Review of
A
Book of Chores As Remembered By a Former Kid, by Bob Artley
Five out of five stars
My father grew
up on a farm similar to that described in this book. No electricity or running
water and a wood stove for cooking and heating the basement and a coal stove
for heating the living quarters upstairs. My grandfather farmed only with
genuine horsepower until he suffered a stroke and could no longer do the work. I
observed some of the work and have seen and heard the residue for many years. I
also owned 10 acres for many years, and I milked a cow by hand and raised and
cared for many types of farm animals.
The experiences
of the author when growing up are therefore all familiar to me, either first or
second hand. There are the struggles to care for the animals in the bitter cold
of Iowa to simply doing the routine jobs of caring for the garden and feeding
the chickens, ducks and geese. One point that I would like to make is that it
was not all work until you drop. There are many fun things to do on a farm,
especially one with a creek, which my paternal grandparents had on their
property. There is no greater joy than taking off your clothes and taking a dip
in the creek when the temperature is in the nineties. Artley mentions that and
it is a high point of the book.
Yes, Artley and
others that grew up like he did worked hard when young. They also had many adventures
that the other children could never have and as Artley strongly hints, he had a
happy and joyful childhood.
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