Latah County Oral History Collection

Laura Schrager: Miller. Tomer Hanlon's grandfather was George W Tomer, who came to the Moscow area in 1871. He was involved in state and local politics and education in the county. On this tape, Mrs. Hanlon tells stories that she heard when young about their arrival in the area. Indian horse races in Indian scares, the 1893 crop failure in trading in Walla Walla.

Mr. Sandlin describes how the site for the Moscow Cemetery was chosen. She remembers school in the one room schoolhouse, the eighth grade exam high school in Moscow, and her job as a cashier in pennies. Was it $15 an acre or was it $15 for the whole thing? Because it was $15 an acre? Was that what the homestead fee was on that?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: It does not say somewhere in there. I'm not talking in there now. I'm.

Laura Schrager: You know, I just turned on.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Well, what preliminary. I'll turn it off to see what is.

Laura Schrager: The Indians that year. Now, they say that there was a race track. Where your house, where their homestead was.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Well, it was just, actually road. Well, you know, a dirt road, but they didn't have racing their horses on. Because Indians were great for horse races. And I would bet, you know, just like they do now. And sometimes lose everything ahead on. But anyway, they were good sports. They were they come from all over the country to run on that track because, you know, it's like a racetrack now.

Beaten down. It was hard turf.

Laura Schrager: That was a racetrack before your, grandparents settled.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: And none of them. I'm not sure about that, but. Of course, there were three boys in my grandfather's family, and they all had horses who they all had Indian friends have had horses. So they kind of gathered up there for their races. Somewhere in there there was a story about them, band of Indians going through here, and they were going up to Carlin Country to run, to run their horses.

They had a whole band. And when they went behind it came back on ahead. The ones they were riding, they lost all their horses. But once they actually wrote back.

Laura Schrager: With the women come when they were, the horse races were gone.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: I can tell you that I never heard anyone say probably run back, spurring them on. I really don't know.

Laura Schrager: Was moms moms quite a quite a character.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: But he was my father's friend. The young man was his dad. That same name. But, he.

Laura Schrager: Oh, just quoting me, that's the younger.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: I don't know, because that was said. Yeah, I know it's in here. Yeah, we'd lost maps. Was the name.

Laura Schrager: what was it like? Did he know that.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: And tell you that?

Laura Schrager: Do you know what they do together? Your father.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Oh, they have those young kids, did whatever young kids did. And I don't know what really most I think was horse back riding, racing ponies.

Laura Schrager: They wouldn't be up here that long with the Indians. would it do for the whole summer?

Unknown: Do you think?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Just for them tell about times when they were with them and on one from the summertime. But then I don't know how long or anything.

Laura Schrager: Did you want. What is the story with, the bow marks? Marks? His bow. And your father? Oh, there was one story about your father's stringing. Was marked with bow. Might have been, father.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Just leave it in there. Close. I can tell you more about that.

Laura Schrager: Did your grandparents, did they bring much stuff with them when they came to you?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: I don't think so. Anything over there? Personal belongings. You know, clothes.

Laura Schrager: And.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: A few dishes. I don't know that I have or have had that my grandmother brought. Who prized pieces? Government.

Laura Schrager: Could they? How did they come up? Do you know how they came up to Moscow from Lewiston?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: And I think some of these people were already here, met them with wagons. You know, we don't know where they could come.

Laura Schrager: I was just wondering whether they came through would have come through. some, like the road was pretty crummy between.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Here and I was old grade and not lost. And. Great. They came up. It would take, take almost a day to get to the top of it. That's the way the game from Lewiston and company. Heard him tell about coming up to the top of the hill and one day, and staying all night up there and then coming on.

With a team of horses and a wagon like, you know, very fast. Traveling.

Laura Schrager: Today, if you speak of the boat passage from, Portland, you.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Know, probably so. But I don't remember anything about that.

Laura Schrager: Or anyone from California.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: There somewhere that states that both they came from San Francisco to Portland the next year saying because because those of you probably read that that's all I know about the boat trip. There's lots more course. Don't not.

Laura Schrager: Now they went to Walla Walla to trade.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Nearly two years. Went there for their in the fall for their flour and their sugar and their coffee and those things, all those things. And didn't rose and then later they went. They could give them a lodestone. But first they were born in.

Laura Schrager: We they just go in the fall.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Well, maybe in the spring, but not more than twice a year, probably in from spring.

Laura Schrager: Do you know when they started, shipping grain that was here? Because I've read that they started, shipping great, grain from while, out. So homesick. But I don't know how long the family.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: How do you.

Laura Schrager: Think that,

Nellie Tomer Handlin: I don't even.

Laura Schrager: Did your grandmother, our first speaker for the Indians?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Oh, yeah. She applied for a long time. She always fed them. We always came. We're friendly and. Could be quite a starting place in my grandfather's home. Come through and stay all night. Maybe stay there. She was friendly with them.

Laura Schrager: Sounds like your place was through so.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: And by half way, place. I wouldn't know how to cope with the.

Laura Schrager: Did Indians continue to visit your grandfather?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: In my area for a good many years. And then they finally all settled down the ones that were left here settle down on land from left. And that probably gone. And of course, the old ones. The island Indians grew up and went somewhere else. Kids do. But in my time I never even saw any of it. So.

That's just all part of Red heard.

Laura Schrager: Can you tell me the story about how the, site for the Moscow cemetery was picked up?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: You have. I'm in there somewhere.

Laura Schrager: Yeah. I just wanted to have you tell it to me, because if I remember you telling it to me so much better than. Than what I read.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: In my grandmother's. Mother was real ill, and I knew she wouldn't live. And there was no cemetery, so she and 2 or 3 other ladies was an area. Would horseback around over the country to try to pick a side, and they decided on use. You're on here. We had first thought they would choose the well, what would be university campus.

Now, and then decided to pick up on my great grandmother. Then was the first white lady buried there and her stone still there was like a one that's over.

That's hard. Started. I think there were some Indian children and maybe grown ups to bury there before 1873, but there was no record, no names or anything. So they've always said that she was a first white woman to be buried. Her name was Montgomery.

Laura Schrager: No, it's your mother's parents. The I mean, your grandmother's parents that told your grandparents that Moscow was a good place, too.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: So they were here first. They were somehow in this area. Now, I don't know what they were right here or not, but they were up in this part of Idaho and.

That's how I remember it. I think that's right.

Laura Schrager: I've read a lot, you know, reading these articles about your grandfather. And yet, except when they have those stories about, you know, that he actually tells, I don't have that good an idea. You know what kind of man he want.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: You. Have those pictures, you know, a little rough, but his name, he was a well-built, straight, tall man, Premier. Six feet and so I can remember when he always worked in beard. He had, of course, my recollection is when he was gray, he had pretty gray, really. Hair and kind of a community minded man. He had to do with early school, some roads and things like that.

And I'm sure I told you that he had been with the legislature before. The state was still territory, kind of very high minded Democrat from way back.

He was farmer too, and raised horses, cattle like I did.

Laura Schrager: Did he put a lot of stress on education? Come.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: He was real anxious that there'd be schools.

And, I just for the young people.

This is it's don't you don't,

Carry. Who's. She was the only one that graduated from the university. Of course, that was many years after. But, he had quite a bit to do with getting the university, which is a land grant school located here.

Laura Schrager: Do you know what you have to do with that?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: What he had? Yeah, well, not really. I mean, just promoting it, you know, like you have to do get a thing started a little more in grade school and school. Oh, groundwork done for for the kids. You can get a permit, put a school there. And he worked for that.

And this.

Probably tells like a like that when the school was instituted. But that's not to do with this. Only his star was one of the early graduate.

Laura Schrager: So, I've forgotten. Did he have putting in to know the setting up the the first school here. Do you know.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: What he had to do? That you have an article there somewhere ahead.

Laura Schrager: And that's.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: You know, on some school board, whatever. I guess they call it school board.

But he and some other men were. sort of the leaders to get a school system started.

Unknown: And you can you.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Yourself on that was that article that do a girl had written that for a. I think congratulatory comments. Yeah.

Laura Schrager: they mentioned in one of these articles that there was a mark on the ground where Mark Swanson's, TV star.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Okay, I only the try to trace down this on Indian trail. It used to be a kind of a trail between. Well, actually, between those two, them car lane. Okay. And they found relics that they thought were, landmarks, you know, I have no idea. Some word on one of them.

Laura Schrager: Did that go right through your clothes?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Well, I've been never there. I think through. Pardon? And then up to. Now you know her. Mrs. Clyde lives. Well, it's like you go up, I think 95 now and then, kind of, you know, in this area east.

Laura Schrager: Did they start trading down in Lewiston after they turn it around? So.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: That was lost. And then was getting to be quite a town where they could buy almost anything they needed, you know, so they eventually quit making that long trip while.

Laura Schrager: What would they trade for supplies?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Well, they they'd take wheat in and and get flour like that. You otherwise they would just buy of course, by sugar and coffee not staple things, but they would take their own grain and trade for flour.

Because they had mills, what they call grist mill. Through the grinder, let him make flour.

Laura Schrager: Did they ever tell of the building? talk with the building of the railroad around here.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: That's where they had lots of Chinese help. Came in. Lots of cheap labor. I'm not sure what year it was. Did anything tell where, what year it was?

Laura Schrager: I'm not positive. I think I know it made it to Kendrick in 91. not. Research when it.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Came. I don't know why artists went on. I just kept at it. But about the only thing I remember of that, of hearing my dad. Tell me about Chinese that they brought in because he would work so cheap to put out in. And he was just young boy. And it was fun. So that much work here him talk Chinese.

Laura Schrager: Did Italians work on the railroad because they worked on, a lot of the railroads later on.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: I don't know about that. Maybe so. Not now. The thing I can remember telling about the Chinese. The word. Because they it work for almost nothing. And they were very near by the railroad company.

Laura Schrager: Did did you go to Moscow? Very much. You were doing.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Not awfully. We lived six miles and that was, horses was quite a little trip until I was ready for a high school.

Laura Schrager: And were there any special places that you'd go in? Came into Moscow?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Come cook stores and put a day in, you know, shop you all over lunch? We would have a list of things to buy because we didn't come very often.

Laura Schrager: You read out in town?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Oh, no. The restaurant. We had our dinner.

Laura Schrager: They were the main eating places in the hotel. So.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: There was one we usually call it. Then the person home sits down on the corner of third and. Jackson. It's an apartment house now, but it used to be a restaurant. That's where we used one for them. We knew the people. That were in.

Laura Schrager: Whatever would get served together.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Teach family style. Later, just like you'd have at home. Or I don't remember whether he had choices or not. I think it was just that's what they serve. That's what you'd. Like it or not. But it was treat to know the come to town, have a dinner.

Laura Schrager: To remember, the eighth grade exam that you took.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: I remember when I took it, there were questions sent out by the council to bring down the schools and done. And we were told ahead, like in English. What, poems to study and, then we had to write it. Have heaven punctuated properly like that. We knew what to study for, but it was real business like.

Some of them a little bit later, then came in the courthouse and took their. But when I took it, they just sent questions to the teacher and she came to us. But it was real to me. big that because you either passed if it didn't pass, which had to go to grade school another year, half started going grades.

Laura Schrager: What was graduation like? Was that a.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Beginning? Not for each grade. They sent you a diploma.

Laura Schrager: Or your first impressions of the high school came here?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Well, scared it was a big thing. Came from my little country school. About 30 kids and and then there were 3 or 400 in here. So I didn't know anybody could. So I was kind of confused, along with a lot of other country kids. Would lose my lock or go in the locker room one time or one end and right around the corner be my locker for fell and the other one was there and they all looked like.

So I'd be trying to get somebody else. Yeah, that was about the worst experience. But you get adjusted. But kids do. I like to then.

Laura Schrager: There were a lot of country kids, in high school.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: And then know that in that bus, you know, you either had to stay in town or. Well, had either stand out or go back and forth, and that was too far. So I stayed in. And then I would go home every Friday night or every Friday night if there was something I wanted to go to on the weekend.

But mostly I went home and I would.

Laura Schrager: You could get kept pretty busy with school work during the week, So you wouldn't have much time to run around after school.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: and have things to run around. You usually have social things on the weekend, you know, Friday and Saturday nights. I always came back Sunday afternoon, and then I would go to. To the Methodist church. They had a league called it for Young People. Boys went to that Sunday night.

Laura Schrager: Was that a social?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Well, no, not really. It was just kind of my church service only. But young people, you know, we.

But there were basketball games and all those things during the week, like they had no.

Laura Schrager: The sports were pretty big back then to come here.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: football. Basketball, smaller school course. But here I don't know.

Laura Schrager: Did the girls play? the sports too?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: I don't think so. I'm pretty sure we didn't have girls basketball.

We had, groups. Oh, yeah. The I don't know, I guess I was maybe second year. We had a English teacher who helped us organize a kind of, oh fun group. We call ourselves Sharps and Flats. The girls were in sharps, and the boys were the class. And we'd have a party within our class.

Laura Schrager: that was a social circle.

Did you have debates or anything in the school for us, you know?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Oh, I'm sure they did, and I didn't. I didn't, participate in, but they didn't have to be suicide any. And they had league clubs like, c and groups like that, for boys and girls. Things compared. Well, what they have no. Only smaller scale, of course.

Laura Schrager: I'm surprised there were 300 kids in the sewer room.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: In high school. Four years of high school. It didn't have junior high. Went right from eighth grade to high school for the ninth, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.

Laura Schrager: Happened year round. Choose to go to, business card.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Oh, that's the. And how so I could work. I could have gone to university, but one day that I to work in an office. So that's what I did.

Laura Schrager: Didn't tell me again, what it was like to work and pennies and how you got that job.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: I don't know how I got it. Only some through somebody. Me, I guess through the school. That school was out in. Do you know, I guess the business college. And then they, like they do now. They can help place the kids, you know, in jobs and, the man that owned told me that he'd heard the one the cashier pennies.

So I went to Penney's and talked to the store manager, and he needed somebody. By the 1st September. So I lived on a farm. Sure. For September, I came to town to work for him. In the meantime, my folks had decided to quit farming. They had to sell all of the horses and cattle. And then we moved to town.

I went with pennies.

Laura Schrager: What was that job line like? How did that work again? Where you'd be the sales woman would be down the floor.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Up, and she was upstairs moving from the. Well, he had,

Kind cups. I didn't have anything to do with the merchandise, but they would sell an article and put the money in a coin cup, and there was a we pulled her like a pulley to a up, and then I ran on a wire up to the office where I made the change. And somebody so that.

In meantime, they were wrapping the package in time. I got the package, wrap the other change back.

How the deal was we'd stay open Saturday night. Everything was cash, pennies, and there was no charge. Okay. I've never seen so much money. Never handled money like that or had the bell.

Was my daily sure about that money, That's what I like to do. I work six years.

And I was married. Not my. Not. It was my first job with working for anybody. I think I got. Excuse me? Like $75 a month. That would been in about 1918. I think it was $7. We got paid over two weeks. But that was the first money I ever made. So that was big money.

Laura Schrager: Is that about the, all the stores were, you know, you know, would they use to.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Yeah. No, most of them had cash registers right down on the floor and then pennies later did, of course. I think pennies maybe was the only store that I thought they were not the only store that had that either, because Williamston store, which was at the Mr. Tuna building, they had a system like that too, and they gradually all got to cash registers.

Laura Schrager: Saturday night was a pretty big.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Night, Farmers would come in after work and by clothes and stuff would be open from 6 to 9, will be open till nine. But we often did more business. No three of them had done all they.

Laura Schrager: Oh, you mean they open up again?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Six. Not only did.

Laura Schrager: They.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Just stay open, they they were open from 8 to 6 anyway. They just stay open on Saturday. Not till nine.

Laura Schrager: So they don't keep store open.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Only on the all through Christmas time. Some things are.

That talking.

While 1893 is story goes they can just rain or fall it in harvest. Anything and many of them lost their land. Many of the early settlers and my folks were among them.

Well, I think maybe they didn't just lose it that year, but they. They were able to stay on for a few years after that. But with no crop. And.

How much money saved by many? all of the country lost their land.

Laura Schrager: How did how would that happen? That they would they,

You know, I mean, you did. They owed money on their land that they weren't.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: I suppose they I'm not sure how that worked in Sugar Harbor. All the workings that would was. But, with no crop that year at all. And they had debts on. No, really. But good. But I've heard them tell me time. Well, 493 and my. Then a harvest and things and they and the. Banks would foreclose on me.

Oh well most of my guys had a mortgage on that place for trying to. Oh, borrow money to build buildings. New buildings like this. And a lot of the men took advantage, like the banks and the men who had money, who had lend loan money to them. And they foreclosed on and just took over. The one man which would steal them, cause not much more because people had more money, more places to borrow and more, actually more savings, money that the times were real hard and when you lose a whole crop, enough income, you must pretty bad.

Laura Schrager: What did they do?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Well, they rented land and they moved from this place. In about 1901 or something like that. And we lived on rented land. Then most of the time we on.

Laura Schrager: I mean, they didn't actually lose their farm until 19 oh.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: One. No, I don't think so. But by the time they moved off of it, I know maybe they had to pay rent for years or something like that. But thinking back when I. When I was living that and then after my mother died and then we moved to another farm before I started school.

Real hard going for body. Of course, everybody was affected by the merchants and everybody, you know, there was no money to.

Farmers didn't make any money. They couldn't buy anything. So it was kind of a bad time for everybody, both of us, that grew crops and also depended on.

The people in there to buy from them.

Laura Schrager: People? Sure. Stories about that.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: The person.

You know, it's much worse for them. And then you've probably heard them talk about. We probably weren't here in 1929, had none of that. And, there was this man of 93. I mean, I'm sure people had more, like, blood. Drove from the like than.

Laura Schrager: How did they feed their stock that year to.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Go up here and say they would? Take part of this grain and dry it out and say, put it in the barn. Some, but it just can dry out so they could feed it, you know, but then they couldn't sell it because it was an elementary war. But it would do for feed, you know, if you get it dried out, like it like ripened.

Well, kind of ripened. It's all right for passing cattle feed.

Laura Schrager: So what happened then is that it started raining in August, and so the wheat never matured as it.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Never got revived. So they could come out of the wind, combine their binders, but never did really mature or get ripe.

Laura Schrager: Did you help much around for?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: No, I wasn't big enough. I was course sick. So I start school water and, much up till in. And then after first year I went through and my grandmother and grandfather and I lived in town here while my then his brother were getting set up to grand, a big farm out in town. But the house had to be papered and cleaned up.

So we slimmed down. Winter and I went to school in June 1st year, went to school.

Laura Schrager: But the school's pretty different. The country and the city schools?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: No.

I just had one room school, you know, for all, all grades. We had a good country schools, country schools, went it was a new building and the first year I think they'd had school for one year or one. I started about and, these they didn't have any. Well, and so we had to go back a quarter of a mile down the road to people's House to get what we can bring.

That was fun, because we could put in half a.

Day two of us and go and take a big old bucket of course. Time and got back. Schoolhouse heck was locked up. I couldn't remember that, but it was real treat to be the one chosen to go down and get the water. Got out of class plain long. I got kids to do, get them a little rope, hang themselves.

But it be pretty bad. Winters and I live. We lived two miles in the school on horseback in the fall, as long as good weather. And then when it got snowing, then my my dad would take me and we pick up all the kids along the road. We had a big sled, little ride school, and he'd be there to be home at night.

Hard way to get a little education was, the kids get in a nice, warm school bus out of their heads off. They have to walk 50ft.

Laura Schrager: Was the country school. Was that taught much differently from the city school that you went to the first year?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Sure. One teacher to all grades, and you got high school. You had teaching for every class, you know, like English and. Math and language, whatever you took nothing. Nothing like it was altogether different.

Laura Schrager: I met with the the, the elementary school that you went to that first year, whether that was much different to.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Well, they had one teacher to the school. I went to live on the corner right across from the Methodist church over here, from the annex to the new high school field. And I had one teacher for all grade teacher and.

I don't know how they do now. I think, I think they just had one teacher until like the.

Sixth grade. So they have a room teacher, I guess, now. And then they go to different rooms for different classes, but they have a homeroom teacher. But we just stayed in that one room. With one teacher.

Laura Schrager: Did you spend a lot of the time in the one room schoolhouse or just studying, preparing your lessons?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Well, you did what you could do in school and you took your books of life and homework, just like we did not.

How I said that time math. My dad was real good enough. So we always had mathematics class after supper. Dan Idaho would have been there yet. I wasn't sure good if he was.

Laura Schrager: Must have been a real challenge to balance the books.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: He 40. Well, I'm very good. I learned a little bit then. I'd been in business college, know a little about that time. I had that when watching course, and then I had to depend on my talents, so I didn't have.

Laura Schrager: Did you have a recitation bench or anything like that? I mean, you recite your lessons to the teacher.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Yeah. We go up there, be a. We had double seats, two tickets. You the to know. Then when our class time for our class came, I go up front of room and instead of having a desk in front of that front row seats, we have that for our class.

Laura Schrager: Yeah. So when you were being taught, you'd sort of go to the front. You, the.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Teacher? And then the other kids were supposed to be studying while that was going on. Because they had all, like I say, all it grades and all the different subjects. Kids ever learned anything?

Laura Schrager: Were the classes pretty? You know, if you were in first grade, did that mean the. Well, first of the bad example, you were in fourth grade? Would that mean that you would be with a certain bunch of kids who were all in fourth grade? Now, would you graduate to fifth grade with that? Did you have.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: To just automatically go on? I guess you didn't have an ceremonial thing for. But the books, you know, were written for grade people, kids, you know, subjects, arithmetic and geography and spelling. You know what? You had your book for each subject.

Laura Schrager: Was there any provision for, a child to, you know, just couldn't do math? You know, we could do everything else pretty well.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Okay. So we just didn't do it.

Laura Schrager: I guess it just didn't do well.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: No, I can't think that there was. You mean like, Well, special classes for those who are harder to learn. I don't know what they call them anymore. They were not retarded, but someone was, you know, just some things are easier than nothing.

But until you got eighth grade, you didn't take any examination that I can remember of. We just told them everything. Learned one in the next. So dad had passed his eighth grade exam before you became the high school.

Laura Schrager: Could most kids who were in eighth grade pass an exam?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Yeah, cause I know one. I think the year you see.

I think three of us took the exam. Yeah, I did not pass, but, You didn't always never have to maybe go on a year.

Like I had said, they were, they knew about what to pair. Oh, they didn't really. Only in English. And like that they would give us a certain either a poem or an essay or something that we were to memorize. Then memorize the punctuation, spelling like that. You. I know we had the great stone face. Then we had chamber novelists for another one, but always stayed with me.

I'd never forget those. I hated them, they were such a challenge. We go over and over, you know, but you had to have ever come and just write in a period of quotation Mark Verything had to be perfect. Suppose mine were perfect. Okay.

Laura Schrager: They did. They emphasize memorization.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Yeah. And we had a lot of that to memorize. And reading aloud. That was another thing that that's the thing that I think they don't do much for now. But we would read aloud to the class with just to learn. You learn to read aloud, which was real good.

There are lots of people today who can get up and read an articles they've had to study. you know, I'm pretty well educated, but it's hard for them to get up, read for an audience.

Laura Schrager: Would you, when you were in the older grades or even when you were fairly young grades, would you help other students with their written?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Good, because we had all ages, you know, little kids up to big kids. We'd help one another.

Laura Schrager: So you could you could sort of talk in the classroom and to help them.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Well, or they'd let you sit with them and you could just whisper, I think for double seats, we could change around, sit them. Sometimes you to punish you a bit, make the girl sit with a boy or something like that. And I was.

Laura Schrager: Real. I was.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Yeah, usually was. Because probably some kind of stupid boy. You must do it. I didn't get upset with the ones you kind of liked to.

Wonder how you ever grew up too much I look back, no wonder I do anything at all. I think I ever learned very much in grade school. Helped me much. And then from my dad and I, we learned that.

Laura Schrager: He helped you along especially.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: This would take like a long time.

Laura Schrager: To put words to them. You know how the kids were doing in school. It was an unusual thing, father. To help.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Oh, there just wasn't so many things for parents to be involved in. We lived out my country. There weren't things to go to. Every. And I'd like many of them do now, I think we had more. Home life. after supper, we'd all sit in, read and study and do whatever my family got to read.

There was a radio on television and all those things. You just made your own entertainment.

Which was, I think back now. Sounds kind of good. It wasn't so many things. Negative attention. Get involved in.

Laura Schrager: Did you. What kind of, did you have quite a number of books at home that you.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: We always took magazines and bought books. I have a whole. Lot of old books. Well, we always, for Christmas, got to read books and people bought books, and it was no library to go to and just plain bought my granddad pay him some read books, history books. Of course, it bothered me. Terrible. I had books my own age to read.

I never could figure out how he could sit and read those. He could.

Laura Schrager: Did you get a newspaper to come?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: It was a mouse or paper weekly. And then for years we took, what they called San Francisco Examiner, that they had taken it when they moved down. So they better read it. We always got. Newspaper.

Laura Schrager: Would people get us excited about, you know, news that was happening?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: would I can remember if they did? Of course, there was foreign news like various. Now, the Japanese and and the Russians were out of it. It was always a war going. Seemed like. And they were interested just like people now. And boys and servicemen. Okay. Of course, not as much I do now because our country wasn't all that involved in it.

Laura Schrager: Did people have much, you know, reaction to World War One?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: you know, of course, that was after I got it. Yeah. Older than all the boys from the area around. All were eligible. Went into that. Know that brought hardships. take care of the farm people who had and, on their boys to help, you know.

There just about to them all. They had the draft course they were old enough and past physical what they and go.

Laura Schrager: Doesn't sound like people around here too excited about rural. if they had any choice and that they wouldn't, we probably wouldn't have gotten involved.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: But, you know, that's it. They were kind of pushed into it. We had kind of hard times cause we were rationing foodstuffs. Not like that to me. And what we had, we didn't have any white flour. We just made flour, make bread from we, oak flour and rice flour and. Yeah, the middle class couldn't make good bread.

And I think that was the most problem of, rationing. That was flour situation. just by that time my grandmother died and I had to kind of do the cooking at home, try to make bread from some of those heavy flours. It was terrific.

Laura Schrager: Did you didn't have any whole wheat flour at all?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Oh, yeah. We didn't have whole wheat flour. But you let's have you can make good light pretty. And then we had,

Laura Schrager: Why why was there no white flour?

Nellie Tomer Handlin: I just don't know. You couldn't heard it by far. Well, you could just buy a little snack. The only. Right. You know that. And, I'm not sure why it was that some kind of cultural crisis. And I don't know why there anymore. It was long time for me to get go down by sack and white flour.

Laura Schrager: Were there any other shortages? You know, coffee or the.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Oh, I think we're sugar down coffee, too. And then, well. Sugar. I was racial and you had to have stamps to get shoes and things like that. I mean, you would only have so many pair of shoes. You. Those things all.

My own. Damn, I that was much 19 in the war. World War one year was the depression. And I know, I know my dad told us when we were mostly there. So we'll get on the same.

Now we made it back to the same thing.

That out the gate was pretty good.

Laura Schrager: Felt awful, but right.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: Look.

I had, fortunately, channel, wasn't it?

Laura Schrager: Well, this was the one that was, it was. I think it was the year before when there was an Indian scare.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: There were 2 or 3 different times. They would. Get unruly and threaten the people.

their amount and thing, they would get the National Guard and then strike them up like that, but made the settlers afraid because.

And women and children would.

Now live in a time when they were poor, did not know what they were men, and of course, take care of their farms and, stock and stuff with just the women and the kids who were really fought. but there were several little Indian scares I've heard folks talk about. They'd come through and lose their ponies and their war paint on, threaten the people over something, by and large.

So they were friendly. They were not mean Indians.

Laura Schrager: There was never any was there for any violence that you.

Nellie Tomer Handlin: I don't think so. I can't remember that there was it was mostly just being scared. And then threatened.