Shoe return

On Thursday December 7, 1916 Bonnie Elmore wrote: Arose at 7:30. Mary made a fire. I got to office at 8:45. Ordered diaries for 1917. Also calendars. Read book on "Panama Canal". Took Mary's shoes back to store. Aunt Annah came down after supper. I rolled Norman up to see Mr. Raines. I read "Pictorial Review". Came home at 8:30. Read paper at 9 p.m. Today is widely known as Pearl Harbor Remembrance day. To put things in perspective, Pearl Harbor was 68 years ago and in 1916 they would not have even known what you were talking about as that day, that was to "live in infamy" was still 25 years away. So we are dealing with 93 years ago here if my math serves me correctly, which often it does not. Yesterday I told you that I would never think of buying shoes for my wife without her along, well guess what Bonnie had to take those shoes back to the store. Wrong color? Wrong size? Too much money? I guess we will never know. Good to know the calendars and diaries have been ordered for the new year. The new desk calendars at my office have been handed out and other calendars are also being ordered. Bonnie still seems to be the prolific reader. I don't read that much, but I may try to get back to a book tonight about Washington's Crossing of the Delaware during the Revolutionary war. Again, that interest comes from the Clingenpeel and Meyerhoeffer families whose ancestors were Hessian soldiers in that same war. Bonnie didn't mention a haircut or a shave today, but I am headed for a haircut from my wife. It doesn't take as long as it used too. :)

Mama Gets a New Pair of Shoes

On Wednesday, December 6, 1916, Bonnie Elmore wrote: Warm, Windy. Arose at 7:20. Mary made fire. We ate dinner alone today. I indexed and filed filed office mail. Bought Mary a new pair of shoes. I shaved after supper. Pretty moonlight night. Norman fell upon stove and burnt his wrist and little finger. Mary bathed it in soda. Mr. Schick left on #3 for W. Va. on Co. business. Wow. Lots of interesting stuff here. The first thing to appear is just that Bonnie and Mary ate dinner alone on a Wednesday. In past days we have seen so much about the different friends and relatives who stopped by, visited, etc. that it is a little odd not to have that today. He did mention yesterday that Mrs. Raines was away, so maybe that was it. The next item of interest would be the new pair of shoes. I am sure that was a big deal in 1916 and obviously it was as it got mentioned in the diary entry for today. Now, I would never attempt to buy a new pair of shoes for my wife, especially with her not being along which is what it sounds like in this case. Again, this makes me wonder things like what they were like, how much did they cost, and why did Bonnie buy Mary a new pair of shoes? Was it a gift? Was it out of need? I kind of wish I had this diary of Bonnie's long before now and that I had been interested enough in it to either talk to Nanny and Grand-daddy about it themselves or at least my grandmother, or Uncle Norman. This makes me think that maybe some 90 years from now, do you reckon that my great-grandchildren might be sitting around some kind of a computer reading...maybe this...oh my goodness...and wondering about details of my life? My point is that life is short and so we need to talk to the people we love while they are here with us. Tell stories for goodness sake about what things were like "back then". I think the passing on of stories is maybe a lost art form, but something that people are very much interested in. People's craving for stories shows up today in reality TV and celebrity worship and gossip publications. People still love a story. I try and use them in my sermons all the time and people tell me that is one of the things they enjoy. I know I still enjoy stories, hence this blog. I know that just last night, my family stumbled across "old" pictures and videos of when our kids were younger and we all got the biggest kick out of seeing what we looked like, how the house had changed, what we were doing, etc. That's family history, that's stories and I find that rather interesting. Now Bonnie writes something that could not have been better suited to a blog about Family, Faith and Fire Safety (and no I didn't know this was in here when I named the blog). He tells about Norman getting burned on the stove and Mary putting soda on it. Again, Norman is their oldest child and is now somewhere a little over a year old. I bet that hurt and I bet he learned not to do that again. I am also certain that it probably scared Mary to death. Now, as a fire safety educator you know that I have some commentary on this one. Please keep small children away from the stove and oven by at least 3 feet. Remember me telling you about the 3 feet from the heat song? Also, we now know that the best way to treat a burn is with cool water for 3-5 minutes. If the burn seems more severe then call 911 and again please be careful with your home heating this winter. Mr. Schick is I believe a co-worker and apparently got on a train to West Virginia for N & W business. Have a safe trip Mr. Schick.

Bill Collectors

On Tuesday, December 5, 1916, Bonnie Elmore wrote: Warm all day. Arose at 7:20. Mary made a fire. Got to work at 8:30. Wrote up Expense accounts, Board Bills, and I&Co. bill. Went to station to pay for birth of Mrs. Gilliman. Mr. Raitt stopped chewing tobacco. Mary had some trouble with Dr. Payne's collector. I went to Dr. Payne's office about it. Aunt Annah spent night at Mrs. R and will stay while she's away. Sure hasn't been warm here in 2009. Cold and Snowy today which makes it very pretty. Sure would like to know who Mrs. Gilliman is and why Bonnie was paying for her birth and at what station? My curiosity is also aroused at the trouble Nanny (Mary) may have had with Dr. Payne's collector. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when Bonnie went to Dr. Payne's office about the matter. I suppose it's a good thing that Mr. Raitt, who I am deducing is a work associate, stopped chewing tobacco. As promised, photos will be coming soon to the blog and I will continue to try and find some more information on the people who are regular mentions in Bonnie's diary. We have already heard about Blaine and Jake on several occasions and with a little help from Uncle Roger, who is Bonnie's son, I have found out that Blaine and Jake are Bonnie's brothers. As they are mentioned again in the diary, I will try and share more of these 2. Uncle Roger does point out a couple of good points. One, he was not born until 1927, so what we are reading about on this blog currently is still 11 years before his time. Also, the family did not own a motor car and so visiting relatives who lived more than walking distance away was difficult and so Roger says he would not have known many of these relatives if they "had passed him on the street". Caleb's basketball team lost 2 games today, but played well. Sermon is done, "Angels and Shepherds" from Luke 2: 8-14. The message of the angels was personal, was praise, and was about peace. "Pray for peace people everywhere..."

Busy Day

On Monday December 4, 1916, Bonnie wrote: Cold-Cloudy. Arose at 7:30. Made a fire. Worked steadily all day. Capt. Rowan here all day. Mr. Eiffert returned "When a Man's a Man". Wrote up records of service for Relief Department. Wrote letters to Lena and Dr. Hugh J. Hagan. Shaved after supper. Ruined small pictures pasting them in my album. Feeling poorly. Retired at 10:30. I worked steadily all day today too, didn't take a lunch and didn't get to work out. Sounds like Bonnie could have used some lessons in scrap booking. We went as a family tonight to see a play called "Papa's Angels" at the Attic Theater in Fincastle, a touching Christmas story. The whole family is excited about the possibility of the first measurable snow fall of the year tomorrow. I read an interesting article about Christianity today from Esquire magazine. I am not a normal reader of the publication but a well known preacher by the name of Rob Bell posted on his Twitter account and that is how I came across it. It talked about how Christians should be showing more of God's love to the world so that people are fascinated about faith instead of frightened by it. I thought it was well stated and posted it to my Facebook and Twitter accounts, but didn't get much response. I also had a great meeting at work today with the director of Camp Roanoke about the possibility having a fire safety related camp for kids there this summer. It sounds promising. Also looking forward to watching the Carson-Newman Eagles play in a football playoff game tomorrow on ESPN. My sermon still needs a little work too.

Another car

On Sunday, December 3, 1916 Bonnie Elmore wrote: Frost, Cold. Arose at 8:00 - Mary made fire. I rolled Norman up to house 10:30. Mrs. R and Aunt Annah went to Leslie's! Ate dinner at Raines and read paper. Went to Roanoke Theater to Elks Memorial Services. Went to office. Went over home and ate supper. Read Washington Post. Came home on car at 9:30. Beautiful moon light night. Retired at 10:30. I don't have a lot of time to comment tonight either, but yesterday Grand-daddy mentioned getting to ride in a motor car. That was a big deal in 1916 and today he mentions coming home by car. I believe that was the street car or trolley car, which was fairly common for Bonnie as he often took that to and from work. I drove about 360 miles today in my motor car, to and from Richmond for a meeting at the state Baptist office. Now Caleb and I are off to the Vinton Christmas parade while the girls are headed to Applebee's for a youth council meeting.

Motor Car

On Saturday, December 2, 1916 Bonnie Elmore wrote: Cold and Clear. Arose at 7:30. Made a fire. Rode up town in Peter Guerraut's motor car. Wrote 3 letters for Mr. Turner, Bridge Engr. Went to Bank for Mr. Raitt. Paid Bills. Jess went to dinner with me. We went to show. Mrs. Raines repaired, cut-off, and put up small shelf. I went to St. Chas. Hospital at 6 p.m. Paid Dr. Burks $7.00. Walter Onenchain buried this p.m. Took bath at night. Been a long day and I need to get up early to head to Richmond for a board of trustees meeting for The Religious Herald. Good night.

Suicide by Acid

On Friday, December 1, 1916 Bonnie Elmore wrote: Cold, Windy. Arose at 7:45. Made a fire. Paid some bills. Got my checque cashed. Mary got a ham from Sam Thompson today. Deposited $5.00 in the bank today. Talked to Wooldridge (sp?), Walter Obenchain committed suicide by drinking Carbolic Acid. Paid some bills. Mrs R and Mrs. Leslie and Lavonia Drewry came down today. I shaved after supper. Capt. Rowan came to the office. Wow. The most shocking thing in today's entry is that a friend or acquaintance of Grand-daddy's actually committed suicide by drinking Carbolic acid. How terrible. It makes me think that terrible things happened in 1916 just like they do today. The only difference is that in today's world information travels so much more quickly and there is just SO MUCH information that we hear about a lot more than we used too. Bonnie mentions paying bills twice today, maybe he had a lot of bills, but he did still have $5 to put in the bank. I wonder if Sam Thompson was Sam the butcher? As Grand-daddy records making a fire every morning it reminds me that home heating is a leading cause of fires especially during the months of December, January and February. If you heat with a wood stove or a fire place please be careful. If you use a space heater of any kind be sure and keep combustibles at least 3 feet from the heat! There is a song and a dance that goes along with 3 feet from the heat, but I will spare you the torture.