In 1975, fifty years ago, Benton County Enterprise Publisher and Editor, Jab White, said he wanted to hear about his readers memories of sights and sounds in Benton County. He had many responses, but one came from Mrs. Bob White who was married to long time Benton County Sheriff Bob White.
She wrote, “Here are a few of the sights and sounds I remember as a child growing up in Lincoln, Missouri.
The first would be my father, Merlin Henry up early in the morning grinding coffee for the morning brew. That would be for grown-ups, cocoa for the children, also building fires in three stoves so that the house would be warm when his large family arose.
Sometime later the train whistle would blow and he was off to the post office to work the mail, then start on the rural mail route riding one horse (Old Queen) and using (Old Buck) as a pack horse.
As he passed our house he would blow a whistle for one of his family to pick up our mail and give him his lunch, which he often did not eat as it would be frozen by noon. Again the same whistle would be blown to gather his children in for the evening mail. Later he drove a horse to a cart, and I can still hear him approaching. Then later a Model-T replaced the cart.
The town siren blew at noon and again at 6 in the evening. It too, was blown when a fire occurred. One blast for one end of town, two for the other. Having no fire department this gave us great concerns.
I remember well different people driving cows from town to nearby pastures outside of town, stopping them at the town well near our home to water them morning and evening.
I can still hear the laughter as we were picking blackberries in a path that seemed terribly big. Guess it was as we picked 150 gallons one year. Laughter was also hear as baseball was being played in our pasture, or it could be a game played with sticks and a can called (Old Sow in the hole) or various other sports.
One winter when it was very, very icy, I remember seeing my brothers skate to school. Als on winter nights one could hear children sleigh riding on Wisdom Hill. No cars were on the road so it was safe.
Almost every Saturday night there was a band concert on the hotel lawn which was run by Mrs. McEwan. Kenneth Davis was the conductor and had taught most of the people involved as music was not taught in school. This music could be heard from a great distance. Sometimes fiddle music was enjoyed there too.
Church bells always rang out on Sunday morning and most everyone went to church. When the bell of the Lutheran church tolled during the week, it meant that one of their members had died and it tolled once for every year of their age, so we stood and counted until we had the age figured out, then tried to determine who it might be, not knowing until it was learned by word of mouth, as there weren’t any telephones. Our neighbor Arch Lockard, ran a dray wagon and delivered kerosene, groceries, feed and etc.
Lincoln sometimes had a fair, which was quite an event and one could see and hear sounds that were different and enjoyable. Gene Nash ran a drug store and if you happened to get an Eskimo Pie with a pink center (instead of white) you were entitled to another. And that was great! Silent movies were shown at night at the school and this was a treat. Once in awhile a tent show would come to town.
I watched my brother play basketball on an outside court and I did too for three years, also one year of volleyball. Tournaments were played in Sedalia or Smithton as they were the only one that gymnasiums. One had to put their hands in the pits of their arms to warm up when playing outside, but it was fun.
Our little red wagon made a noise of its own as we took it to town to get five cents worth of ice which would cool tea for both dinner and supper on hot, sticky days. There was a man named McQueen that would drive up with a load of watermelons and Mom would purchase some and place them in a tub of cold water to be eaten later. They tasted cold to me, but now I know they weren’t.
On occasion, some of the Henry clan would go home with my Uncle Matt and Aura Fields and have the enjoyment of spending the day on a farm about four miles north of Lincoln. We rode in a surrey, going with them after church on Sunday and returning again in the evening for church.
The Bible was read out loud by my father each morning before breakfast, followed by prayer and I have seen both Mother and Father kneel by their bedside to pray before retiring. This is well worth remembering.”
It was signed Mrs. Bob White, Warsaw, MO.
