Myrtle Emma -- Easter and The Seasons (Spring)

Myrtle Emma and oldest sister Mary

In a quick turnaround, here are two more excerpts from Myrtle Emma, the collected memoirs of Mill Creek Hundred native Myrtle Emma Morris White. In these uncertain times, and on the eve of the most unusual Easter in pretty much anyone's memory and the beginning of an extraordinary Spring, we'll look at Myrtle's recollections of both of these events from her childhood.

I don't have too much to add to these particular stories, so I'll pretty much just let them speak for themselves. I did try to figure out who the Mrs. Bain was in the Easter story, without much success. I'm guessing she was a fancy friend of the family's. Also, I assume the creek they walked down to would have been Pike Creek, just a short walk to the east. And maybe you already knew this (I didn't), but rusks are a type of hard biscuit or twice-baked bread. Biscotte and zweiback (literally, "twice baked") are types of rusks.

The Spring section is another excerpt from a longer chapter entitled, The Seasons. We saw the Fall and Winter part of it a few months back, just before Christmas. Seems like another world now. (If you're reading this at some time in the future, beyond 2020, you still should know why. If you're reading this far in the future, ask your parents.) We'll finish with the Summer portion a bit later. In describing the Spring, Myrtle again recounts the excitement of Easter morning, although interestingly there is no mention of coloring or hunting for eggs. The tradition was certainly around then, but it may not have been as ubiquitous as it is now.

Although I know everyone in the family worked hard and the life was certainly different than what I experienced around here 50 years later, it sounds like it was a magical place to grow up. I did the same buttercup thing as a kid, as do my daughters today. Also, I had no idea that you could find wild asparagus! So, enjoy these pieces, and have a Happy Easter. And here's to a better rest of the Spring.

Myrtle Emma -- School and Bumps & Bruises

Union School, 1926

I realized that it had been a while since we'd seen another installment from Myrtle Emma, the memoirs of Mill Creek Hundred-raised Myrtle Emma Morris White. In light of the trying times in which we all find ourselves these days, I've selected two chapters that seem appropriate in their own ways. With children all over the country currently receiving their education at home and not in their schools, the first segment sees Myrtle recounting her memories of attending the small, mid-19th Century schoolhouse that stood just up the road from her home. In the second chapter, we have her writing about things that I'm sure many antsy kids are getting at home -- Bumps and Bruises. As a special "bonus", she even mentions the "Q word."

The school Myrtle attended was the Union School, District 31. A few years back it shared with another school a post which gave the general outlines of the school's history, as far as it's known. The problem is...the history's not known all that well. The school stood a couple hundred feet west of Corner Ketch Road, just south of today's Estates of Corner Ketch neighborhood. The datestone on the two-story schoolhouse was inscribed 1850, but it's said that this date was for the addition of the second story. Supposedly the original structure was a log schoolhouse built in 1780, replaced by the first story of the stone school in 1811. I don't have any particular reason to doubt this story, but I can't confirm it either.