Fall for Children of the Nineteenth Century

Hello, I am Ruthie L. Manier welcoming you to Cowboy Kisses! Thanks for reading! My subject today is children of the past verses' children of today and how their lives differ in the Fall season. After researching the nineteenth century, I was not surprised to find out that the children’s Fall break from School was not a real vacation. The rumors are true that many ranchers and farmers had more children as to help them on the farm when they got old enough to do hard labor. In late September through October the Schools closed until after the harvest season. They called this The Potato Hole break. This event circulated from wide to far and the officials decided to add the dates to the calendar. Children worked anywhere from eight to twelve hours a day. The younger ones scared away crows, raccoons, and deer from the corn fields. The “Apple Brigade” these children governed over the apple orchards. They climbed up into the trees and picked all the juicy apples. They also gathered the fallen fruit from the ground to use for apple butter and other sweet recipes. The children followed the men as they cut the wheat and corn picking up seeds, ears and stalk left behind. Nothing wasted. The older girls had it rough too, they spent ten to twelve hours a day peeling apples and cooking apple butter over massive copper pots outdoors. They also snapped beans to dry known as “leather britches.” Of course, at the end of the break there was big harvest gatherings, dinners, parties, and dancing. Fast forward time to “2026” Today’s children. Can you imagine waking your children or grandchildren up in the wee hours of the morning on their Fall break from school to tell them to go out into the apple orchards to work? Or any field of crops? What kind of feedback do you think you would hear? Mine would tell me they think I’ve lost my mind and to go back to bed as they pulled the blankets back over their heads. That is if they even heard me in the first place with so many of them wearing their ear buds to bed. Modern kids have it easy. They sleep in. Expect breakfast whenever they choose to come down the stairs. Then expect you to take them to wherever they decide they’d like to go. And we do. Why? Because we love them and want so much to make them happy. Especially us grandparents. They don’t need to work for anything in most cases. School is considered their work. I’m not complaining; it’s just the case with everyone I’ve talked to. Sure, many do chores consisting of taking out the garbage, loading and unloading the dishwasher, maybe even vacuuming. At my house and many others vaccuming would consist of hitting the start button with your toe and watching the robot do the job. Come to think of it, I reckon, we all have it easier in the twenty-first century.❤️