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mrf. Cruickshank Berkshire
Hill -Town Wife
Paper Three
STXTE MASSACHUSETTS
NAME OF WORKER WADE VAN DORE
ADDRESS NEW MARLBOROUGH
DATE OF INTERVIEW June 10, 1939
SUBJECT LIVING LORE
NAME OF INFORMANT MRS. CRUICKSHANK
ADDRESS NEW MARLBOROUGH
Name: Wade Van Dore Assignment: Mrs. Cruickshank
Title: Livink Lore Topic: Hill Wife
Pater Three
"Do you have any of your mother's or grandmother's recipes?" I
asked Mrs. Cruickshank one afternoon.
"No, that I haven't. My mother died when I was fifteen, and my
grandmother died before that. And then we had a woman to do the cookint
an' other work. I didn't do much of that till I married Ben. I guess
they never wrote out their receipts, 'cause I never found any that
they left. I remember the things my mother made though. I remember
her packing a clothes basket with things to take to a provision party
for the minister. She'd make little doughnuts" Mrs. Cruickshank
held up her hand and made a circle of her thumb and index finger
to indicate the size "then she covered them with white sugar.
My, they lookec, nice, and tasted right good too. Then I remember
the way she made pickles. She put the cucumbers down in a crock
of salt water in the fall an' in the spring she took 'em out an,
soaked 'em in vinegar."
"Do you make them that way?"
"No I buy 'em at the store. They are really better, I think.
It's all I can do to put up some peaches in the fall. We always take
a day off an' drive over to York state for a bushel or so."
"J-4id your grandmother or your mother do much canning?"
"No, not the way they do it now. We had a root cellar for
beets an' carrots ant potatoes an' cabbates, stuff like that, an'
we kept squash till after Christmas sometimes, in th' spare bedroom
where it was cool an' dry but not cold. Mostly they used to make
Name: Wade Van Lore
Title: Living Lore
preserves and jelly lots of that.
Assignment: Mrs. Cruickshank
Topic: Hill Wife
Paper T4ree
An' they always canned blueberries,
I remember. An' made apple butter an' cider. Some folks dried apples
too, but we never did."
"Speaking of food," I said, "it must be time for you to be
getting supper, and I Should be starting home‘."
"Now you're not goin' home!" exclaimed my hostess warmly. "Just
you set right where you be, an' have some supper with us before
you start out. I will go into the kitchen though, an' peel my
potatoes."
"Can't we keep on -talking while you do that?" I asked, following
her into the freshly scrubbed kitchen, with its big black range,
worn washing machine, a rack full of damp baby things, and the
dining tapie at one end. 1rs. Cruickshank began to peel what seemed
to me an enormous basin full of potatoes.
"Seems like we eat a lot of potatoes," she sighed. "I wish I
had a penny for every bushel I've peeled. Even with Donal' an'
Bobby away I have some cookin' to do. Besides junior an' Betty
I have a boarder now. i,e's workin' on one of the new bridges. .11e's
real nice too, an' what he pays helps a lot to set the table
course I sort of feel I have to have a little extry sometimes, for
him." She set the potatoes on the stove to boil, and started slicing
into a smoked shoulder of pork.
"Tell me more about when you were young," I suggested. "Besides
providing most ofyour own food, did you do all your sewing?"
"Mamma made all our common clothes," she answered, "but our
best dresses an' coats we had made by a dressmaker in the village.
Name: Wade Van Bore Assignment: Mrs. Cruickshank
Title: Living Lore Topic: Hill Wife
Paper Three
I remember once when I was about ten years old we *Plat to R
for a trip, on the cars, to visit some cousins of Mamma's, an' we
had all new clothes. 41 I certainly was excited. Took us all day
to get there!" By "cars" I know that my friend means the train.
I asked her when the mail order houses first came into general use.
"Why, the first I remember was when Ounior was a baby that'd
be 25 years ago. That was t he first ve ordered from 'em an' it
wasn't one of these big ones we have now. I can hardly remember
the name of it. Was it Charles William? Ben might know, but I've
clean forgot, I guess. That reminds me, I have to' send for some
things for Booby
"Will he oe able to go back to school this year?"
"No, he won't. 3ut I guess he won't miss too much."
"hell me something more about the school," I said. "How did you
feel about the little corner schoolhouse being closed, and the
children going by bus to the village?"
"Well, I don't know. Course I sort of hated to see it closed.
My mother an' father both went there to school, an' later they
went to the academy over to G.... have you seen the ruins over
there't it was a good academy, then they used it a while for a
summer hotel, out now it's gone... Well, I went down to the little
schoolhouse too, an' sometimes it was a coldw elk in winter."
"Did the teacher board around, as I've heard about?"
"Not in my time, though I've heard tell about the teacher
boarding a week for every child in the family that waslin school. My
mother boarded the teacher, though, some years one that lived
over to G... Well, all my children went down there too, and just
-2{3
Name: Wade Van Dore Assignment: Mrs. Cruickshank
Title: Living Lore Topic: Hill Wife
paper Three
when Donal' was through with the eighth grade they closed it.
he would have been going to high school then anyway, an, I will
say it was real handy to have the school bus go right by the door.
Otherwise hod have had to walk, unless we carried him in the car.
ThatIschool pus is none too easy to ride in, I guess, an' it's
cold too. I don't wonder half the children are sick all winter.*
"What's this I hear about the young man who drives it did
he rob the postoffice one time?"
"Yes, I guess he did, though they hushed it up! He was
light-fingered in the store some too. Doesn't hardlyEeem's if
he's a good person to drive the bus, but Bobby says he's always
nice to the children, an' sober too. I've heard tell he drinks some.
His uncle owns the bus, that's how it happens he's the driver."
"'id you used to have the same school term we have now?"
"Yes, September to June, just about the same. ome places
I've heard about they had special vacations for plowing an' planting
an' such like, but most people around here had hired men so they
didn't need the children to help 'cept for chores after school or
somethin' like that."
By this time the potatoes had been boiling and bubbling for
some time, and the meat was hissing in the skillet. There were
string beans in another saucepan, .and the table was set. Now the
men began to come home for supper. Junior washed hastily at the
kitchen sink and went into the living room to play with his tiny
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Name: Wade Van Dore Assignment: Mrs. Cruickshank
Title: Living Lore Topic: Hill Wife
pater Thee
daughter. The boarder came in and listened to our talk for a while,
then he went out to the shed and brought in an armful of wood for
the depleted woodbox. inallyce the head of the household, good
Ben Cruickshank, his ruduy face rather leaner than when I had
seen him last. After a word of greeting he lost no time in asking,
"Well, what do you think of your neighbors the Bells by this
time? Seen that grass fire they made down at Sheldons;?" he demanded.
I shook my head at the first question, to indicate chagrin,
then spoke. "Yes, I've seen it," I admitted.
"Last Bunday they done it," he went on. "First place, I guess
you know, they was mighty put out cause Sheldons never went to call
on them nor nawthin. Ihen they got th' idea they'd ask Sheldons to
sell 'em their hay, so's toget in with 'em. Leastways that's how
I figger, an' I bet I'm right too. Well, they sent th' old lady
down to ask 'em, an' finally Sheldons said they could have the
hay. 6o Bells said they'd want to burn it over, it hadn't been
cut so long. An' Sunday they went down. Weill he sliapped his
knee. 'fhere they was, th' hull kit 'n' kaboodle of 'em granny,
an' kris. Bell in her ridinl britches, an, the nursemaid an' baby,
'sides the hired hands, makin a social occasion 6f it, all standint
around towatch the fire. Mr. Sheldon come out to see the way they
done it, out Agra. Sheldon, she stayed in the house, I guess. So there
was the wimmen shinipl up to him, an' drinkin' in every word he
said. He got awful worried 'bout the fire though. It got right near
the house, an' it did burn two of those old maples longside the road.
Name: Wade Van Dore Assignment: Mr. Cruickshank
Title: Living Lore Topic: Hill Wife
paper Three
Looks pretty bad now, an' smells wuss. Golly, I widh they would've
ourned some ouildin's an' got in trouble goodl You know they're
responsiole for any fire they start, no matter what it does." There
was nothing mean or savage about the man's wish for revenge on his
enemy just a.desire for some sort of justice.
"Well, now, you wouldn't want that lovely home of the Sheldons
to oe burned, would you?" I asked.
"No, I wouldn't," he admitted. "But they'd ought to be settled
good an' proper somehow. Been makinf fires on their own place too.
I told 'em once they wanted to cut away the high grass from the
back of the house if they was goin' to have grass fires, or they'd
burn the house. But they paid no mind. They did almost set afire
the roof once last winter only the snow on the roof saved it."
"Land sakes, I sure would hate to see the old house burned,"
declared Ilirs. Cruickshank, "even if it doesn't mean much to me,"
she hastened to add. "I often say I'm glad the Doctor doesn't know
what's happened to the place. ge loved it."
"We all do," I told her warmly. "It is the most beautiful
place around here, and it's a shame that someone can't have it who
would appreciate it."
"Sure don't look like much now," muttered Ben. "Lawn all
tracked up with hosses an' even carts, goat eatin' everythin' it's
a mind too, manure everywhere."
"Yes, the olu lady sent me down one of the white violets
before the goat had eaten them all," I answered.111t's in my wild
gardenl But tell me, did you hear any more about their wanting to
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Name: Waae Van Dore Assignment: Mrs. Cruickshank
Title: Living Lore Topic: Hill Wife
j'aper Three
paint the house white?"
"No, they got over that," answered Mrs. Cruickshank as she
dished up the potatoes, mashed by this time into frothy whiteness,
"but now they reckon they'll shingle, the placel That's worse," her
voice was more sad than indignant. "Come on, let's set." So we
all sat about the round table. All the men were hungry, and there was
more or less of a silence until the first keen edge of appetite
was blunted.
"I hear the Bells have got Jdonald Shores workin' for 'em too,"
ventured 1rs. Cruickshank as she pressed another slice of meat
upon me.
"Have," utterea her husband briefly. "Sheldons told 'em they
didn't want him workin' down there on the hay, but I guess they
took him down anyway. I declare those Bells do get the worst trash
to work for 'ems Anybody else wouldn't have that boy workin' for
'em for narthin. Anybody with sense wouldn't want him around at
all. Never saw anybody like those people. Sure are strange to this
part the country. Well, they won't pull the wool over Sheldon's
eyes. he's smart enough fer 'em."
"D'you know they're lettin' the old lady take in washin'
from onekthe neighoors?" asked ivIrs. Cruickshank in horrified tones.
"As if she didn't have enough to do, cookin' for all those men, an'
keepin' house an' all. She's got no money of her own to spend for
anything she needs, so she asked one of the neighbors if she
could do her washint. Course the neighbor was glad to get it done
cheap too, out just the same it don't seem right. he old lady isn't
Name: Wade Van Dore Assignment: Mrs. Cruickshank
litle: Living Lore Topic: Hill Wife
Paper Three
well, neither, an' the doctor told her not to work so hard. Youd,
think, now, wouldn't you, tha t the son or claUghter_ would give her
a little something for herself. Why, one morning her daughter, Mrs.
Bell, even went down on horseback to get the smashing, an' brought
it home in a sack. Wan't that somethin', now! I can't get over it!
"The other new hired man they have seems to be all right,"
I murmured.
"Yes, I guess he is at that," assented Ir. Cruickshank. "The
old lady seems right fond of him. She says he's awful good to her
calls her 'Mother', an' that tickles her. he's considerate of her
too more'n her own two are. An' r. Sheldon said he never saw
such a worker. Works' if he owned the farm. Stayed up all one night,
I hear, to build a new stall for another horse comin' they got
ten there now just cause he got so interested. Ant he's bought
a batch ofdaby chicks to raise for broilers. Seems right ambitious
for a hired man wants to get ahead a little. I suspect he's
meant for samethin' better, just markin' time till he can get
another job, but makin' the most of it. he's married too wife
works in the city. She drives out to see him Sundays and always
brings the old lady somethin', Mother's Day her own two didn't
remember her but this girl orought her a plant."
All of us had finished eating, and I declined my hostess'
urgent invitation to another cup of coffee. "I really must go
soon," I insisted. "I have quite a _long walk up the hill, but it
is good to have a hard, firm road under foot again after all
Name: Wade Van Dore Assignment: krs. Cruickshank
Title: Living Lore
Topic: Hill Wife
plepqr Three
the bad weather."
"Isn't it! Seems' if we've had nothin' on the road but scrapers
an' snow plows an' loads of gravel since September. Not that we
aren't glad to see 'em coming after we've peen waitin, a spell for
'em to come through an' clear the way. I guess everybody feels
like cheerinf. Once last winter when it was awful cold the plow
got almost as far as Sheldons' an' there was a big drift there.
Sheldon come s.Lrugglinl down the road to tell the men that
Mrs. Sheldon had coffee waitin' for 'em inside, an, they should
come in an' get warm. So the men kep' yellin' at Bill Eurray,
settin' on the tractor, 'hive 'er more gas, Bill!' But Bill could
hardly keep his seat as 'twas, the old tractor shakes so, an'
he yelled back at 'em, 'heck, only he said somethin' else
'heck,* y_22. ain't a-sitten' on 'en' I guess that old machine
just about ahakes a man to pieces, an' Bill was makin' it go
just as fast as he could stand."
I rose to go, but before leaving elicited a promise from
the little woman to come down and see us the following week.
"Come for dinner," I urged her, "and then we can have
areal visit.*
"I'll do that," she promised, *but don't you. folks go
fussin' hone. I'll come Monday if nothin' happens to hinder
me
I left the warmth of the lighted kitchen and climbed
Name: Wade Van Dore Assignment: Mrs. Cruickshank
Title: Living Lore Topic: Bill Wife
raper Three
through the clear cold evening up the hillside road lighted only,
and that faintly, by starlight. kb car or person passed me on
the lonely quiet way, and the five houses which I passed within
my three mile walk were all silent, some of them dark besides
even at this early hour.
Monday came, warm and sunny, and our guest appeared near
noon, carrying a paper oag. "It's some bloodroot I thought you'd
like for your wild flower garden," she smiled. "Maybe 'twon't
live out then we can get some more. I knew this was growin,
beside the road on the way. So I stopped an' dog it up. My
land, it sure is rightly named bloodroot! I got my hands all
stained up, out I washed 'em off a bit in a spring running
into the ditch."
While she spoke I led the way to a rocky patch beneath
a wild cherry tree, where clumps of columbine were in bud,
hepaticas just beginning to shed their petals, and trilliums
springing op. Dry leaves were hastily raked away from an unoccu-
pied spot, and holes dug up with a trowel.
"I certainly appreciate your bringing these!" I said, as
I separated the clumps and set them in the damp earth. "We've
been wanting some for a long while."
"I s'pose they're all right in a place like this,"
replied krs. Cruickshank, "but the menfolk:: alwdys dig 'em
op an' burn 'em when they find 'ern in a pasture. If cows or
horses eat 'em they bring on miscarriage. But I've heard
Name: Wads Van Dare
Title: Living Lore
Assignment: Ow Marlborough
Topic: Ihis. Qmickshank
Bill Wife
FaDer Three
'twas used for medicine too cough medicine. They used to squeeze
the juice from the stem on a lump of sugar."
My planting finished, we went into the house, where dinner
was already on the table.
"We've no dessert," I told our guest, "unless we eat fruit.
Monday is a bad day for us."
"Land sakes, I don't need dessert: But did'you ever make a
poor man's rice pudding?" We said we hadn't and she went on.
"Well, you take five tablespoons of rice (the receipt says
six, but we like it soft an' creamy so I only use five) an' a half
teaspoon o' salt, an' a quart o' milk. Then you put in a half cup
o sugar an' some raisins an' vanilla. You put it in to bake, an'
after the rice starts gettin' soft you stir it up three, four times.
It's real good."
"But why do you call it poor man's pudding?"
"Cause it hasn't any eggs I s'pose. Poor folks in a city
couldn't afford a quart o' milk for pudding either, I guess.
But we've always had lots of milk so we don't think anything of
usin' a quart at a time."