Ruth Campbell Smith 1925-27 Diaries

My grandmother, Ruth Campbell Smith (1892 - 1972) kept a diary for many years. I am posting her entries from 1925 - 1927 in this blog. Her family included sons Dale (1916 - 2004), Dick (1918 - 1971), Albert (1920 - 1979), and Ned (1923 - 1976), and later daughters Marjorie (1925 - 2010) and Eleanor (1929 - 2011). Her husband was Gilbert (1889 - 1937) and they lived in Indianapolis. I hope you enjoy this glimpse of what it was like to be a housewife and mother in the 1920's.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Monday, March 15, 1926

Monday, March 15, 1926
Clear and cold

Ned was so near sick I didn’t know whether to start washing or not and decided I had better hurry and get it out of the way before he should get worse or break out with the measles. He didn’t have any fever but looked awfully bad. My foot hurts terribly wash days by the time I get done running up and down stairs, although I wear the bunion protector and get along pretty well except wash days.

(Aunt Marjorie wrote that she wondered what Grandma did with the babies while she was down in the basement working on the laundry. I think she had a roller type washer, so she couldn't just throw a load of clothes into the washer and dash back upstairs. And, she had to hang the clothes to dry.

Grandma always had problems with her feet; remembering earlier she thought she might have broken her toe.)