The Grapes Over The Big Pond

"Sun, Sept.19,1926:We have been busy,busy, busy the last few days. Len helped finish the trashing, first at John Tippet's and then at Win Tippet's. It was a very warm day on Friday and a terrible hot day yesterday. Could hardly work but had so much to do. Thursday we washed and then baked and made 2 kettles of plum preserves besides going to the Weis place and gathering plums and crabs.* Friday we made a cake, cooked more plum preserves, ironed and cleaned up. Uncle Edd went to Apple River on Friday and picked up Aunt Tille and Aunt Maggie [in photo from L. to R. Aunt Annie, Aunt Maggie, Aunt Tillie and Amelia -Lillian's mother] to stay with them for awhile. Saturday night around 10-30* it started to rain and it rained a good part of the night.We didn’t go to church today as the roads were so muddy as usual on Sunday.

This noon when we were eating dinner a car drove up by the gate. Three fellows jumped out and two went down in the ditch and one fellow sat on the bank and proceeded to pick grapes on the wire over the big pond, as big and bold as can be! We got worked up about it. Not that we want the grapes but don’t like to have them picked for wine. Len hollered out the window but they didn’t move. Then Ruby went down and wrote down their license & city license number and ordered them off. They wanted to know who lived here, very much provoked I guess. They stopped at Fiedler’s place.

Len went up there this afternoon. They had asked Fiedlers the way to Nick Weis’. They said they was chased off the property down here. Mr. Fiedler told them they should have asked for the grapes instead of just picking them.

Ruby & I walked up to Aunt Annie’s this afternoon. We staid to supper."

* crabs are crabapples
* 10-30 is 10:30 p.m. As you read Lillian's Diaries you will note how she changes the way she indicates a time. I think this must have been influenced by how others during this period were doing it. I see it reflected in her letters as well as the diaries.

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