My father and mother were both born in Czechoslovakia, but not
in the same village.
When my mother was a child she hoed corn, because the people had no corn
plows; the whole family went out to hoe corn and did not get home until sundown.
When my mother was old enough to go to school she and the rest of her
playmates had to walk double-file down the road when coming home from school; a
boy acting as policeman would walk along with them. The children spoke to
everyone they met. Any child that would get out of line or whispered was
reported to the schoolmaster. Then the schoolmaster would give the child severe
punishment. These schools had maps that hung on the wall, the children would
locate the chief cities of each country.
When the farmers threshed, the
ladies' job was to take the straw from under the machine and put it on a stack.
At that time the farmers could not afford to buy reapers. Instead, a
gang of men went out and worked all day. The scythe laid the grass in line.
The people ate mashed potatoes with sour milk. There were no grocery stores
in the village. People had cows, and raised potatoes.
Along the road
were fruit trees, which were guarded when the fruit was ripe. It was picked and
then sold or shipped.
When the boys had time they would go into the
woods. They would have a great time in the wild cherry trees, strawberries and
wild plum trees. Most of the people raised their own trees.
The houses
were made of wood and straw — the walls were made of wood and the roofs were
made of straw, serving as the shingles of the Americans.
The people
always tried to get a home close to a creek, because the people wanted to wash
their clothes in the creek or river.
My father started from
Czechoslovakia by wagon and railroad. Then he went through Germany and waited
for a ship to go to America. When he was examined on Ellis island he had to go
back because of an infected eye. He tried the second time and succeeded in
landing at New York. From New York City he went to Pennsylvania. Then he came to
Streator and got a job in five days at the American Bottle Co.
My mother
came to America about four years later. She, like my father, sailed from
Germany, but in a cattle ship. When she got off the ship at New York City, she
stepped on a train that took her to Streator. No one awaited her at the depot,
so she was taken to the city hall. My father met my mother at the city hall and
took her to my aunt's house, where she tasted her first banana.
Extracted 08 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from Stories of Pioneer Days in La Salle County, Illinois, by Grammar Grade Pupils, published in 1932, page 49.
| Lee | DeKalb | Kane |
| Bureau |
 |
Kendall |
| Putnam | Grundy | |
| Marshall | Woodford | Livingston |
