Keeping Warm on a Cold Day

February 3, 1936  10° cold [10° F.] with strong north wind.  Very cold day.  Mama and Mary sewed. 

On a cold day with a strong north wind, the Siemens’ house got cold very quickly because it was uninsulated.  They had a row of mulberry trees that they pruned to provide kindling, and they saved every scrap of old wood to burn as well.  If they heard of construction projects, such as building an elevator in town, they would go and pick up scrap lumber there because it was free.  Sometimes in fall they went down nearby river, Crooked Creek, and cut kindling.  And they also bought coal from town because it burned longer and hotter than wood.  

In the basement Cornelius had built three large bins to hold kindling and coal.  There was a basement window above the bins so that they could dump wood and coal directly into the bins.  In winter they could just go downstairs to get more coal or wood instead of going outside.  Cornelius had brought this idea from Manitoba, but in Kansas most other Mennonite families had to go outside to get their wood or coal.

In the dining room they had a Round Oak brandcast-iron stove.  The kitchen was heated by the wood-burning range that they cooked on.  For the living room, they also had a heater that burned kerosene.  In the evening before going to bed, they would bank the fire so that there would be some coals left by morning.  Then in the morning as the man of the house, it was Cornelius’ job to be the first up and start the fire in a literally freezing house.  So on cold winter days, it was a real chore to keep the fire fed and the house heated.