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The Dirty-Thirty's Elfrieda Krause Neufeld |
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| I was
born at the beginning of the "Dirty-Thirties" when crops were poor and
money at times almost non-existent. I remember as a child when my father
combed the horses tails and manes to take the horse hair to Rosthern to
sell to an upholstering firm for 25 cents. With this money he purchased
coal oil for our lamps and some sugar. We had no electricity during those
years. I also recall my father bringing home a wooden box of broken
crackers from the grocery store. I was delighted and could not understand
at that time the sadness on my father's face to have to accept the
crackers from the kind store-keeper. I do not recall ever not having
enough to eat.
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One Christmas during my childhood that stands out in my mind when asked what I wished for. I responded with "an egg". My parents could not afford to purchase feed for chickens so we rarely ever had eggs. That year there were gifts for each student at school under the tree. When the teacher called my name a second time, I could not believe my good fortune at receiving TWO gifts when everyone else had only one. The package with my name on it was marked FRAGILE. When I opened the box, everyone looked to see what was in it. The box appeared to be filled with sawdust. When I investigated further, I found not one egg, but six! A very special gift from a friend who's family shared their good fortune with me. This is one gift that I will probably remember for the rest of my life. | |