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Life on the farm in the late
1920
John Geiselman
From his book "Reflections"
Fence Making
Finish your outdoor work and get
your fields ready; after that
build your house. Proverbs 24:27
"The Big Farm" had many rail
fences. One fence ran almost a
mile on the north side of the
road from the Cashman home-stead
to the meadow below our house.
It also ran from our barn to the
Charlie Schwartz homestead on
the east, and on the south side
from Homer's School on the hill
to the Orphanage Road up to the
Ed Furney homestead. This type
of fence was called a "worm
fence", sometimes referred to as
the beveled fence, but the
proper name was the "stake and
rider" fence.
Early in the spring before
plowing for corn we worked on
the rail fences. One morning
"Boss" told Donald to harness up
"Maude" and hitch her to the
dung sled to haul rails to
repair the fence. This type of
sled was low to the ground and
had very heavy runners. It also
had four stakes, two on each
side of the sled, to keep the
rails from falling off. We would
take a crowbar, also called a
digging iron, to dig the holes
for the rider poles or posts. We
also had a maul or sledge to
drive the stakes in and wire to
fasten the rails together.
The horses pulled the sled to
the rail pile, which was along
Orphanage Road, to load up the
rails we needed to repair the
fence. Each broken and rotted
rail was replaced with good
ones. Sometimes it was required
to take a whole section down and
start over anew.
The way in which this type of
fence was put up is as follows:
First we place two flat stones
on the ground then we arranged
rails on top of them in a zigzag
fashion until we had five on top
of each other. In each corner we
would take two short stakes and
drive them in the corner on each
side. We then took short pieces
of wire and twisted them
together at the top with a pair
of pliers, then on each side of
the short part of the stakes. We
took the digging iron and made
holes to drive the two stakes in
the ground to make a fork. These
two stakes formed the rider for
the last rail on top of the
fence. The last rail is farther
apart than the other rails. You
can make any height of fence
just by adding more rails to
each section.
J.
Carnahan Smith owned a wood lot
in the mountains. Many people
owned wood lots at that time. In
the fall of the year they would
go up to the mountains and cut
down chestnut trees to split
into rails. They would dry till
the next spring when it was time
to repair the rail fences. One
of these trips would be an all
day affair.
The last trip that we ever made
for rails was in the early
spring of 1927. Donald was not
with us at this time. It was
Friday evening and "Boss" said,
"John, I am going to take you on
a very long trip tomorrow. We
will be going to the mountains
for rails." I was ten, going on
eleven, and that was exciting to
me to be able to go. "Boss"
greased the wheels on the big
wagon and checked out the brakes
for use on the narrow and steep
mountain roads. "Boss" called me
early the next morning to feed
the horses, help with milking,
and feed the cattle. At
breakfast Mother said a prayer
for our safe journey. As we
prepared to leave she gave us
lunch she had packed for us to
eat while in the mountains.
We
went to the barn, geared up the
horses, and hitched them to the
two-horse wagon. The sun was
just coming up as we left the
drive way and started down the
Barlow-Two Taverns Road. When we
arrived at Barlow, we took the
Taneytown Road, crossed Rock
Creek Bridge, and turned left
down Chapel Road. "Boss" drove
the team over the many roads
that brought us out on the
Fairfield Road just east of
Fairfield. We took Coldsprings
Road and crossed the Fairfield-Orrtanna
Road. After passing the Marshall
Homestead we were in the
mountains. We took a road off
Coldsprings Road to the wood
lot.
We
arrived there just before
dinner. The rails were split so
"Boss" started loading them. As
a young boy the mountains were
something different to me. I
enjoyed every moment of it. This
trip I never forgot. I helped my
father as much as I could. When
we got tired and hungry we took
out the lunch Mother had
prepared for us and sat down on
some rocks to eat. There was a
spring not far away from the
wood lot where we got fresh
drinking water by kneeling down
near the spring. We also got out
the horses eating bags, made out
of canvas, to hang on the horses
head so they could eat. We
brought along some oats to put
in the bags. After dinner was
over we took the feed bags off
the horses and led them to the
stream for a drink. Then we
prepared our-selves for our
return trip home.
"Boss" looked at me and said,
"I'm going to take you back
another trail where we will meet
the Mt. Hope Road. I will show
you some new country you haven't
seen before. You will also see
some of the famous Thaddeus
Steven's Tapeworm Railroad which
goes through this area. We will
also go over one of the stone
arches or viaducts on our way
down the mountain. It is known
as one of the best examples of
early bridge construction in
this section of the country."
On
our way we stopped at Lightner's
General Store in Mt. Hope.
"Boss" was use to stopping here
for snacks and drinks while on
his many deer hunting trips in
the Mt. Hope area. He bought me
some candy and I thought it was
the best I'd ever had.
Continuing down the mountain
"Boss" had to hold the brake so
as not to let the heavy load
bear too hard on the horses. We
returned without any trouble
arriving late that spring
afternoon. As we pulled up to
the rail pile along Orphanage
Road to unload, Mother came to
see that we arrived home safely.
A sup-per of sirloin, gravy,
fried onions, and potatoes
awaited us when we returned
home. It was a long but
memorable day hauling rails with
"Boss".
Butchering
Butchering when I was a young
boy was a big thing. Our
preparation started in early
fall by gathering wood. We
hitched two horses to the stick
wagon and, once in the woods, we
cut small dead trees and limbs
in 3 1/2 to 4 foot lengths. I
always helped to load the wagon.
The wood was then stacked in the
summer house to be ready for
butchering day which was usually
on or around New Year's Day. The
day before we butchered we would
fix the kettles in the fireplace
in the summer house using the
wood we had brought in earlier.
At daybreak, on butchering day,
we'd fill the kettles with water
and light the fire. This hot
water was used in scalding the
hogs after they were killed.
We
generally butchered two or three
hogs. It depended on their size.
If they weighed close to 400
pounds a piece we only killed
two. We used a 22 cal. rifle or
a 32 cal. pistol to shoot the
hogs. A man with a sharp butcher
knife, called a sticking knife,
would stick them trying to
pierce the jugular vein. This
was done to bleed them out.
The scalding was done in a large
barrel or trough. All the hair
was then removed. We took a
block and tackle and pulled them
up to a large beam in the wagon
shed. This was done with a
single tree or a grappling
steel. This would keep their
legs apart so as to make it
easier to clean and cut
properly. We washed them down
and got the dirt and excess hair
off. At times we had to take a
sharp butcher knife and scrape
the excess hair off.
The hog's head was cut off and
hung nearby so as to have it
cleaned and later cut up and
cooked for pudding meat. The hog
was cut open and the intestines
tied off. Many a time, as a
young boy, my father would send
me out to the straw stack for
the binder twine which was used
for this purpose.
We
would grind a sharp ax and cut
the hog down on each side of the
back bone. "Gutting" was to take
the insides out and remove the
heart, liver, and stomach. After
the hogs were clean they would
let them hang to draw out the
animal heat. On a cold day it
didn't take long. With the use
of a sharp knife to cut the
sinew of the legs the hogs were
cut down from the single tree or
grappling steel. These parts
were carried into the summer
house and put on a table, called
a meat bench, to be cut up. They
would cut out the hams,
shoulders, sirloin, and side
meat and crack the ribs away
from the backbone. The hams,
shoulders and sides were laid
out on the table to later cure.
We then took some hot water out
of one of the kettles and put it
in a tub to scrape the skin and
the head. They generally used a
small board or shingle shaped
piece of smooth wood as a
scraping board.
The long strips of fat were put
in the kettle to render out for
lard. This was something you
couldn't do in a hurry. You had
to cook all the water out of the
fat so it would keep. When the
lard was rendered we took a lard
can and pressed the fat out in
the lard can. We generally put a
fine cloth on the spout of the
container that it came out of to
strain all the cracklings out.
In
making scrapple they generally
put in some pudding or
cracklings which came from the
rendered lard, also cornmeal and
flour, and then seasoned it with
salt and pepper. The scrapple
took a long time to cook and
required a lot of stirring.
In
the meantime someone would clean
the intestines. The raw meat or
off-fallings that were cut out
of the hogs were ground,
seasoned with salt and pepper,
then stuffed in the casings. The
casings were the hog's
intestines, cleaned. The lard
press was used to stuff the
sausage. After the sausage was
stuffed I hung it on a pole in
the summer house. Later I would
help Mother fry it down in the
oven of the cook stove in a big
iron skillet. It would be cut in
small pieces so it could be put
in jars. The excess grease, that
fried out of the sausage, was
poured in the jar to seal it.
Then a lid was put on after it
cooled. Boy, did that taste good
in the summer time!
Butchering day also was a day to
play tricks on each other. I
often saw a pig tail tied to a
person and when they would eat
some puddin' meat out of the big
iron kettle with the tail
fastened to them, someone would
say, "I see you are making a pig
out of yourself again!" He'd
say, "No!", and as everyone was
glancing at him, he'd look
behind and there was the reason
- a real "pig tail" hanging on
him. Many times I would stay
home from school to butcher.
Sometimes they would kill them
on a Friday afternoon and
butcher them up Saturday. There
was always plenty to do and
learn on the farm.
When the air was crisp and cold
and you got the scent of the
wood burning under the kettles
in the summer house, you could
be sure butchering day was here.
Threshing Time
One of the machines Mother liked
to drive was the binder that cut
the grain and tied it into
sheaves. She would drive the
horses in the binder with the
check lines very well. The
binder had a sheaf carrier to
carry the sheaves to a certain
place. With a trip-lever she
could then drop them. Later they
were shocked in the field by
Father. While he was shocking,
when I was a small boy, I would
walk along and pick up the odd
sheaves that missed the row and
I also brought drinking water
out to them.
In
about the middle of August it
was time to thresh the wheat out
of the barn. This occasion I
remember very well as a young
boy. I was very interested in
the steam engines and threshing
machines. One late afternoon in
August in the distance I heard
the whistle on the steam engine
blowing a few blasts telling us
the threshing machine was moving
on the road - coming to our farm
to thresh out of the barn. I ran
out of the yard fence gate to
look in the distance. I could
see the steam engine and then
the threshing machine or
separator with a water wagon
hooked on the back coming
closer. As it puffed along it
turned in our driveway between
the barn and buggy shed. I
opened the gate for the steam
engine to pass through and by
mistake I shut it on the
threshing machine and broke the
gate in two. My fault! Little
kids learn! Later "Boss" fixed
the gate, and it was there until
the barn burned down, in the
fall of 1958.
It
was a Peerless Steam engine made
by the Frick Company of
Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. The
engine was run by Burton "Mike"
Witherow. He bought the rig in
the spring of 1917 from Ed
Furney. Mike threshed for many
folks in the Barlow area.
Mike pulled his rig in back of
the barn and unhooked the water
tank. "Boss" opened the barn
doors. Mike throttled up the
steam engine then pulled the
threshing machine up the barn
hill. The wheels of the
separator were blocked to keep
it from drifting back. The steam
engine was turned around to have
it hooked up and to push it in
on the barn floor. "Boss" then
put the pin in the tongue of the
thresher. Mike slowly put in the
clutch and the steam started to
advance. With a few puffs the
thresher hit the bumping blocks
then over into the barn floor he
pushed it close to the wooden
scaffold ready for it to thresh.
"Boss" pulled the pin out of the
thresher, and Mike backed the
steam engine down the barn
bridge and stopped it. "Boss"
nailed the blocks down to keep
the thresher stationary when in
use. He took the long belt from
the thresher and put it on one
of the pulleys and rolled the
other end down the barn bridge
to the steam engine. The other
end of the belt was hooked to a
pulley on the steam engine. Then
the threshing would begin.
One person would drop the
sheaves into the thresher. It
separated the grain from the
straw. The grain was stored in
the granary and the loose straw
was returned to the mow in the
barn. There were times when the
straw would be piled into a
large hay stack in the barn
yard. Threshing was very
important for it sup-plied feed
and bedding for the cattle. This
was a big part of the costs when
you had a herd.
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