Margaret Bell
“That winter [1909-1910] was hard and me and the poor half-starved dogies [i.e. calves]. Hedge often left us children alone, and I was always in difficulties or getting hurt. Both our pitchforks were big four-or five-tined forks, too heavy and awkward for me.” I found a little three-tined fork without a handle and a discarded handle, and I thought I might rig up a nice little fork for myself, but there was a piece of wood in the furl of the fork. I tried burning the wood out, then tried digging it out with a spike,
driving the spike in and pulling it out, but finally I drove it in too far and couldn’t budge it. I hammered and pulled and jerked, and the spike flew out, hit my mouth, and broke a front tooth. When the cold air struck that broken tooth, it felt as though I’d been shot. After that, I had to keep my mouth shut when I was outside, and I learned not to holler at the horses or cattle until the tooth
got over being so sensitive. . . . "
From Margaret Bell, When Montana and I Were Young: A Frontier Childhood, ed. Mary Clearman Blew (Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2002, pp. 112-116, 121-122, reprinted in Major Problems in the History of American Families and Children, Anya Jabour, ed., Wadsworth, Cengage Learning 2005, United States, pp. 203-205
driving the spike in and pulling it out, but finally I drove it in too far and couldn’t budge it. I hammered and pulled and jerked, and the spike flew out, hit my mouth, and broke a front tooth. When the cold air struck that broken tooth, it felt as though I’d been shot. After that, I had to keep my mouth shut when I was outside, and I learned not to holler at the horses or cattle until the tooth
got over being so sensitive. . . . "
From Margaret Bell, When Montana and I Were Young: A Frontier Childhood, ed. Mary Clearman Blew (Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2002, pp. 112-116, 121-122, reprinted in Major Problems in the History of American Families and Children, Anya Jabour, ed., Wadsworth, Cengage Learning 2005, United States, pp. 203-205
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