Great Expectations
By Jane and Carol
In 1945, my mother graduated from Madison Normal Training.
She began teaching Grades 1-4 in a two-room schoolhouse three miles west of
Dawson. By the end of the year, my dad noticed that the girl he had gone to
country school with was now a young lady and it was time for a new
relationship. Mom, having grown up in a home where much sharing of meals with
others was a daily occurrence, began preparing for that ritual by noting that
in Dawson, Hanson Jewelry Store sold china and stemware. As her monthly
paycheck permitted, a setting or two was purchased. The mother of a student
began selling Easterling and that solved the silverware problem. A traveling
salesman passing through the area selling tablecloths convinced Mom that he had
a “one of a kind, foreign made, exotic, and not sold anywhere else” tablecloth.
(Lesson for the teacher: Beware of
traveling salesmen.”- No washing instructions- the starch came out, the thread
frayed, lesson learned!) Tonight the table is set and family is “expected”
to join one another for a time of dining and fellowship.
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