Accounts of Survivors
Reading these accounts of everyday life during the Dust Bowl will help you understand what it was like to go live through these difficult times in America. The only way to truly understand someone else's experiences is by hearing/reading it yourself.
Video Interviews!
AGNES BENASZSKI
The following in an excerpt of an interview (source: Click here! ):
""Another thing we had to do was go up in the barn and throw down the straw to bed the cows, so they didn’t have to lie down on the cement. We just constantly had something to do. We were never bored, but things were just so hard. When my mother went shopping with the milk check, all she could buy us was a bar of soap and a sack of flour because there was no money left after they paid their mortgage and everything. So it was rough; we had to work hard, but all our neighbors did too. We didn’t think we had it bad. My mother had a big garden. One year she had many watermelons and pumpkins, and we sat on the wagon coming home, and we thought that was all fun after we picked them all day. It’s different now. My grandson asked me how it was back then. I said, really, I think you have it worse mentally, but we had it worse physically probably and mentally, but I don’t know. We weren’t in such a hurry all the time except when it rained. Then my dad said, “Hurry up the rain’s coming.” We had to get the hay in. Almost all children were born at home. My sisters, brothers, and I were born at home."
What were you doing when President Roosevelt died and what was your reaction to it?
"I’m not even sure, but I know the whole country was really upset because he was a good president. I’m not really sure what I was doing at the time, but everybody sure liked him because he brought a lot of good programs in the depression. I think farmers had food because we raised our food, so we didn’t realize how bad some people were. They didn’t have jobs, but then they had victory gardens and stuff. All I remember is a good many programs that he had. In fact in the town of Ringle there’s a clubhouse that’s called the WWER Club House. That was built by the WPA, one of his programs. It was the Works Program Administration. The WPA allowed people to work for $1.00 a day."
Did you have any free time during the day?
Not really. I loved reading, but I had no time to read. In fact, if you sat down reading too long, you were considered lazy. We didn’t have books to read, till we went to school. Sunday was the day off for farmers, except cows had to be milked two times a day. We had some time to play when field- work was done.
What do you think is the greatest invention of your lifetime?
"Before my dad got Delco lights, we had a kerosene lamp. For late and a lantern to go in the barn. Now that I’m getting older, I didn’t even want a microwave, but I think it’s a great thing. It sure warms my food fast when I’ve got fellows coming in to eat. I don’t know. There’s a lot of things because we didn’t even have a refrigerator when I was a kid. It was an icebox. No electricity. I don’t know how old I was before we got electricity. My dad got Delco Motors; it’s like a generator. He had to charge a motor everyday, so we’d get lights, but he got that before the electricity, so I would say electricity actually. So many things come from electricity. I would say that’s the best."
Do you think life is easier and more fun now?
"I think it’s easier and more fun. I enjoy my family, and I have a lot of hobbies that I like to do. Actually I think I enjoyed my whole life."
Did you have a lot of fun back then living on the farm?
"Oh yes we did. The fun that we had, was when we visited, you got to know all of your neighbors’ children and all of your relatives’ kids. We kids would play tag outside and hide and seek. We didn’t have toys; there were no computers or things like you have now, but we enjoyed ourselves. It was ok for me.""
Children during this time period seem to actually have a emotionally and mentally healthy environment to live in. These children were to constantly spend time with their families, do things they love, and play with each other while on the farms. These children enjoyed life on the farm. I expect that all of these things that these children enjoyed and were accustomed to were taken away from them due to the industrialization and Dust Bowl. Agnes Benaszski seems to have enjoyed life on the farm and the activities she got to do there. Even though children would not get to have toys to play with before the industrialization, at least they were happy. It's rather interesting to get to hear the perspective of someone who actually lived through the Great Depression and can compare life then to life now. What do you think about the comparison of life? What do you think your perspective would be? Do you have any new views on whether the environment was healthy or not for children during the Great Depression after hearing a relatively positive view? Do you have any other comments or insights you would like to share?
Want to read more of this interview? Click here!
Want to read another interview? Click Here!
Image Citation: http://tinyurl.com/cfwndzm
""Another thing we had to do was go up in the barn and throw down the straw to bed the cows, so they didn’t have to lie down on the cement. We just constantly had something to do. We were never bored, but things were just so hard. When my mother went shopping with the milk check, all she could buy us was a bar of soap and a sack of flour because there was no money left after they paid their mortgage and everything. So it was rough; we had to work hard, but all our neighbors did too. We didn’t think we had it bad. My mother had a big garden. One year she had many watermelons and pumpkins, and we sat on the wagon coming home, and we thought that was all fun after we picked them all day. It’s different now. My grandson asked me how it was back then. I said, really, I think you have it worse mentally, but we had it worse physically probably and mentally, but I don’t know. We weren’t in such a hurry all the time except when it rained. Then my dad said, “Hurry up the rain’s coming.” We had to get the hay in. Almost all children were born at home. My sisters, brothers, and I were born at home."
What were you doing when President Roosevelt died and what was your reaction to it?
"I’m not even sure, but I know the whole country was really upset because he was a good president. I’m not really sure what I was doing at the time, but everybody sure liked him because he brought a lot of good programs in the depression. I think farmers had food because we raised our food, so we didn’t realize how bad some people were. They didn’t have jobs, but then they had victory gardens and stuff. All I remember is a good many programs that he had. In fact in the town of Ringle there’s a clubhouse that’s called the WWER Club House. That was built by the WPA, one of his programs. It was the Works Program Administration. The WPA allowed people to work for $1.00 a day."
Did you have any free time during the day?
Not really. I loved reading, but I had no time to read. In fact, if you sat down reading too long, you were considered lazy. We didn’t have books to read, till we went to school. Sunday was the day off for farmers, except cows had to be milked two times a day. We had some time to play when field- work was done.
What do you think is the greatest invention of your lifetime?
"Before my dad got Delco lights, we had a kerosene lamp. For late and a lantern to go in the barn. Now that I’m getting older, I didn’t even want a microwave, but I think it’s a great thing. It sure warms my food fast when I’ve got fellows coming in to eat. I don’t know. There’s a lot of things because we didn’t even have a refrigerator when I was a kid. It was an icebox. No electricity. I don’t know how old I was before we got electricity. My dad got Delco Motors; it’s like a generator. He had to charge a motor everyday, so we’d get lights, but he got that before the electricity, so I would say electricity actually. So many things come from electricity. I would say that’s the best."
Do you think life is easier and more fun now?
"I think it’s easier and more fun. I enjoy my family, and I have a lot of hobbies that I like to do. Actually I think I enjoyed my whole life."
Did you have a lot of fun back then living on the farm?
"Oh yes we did. The fun that we had, was when we visited, you got to know all of your neighbors’ children and all of your relatives’ kids. We kids would play tag outside and hide and seek. We didn’t have toys; there were no computers or things like you have now, but we enjoyed ourselves. It was ok for me.""
Children during this time period seem to actually have a emotionally and mentally healthy environment to live in. These children were to constantly spend time with their families, do things they love, and play with each other while on the farms. These children enjoyed life on the farm. I expect that all of these things that these children enjoyed and were accustomed to were taken away from them due to the industrialization and Dust Bowl. Agnes Benaszski seems to have enjoyed life on the farm and the activities she got to do there. Even though children would not get to have toys to play with before the industrialization, at least they were happy. It's rather interesting to get to hear the perspective of someone who actually lived through the Great Depression and can compare life then to life now. What do you think about the comparison of life? What do you think your perspective would be? Do you have any new views on whether the environment was healthy or not for children during the Great Depression after hearing a relatively positive view? Do you have any other comments or insights you would like to share?
Want to read more of this interview? Click here!
Want to read another interview? Click Here!
Image Citation: http://tinyurl.com/cfwndzm
GRACE BROOKS, WICHITA
"It was Palm Sunday and my family had been to church. After lunch, the day was so nice that my eighty-nine year old grandfather decided to take an afternoon walk. The temperature rose to 84 degrees. While he was out walking there appeared on the northwest horizon a cloud that looked like a black blizzard. The swirling black dust clouds were rolling towards the farm at an incredible speed of about 38 miles per hour! It had been calm just before the wind and dust hit the farm about 3:00 p.m. The family was surprised by how quickly it happened. The temperature dropped rapidly to 50 degrees. Very quickly the sun was blocked out and it was pitch black. We could not see our hands in front of our faces.
Suddenly, the family realized there was an emergency because grandpa had not returned from his walk. Although I was only five years old I remember our family putting wet rags over our faces and going out into the choking dust to find grandpa. The dust was gritty in our eyes. We carefully stayed on the path between the house and the chicken house, which was just a short distance north of the old house and began taking turns yelling GRANDPA, GRANDPA. After the storm became less fierce grandpa was found. It was a joy to see him arrive home.
The family was worried about his health because of the amount of dust he inhaled. While walking along the barbed wire fence he cut his hands and the swirling dust created static electricity in the wire that shocked him. However, Grandpa recovered quickly from all the dust he took into his lungs. He soon was back to telling his great stories. As Arlene wrote, "Grandpa was a survivor"."
Following is an excerpt of a letter my father wrote to my mother the day after the storm. She was in California because of the serious illness and death of her mother. The letter reveals his perspective on that eventful day.
""It was hazy Sunday morning and you could see only about two miles but it was sunshiny and pleasant. I was just ready to go to McMahans to get a sick cow home, when I saw a terrible black cloud coming from the north. I ran to the house and called Anna Mae and a few seconds later it was totally dark. This was about three in the afternoon. The windows were black as a pitch-dark night and it was very alarming. I groped into the bedroom and got the flash light and then I lit a lamp and then hurried over to the other house. Grandma was there with her flashlight, but grandpa was out walking and we did not know where. In about ten minutes the total darkness passed and we could see somewhat and I stood outside. Presently, I heard grandpa call and I went in the direction of the sound and finally found him at the pasture fence just south of our neighbor's house. He was lost and was following the barbwire fence. The only way one could keep the direction was the to remember the wind was in the north. The dust was terrible for a while and then stopped blowing about nine.""
Poem Citation:
http://www.activeagingonline.com/Articles/general/Dust%20Bowl%20Stories%20(April%202010).html
Suddenly, the family realized there was an emergency because grandpa had not returned from his walk. Although I was only five years old I remember our family putting wet rags over our faces and going out into the choking dust to find grandpa. The dust was gritty in our eyes. We carefully stayed on the path between the house and the chicken house, which was just a short distance north of the old house and began taking turns yelling GRANDPA, GRANDPA. After the storm became less fierce grandpa was found. It was a joy to see him arrive home.
The family was worried about his health because of the amount of dust he inhaled. While walking along the barbed wire fence he cut his hands and the swirling dust created static electricity in the wire that shocked him. However, Grandpa recovered quickly from all the dust he took into his lungs. He soon was back to telling his great stories. As Arlene wrote, "Grandpa was a survivor"."
Following is an excerpt of a letter my father wrote to my mother the day after the storm. She was in California because of the serious illness and death of her mother. The letter reveals his perspective on that eventful day.
""It was hazy Sunday morning and you could see only about two miles but it was sunshiny and pleasant. I was just ready to go to McMahans to get a sick cow home, when I saw a terrible black cloud coming from the north. I ran to the house and called Anna Mae and a few seconds later it was totally dark. This was about three in the afternoon. The windows were black as a pitch-dark night and it was very alarming. I groped into the bedroom and got the flash light and then I lit a lamp and then hurried over to the other house. Grandma was there with her flashlight, but grandpa was out walking and we did not know where. In about ten minutes the total darkness passed and we could see somewhat and I stood outside. Presently, I heard grandpa call and I went in the direction of the sound and finally found him at the pasture fence just south of our neighbor's house. He was lost and was following the barbwire fence. The only way one could keep the direction was the to remember the wind was in the north. The dust was terrible for a while and then stopped blowing about nine.""
Poem Citation:
http://www.activeagingonline.com/Articles/general/Dust%20Bowl%20Stories%20(April%202010).html
ANNE MARIE LOW
"The Dust Bowl""Ethel got along fine, so mama left her at the hospital and came to Jamestown by train Friday. Dad took us both home.
The mess was incredible! Dirt had blown into the house all week and lay inches deep on everything. Every towel and curtain was just black. There wasn’t a clean dish or cooking utensil. There was no food. Oh, there were eggs and milk and on loaf left of the breas I baked the weekend before. I looked in the cooler box down the well (our refrigerator) and found a little ham and eggs for the men’s suppoer because that was all we could fix in a hurry. It turned out they had been living on ham and eggs for two days.
Mama was very tired. After she had fixed started for bread, I insisted she go to bed and I’d do all the dishes.
It took until 10 o’clock to wash all the dirty dishes. That’s not wiping them—just washing them. The cupboards had to be washed to have a clean place to put them.
Saturday was a busy day. Before starting breakfast I had to sweep and wash all the dirt off the kitchen and dining room floors, wash the stove, pancake griddle, and dining room table and chairs. There was cooking, baking, and churning to be done for those hungry men. Dad is 6 feet 4 inches tall, with a big frame. Bud is 6 feet 3 inches and almost as big boned as Dad. We say feeding him is like filling a silo.
Mama couldn’t make bread until I carried water to wash the bread mixer. I couldn’t churn until the churn was washed and scalded. We just couldn’t do anything until something was washed first. Every room had to have dirt almost shoveled out of it before we could wash floors and furniture.
We had no time to wash clothes, but it was necessary. I had to wash out the boiler, wash tubs, and the washing machine before we could use them. Then every towel, curtain, piece of bedding, and garment had to be taken outdoors to have as much dust as possible shaken out before washing. The cistern is dry, so I had to carry all the water we needed from the well.
That evening Cap came to take me to the movie, as usual…I’m sorry I snapped at Cap. It isn’t his fault, or anyone’s fault, but I was tired and cross. Life is what the newspapers call “the Dust Bowl” is becoming a gritty nightmare."
Poem Citation: http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/01794/first_hand_accounts.htm
The mess was incredible! Dirt had blown into the house all week and lay inches deep on everything. Every towel and curtain was just black. There wasn’t a clean dish or cooking utensil. There was no food. Oh, there were eggs and milk and on loaf left of the breas I baked the weekend before. I looked in the cooler box down the well (our refrigerator) and found a little ham and eggs for the men’s suppoer because that was all we could fix in a hurry. It turned out they had been living on ham and eggs for two days.
Mama was very tired. After she had fixed started for bread, I insisted she go to bed and I’d do all the dishes.
It took until 10 o’clock to wash all the dirty dishes. That’s not wiping them—just washing them. The cupboards had to be washed to have a clean place to put them.
Saturday was a busy day. Before starting breakfast I had to sweep and wash all the dirt off the kitchen and dining room floors, wash the stove, pancake griddle, and dining room table and chairs. There was cooking, baking, and churning to be done for those hungry men. Dad is 6 feet 4 inches tall, with a big frame. Bud is 6 feet 3 inches and almost as big boned as Dad. We say feeding him is like filling a silo.
Mama couldn’t make bread until I carried water to wash the bread mixer. I couldn’t churn until the churn was washed and scalded. We just couldn’t do anything until something was washed first. Every room had to have dirt almost shoveled out of it before we could wash floors and furniture.
We had no time to wash clothes, but it was necessary. I had to wash out the boiler, wash tubs, and the washing machine before we could use them. Then every towel, curtain, piece of bedding, and garment had to be taken outdoors to have as much dust as possible shaken out before washing. The cistern is dry, so I had to carry all the water we needed from the well.
That evening Cap came to take me to the movie, as usual…I’m sorry I snapped at Cap. It isn’t his fault, or anyone’s fault, but I was tired and cross. Life is what the newspapers call “the Dust Bowl” is becoming a gritty nightmare."
Poem Citation: http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/01794/first_hand_accounts.htm
“Dear Mrs. Roosevelt”
A Child’s Letter to the First Lady
C.V.B.
"Dear Mrs. Roosevelt:
I am writing you a little letter this morning. Are you glad it [is] spring? I am, for so many poor people can raise some more to eat. You know what I am writing this letter for? Mother said Mrs. Roosevelt is just a godmother to the world, and I thought maybe you had some old clothes. You know, Mother is a good sewer, and all the little girls are getting Easter dresses. And I thought that you had some. You know Papa could wear Mr. Roosevelt’s shirts and clothes I know.
My Papa likes Mr. Roosevelt, and Mother said Mr. Roosevelt carries his worries with a smile – you know he is always happy. You know we are not living on relief – we live on a little far. Papa did have a job and got lad [off] five years ago, so we saved and go two horses and two cows and a hog so we can . . .[have] everything to eat. Sometimes we don’t have anything but we live. But you know it [is] so hard to get cloth. So I thought maybe you had some. You now what you thought was no good Mother can make over for me. I am eleven years old. I wish I could see you. I know I would like you both . . .
We have no car or no phone or radio. Papa, he would like to have a radio but he said there [are] other things he needs more. Papa is worried about his seeds oats. And one horse is not very good. But everyone has to worry. I am sending this letter with the pennies I get to take to Sunday school. Mother gives me one [each week], so it took three weeks – ‘cause Mother would think I better not ask for things from the First Lady. But Mother said you were an angel for doing so much for the poor. And I thought that [it] would be alright . . ."
Poem Citation: http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/01794/first_hand_accounts.htm
C.V.B.
"Dear Mrs. Roosevelt:
I am writing you a little letter this morning. Are you glad it [is] spring? I am, for so many poor people can raise some more to eat. You know what I am writing this letter for? Mother said Mrs. Roosevelt is just a godmother to the world, and I thought maybe you had some old clothes. You know, Mother is a good sewer, and all the little girls are getting Easter dresses. And I thought that you had some. You know Papa could wear Mr. Roosevelt’s shirts and clothes I know.
My Papa likes Mr. Roosevelt, and Mother said Mr. Roosevelt carries his worries with a smile – you know he is always happy. You know we are not living on relief – we live on a little far. Papa did have a job and got lad [off] five years ago, so we saved and go two horses and two cows and a hog so we can . . .[have] everything to eat. Sometimes we don’t have anything but we live. But you know it [is] so hard to get cloth. So I thought maybe you had some. You now what you thought was no good Mother can make over for me. I am eleven years old. I wish I could see you. I know I would like you both . . .
We have no car or no phone or radio. Papa, he would like to have a radio but he said there [are] other things he needs more. Papa is worried about his seeds oats. And one horse is not very good. But everyone has to worry. I am sending this letter with the pennies I get to take to Sunday school. Mother gives me one [each week], so it took three weeks – ‘cause Mother would think I better not ask for things from the First Lady. But Mother said you were an angel for doing so much for the poor. And I thought that [it] would be alright . . ."
Poem Citation: http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/01794/first_hand_accounts.htm
CAROLINE HENDERSON
Panhandle, Oklahoma"Now we are facing a fourth year of failure. There can be no wheat for us in 1935 in spite of all our careful and expensive work in preparing ground, sowing and re-sowing our allocated acreage. Native grass pastures are permanently damaged, in many cases hopelessly ruined, smothered under by drifted sand. Fences are buried under banks of thistles and hard packed earth or undermined by the eroding action of the wind and lying flat on the ground. Less traveled roads are impassable, covered deep under by sand or the finer silt-like loam. Orchards, groves and hedge-rows cultivated for many years with patient care are dead or dying ... Impossible it seems not to grieve that the work of hands should prove so perishable."
Poem Citation: http://ndepth.newsok.com/dustbowl
Poem Citation: http://ndepth.newsok.com/dustbowl
ERIC SEVAREID
Journalist"It broke people’s faith in their government, destroyed a respect for business leaders. Suddenly America was not God’s country, but as vulnerable as others.
It had happened after all-for everyone but farmers-almost as suddenly as was and right after the greatest ten-year increase in material production in our history.
War had meant excitement, the ability to act, willing sacrifice and certain knowledge that it would end. The Great Depression meant a wearying sameness day after day, a sense of helplessness. Grubby little sacrifices until a man’s clothes and pride unraveled. Good men were ashamed before their families. Marriages were slowly poisoned. Educations were postponed and abandoned. Adolescents grew up quickly, and only little children felt free.
It hit the middle class especially hard. Fathers would be gone for months at a time pursuing phantom jobs. Mothers became seamstresses. Children wore hand-me-downs.
For my brothers and me, it meant peddling papers at four in the morning and a farm job here, a factory job there, washing dishes in restaurants. You bought and pressed your own clothes. You at 14 helped with the rent. A doctor’s bill was a family crisis.
A fundamental belief of the America people, upon which they supported an isolationist foreign policy in the 20’s, was that the U.S. was inherently too strong for the world to challenge. This belief vanished not as a result of war, but because of economic decay. The American people learned, through the agonies of the Great Depression, that foreign affairs meant more than diplomats, armies, and treaties. It also meant trade and interdependence.
The collapse of 29 was not only the most serious challenge ever presented to the face of American optimism, it was also the beginning of an awareness that the United States could not isolate herself from the world. Americans now began to ask whether it was possible for their nation to be self-sufficient, and a majority concluded that is could not be.
The Civil War was America’s first great failure.
The Depression was the second."
Poem Citation: http://www.smokyhillstv.org/dust_bowl/experience4.html
It had happened after all-for everyone but farmers-almost as suddenly as was and right after the greatest ten-year increase in material production in our history.
War had meant excitement, the ability to act, willing sacrifice and certain knowledge that it would end. The Great Depression meant a wearying sameness day after day, a sense of helplessness. Grubby little sacrifices until a man’s clothes and pride unraveled. Good men were ashamed before their families. Marriages were slowly poisoned. Educations were postponed and abandoned. Adolescents grew up quickly, and only little children felt free.
It hit the middle class especially hard. Fathers would be gone for months at a time pursuing phantom jobs. Mothers became seamstresses. Children wore hand-me-downs.
For my brothers and me, it meant peddling papers at four in the morning and a farm job here, a factory job there, washing dishes in restaurants. You bought and pressed your own clothes. You at 14 helped with the rent. A doctor’s bill was a family crisis.
A fundamental belief of the America people, upon which they supported an isolationist foreign policy in the 20’s, was that the U.S. was inherently too strong for the world to challenge. This belief vanished not as a result of war, but because of economic decay. The American people learned, through the agonies of the Great Depression, that foreign affairs meant more than diplomats, armies, and treaties. It also meant trade and interdependence.
The collapse of 29 was not only the most serious challenge ever presented to the face of American optimism, it was also the beginning of an awareness that the United States could not isolate herself from the world. Americans now began to ask whether it was possible for their nation to be self-sufficient, and a majority concluded that is could not be.
The Civil War was America’s first great failure.
The Depression was the second."
Poem Citation: http://www.smokyhillstv.org/dust_bowl/experience4.html
LEO BRENNER
"Somebody was sick. Doctors were 20 miles away, and they would go over to the neighbor’s house to see if any medicines at our house would help. We used to have the party phone line and everybody kept track of the entire neighborhood. We were on McCracken line, of course that’s where we went to church, that’s where the folks had grown up. Everybody knew everybody, and everybody knew everybody’s business because when that phone rang that whole neighborhood was on the line. But at the same time, if there was a tragedy, somebody broke a leg or something like that; it was also a signal to help out. I remember old….. one of the old neighbors out there was sick and was dying and they called for the priest and they called for the doctor from LaCrosse, and it was raining and had rained; the draws were running and the roads were nothing like they are today; neither were the cars by any means, they were high wheeled, touring cars mostly, and you could start down the road towards the old mans place and pass the priest and the then doctor. Somebody’d have to go out and harness their horses to pull the doctor or priest out of the mud hole and get him on down the road. The last one to pull him out would follow him to make sure he got to ole Charlie’s place. There was more than once that that all took place."
Poem Citation: http://www.smokyhillstv.org/dust_bowl/experience5.html
Poem Citation: http://www.smokyhillstv.org/dust_bowl/experience5.html
LAWRENCE SVOBIDA
Dust Bowl Survivor
"Sad indeed was the case of a farmer and his family living west of Dodge City. It is one of the published cases, and I retell is here for that very reason. It is typical of so many that have not been published, and never will be.
There were four in this little family-a father, mother, and two young children. The elder of the two children died for the effects of dirt, and the day of the funeral was sad one to the parents. When another black blizzard struck the day after they had laid their first-born in the grave, the young mother began fearing for the life of her one remaining child. She wanted to leave at once, willing to go anywhere just to get out of the dreadful Dust Bowl. The husband also was willing to go; and he went to Dodge City at once, determined to sell his farm at any sacrifice to get money to leave on. But when he reached town and made his mission known, his offer to sell net with grim laughter. No sacrifice he was prepared to make was sacrifice enough. He could not sell at any price, because the prevailing opinion was the region already was only a desert, and that it could never classed as farm land.
Discouraged, he returned to his bereaved home. Hearing her husband return, the wife hopefully came running to the door to meet him, leaving the baby in the bedroom, in its crib. She wanted to hear that they could leave
“Did you sell the farm?” she asked eagerly.
He shook his head dejectedly.
“I couldn’t even give it away,” he told her.
“Let us go anyway,” she urges. “We still have fifty dollars; that will get us somewhere out of the dust.”
“Go get the baby, and we’ll be on our way,”
He agreed.
She hastened to the bedroom to get the child, but returned in a moment, weeping and heart broken.
“There’s no use going now,” she sobbed. “It is too late. My baby is dead.”"
Poem Citation: http://www.smokyhillstv.org/dust_bowl/experience4.html
"Sad indeed was the case of a farmer and his family living west of Dodge City. It is one of the published cases, and I retell is here for that very reason. It is typical of so many that have not been published, and never will be.
There were four in this little family-a father, mother, and two young children. The elder of the two children died for the effects of dirt, and the day of the funeral was sad one to the parents. When another black blizzard struck the day after they had laid their first-born in the grave, the young mother began fearing for the life of her one remaining child. She wanted to leave at once, willing to go anywhere just to get out of the dreadful Dust Bowl. The husband also was willing to go; and he went to Dodge City at once, determined to sell his farm at any sacrifice to get money to leave on. But when he reached town and made his mission known, his offer to sell net with grim laughter. No sacrifice he was prepared to make was sacrifice enough. He could not sell at any price, because the prevailing opinion was the region already was only a desert, and that it could never classed as farm land.
Discouraged, he returned to his bereaved home. Hearing her husband return, the wife hopefully came running to the door to meet him, leaving the baby in the bedroom, in its crib. She wanted to hear that they could leave
“Did you sell the farm?” she asked eagerly.
He shook his head dejectedly.
“I couldn’t even give it away,” he told her.
“Let us go anyway,” she urges. “We still have fifty dollars; that will get us somewhere out of the dust.”
“Go get the baby, and we’ll be on our way,”
He agreed.
She hastened to the bedroom to get the child, but returned in a moment, weeping and heart broken.
“There’s no use going now,” she sobbed. “It is too late. My baby is dead.”"
Poem Citation: http://www.smokyhillstv.org/dust_bowl/experience4.html
Page Taken From: 10P Healthy Living 2012-2013
Citations:
http://www.activeagingonline.com/Articles/general/Dust%20Bowl%20Stories%20(April%202010).html
http://ndepth.newsok.com/dustbowl
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/01794/first_hand_accounts.htm
http://www.smokyhillstv.org/dust_bowl/experience5.html
Citations:
http://www.activeagingonline.com/Articles/general/Dust%20Bowl%20Stories%20(April%202010).html
http://ndepth.newsok.com/dustbowl
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/01794/first_hand_accounts.htm
http://www.smokyhillstv.org/dust_bowl/experience5.html