The Circus Train

My Grandfather And His Dray Wagon circa 1895 to Early 1900s

   
     Trains were the lifeblood of towns situated along the railroad tracks during the early 1900s.  By the time Daddy was a teenager, the rail lines extended throughout much of the Midwest, often positioned close to major roads that connected towns large and small.
     Benville, a small village of only a few hundred town residents (the same population as today) was the source of supplies and social activities for a wide radius of farms and farm families surrounding it.  The steam trains,

Making Bricks

Threshing oats was a dirty, labor intensive operation in the 1940s,
that is if  children did not burn down your oat field before harvest!

     Bricks seemed like simple things or so we thought based on our lessons at school.  It was nearing the end of a hot, drowsy summer.  My brother and I were in the lower grades but our younger sister would not start school for another year.  We were all bored.