Hartland V

It's hard to tell just what year things happened. I know more where things happened rather than when. One subject I can cover in relation to the kids is money. I wanted them all to be very appreciative of, and responsible for money. Thus I've always been totally against an "allowance", in other words, money received on a regular basis for no apparent reason. So rather than that, I simply gave all the kids the opportunity to work and earn money. I belive it was beneficial. (Not only that, a lot of work actually got done!) Of course, everything done wasn't paid for, but everything to do with the business was.



I got them all to start a savings account at a bank. But I also allowed them to withdraw it. My theory was that if they were not allowed to withdraw it, they would lose interest in it, and feel that it wasn't really theirs.



I also had fun with them with money. I might have already mentioned it, but in the back yard in East Hartland, we got the field plowed, and had a big vegetable garden. But there were always a lot of stones. So one day, I told all the kids, "I'll give you 2 cents for every small stone, and 5 cents for every big stone you pick up and put on the stone wall; you can use the express wagon. This deal is only good for the next 60 minutes." Man, you should have seen those stones fly off the land, onto the express wagon, and onto the stone wall! It was breathtaking! And a lot of fun!



One Christmas Marjorie gave me a change machine, to dispense quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. She gave me that to facilitate paying highway tolls. But I also put it to good use in another way. At times totally unpredictable by me or anyone else, out of the blue, I would announce to the kids: "Money time!" They would all gather round, and I would dispense to each kid an equal amount of quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. It was fun for all concerned.



One Sunday afternoon I walked with the kids up to the north end of Old Town Road to the "Skyliner", an ice cream place, and got them all ice cream cones. Then I said to them: "I want you all to remember this day, because it will always be known as 'The Good Old Days'"



For one summer we traded Gifford Jr. for Marlene, one of Chuck & Ellie's daughters in Pittsburgh. Chuck Minster was Marjorie's brother.



I always thought our place in Hartland was a wonderful place to raise our kids. The air was pure, and every cloudless night you could look up and see the Milkey Way. Also, the moral environment was good, due to the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church, which was full of born-again believers. Their pastor called on us about 3 times to get us to come to their church, but for some reason, I didn't. Instead, I joined the Congregational Church in the center of town, and became active in it.



The government of the Congregational Church was indirectly by the congregation. It was governed by the Ecclesiastical Society, which consisted of most of the members, and was founded back in colonial times. In reading the constitution of the organizations, you could easily see that in those early times, they were all very strong believers. However, at the time we moved to Hartland, most were simply what are called "modernists", in other words, not what we would call born-again believers.



To be continued. (I want to continue where I left off next time).