July 25, 2015 by rochesterhistoricalnh
PRISCILLA FOWLER THOMAS 2003
I hope that these descriptions of how we lived and worked in the 1930’s and early 40’s will give you a little idea of how much our lives have changed since those long ago days. I sometimes wonder what it will be like fifty or sixty years from now. Everything will probably be even more advanced due to the modern technology and better education. Maybe those who then are writing about these present days will call them the “good old days”.
I was born on a farm in West Henniker, NH, where I spent many happy times with my parents, 6 brothers, 1 sister, and extended family.
I walked down the hill to a one room schoolhouse with my siblings and neighbors. Life changed quite a bit for me when my family bought a larger farm in the city of Rochester in 1930.
We had to get used to a very different school! The first thing to amaze us was that we had to ride in a bus to get to school. We had always been able to walk before. This was all new to us. The first time we saw the so-called “bus”, we just didn’t know what to make of it! It looked like a large wooden box placed on a truck body. The top part of the sides was of canvas that flapped back and forth. Inside were three wooden benches, one on each side and one in the middle. I think there were ten or twelve pupils who rode in it. We soon had a name for the odd looking vehicle. We called it the “chicken coop”. We got used to it very quickly and we had a lot of fun riding in it.
Our farm was on a dirt road at that time which got muddy in the spring. We used to hope that we would get stuck in the mud so we would be late for school. This actually did happen once or twice, but most of the time we arrived right on time.
Neighbor John Blaisdell on the Salmon Falls Road
At school before we could start our lessons, we had an opening exercise. This included the “Pledge of Allegiance”, followed usually by the singing of “America”, and then a Bible reading, and the “Lord’s Prayer” was said. After that we had an inspection of our hands and fingernails. The students took turns doing that. After all of this came time for our studying.
We usually had reading for our first subject. Then came arithmetic. I remember flash cards being held up by the teacher. This was one of the ways we learned our multiplication tables. We also studied history and geography.
The desks were connected to each other in rows and screwed down to the floor so they could not be moved around.
School Street School, brother Bruce last in first row, left.
We liked it when recess time came. There never were any organized games so we did our own thing. Games that we played included hopscotch, jumping rope, baseball, marbles, tag, and running races. The swings were always popular.
Rochester High School
After finishing the eight grades of grammar school we were to go on to high school. I went to Rochester High School, an old three story building on Wakefield Street. High schoolers could not ride in the “chicken coop”. That meant that we had to find other ways to get to school. It was decided that we would take turns with neighbors who also had pupils going to high school.
Rochester High School
This was when I became acquainted with the “rumble seat” This was a car with a seat in the back of the enclosed driver. It had no roof over it so we were exposed to the weather. In the wintertime it was cold. It wasn’t too bad in the warm weather. In the mornings we rode to school in this car. In the afternoons we rode home in the back of a truck. That wasn’t all that comfortable either! During this time it was very unusual for pupils to have cars and there was no bus service provided for high schoolers so we had to make the best of it in any way we could.
Fountain pens were used and some of the desks had an ink well in them. We had to bring our own pen and bottle of ink. Once the boy in front of me knocked over my bottle of ink and it made an awful mess. I got in trouble for it with the teacher. Quite a while later ballpoint pens became popular and they were a big improvement over the fountain pen.
Everyone was required to take English. Latin was taught to anyone who expected to go to college. Shorthand was a popular subject, but is not much heard of now.
We did have typewriters, but they were not electric ones. We had never heard of computers, and certainly not of the Internet! If we wanted information on something, we could look it up in the encyclopedias.
Seasons on the Farm in the 1930’s
Spring was very welcome after the cold winter and the house was well aired to let in the fresh spring air. Then the actual spring-cleaning started. The rugs were taken up and put outdoors where they were well swept. They stayed out there all day while the work was being done in the living room.
One of these jobs was not an easy one, and no one liked doing it. The lace curtains had to be washed, and then, of course, they had to be dried. This required a stand which had a row of many tacks on the top and on the bottom. The curtains were put on the top row and then they were stretched onto the bottom tacks. Not an easy job! The curtains did look nice when they were dry, but our hands and fingers were sore from the many pricks we had received from the tacks. The spring-cleaning was not done in just one day. The other rooms had to wait their turn and eventually all ten of them were done.
Planting the gardens took place along with the spring-cleaning. The gardens were planted as soon as possible and our fingers were crossed that there would be no frost or a late snowstorm. My brother did most of the garden work. We had a lot of tomatoes, string beans, and corn.
Summer was a very busy season for both the men and the women. One important job of the men was to make sure that the cattle would have the necessary food for the coming winter. It required much hard work.
First the weather had to be just right with no rain expected. The cutting of the hay was done by hand using a large scythe. Then when it was all cut, the hay had to be spread out so that it would dry. When it was sure that it was completely dried, it was raked up again by a large rake that was pulled by a horse.
Then it was put into larger piles until it was completely dry which was very important. The horse took the wagonload of hay to the barn and then men pitched it with pitchforks into the hayloft. I’m sure the cows appreciated all the hard work that had been done so they could enjoy good meals in the winter.
Summertime was a busy time for the women as well as for the men. While the haying was being done, the women of the household were canning fruits and vegetables which they called “putting up”. The vegetables and fruit had to be picked from the gardens and had to be washed and prepared for the canning. The jars which were going to hold the food had to be sterilized. While that was being done, the food was being prepared. Before the canning process was actually started, some of the vegetables had to be blanched (partially cooked to retain better freshness). Everything was done by hand. The ends of the string beans had to be cut off and the strings removed and then they were cut to a certain length. The carrots were peeled by hand and cut into small circles. The tomatoes were cut after they had been peeled. Sometimes tomato sauce and tomato juice were also canned. The corn had to be removed from the cobs with a knife. When the apples were ripe, applesauce was made and canned.
When all the preparations were done, the Ball glass jars were filled. They were then placed in a large kettle which had a rack in it. The jars were placed on the rack and then the required cooking time was started. When this was completed, the jars were taken out and placed on the table to cool. They made a beautiful picture as they sat there. Frozen dishes were not known at this time, but I think that the home canned ones could more than hold their own!
Fall was the time to clean up the gardens and get prepared for winter. It was fun to rake the leaves that had fallen from the many maple trees around our home.
The large barn silos were filled in the early fall with a mixture of corn and molasses. There may have been other ingredients in it that I do not remember. This was fed to the cows in the witer.
Storm windows which had been removed in the spring were put back on over the house windows. It was quite a big chore.
Extra blankets were brought out of their summer resting place in the big blanket chest ready to be used during the cold winter months. We had quilts that had been handed down from way back. My mother and sister had made a Sunbonnet Sue quilt, a popular pattern at the time.
There were quilts that my mother had made out of grainbags. Usually grain for the cows was sold in burlap bags, but sometimes it came in a pretty piece of fabric that housewives loved to get to make quilts or aprons. The women all wore aprons while working in the kitchen, garden, etc. to protect their clothes. The material was pretty, but sometimes coarse and scratchy. Towels for the men to use when they washed up from working outside or in the barn were made from these grainbags, too.
In many ways winter was not a comfortable time. Many of the homes were heated by wood stoves. Only a few families were fortunate enough to have a wood furnace which later would be converted to oil instead of wood. However, there was no thermostat which could be adjusted to the wanted temperature.
Wood was not a commodity that came easily. Much work was required before it was ready to be used. Usually there was a woodlot in which the trees to be cut were found. They were chopped down by hand or sawed. The logs were then loaded onto a wagon which was pulled by a horse or sometimes by oxen and then taken to the farm. But even then there was much work still to be done.
The logs again required that they be chopped or sawed into the proper length to be used in the stoves. Now after all of this there was still more work to be done! All the logs had to be stacked in the woodshed. Eventually these logs would be carried into the home to furnish the heat. It was important that the woodstove chimneys be cleaned regularly to be sure that no soot from the wood burning had formed on the bricks where it could catch on fire.
Neighbor John Allen
It was common in many homes that all of the rooms could not be heated in the winter. The two rooms that were heated were the kitchen and the living room. In fact, upstairs bedrooms were seldom heated.
To help this situation, a piece of soapstone was heated on the kitchen stove and then wrapped in flannel cloth so that no one would get burned on it. This soapstone was placed in the bed and it helped a little to heat up the cold bed. The only problem was as the night grew shorter, the soapstone grew cooler and by morning it had become quite cold.
The featherbed mattress filled with goose feathers on which we slept was all right, but I didn’t enjoy making it up in the morning. We had to pump up the feathers with our hands and smooth it all out just so.
I really didn’t care if every feather was in the right place! I only wanted to escape downstairs to the warm kitchen.
One of the things about winter that I definitely did not like was the long drawers that we had to wear. They were warm, but that is the only good thing that I can say about them. These disliked things covered one from the waist down to the ankles. They were worn over our regular underwear. It didn’t help matters a bit that they were actually too big for me and much too long so I had to shorten them by folding them over. This made a very unattractive bunch at my ankles. The heavy cotton stockings which I had to wear went up over the knee, and they did not add any beauty to my outfit! To make matters worse, they were always wrinkled.
We wore rubber boots that went over our shoes and they came up above the ankle. They were closed by buckles. I was glad when spring came and I could leave the long drawers off. I think I felt just like our cows did when they were let out of the barn after having spent the winter indoors. They seemed to dance around they were so happy about it. I believe they felt free at last and so did I!
We really did have a lot of fun in the winter, too. We enjoyed skiing although our skis were very primitive. They consisted of a piece of wood that was curved at the top of it. Our poles were sawed off broomsticks. We used canning jar rubbers to keep our foot on the board.
Skating was also enjoyed. We would go to the cove of the river and there we were able to skate a long ways. Some of us had skates that had to be strapped onto our boots. Often times it was very cold, but we didn’t mind that. We just added another layer to our regular clothes.
Bruce Fowler, John Blaisdell, Verne Fowler and Priscilla
We enjoyed riding on the double runner sled. Maybe it was the great great-grandson of the toboggan. It was large enough that the entire family could ride on it. I think that it was steered by ropes that were on the first front sled. It went very fast on the long hill on which we slid. Of course we had to walk back up the long hill before we could slide again. Often this was done many times.
Sometimes in the winter evenings we played games or we read. But the general rule in our home seemed to be:
“Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
Days of the Week
Each day was started with a large breakfast which would be considered too much these days. A typical breakfast meal included hot cooked cereal, usually oatmeal or cream of wheat, and always there would be eggs. These might be scrambled, fried, or sometimes boiled. Hot homemade donuts fried in hot lard were so good! Sometimes instead of donuts we had muffins.
Of course, there was hot perked coffee. Decaf or instant were not even heard of. At each meal there always was a large pitcher of milk. Once in a while there would be bacon, but that was considered a treat.
The noon meal was called “dinner”. We didn’t have “lunch” on the farm. The night meal was “supper”. All of the meals were full course affairs. We always had dessert except for breakfast. I have often wondered what my mother would have said about ordering out a meal! She would have wondered about pizza and subs being brought to the home. Frozen TV dinners would have been a mystery to her.
My mother certainly didn’t have any time to wonder what to do. Sometimes in the afternoons she sewed or mended. She used a treadle sewing machine that she powered with her feet.
She liked to braid rugs, but I don’t know when she found time to do it! My daughter still has some rugs that she made. She taught me how to braid and during World War II, I braided six rugs at night when I wasn’t writing letters to the soldiers who were away from home. There were five boys, some from work and some classmates that I wrote to. Of the five, three of them were killed and one was taken prisoner of war by the Germans.
Besides these five boys, I wrote almost every night to one very special one. When he came home, we were married for fifty-two happy years.
Donald Thomas and Priscilla
Our family was a large one and to add to that we had several hired men and women to help around the farm so it was important that we have a schedule for what was to be done each day. That way we knew what was expected to be accomplished each day.
Monday was definitely washday. This was done by having two tubs that had to be filled with hot water that had been heated on the wood stove. One tub was for washing the clothes and the other one for rinsing them. There was a roller that was worked by hand between the tubs. When the clothes from the washing tub were clean, they were rolled into the rinsing tub. After they were well rinsed, they were once again rolled into a clothesbasket. Then they were hung outdoors to dry. If the weather was not right for drying, they were put on racks in the house and dried as well as possible. Sometimes this took more than one day.
My mother had a way with plants. Her geraniums always had big, beautiful blossoms on them. We finally discovered her good luck with plants. To water her plants she used the rinse water from the men’s coveralls they had worn while working in the barn.
Tuesday, the day after washing day, was ironing day. This was done by using very heavy flat irons that had been heated on the wood stove. When the iron became cool, it was replaced by a heated one from the stove. This took most of the day. I sat on a stool and by the afternoon I was tired of sitting there and the irons would get so heavy. The clothes never had the label” no ironing required” so most everything had to be ironed including pillowcases, aprons and handkerchiefs.
Wednesday and Thursday were pick up days. That included sweeping and dusting. Washing some of the floors was also done. No vacuums were available so the broom and the mop were the tools that were used. Dust cloths were made of old rags. Friday was a catch up day and also preparation day for Saturday’s cooking.
Cooking certainly took up all of Saturday. My mother was a very good cook. She had had a lot of practice. She had no restrictions when it came to using salt, sugar, butter and cream. Our milk was not homogenized and the cream rose to the top of the bottle. We were careful not to shake the milk because the cream on the top was taken off and used in the desserts and in our coffee.
The kinds of food that were baked on Saturday were bread, rolls, pies, cookies, puddings, and a cake for the coming week. While these things were being made, baked beans for the Saturday night meal would be slowly cooking in a beanpot.
My mother always made everything from scratch. She never knew anything about prepared mixes. Bread machines were not known about then. The baking was done in the woodstove oven. It was difficult to get just the right temperature with the woodstove.
Besides the Saturday baking, my mother always cooked every day. She made things such as biscuits, doughnuts and muffins fresh daily. If there was any leftover food it was never wasted. The crumbs and uneaten cookies, etc. were kept in a jar and when there was enough my mother would make a special pudding. She added raisins and cooked all the leftover sweets together into a pudding that we ate with whipped cream on top. For supper she often made a delicious hash of the leftovers from the noon meal. She would add eggs to everything and mix it together and cook it in a frying pan. We never wasted food and she made everything so good.
We seldom had any baked goods from the store. In fact, going to the grocery store was seldom done. Once a week groceries, which had been ordered by phone, were picked up by my brother on his way home after he had delivered the milk to his milk customers. Once in a while there was a fishman who to our house with his fish cart. We usually knew when he arrived before even seeing him! But his fish always tasted good to us.
There was also a Raleigh man who visited us once in a while. He had all sorts of goods, which included ointments for aches, and pains, cough medicines, toothpaste, spices and other products. We never knew what he might bring to us. We liked to have him come.
Most people had a milkman that came with milk and cream. Some had an eggman. We had our own milk, cream, and eggs raised on our farm, but my brother delivered these things to our family’s customers. For a long time, milk came in glass bottles. The bottles were left on the customer’s front steps. Some people had the milkman bring the milk right into their house and put it into the refrigerator for them.
Verne and John
Sunday was definitely going to church day. We went to a small country church that was near our home so we could walk to it. This was a very historical building as it still is today. It has been lovingly and carefully maintained so it has not lost its early time atmosphere.
At the time I first went there, it had a big black wood stove which had a funnel that ran along the ceiling from the back of the church to the front of it. Faithful people would go early and start the woodstove so that it was nice and warm when the people came later.
The reed organ, which furnished the music, was pumped by the feet of the organist. I remember many of the hymns that we sang. We were told that we should always dress up when we went to church so we wore our best going-to church dresses. We also had to wear a hat and gloves. Going to church was very important for us so we were thankful for the little Walnut Grove chapel.
Sunday afternoon was definitely popcorn time. This was made on the woodstove in a popper, which had to be pushed back and forth over the heat. Sometimes this took quite a bit of time. When it was all popped we put real butter and salt on it.
Sometimes we made molasses candy and other times we made taffy. This was made by pulling pieces of the candy mixture into long ropes to stretch it until it was almost white. It was rather a sticky mess, but it was delicious and worth the work that was put into making it.
Sometimes we made fudge or peppermint wafers. Once in a while we would get fresh snow and put hot maple syrup on it. We all enjoyed the homemade candy. It was fun making it, and lots more fun eating it! All of our days were busy ones. We didn’t know anything about television so we didn’t miss it. We always seemed to be able to find something to entertain ourselves in our limited leisure time even without the television.
Modern Conveniences and Technology
When I was ten, I started going back to Henniker in the summers to stay with my aunt in her bungalow. She taught school in Providence in the winter, but she liked to have company in the summer months. Her neighbor used to pick me up to go into the village with her to buy groceries. I thought it was a great treat to be going by horse and buggy. She would tell the old horse “whoa” or “git up” but he was very independent and never seemed to pay much attention. He just went about in his own way. I didn’t care how long it took because it was fun. It was still a usual way to travel for many people in the early 30’s.
The first car I remember my family having was a big, big one called a Hudson Reo. It had a jump seat that was in the middle of the back right behind the front seat. This seat could be pulled up or down so it was handy for us with our big family. My brothers did the driving. My father preferred a horse and never drove a car. One of my brothers remembers buying a Model T Ford for $25.
Irving and John
When I was young there were not many airplanes so the whole family would run outside and look if we thought we heard a plane. The planes we saw didn’t even resemble today’s, and none of them had ever broken the sound barrier!
The phones of the early 1930’s were not much like the ones today. They did not have the capability to do what is common now. Often there were many neighbors all on one line. This was called a “party line”. Sometimes it was difficult to get a line to make a call because one of the neighbors might be talking. There were six or seven who shared our line so it was often busy. There was a crank on the side of the phone that we used to ring the number of the one we wanted to talk with. One neighbor had a number that required five long rings. Our number was one long ring and one short ring.
If we wanted to talk with someone who was not on our party line, we would have to ring one long ring to get the operator. She would then connect us to the one we wanted. It was difficult and quite an event to call a long distance number. When we finally did get it, we could talk only a short time as we thought it was very expensive.
Our lives were changed in many ways when electricity was brought into our homes. However, it was quite a few years before everyone did have it. Before electricity lamps and lanterns were used for light. The lamps had a wick that could be turned up or down to lighten or darken the amount of light. These lamps used kerosene for fuel. They had glass chimneys that would become smoky after being used for an evening. Because of this, the glass chimney had to be cleaned every morning so they would be clear for the next evening’s use.
I remember when our icebox was replaced by an electric refrigerator. That meant no more having to empty the container that held the water from the melted ice. One had to be very careful not to forget to do that, or the kitchen floor would be covered with water. There was an iceman who delivered ice for the icebox to our home, but for a short time our ice was cut from a nearby cove. Later it was purchased from an ice company in Rochester. Then the ice was stored in the ice shed and kept covered with sawdust to keep it cold. Electricity made so many good changes in our lives. We take so much for granted and often forget that it wasn’t always so.
In the early 1930’s radios were played by the use of batteries. Later when electricity came, that played them. It was an improvement that was greatly enjoyed. I think it was later that we listened to Lowell Thomas. He was a very popular newscaster. He didn’t have the help of any pictures and we didn’t get a lot of news about what was going on in other countries. An important news event that was broadcast on the radio was on December 7, 1941. My father came into the house from the barn where he had been listening to the news. A special report had come on that the Japanese navy had bombed Pearl Harbor. Later we heard President Roosevelt make the announcement that we were at war with Japan. This was the start of a very sad and unforgettable time for our country.
We usually listened to the daily weather forecasts. They were not as detailed as they are now. We didn’t know much about the rest of the country and almost nothing about other nations. There were no five-day forecasts. Their reports were quite limited and not long. They were something like this: Fair today, rain tomorrow.” If more information was wanted, we could go to the Farmer’s Almanac. All kinds of information could be found in there, even the weather for the coming year. I think it is still read by a lot of people today.
One of the programs we enjoyed listening to was “Amos and Andy”. This program was a two white people pretending to be blacks who weren’t very smart. People at the time thought it was very funny, but it would not be considered appropriate today.
My mother listened to soap operas. I think one was ‘Days of Our Lives.” In later years we listened to baseball games. There never were any personal comments made by the baseball announcer, only what was actually happening. There were no instant replays and no questioning any call that had been made. One very good thing about early radio was that there weren’t many commercials. We enjoyed the radio and thought it was wonderful to have anything so advanced!
The music of the 30’s and 40’s was different from todays. There were many soloists, both men and women. The men were often called “crooners”. Dinah Shore was especially liked. Bing Crosby was also much enjoyed. His “White Christmas” is still a song we like to hear at Christmas time.
We had records for music, too; and they were sometimes played on a Victrola. This was a rather large piece of furniture and it had a big horn on the top of it. The Victrola had a crank that had to be turned before the large records would play.
The so-called bathroom was no bathroom at all. It had no running water, no tub, no lights, and no furniture of any kind. There were no towels, no soap, no medicine cabinet, and no heat. Our so-called bathroom was a three-hole affair, one large one, a medium one, and one tiny hole. We could use the one that fit us best, but it was not wise to use the big one because it would be a disaster if one fell in! At night when we were upstairs in our bedroom and nature called, we had to make quite a trip to go to the toilet. We had to go down the stairs, through the living room, through the kitchen, and through two storage rooms before we finally came to our destination. It’s a wonder that after making that trip that we remembered what we were there for! But at least our so-called bathroom was in the house. Many homes had a toilet outdoors a little ways from the main house.
We took our weekly bath by means of a large tub that was placed in the kitchen. The water was heated by the woodstove and it had to be carried to the tub.
You cannot imagine how happy we were when a real bathroom was put into our house! Our family was large so we sometimes had to wait awhile before we could use the bathroom, and that was quite frustrating; but when we considered the alternative still existing in the back room, we always decided to wait our turn. There was only one real bathroom in our house, and we felt very fortunate to have it.
In the 1930’s and 40’s we got along fine without any malls. We had five and ten cent stores that were popular at that time. There were three of them on Main Street in Rochester. This included JJ Newbury’s, Fishman’s and Woolworth’s. Grant’s was also a department store, but not a 5 and 10c store.
When I arrived at the age of sixteen I went to work at Newberry’s store. This was part time after school and full time on Saturdays. Later after graduation, I worked there full time for fifteen years. I liked working there although it was hard work as we were on our feet eight hours a day and ten hours on Saturday. No one had heard of breaks.
J.J. Newberry 5 and 10 cent Store
There were many departments in each of these stores. Just about anything could be found in them, including baby chickens at Easter time and a new Easter hat. Other departments included hardware, dry goods (cloth), kitchen pots and pans and other kitchen supplies. Shampoo and other drug store articles had their own department.
Other counters had all kinds of greeting cards. Usually they were 5 or 10 cents. Sewing articles could be found. Popular music records were played and you could purchase the ones you liked.
I worked on the Stationery and Notions counters. We waited on people in those days getting them what they needed. It was not self-serve like nowadays. Each department had its own register so there was no need to stand in line waiting to pay for your purchases. We had to add up the sales in our heads. I remember a few of the prices of the things on my counter. Shoe laces were 5 cents, combs 10 cents, zippers 25 cents, thread 5 cents a spool, dress patterns 25 cents – some only 15 cents. Greeting cards were 5 cents and sometimes two for 5 cents. The expensive cards were ten cents. I did price changes for the department. I remember even then the prices always went up – never down; but the prices were never like the ones today.
Among other things I did was cut glass for counter dividers. I rather liked doing that. If I thought of it, I counted my fingers after I finished and always I had the right number left. Miracle of miracles!
I don’t remember hearing of plastic things. Panty hose were not heard of then. We wore stockings with a seam that was supposed to be in the middle of the back of your leg. I’m not sure, but wouldn’t be surprised if mine was anywhere but where it was supposed to be! Jeans were not much known about. We could never have worn them at work. However, I believe that women started wearing them during the war. Slacks were not popular and no shorts were permitted in our home.
After a few years of working there it was decided that I should be assistant cashier so I worked upstairs in the office much of the time. I remember the adding machine that required us to punch in the number and then pull a handle like thing down and like magic we usually got the correct answer. It didn’t subtract and it had never heard of multiplication!
At the end of the day another worker and I would take the numbered money bags to each counter register. Then we read the register and took the money back to the office to balance everything. We carried the fifteen bags of money on our arms and never thought how easy anyone could have robbed us. I’m not sure that would be a good idea today; but then I don’t think being robbed was quite as common then as it seems to be now.
Newberry’s and Woolworth’s had a lunch bar where you could buy a hot dog for 10 cents and coffee for 5 cents. If you wanted dessert, you could have an ice cream cone or a sundae. The cones were 5 cents or 10 cents for large. Home- made pies cost around 10 cents a slice.
The stores closed Wednesday afternoons. Saturday evenings were the busiest times. who were also there, but they eventually purchased the items they had come in for. Actually these one room stores with all their variety of goods were almost like a mini-mall with everything in that one store.
These are my happy memories. Of course there were sad ones, too, but I think it is better to remember the good ones.