|
Interview of Two
Nebraska
Residents |
|
|
Mrs. Smith grew
up in Omaha
during the
1940s. |
Mr. Jones lived
on a farm about
five miles south
of Nebraska City
during the
1940s. |
|
What was your
house like? |
We lived in a
three-story
house in a city
of about 50,000
people. The
living room was
on the lower
floor, bedrooms
and a bathroom
were on the
second floor,
and the top
floor was one
big bedroom that
my sisters and I
shared. |
We lived in a
small house in
the country. We
didn't have
indoor plumbing,
so we used an
outhouse. Our
water came from
a well. I shared
a bedroom with
my two brothers.
All the girls
slept in another
bedroom and my
parents had the
third bedroom. |
|
If you didn't
have indoor
plumbing, how
did you take a
bath? |
|
We put a metal
pan on top of
the wood burning
stove and heated
water every
Saturday night.
My parents
poured this
water into a
metal tub and we
took a bath. We
started with the
youngest child,
then the next
youngest and so
on. We all used
the same water. |
|
What did you do
for chores? |
I helped my
mother with the
cooking and
cleaning. |
I helped Dad
with feeding the
cattle and
milking them. I
used to like to
squirt some milk
to the cats. I
also carried
cobs for the
stove and helped
in the vegetable
garden in the
summer. |