"February--the fun month" from the February 10, 1976 Door County Advocate
By GRACE SAMUELSON
February--the fun month
By GRACE SAMUELSON
Often there was a thaw in January, and then February would settle down to more snow and ice and cold winds, but we never seemed to mind as much. It's a short month, and was really a fun month because of all the holidays. Patriotism held sway. It was a month that made history come alive and gave us an excuse for parties, programs and the like.
I was in Miss Colignon's first grade room when we learned that our flag now had 48 stars. New Mexico had been admitted to the Union on Jan. 6, 1912, and then Arizona Feb. 14. We talked about what a wonderful country we lived in, and how fortunate to live in the "Land of the Free." We were also instructed that, like the lives of great men, we could leave behind us footprints on the sands of Time.
Miss Colignon used to have us put our heads down on our desks to rest awhile after we came in from recess. Then, as she moved up and down the aisles, laying a light hand our "sleepy" heads, the delicate aroma of her talcum floated by. That was the grade where I learned which was north and which was south. And she would read to us from "The Wizard of Oz."
Then our holidays weren't juggled around so that they'd always come on a Monday, we looked forward to the various days and made much ado in preparation.
Groundhog's day wasn't a holiday, but a conversation piece, and we'd speculate before and after as to the six more weeks of winter. There would still be time for sliding, ice-skating, games of fox and geese, skiing, and the guilty pleasure of sneaking that forbidden hitch on the bobsleds that came into town.
Then coming home to carry in wood or coal for the old black range. Walking into warm, steamy kitchen, fragrant with the smell of Johnny-cake or gingerbread, or the lusty smell of a boiled dinner. We'd scrape the thick frost off the window with our nails, then blow to make a peep-hole so we could read the figures on the thermometer.
Usually we were home early enough to make the trip down to the cellar for Mama, to bring up potatoes and cabbage from the bins, carrots, rutabagas from the crocks of sand, onions hanging in bags from the beams, and most likely a jar of pickles or sauce. Our reward might be a slice of bread and butter spread with brown sugar. (One day Grandma reached for the wrong jar and spread dry mustard on. Ugh!) We helped peel the vegetables and the potatoes, trying our best to peel them thin, reminded of the little girl whose Mother made her peel the peelings.
The days were getting a little longer and folks said that once you got the plants and sick folks through February they always improved. The houseplants had to be moved away from the windows on the coldest nights so they didn't freeze, and about this time of year the Chinese laundryman who did Papa's starched white shirts would give him a bulb which, put into water, would eventually develop into a gorgeous Chinese lily.
Those special days at school our readers related stories of famous heroes and statesmen. We heard about Edison and his inventions — his birthday was the eleventh. Then, Honest Abe, best loved of all the famous. Stories of how he walked miles to return a penny he'd been overpaid. Of pulling a pig out of the mire, and how his simple speech at Gettysburg surpassed the two hour oration of Douglas. Of how he freed the slaves and struggled to unite a country divided. For our Lincoln booklets we drew log cabins, rail fences and cut silhouettes of his familiar head. We sang "Tenting in the Old Camp Ground" and "His Truth is Marching On." And at home a jelly roll became a Lincoln Log, covered with chocolate frosting, roughened to resemble bark.
Then it was time to get ready for Valentine's Day and we worked hours, fashioning home-made Valentines; cutting red construction paper hearts in various sizes to hang on "baby-ribbon" and to say: "If of me you cease to think, my heart would SHRINK and Shrink, and s-h-r-i-n-k!” When we saved up enough pennies we would go down to the Little store on Cedar St. where you could buy fancy, fold-up valentines for a dime, stand-up ones at a nickel, and brightly decorated hearts a penny.
The older kids sometimes spent as much as 75 cents on huge lacy or expanding ones for special sweethearts. Here too you could get penny candy — red cinnamon hearts or candy hearts with a message. And heart shaped paraffin "gum” filled with red syrup. Sometimes the comic valentines, like huge colored newspaper sheets, showed up. These had cruel jibes at old maids, homely teachers or dumb kids and were not openly sent. If you had a chance to help create the valentine box you were especially privileged and worked to make it a thing of art. The day the box was opened was a special one; sometimes you were even allowed to wear your Sunday dress and hair ribbons to school. Usually, too, there was a committee who provided a treat — cookies, cakes or candy. And if YOU were chosen to pass out the valentines you were in seventh heaven.
At home we were thrilled to help cut out the heart-shaped cookies, sprinkle them with red sugar, or frost them and decorate with red hearts And how proud we were to carry our efforts to school for others to enjoy.
Sometimes we listened to, or took part in debates as to which one was the greater president — Washington or Lincoln. We revered the Father of our Country but we truly loved Lincoln. He was of the PEOPLE. We retold the story of George and his little hatchet, cut out pictures of Washington crossing the Delaware and learned pieces to speak at the program.
Then at home we watched as Mama prepared a cherry pie to celebrate the day. We were either terribly nosey kids or Mama had a flair for dramatizing cooking. We seemed to forever hang over the table to watch her bake. She'd sift a pile of flour directly onto the breadboard, add a good pinch of salt, a chunk of home-rendered lard, working it in till she had pieces the size of peas.
Then, judiciously, she added he water till the mixture blended and molded itself into a ball. With deft motions she rolled it out to fit the pan, poured in the drained cherries, sugar and flour to thicken. A top crust went on, with her own individual markings for steam vents.
Oh, the fragrance when it came from the oven, and the luscious flavor of fruit and flaky crust when dessert was served! Smells drew us home fast on wintry nights. Johnny cake on stormy nights, spice-bread with currants, baking powder biscuits with maple syrup or honey. Graham gems with apple jell. Upside-down cake.
Leap year day brought parties at church or school — "Socials." We weren't invited to those till we got older. There was much talk of women proposing, and games were devised to put the ladies in the forefront. Then February, the FUN month was over.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
Articles by Grace Samuelson