Families created their own entertainment before radio and TV. When the Wilson family lived at Stuart during the 1920s, Doris was about 4 years old. Her older brothers were 6 and 7, the twins just eighteen months.
Leora sang while her children marched around the table. One of the tunes was the Ragpicker Song, “Any rags, any bottles, any bones today?” She also sang Civil War songs she remembered her own mother singing when she was a child.
They must have gotten some toys, but the only tidbit Leora left for us in her memoir was that around Christmastime, she sang to them “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas,” substituting the names of her children:
Jolly old Saint Nicholas, lean your ear this way.
Don’t you tell a single soul what I’m going to say.
Christmas Eve is coming soon, now you dear old man
Whisper what you’ll bring to me. Tell me if you can.
Delbert wants a story book. Doris wants a dolly.
Donald wants some roller skates–he thinks dolls are folly.
As for me. . . etc.
From Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots
