A Day of Berry Picking with Gladys by Lucille Taylor Kinsella

 Lucille and Gladys

It was a beautiful sunny morning, and not too hot yet. I was at Grandma Baker’s and on my way to Center Lisle and Aunt Lil’s store, hoping to bring Gladys (Gladys Howland Wood was Aunt CB's first cousin) back up here with me to play. As I carefully walked, trying to hit every hot tar bubble on the macadam road, I heard Grandma calling, ‘Lucille, come back!’ 

Stopping, she caught up with me and grabbed my hand to pull me back, saying ‘Come back, you cannot go out like that, they’ll think you’re a chippie’. 

Now, I had no idea what that was, but I said ‘Why?’

‘Your clothes!’ she exclaimed, ‘you’ve got to put a dress on.’

A dress? When Mom had just made me these new shorts? And I had a tee shirt on. Regardless, Grandma pulled me back up the road, all the time, me saying ‘but, but but,  Mom…’. I got no further until Mom was beside us. She explained to Grandma that she’d made the shorts, everyone wore them, I was a decent kid, and only 12 years old, and finally Grandma reluctantly let go and I was off on my way again.

After lunch with Gladys, and a visit with Aunt Lil at the store where she outfitted Gladys and myself with boys overalls, we two, ever thrilled to be together, and full of all kinds of talk, walked back up the hill to Grandma’s. We were going to pick blackberries.

When Grandma saw us, she once again threw her arms up in horror—PANTS!! No way!! Patiently, Mom explained that we were dressed thus to go to pick blackberries down along the back pasture fence.

With that, Grandma agreed, and made us wait while she went to her room, rummaged in her sewing basket and reappeared with two pair of her long cotton stockings! She cut the holey toes end off, and made us slip them up over our arms, then gave us each a peanut butter pail and sent us on our way, reminding us to be sure to stay on ‘our’ side of the fence, as ‘there’s a bull in that next door field’. 

Gladys Home from Berry Picking

Notice the stockings on her arms!

Thank you Grandma Baker

As we started away, she once again yelled ‘Lucille’ (for at least the third time that day!). Turning, she met me with her sun bonnet! ‘For your hair, cover it up’. 

As I looked at Gladys I said ‘it’s not that red that any bull would mind me….’However, I wore it until we got over the hill and we both just meandered along.

Yes, there were blackberries and we picked, just as steadily as we talked, until our pails were full. We picked and we ate berries, both steadily, but we were far from ‘talked out’! Finding a shady spot, near where a spring made a small pool for cattle to drink, we took advantage of its cool banks, pulled our shoes and socks off, resting them in the COLD water and continued our eternal quest to cover any and every topic we did not understand about life. There were many!

Lucille Home from Berry Picking!

As the youngest girls, each with three older sisters to tell us what to do, we suffered badly and always had only one another to commiserate with.

Returning with full pails, we found Grandma had already made a large shortcake. Mom was willing to pick over our berries and ready them with sugar for the topping of the cake, as we had already glimpsed Adin in the backyard, setting up the grinding wheel to sharpen knives for Grandma. We hurried to his side, knowing he absolutely needed us to turn the wheel for him.

Gladys Howland Wood

Days flew by when we were at Grandma’s. Gladys and I, even growing up and growing old together-- in the time we had together--never ran out of talk. Many’s the world’s problems we tried to correct, only to eventually realize we were two voices crying in the wilderness.

These days, when I am alone and Gladys is gone, I still ‘visit’ with her. You just joined us in one of our Center Lisle visits, and I am just so grateful for the times we shared together!