Backup

(Lyndon 10)
So you can see how it was.  I had had my mother long enough to have been influenced by her ideals.  I wanted to go to school.  My father often told me I could go as long as I wanted, be a doctor, and he would back me up.

Pa & Ma Parsons

(Lyndon 8)
You can see where the discipline was seated in our family.  My father liked above all harmony, love for each other, pride in achievement.  My mother was for Truth, perfection, sticking it out, love of God, and of course she loved us too.  But we often forgot that because she was stern and always demanding our best.

Potatoes

(Lyndon 7)
My mother had been a school teacher, had a great deal of determination and German drive, insisted on perfection.  One time when she was sick, I got supper.  My father said, "A good supper.  The potatoes are fine and well mashed too."  My mother said, "Yes, the potatoes are good but not well mashed.  They are full of lumps."  My father swore.

Explanation

(Lyndon 6)
So we grew up and went to country school.  He was smart but not an excellent student.  I was a sophomore in high school when my mother died.  ...  If she had lived, she would have been a good influence on Lyn and seen to it he had his lessons.

Regrets

(Dogs 23)
We understood each other, [Vica and I].  All of us worried.  Regretting I complained about her before, I now tried to make it up for her by taking her for walks.  But I wasn't her master.

Look for my dog

(Dogs 14)
"This is the ideal time to look for my dog, Daddy.  I am sure there are ads in the paper.  Just look -- will you please?  There aren't any places to get German Shepherds at home.  Please?"  --  "Skip, honey, those are great big dogs.  How can we have such a big dog in the house?"  "I'll take care of him, Mother.  Only look!  Please."

Longing for a dog

(Dogs 13)
As I remember the dogs we have had, the scene now changes, and I am looking into the big brown eyes of Vica.  She was Skip's dog, a fine German Shepherd from a breeder in Milwaukee.  He had been longing for a dog for years -- a strong dog that would be his own -- and there was always some reason for putting him off.  At length here he was in the hospital for a minor operation, and Lorin and I were there, too, visiting him.  "What can we do for you, Skip?"

First night

(Dogs 6)
"What are you intending to do now?" asked Lorin, dreading a sleepless night before his trial in court the next day.  But I was all ready for Jennie and pulled out a little box half under my bed to show him there was no cause for worry.  All thru the night, whenever she would miss her mother, I'd put down my hand and pat her a bit.  Then we'd sleep again.  In a short time she was independent of me and ready for her basket in the kitchen.

Cricket

(1911?)
Last night [in 1980] when I had counted quite enough sheep, I got to thinking about the dogs in my life.  First of all I can remember coming home from school one afternoon and finding my mother sitting down, laughing, and holding her apron down on all three sides as well as she could, trying to keep something underneath, someone who, trying to escape, was making quite a lively job of it, squirming, fighting.  "Guess!  Guess!" ske kept saying.  But I could only stand there staring, until finally she let him out and I took him to my heart.  This was Cricket, a small Black & Tan Terrier.

Allowance

(1930)
[Alfred Kay's] children had an allowance out of which they were expected to buy their clothes and amusements, except occasional large items like overcoats, tailormade suits etc.  I know meat balls were frequently served and Grandma Kay did a good deal of patching both of household items and family clothing.

Almira Clapp

(1980 memoirs)
I can't tell you anything about Frankie's father, oldman Clapp [Quartus].  I think originally they lived out on a farm, not too far from Ripon.  Frankie's mother [Almira] was little and frail but lived a long time, and because Frankie was such a dear devoted daughter, she gave her youth to caring for her mother and set her marriage aside.

Playmates

(1993 May 5, memoirs)
One time [when we lived at Green Lake] my parents were worried I had no playmate, so I was dressed prettily and taken half way to Lone Tree Point, where another girl my age met me.  I recall the white clovers.  We were unloaded and left alone for 2 or 3 hours.  We tried to play together but very dull and my mother said I never had to go again.  ...  We lived in a "house in the woods."  I recall it had a porch on two sides of the house, and Lyn's buggy was there for naps.

Go easy

(1967 March 7)
Future [at KU] sounds bright and cheerful and, as you say, if you go easy on wine, women and song, and beards, berets and sandals, all will be very well indeed.  I am not worried about the teaching because I know in my heart you are a very dedicated person.  And I am glad that you are satisfied with the library and the possibility of development.  Skip, twice you have said how harmonious it is there.

Got the job

(1967 March 7)
Yesterday noon as I was getting lunch, Daddy came home - and in response to my hello burst out with "Good news!  Good news!  Skip got the job!" [at Kansas U].

Elephants

(1966 Spring)
Kiwanis sponsored a wild animal movie - Africa.  ...  It was in the Auditorium but a small portable screen.  Good pictures tho.  ...  Did you know the elephants feed their young from their two breasts which are between their front legs?  And often 2 young.  One 5 years old and one as old as 3?  I never knew that before.

Long hair

(1968 December 1)
Cannot imagine you a Beatle fan.  You have something (I don't like) in common tho.  Haven't you?

Redbeard

(1992 March 28)

How doth your pretty beard today
A-growing on your chin?
Is it the boast of Broadway
Or bothersome as sin?
When you are eating soup one day,
Is it awfully in the way?

Gloomy day

(1991 September 11)

When I got up I said [to MM, who was depressed], "Let's not sit here in this gloom, raining - let's go out." So we rode around two hours, first in the city, then in the small towns all around, so gloomy outside. Coming home we went past Elephant Rock.

book's?

(1989 St. Mathew's)

I could not but wonder about using "book's," as I was taught not to make the possessive of inanimate objects with 'S but instead say "OF the book" etc. Well, rules change, and I am sure you could quote the rule.

Bad manners

(1989 September 10)

If I had dared interrupt my parents on the phone or in other conversations, I think my father would have given me a spanking I should long remember. Unless the house was on fire, Dorothy should have waited her turn [on the phone]. ... But to burst in and expect ME to give way to her. I shall never forget it. I am crying. I feel very bad.