nine adults supporting a mere handful of children is an eye-popping example of civic involvement by a small rural community. With the amusing entertainments and the excellent food, the P.T.A. served the important social function of drawing the community together in cooperative spirit. If the Govert P.T.A. had a motto, the message could have been "get together, pull together, stick together".
How could you not look forward to a P.T.A. night when laughter and friendly voices drifted from the schoolhouse to cover the prairie? The minutes prepared by P.T.A. secretary, Mrs. Gee, will speak for her, for the 39 members of the P.T.A., and for every other hanger-on who attended the meeting on February 22, 1935. The minutes were printed in the Govert Advance on 14 March 1935, published 79 years ago. Mrs. Gee wrote:
"The P.T.A. met in regular session Feb. 22nd.
"Reversing the usual order of procedure, the Program Committee took immediate charge and rendered a very entertaining, original and jolly program.
"Following the program, the business was opened by the Pres., who gave the object of the P.T.A. organization. The following were added to membership: Mrs. C.D. Calkins, Gust Toble, Bert Ellis, Howard Nichols. This makes a total of 39 members. Minutes were read by Sec'y.
"Nominations for committee then in order. Motion made by Adelaide Calkins, seconded by Mrs. Scofield that Mrs. W.B. Gee act as chairman of next program committee. Motion made by Mrs. Gee, seconded by Lillian Hafner that Margaret Wammen act on committee. Motion made by Dale Horton, seconded by Herb Scofield that Gust Toble act on committee. Nominations were then closed.
"John Donohue, Mr. Scofield and Lillian [Hafner] were nominated to act on supper committee. Nominations were then closed.
"Motion made by Mrs. Gee, seconded by Adelaide Calkins, that a program committee be elected for the April program, thus giving them ample time to make their arrangements. The following were elected on the committee of three. Lillian Hafner, chairman, Mrs. Joe Grandpre, Mrs. Herb Scofield.
"Mrs. Gee then reported that the March committee had been very fortunate in making arrangements with Prof. Taft of Newell High school to give a talk on Educational subject. He plans to be accompanied by members of his male quartet.
"The meeting then adjourned and the supper committee took charge and served a bona fide oyster supper to a large crowd. [signed] Mrs. W.B. Gee, Sec'y
The program Mrs. Gee mentioned in her minutes turned out to be, quite frankly, a product of creative genius. From Charles Laflin, the editor of the Govert Advance, we learn, "The get together, pull together, stick together spirit was evidenced by the response of each and everyone called upon in a novel, impromptu program put on by the entertainment committee, Miss Adelaide Calkins, Mrs. Wesley Horton and Frederic Laflin."
A "novel, impromptu program" ... now that is a P.T.A. program with promise, isn't it? The program was, without a doubt, "novel", but the "impromptu" part took buckets and buckets of planning and imagination. As evidence of an evening of unparalleled entertainment, please note the membership will increase by 10 to 49 by the March 1935 meeting of the P.T.A. The next time we meet here on the blog, we will look at February's "novel, impromptu program". For now, based on the coverage in the Govert Advance, we can gauge the cast of characters for the February 1935 P.T.A. meeting and program.
Mollie Brucker Calkins, age 58, wife of Clifford Delbert Calkins; in 1929 C.D. and Mollie Calkins traded Govert Van der Boom and Emma Vogt Van der Boom the Calkins house in Spearfish for the Govert store and residence.
Adelaide Christina Calkins, age 36, current schoolmarm, daughter of C.D. and Mollie Calkins; formerly married to "Odd Socks" Esler, a man said to be a small-time cattle rustler; she was well-loved by the children she taught.
John Donohue, age 25, single, rancher, brother to William.
William Donohue, age 20, single, rancher, brother to John.
Bert Ellis, age 50, rancher; Bert and his wife, Lottie, had no children but were loved by every child they ever met; they lived in the township west of Govert township.
Lydia Vogt Gee, age 48, homesteader in her own right in Meade County in her youth, now wife to Walter Benson Gee, mother to Melvin Gee and Russell Gee, who earlier attended Govert School; former schoolteacher, community organizer; sister to Emma Vogt VanderBoom, wife of Govert Van der Boom, founder of Govert.
Joseph Leo Grandpre, age 41, rancher, and his wife, Amanda Bekken Grandpre, age 44, who was born in Norway.
Delore Grandpre, age 16, son of Joseph and Amanda Grandpre.
Lilian Gudmunson Hafner, age 28, former schoolmarm, married to George Hafner, who was the son of Govert pioneers.
Dorothy Horton, age 9, and her brother, Rayford Horton, age 6, children of John Raymond Horton and Alva Oline Bekken Horton, sister of Amanda Bekken Grandpre.
Evelyn Marie Horton, age 12, and her brother, Dale Vernon Horton, age 10, children of Ida Wendt Horton, age 33, and Wesley Horton, age 42, brother of John Raymond Horton.
Waldon Jerome Jorgenson, age 15, raised by his Uncle Gust I. Jorgenson and Aunt Bessie Eugenia Holt Jorgenson, on the Jorgenson ranch.
John Govert Kulisich, age 13, named after the town where he was born, and his brother, Anton M. Kulisich, age 15, children of Mitchell "Mitch" Kulisich and Nikla Mijas Kulisich; Mitch and Nikla were born in what is now Croatia and were Govert pioneers.
Charles Eugene Laflin, age 61, owner, publisher, editor and distributor of the Govert Advance, president of the P.T.A., unofficial mayor of Govert, South Dakota; lived in the township to the north of Govert township; a Govert pioneer.
Frederic Orr Laflin, age 22, single, farmhand, son of Charles Laflin and Mary Zee Campbell Laflin; lived in the township to the north of Govert township.
William A. "Billy" Lale, age 8, and his sister, Elsie Lale, age 13, children of Nick Lale and Pauline Guka Lale. Nick and Pauline were born in what is now Croatia and were Govert pioneers; Nick Lale is a cousin to Mitch Kulisich.
Walden C. Lemm, age 24, single, rancher.
Howard Nichols, a man of singular mystery.
Herbert Leroy Scofield, age 38, and his wife, Signey Adela Bekken, age 32, sister of Alva Oline Bekken Horton and Amanda Bekken Grandpre.
Gustave Herman Toble, age 57, who immigrated from Krummenflies, Flatow, West Prussia, as a child; rancher, coal miner, and widower, uncle of Lydia Vogt Gee and Emma Vogt Van der Boom.
Margaret Wammen, age 22, single, schoolmarm at the Govert School beginning September 1935.
Who else beyond those mentioned in the Govert Advance would squeeze into the schoolhouse that night in February 1935 ... brothers and sisters, parents, bachelors and spinsters, neighbors old and young, from Govert township and from beyond the township boundaries. Consider this ... if Anton and John Kulisich were part of the P.T.A. program, their mother and father and little sister, Marie, who would start school in September 1936 with Margaret Wammen as her teacher, would have been there, too. Little Marie Kulisich would not have missed a P.T.A. meeting for a world of presents.
If these Goverites have names you've seen before, you can influence the direction of my next posting. Leave a comment or write to me at thruprairiegrass@gmail.com.
Listening to the wind blowing through the prairie grass. Kate
[Based on an article published in the Govert Advance, March 14, 1935, entitled "P.T.A."]
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Fox and Geese ... and Children ... Oh My!
No winter passes in the North Country of South Dakota without the bite of bitter cold. This very day of February the temperature in Buffalo, South Dakota, may rise as high as 5 degrees. Yesterday the high was -3 and last night the temperature fell into the double digits below zero. Harding County winters were no different back when Govert School was in session to teach the children of Govert township.
The memory of Govert as a town includes the memory of wood frame houses with little or no insulation, miserably warmed by a wood or coal burning stove. Goverites had no experience with layers of insulation in their attics measured in inches, with high efficiency gas or electric furnaces, with double paned windows. How cold was it? Cold enough for the pail of water in the kitchen to freeze during the night. Yes, that cold.
But what does this have to do with fox and geese and children? For this story we need a winter scene, so play along.
During the years the Govert community stood on the prairie ... during the 1910's, the 1920's, the 1930's, and into the 1940's ... the only warm place in the house on a cold day was the stove. The stove came in many shapes, and your house might have only one ... the cook stove ... but picture in your mind a pot-bellied stove. From watching their parents, children learned to face the stove to warm their hands and their front side, and then to turn around to warm their back side. Many of the stoves had a foot rail so you could pull up your chair and prop your feet on the stove rail. In winter, life in the North Country played out within the effective radius of the stove. Yes, that cold.
And now on to the fox and geese and children.
A favorite winter game for Govert school children was Fox and Geese, a game of tag. Other agreeable versions of tag could be played before the first snow and after the last snow, but Fox and Geese required a good snowfall. Sitting at their desks in the one room Govert school house, with that first snow calling them by name, the children grew restless for recess, eager to stomp out a new playing field. They fidgeted and bit their lips, made faces, looked around and rocked in their chairs, making scratching and thumping noises.
By the time the children thought they could restrain themselves no longer, the teacher knew their minds were beyond her reach and she called recess. If it was the year Miss Blomberg was the teacher, the children who jumped from their desks were James Donohue, Mercedes Hafner, Marie Kulisich, Billy Lale, Albert Springer, Edwin Springer, Roland Springer, Alice Mae West, Evaline West, and Nona Marie Wald.
For whatever reason of childhood, not even the most unbearable of cold winter days could get in the way of children intent on recess. The children piled into the cloakroom and bundled up, layering on sweaters, coats, mufflers, mittens, snowsuits ... whatever they had taken off and hung on the hooks when arriving at school that morning. They early learned to pull on their snow boots before adding on the last layers of clothing, or they would never be able to bend over and reach their feet.
Scrambling outside to their favorite play area, the children then stomped and shuffled through the snow, one behind the other, like a parade following in the same path. First, the children stomped a path making a circle, a large circle several feet in diameter. Then they stomped straight paths across the circle like a wagon wheel, one rim to the other. The hub of the wheel was stomped flat, too. Shuffle and stomp. Shuffle and stomp.
If you've never seen the wheel of a horse drawn wagon, you might not be able to imagine how the spokes radiate from the hub in the middle to the rim on the outside edge. In that case, think of how a pie is cut, from one edge of the circular pan to the other. These Govert children knew their wheels and they knew their pies, and they knew how to easily entertain themselves.
Entertain themselves they did. Miss Blomberg was sure to add certainty to any indecision over who would be the fox. The fox, of course, was "it" in both nature and on the playground. Maybe James Donohue was the fox. He was one of the older boys that year. Or maybe Marie Kulisich, or one of the West girls was the fox this time. Everyone took a turn at being "it". No one seemed to mind.
The fox took a place in the hub of the wheel while the remaining players, who were the geese, spread out along the circular path, as far away from the fox as they could get. And then the wily fox leapt from the center of the circle and chased the geese. The geese scattered around the circular path and up and down the straight paths. Once the chase was on, the children could not leave the perimeter of the outer circle.
The playground purist might insist that the fox could only follow the straight lines, while the geese could seek escape along any path. But, as with any playground game, you might make your own rules. Who really cares who follows which path when all you want is a good chase and 15 minutes of shrieking excitement. The purist would tell us the goal of the game was for the fox to tag a goose, who then became the hunter instead of the hunted. Miss Blomberg might confide the goal was to consume the excess energy of children who would otherwise wiggle in their chairs during lessons.
These children of Govert, played hard during recess. They ran hard, jumped hard, laughed hard, and the excitement and activity warmed them better than any stove. Recess ended with rosy cheeks, glowing eyes, and numb fingers. Most children are reluctant to give up their freedom for the classroom once again, but our future mothers and fathers, and future ranchers, future teachers, social workers, and artists returned to the cloakroom of their one room schoolhouse, and once again hung their coats and snowsuits on hooks.
Now wait for it ... wait for it ...
Not much time passed before the first child walked into the narrow circle of heat surrounding the pot bellied stove in the schoolhouse. No one seems to mind. Miss Blomberg was cold, too, and didn't discourage the children from leaving their seats and warming themselves at the stove. Another child takes a turn at the stove, and then another. The children warm their hands facing the stove, and then turn around to warm their back side.
What is it about recess that makes children invincible as against the cold?
Listening to the wind blowing through the prairie grass. Kate
[Written with gratitude to the fox and geese of long ago Govert, South Dakota, Marie Kulisich and Alice Mae and Evaline West.]
The memory of Govert as a town includes the memory of wood frame houses with little or no insulation, miserably warmed by a wood or coal burning stove. Goverites had no experience with layers of insulation in their attics measured in inches, with high efficiency gas or electric furnaces, with double paned windows. How cold was it? Cold enough for the pail of water in the kitchen to freeze during the night. Yes, that cold.
But what does this have to do with fox and geese and children? For this story we need a winter scene, so play along.
During the years the Govert community stood on the prairie ... during the 1910's, the 1920's, the 1930's, and into the 1940's ... the only warm place in the house on a cold day was the stove. The stove came in many shapes, and your house might have only one ... the cook stove ... but picture in your mind a pot-bellied stove. From watching their parents, children learned to face the stove to warm their hands and their front side, and then to turn around to warm their back side. Many of the stoves had a foot rail so you could pull up your chair and prop your feet on the stove rail. In winter, life in the North Country played out within the effective radius of the stove. Yes, that cold.
And now on to the fox and geese and children.
A favorite winter game for Govert school children was Fox and Geese, a game of tag. Other agreeable versions of tag could be played before the first snow and after the last snow, but Fox and Geese required a good snowfall. Sitting at their desks in the one room Govert school house, with that first snow calling them by name, the children grew restless for recess, eager to stomp out a new playing field. They fidgeted and bit their lips, made faces, looked around and rocked in their chairs, making scratching and thumping noises.
By the time the children thought they could restrain themselves no longer, the teacher knew their minds were beyond her reach and she called recess. If it was the year Miss Blomberg was the teacher, the children who jumped from their desks were James Donohue, Mercedes Hafner, Marie Kulisich, Billy Lale, Albert Springer, Edwin Springer, Roland Springer, Alice Mae West, Evaline West, and Nona Marie Wald.
For whatever reason of childhood, not even the most unbearable of cold winter days could get in the way of children intent on recess. The children piled into the cloakroom and bundled up, layering on sweaters, coats, mufflers, mittens, snowsuits ... whatever they had taken off and hung on the hooks when arriving at school that morning. They early learned to pull on their snow boots before adding on the last layers of clothing, or they would never be able to bend over and reach their feet.
Scrambling outside to their favorite play area, the children then stomped and shuffled through the snow, one behind the other, like a parade following in the same path. First, the children stomped a path making a circle, a large circle several feet in diameter. Then they stomped straight paths across the circle like a wagon wheel, one rim to the other. The hub of the wheel was stomped flat, too. Shuffle and stomp. Shuffle and stomp.
If you've never seen the wheel of a horse drawn wagon, you might not be able to imagine how the spokes radiate from the hub in the middle to the rim on the outside edge. In that case, think of how a pie is cut, from one edge of the circular pan to the other. These Govert children knew their wheels and they knew their pies, and they knew how to easily entertain themselves.
Entertain themselves they did. Miss Blomberg was sure to add certainty to any indecision over who would be the fox. The fox, of course, was "it" in both nature and on the playground. Maybe James Donohue was the fox. He was one of the older boys that year. Or maybe Marie Kulisich, or one of the West girls was the fox this time. Everyone took a turn at being "it". No one seemed to mind.
The fox took a place in the hub of the wheel while the remaining players, who were the geese, spread out along the circular path, as far away from the fox as they could get. And then the wily fox leapt from the center of the circle and chased the geese. The geese scattered around the circular path and up and down the straight paths. Once the chase was on, the children could not leave the perimeter of the outer circle.
The playground purist might insist that the fox could only follow the straight lines, while the geese could seek escape along any path. But, as with any playground game, you might make your own rules. Who really cares who follows which path when all you want is a good chase and 15 minutes of shrieking excitement. The purist would tell us the goal of the game was for the fox to tag a goose, who then became the hunter instead of the hunted. Miss Blomberg might confide the goal was to consume the excess energy of children who would otherwise wiggle in their chairs during lessons.
These children of Govert, played hard during recess. They ran hard, jumped hard, laughed hard, and the excitement and activity warmed them better than any stove. Recess ended with rosy cheeks, glowing eyes, and numb fingers. Most children are reluctant to give up their freedom for the classroom once again, but our future mothers and fathers, and future ranchers, future teachers, social workers, and artists returned to the cloakroom of their one room schoolhouse, and once again hung their coats and snowsuits on hooks.
Now wait for it ... wait for it ...
Not much time passed before the first child walked into the narrow circle of heat surrounding the pot bellied stove in the schoolhouse. No one seems to mind. Miss Blomberg was cold, too, and didn't discourage the children from leaving their seats and warming themselves at the stove. Another child takes a turn at the stove, and then another. The children warm their hands facing the stove, and then turn around to warm their back side.
What is it about recess that makes children invincible as against the cold?
Listening to the wind blowing through the prairie grass. Kate
[Written with gratitude to the fox and geese of long ago Govert, South Dakota, Marie Kulisich and Alice Mae and Evaline West.]
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Merry Christmas from the Govert, South Dakota, P.T.A.!
"Merry Christmas!" "Hiya, neighbor! Merry Christmas!" "Good evening and Merry Christmas!" "Hey! Merry Christmas!" "Merry Christmas to you, too!"
Voices from every direction called out cheery greetings as Goverites gathered at the schoolhouse for the Govert, South Dakota, P.T.A. Christmas Program. Every man, every woman, and every child, glowing shiny clean and rosy from excitement, was carefully dressed for the holiday celebration. They were ready for the best, the biggest, the most enthusiastic community gathering of the entire year.
Inside the schoolhouse, the children's desks had been pushed to the fringe of the room and rows of wooden benches were lined up facing the blackboard in front. In the swelling anticipation, an evergreen tree decorated with tinsel and colored balls, standing awkwardly to the side of the blackboard, seemed bigger, brighter, and more confident than perhaps it really was. Nine-year-old Marie Kulisich thought this tree, brought in from the Slim Buttes, was the most beautiful Christmas tree she had ever seen.
Darkness closed in on the schoolhouse and, although the weather grew only colder and colder as the evening progressed into night, the coal stove burned hot. Gasoline lanterns, carried in by the Govert neighbors, radiated light and a little heat, brightening the schoolroom. With all the neighbors crowded into the single room of the 19' by 27' schoolhouse, the air became warm, almost steamy.
The desk of the Govert country school teacher, Alma Eleanor (Cox) Schuck, the widow of Walter Benjamin Schuck these last 14 years and more, was pushed to the side of where the stage now sat in front of the benches, on the side opposite from the decorated evergreen tree. Every inch of Mrs. Schuck's desk was obscured by plates holding cakes and cookies, and more plates holding sandwiches piled so high as to threaten to tumble. And coffee. The P.T.A. always served coffee, strong and hot.
With no admission fee, the P.T.A. Christmas Program was the perfect holiday activity for rural Harding County families during the Great Depression. What should Goverites find in the Govert schoolhouse that night in December but a glamorous Christmas tree, hours of laughter and heartfelt entertainment, companionable fellowship with neighbors, and sugary treats for everyone. Who could ask for more happiness than the oh-so-pleasant here-and-now, in that interlude before leaving this bright place to find their way home in the dark and cold of the earliest morning hours?
Like all the years preceding, the P.T.A. Christmas Program for 1939 was an acclaimed hit among Goverites and all the farming and ranching families within reach of the Govert schoolhouse. The performers that year were Mercedes Hafner (2d grade), Marie Kulisich (4th grade), Leroy Scofield (2d grade), Roland Springer (1st grade) and Edwin Springer (2d grade), and Alice Mae West (4th grade) and Evaline West (6th grade). Twelve-year-old Billy Lale was the oldest student at Govert School that year; he was in the 7th grade. Billy joined in the songs and acted in the plays with the other students.
Eager for holiday excitement, the grade school students, their parents, brothers and sisters, and all of their neighbors, including the old bachelors in the township, began the program singing ... quite loudly ... "Joy to the World". The children ended their program much, much later, tired and happy, singing "The Tree That Blooms at Christmas." Between these two songs were plays, readings, recitations, a dialog, and more holiday musical favorites.
By the time the Govert schoolchildren sang the Christmas lullaby, Dear Little Stranger, little brothers and sisters were snuggling in their parents' laps, with mommy's or daddy's protective arms around them. The adults were smiling nostalgically, remembering their happiest Christmas times. Waves of light and sound echoed between the stage and the densely seated benches. These are the voices of children you would have heard: Dear Little Stranger.
Listening to the wind blowing through the prairie grass. Kate
[Based on an article in the Govert Advance, December 28, 1939; with gratitude to Marie Kulisich for assisting with details; Dear Little Stranger, Charles H. Gabriel, 1900; The Tree That Blooms at Christmas, Author Unknown, sung to "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning", Philip P. Bliss, 1871]
Voices from every direction called out cheery greetings as Goverites gathered at the schoolhouse for the Govert, South Dakota, P.T.A. Christmas Program. Every man, every woman, and every child, glowing shiny clean and rosy from excitement, was carefully dressed for the holiday celebration. They were ready for the best, the biggest, the most enthusiastic community gathering of the entire year.
Inside the schoolhouse, the children's desks had been pushed to the fringe of the room and rows of wooden benches were lined up facing the blackboard in front. In the swelling anticipation, an evergreen tree decorated with tinsel and colored balls, standing awkwardly to the side of the blackboard, seemed bigger, brighter, and more confident than perhaps it really was. Nine-year-old Marie Kulisich thought this tree, brought in from the Slim Buttes, was the most beautiful Christmas tree she had ever seen.
Darkness closed in on the schoolhouse and, although the weather grew only colder and colder as the evening progressed into night, the coal stove burned hot. Gasoline lanterns, carried in by the Govert neighbors, radiated light and a little heat, brightening the schoolroom. With all the neighbors crowded into the single room of the 19' by 27' schoolhouse, the air became warm, almost steamy.
The desk of the Govert country school teacher, Alma Eleanor (Cox) Schuck, the widow of Walter Benjamin Schuck these last 14 years and more, was pushed to the side of where the stage now sat in front of the benches, on the side opposite from the decorated evergreen tree. Every inch of Mrs. Schuck's desk was obscured by plates holding cakes and cookies, and more plates holding sandwiches piled so high as to threaten to tumble. And coffee. The P.T.A. always served coffee, strong and hot.
With no admission fee, the P.T.A. Christmas Program was the perfect holiday activity for rural Harding County families during the Great Depression. What should Goverites find in the Govert schoolhouse that night in December but a glamorous Christmas tree, hours of laughter and heartfelt entertainment, companionable fellowship with neighbors, and sugary treats for everyone. Who could ask for more happiness than the oh-so-pleasant here-and-now, in that interlude before leaving this bright place to find their way home in the dark and cold of the earliest morning hours?
Like all the years preceding, the P.T.A. Christmas Program for 1939 was an acclaimed hit among Goverites and all the farming and ranching families within reach of the Govert schoolhouse. The performers that year were Mercedes Hafner (2d grade), Marie Kulisich (4th grade), Leroy Scofield (2d grade), Roland Springer (1st grade) and Edwin Springer (2d grade), and Alice Mae West (4th grade) and Evaline West (6th grade). Twelve-year-old Billy Lale was the oldest student at Govert School that year; he was in the 7th grade. Billy joined in the songs and acted in the plays with the other students.
Eager for holiday excitement, the grade school students, their parents, brothers and sisters, and all of their neighbors, including the old bachelors in the township, began the program singing ... quite loudly ... "Joy to the World". The children ended their program much, much later, tired and happy, singing "The Tree That Blooms at Christmas." Between these two songs were plays, readings, recitations, a dialog, and more holiday musical favorites.
P.T.A. PROGRAM
Joy to the World ...... Song by All
Silent Night ...... Song by Govert School
Just a Hint ...... Reading by Alice Mae West
Our Baby ...... Recitation by Edwin Springer
One Drawback ...... Recitation by Roland Springer
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear ...... Song by Govert School
Tangled Telephone ...... Play by Govert School
Poor Dolly ...... Recitation by Mercedes Hafner
Christmas at Grandma’s ...... Recitation by Leroy Scofield
Put a Candle in the Window ...... Song by Govert School
Christmas Angels ...... Reading by Evaline West
Nurse! Nurse! ...... Dialog by Alice Mae West and Marie Kulisich
A Wise Christmas Gift ...... Recitation by Edwin Springer
Dear Little Stranger ...... Song by Govert School
Christmas Strategy ...... Play by Govert School
Hark the Herald Angels Sing ...... Song by All
The Tree That Blooms at Christmas ...... Song by Govert School
By the time the Govert schoolchildren sang the Christmas lullaby, Dear Little Stranger, little brothers and sisters were snuggling in their parents' laps, with mommy's or daddy's protective arms around them. The adults were smiling nostalgically, remembering their happiest Christmas times. Waves of light and sound echoed between the stage and the densely seated benches. These are the voices of children you would have heard: Dear Little Stranger.
And these are the words:
Low in a manger, dear little Stranger,
Jesus, the wonderful Savior, was born.
There was none to receive Him, none to believe Him,
None but the angels were watching that morn.
Refrain:
Dear little Stranger, slept in a manger,
No downy pillow under His head;
But with the poor He slumbered secure,
The dear little Babe in His bed.
Angels descending, over Him bending,
Chanted a tender and silent refrain;
Then a wonderful story told of His glory,
Unto the shepherds on Bethlehem’s plain.
Dear little Stranger, born in a manger,
Maker and Monarch, and Savior of all;
I will love Thee forever! Grieve Thee? No, never!
Thou didst for me make Thy bed in a stall.
By the time the children reached their finale, "The Tree That Blooms at Christmas", Mercedes, Marie, Leroy, Roland, Edwin, Alice Mae, Evaline, and Billy wistfully sang their wishes for a Christmas tree with presents stacked underneath.
We, with hearts so light and happy
Gather 'round the Christmas tree;
There are gifts that love has given,
Gifts for you, and gifts for me.
Chorus:
See the tapers, lighted, burning,
Sending forth a cheery glow;
See the tree, a-sparkle, turning,
All its dainty gifts to show.
Tops and balls, and drums and every
Gift to mention, swinging there.
What care we, though snowflakes whitely,
Flutter through the frosty air.
For the tree that blooms at Christmas,
With its fruit so strange to see,
Bears amid the shining branches.
Some sweet, dainty gift for me.
As they sang, the children were glad for this holiday celebration at the schoolhouse ... and wondered whether their own tree would bloom this Christmas.
Listening to the wind blowing through the prairie grass. Kate
[Based on an article in the Govert Advance, December 28, 1939; with gratitude to Marie Kulisich for assisting with details; Dear Little Stranger, Charles H. Gabriel, 1900; The Tree That Blooms at Christmas, Author Unknown, sung to "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning", Philip P. Bliss, 1871]
Thursday, September 12, 2013
!! Lydia Arrives in Govert, South Dakota !!
Lydia is in town! No one really knows for sure when Lydia arrived in Govert, South Dakota. She didn't arrive by buckboard or on horseback with any of the original homesteaders, back when the roads were little more than trails. One of those early homesteaders was a widower and the other men were bachelors. Lydia must have cut a striking figure, even though she was the mother of grown children. She was tall and slim, had reddish hair. She was a suffragist, anti-slavery, and pro-temperance. You'd think Lydia's arrival would have created a stir, if not for her appearance, at least for her unapologetic politics. How could anyone have missed her entrance in Govert, South Dakota?
No parade. No banners. No staring men. No fanfare at all. Lydia's introduction to Govert, South Dakota, was modest. Not even a hawdooyawdoo. Lydia probably arrived in 1911, about the same time the earliest homesteading bachelors grew tired of their own cooking and took wives. Or maybe Lydia arrived in 1913, riding in the wagon with Lora Giese and Lora's married sister, Clara Hafner. The women traveled to Govert from Presho, South Dakota, accompanied by Clara's husband, Pete Hafner, and his brother, Bill, the Hafner children, and a herd of horses and another herd of cattle. Lora was to marry Bill and become the Govert midwife and the town's primary medical practitioner. Both Lora and red-headed Lydia were concerned about women's health.
Just who was this Lydia? Lydia became a friend to the women who would settle in Govert. Lydia Pinkham arrived in Govert, South Dakota, as a picture on the cardboard box containing a bottle of patent medicine. This was the one medicine bottle you might find in every homestead shack in the neighborhood of Govert, South Dakota. At least every homestead shack tended by a woman.
Perhaps the reason for the modesty of Lydia's arrival was the private ... perhaps even mysterious ... nature of the conditions she treated. Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound most assuredly cured every female ailment relating to m-e-n-s-t-r-u-a-t-i-o-n at the beginning of womanhood to the complete absence thereof at the further end of life. Lydia Pinkham was in the medicine basket of millions of women in America. One tablespoon every four hours in the privacy of your own home.
The recipe for Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound is not a secret.
8 ounces unicorn root (Aletris farinosa L.)
6 ounces life root (Senecio aureus L.)
6 ounces black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa L. Nutt.)
6 ounces pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa L.)
12 ounces fenugreek seed (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.)
18% alcohol for 100 pints
What was Lydia Pinkham thinking? Eighteen percent alcohol? Lydia was a Quaker, for Pete's sake, and she supported temperance. Get over it, as Lydia was thinking quite clearly. The goal of temperance was to remove alcohol as an agitator of violence in families, not to eliminate medicinal use. Alcohol was used, and is still used, as a preservative and to hold in suspension ingredients that would not normally mix. A tablespoon of Lydia's compound had less of a wallop than some of our favorite cough syrups of recent years past.
Any issue of alcohol content fades when you consider the surprisingly accurate choice of herbs. Lydia really was on to something when it came to the herbs she was using. The herbs had an anti-spasmodic and anti-inflammatory effect, and black cohosh remains a respected and commonly relied upon herbal remedy today.
Whether Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound worked or not, and evidence suggests it did, the early advertising claims (here from 1880) would not have passed the scrutiny of the US Food and Drug Administration today:
The advertising vocabulary changed as the years passed, only to cast a wider net to include women who were tired and overworked, an apparent epidemic condition that marked the times and, by definition, included every woman who lived on the prairie. A fatigue epidemic may only have increased demand for Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound in Govert Van der Boom's store in Govert, South Dakota.
Lydia Pinkham had benevolent intentions when she started manufacturing her vegetable compound. No one but women much cared about women's problems, certainly not the male medical establishment. So women chose to self-medicate, mixing their own herbal remedies. Lydia's remedy worked and, with the encouragement of the friends Lydia supplied with her remedy, Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound reached the mass market in 1875. The practice of medicine would improve in the 35 years before Govert, South Dakota, was founded, but the women of Govert would still have cause to self-medicate as no doctor set up an office in that community.
The claims may have been puffery, the alcohol content may have raised eyebrows, but what Lydia sold gave women relief, equally when formulated as pills. Although Lydia Pinkham's is not stocked by my corner drugstore, NuMark laboratories sells both tablets and the liquid formulation on-line ... making this a respectable 138 year run. Lydia Pinkham's formulation has changed somewhat, but the pleurisy root and black cohosh are still there ... so is the picture on the box of the woman with reddish hair. Maybe it's worth a try.
Listening to the wind blowing through the prairie grass. Kate
[Written with gratitude to Harding County History Book (2013) Hafner Family submissions]
No parade. No banners. No staring men. No fanfare at all. Lydia's introduction to Govert, South Dakota, was modest. Not even a hawdooyawdoo. Lydia probably arrived in 1911, about the same time the earliest homesteading bachelors grew tired of their own cooking and took wives. Or maybe Lydia arrived in 1913, riding in the wagon with Lora Giese and Lora's married sister, Clara Hafner. The women traveled to Govert from Presho, South Dakota, accompanied by Clara's husband, Pete Hafner, and his brother, Bill, the Hafner children, and a herd of horses and another herd of cattle. Lora was to marry Bill and become the Govert midwife and the town's primary medical practitioner. Both Lora and red-headed Lydia were concerned about women's health.
Just who was this Lydia? Lydia became a friend to the women who would settle in Govert. Lydia Pinkham arrived in Govert, South Dakota, as a picture on the cardboard box containing a bottle of patent medicine. This was the one medicine bottle you might find in every homestead shack in the neighborhood of Govert, South Dakota. At least every homestead shack tended by a woman.
Perhaps the reason for the modesty of Lydia's arrival was the private ... perhaps even mysterious ... nature of the conditions she treated. Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound most assuredly cured every female ailment relating to m-e-n-s-t-r-u-a-t-i-o-n at the beginning of womanhood to the complete absence thereof at the further end of life. Lydia Pinkham was in the medicine basket of millions of women in America. One tablespoon every four hours in the privacy of your own home.
The recipe for Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound is not a secret.
8 ounces unicorn root (Aletris farinosa L.)
6 ounces life root (Senecio aureus L.)
6 ounces black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa L. Nutt.)
6 ounces pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa L.)
12 ounces fenugreek seed (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.)
18% alcohol for 100 pints
What was Lydia Pinkham thinking? Eighteen percent alcohol? Lydia was a Quaker, for Pete's sake, and she supported temperance. Get over it, as Lydia was thinking quite clearly. The goal of temperance was to remove alcohol as an agitator of violence in families, not to eliminate medicinal use. Alcohol was used, and is still used, as a preservative and to hold in suspension ingredients that would not normally mix. A tablespoon of Lydia's compound had less of a wallop than some of our favorite cough syrups of recent years past.
Any issue of alcohol content fades when you consider the surprisingly accurate choice of herbs. Lydia really was on to something when it came to the herbs she was using. The herbs had an anti-spasmodic and anti-inflammatory effect, and black cohosh remains a respected and commonly relied upon herbal remedy today.
Whether Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound worked or not, and evidence suggests it did, the early advertising claims (here from 1880) would not have passed the scrutiny of the US Food and Drug Administration today:
Lydia Pinkham had benevolent intentions when she started manufacturing her vegetable compound. No one but women much cared about women's problems, certainly not the male medical establishment. So women chose to self-medicate, mixing their own herbal remedies. Lydia's remedy worked and, with the encouragement of the friends Lydia supplied with her remedy, Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound reached the mass market in 1875. The practice of medicine would improve in the 35 years before Govert, South Dakota, was founded, but the women of Govert would still have cause to self-medicate as no doctor set up an office in that community.
The claims may have been puffery, the alcohol content may have raised eyebrows, but what Lydia sold gave women relief, equally when formulated as pills. Although Lydia Pinkham's is not stocked by my corner drugstore, NuMark laboratories sells both tablets and the liquid formulation on-line ... making this a respectable 138 year run. Lydia Pinkham's formulation has changed somewhat, but the pleurisy root and black cohosh are still there ... so is the picture on the box of the woman with reddish hair. Maybe it's worth a try.
Listening to the wind blowing through the prairie grass. Kate
[Written with gratitude to Harding County History Book (2013) Hafner Family submissions]
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