My sister and I didn’t hear any discussions about getting into fights at school, probably because we didn’t have brothers. I was interested in the stories I heard about a couple of tussles including the Wilson brothers. The first one happened about 1926, when they’d just taken a new job as tenant farmers along Old Creamery Road in Madison County, Iowa. The Wilson youngsters began classes at the nearby country school.
Husky followed the five oldest as they hiked the gravel road to the rural school on the corner not half a mile south. Delbert and Donald were sixth graders at the Penn Township school. Doris was the only one in third grade, so the teacher had her join the fourth graders. Twins Dale and Darlene were first graders.
Delbert soon got into a fight with Howard Davidson, the biggest kid in the school. Delbert won. The boys became fast friends, all the way through high school at Dexter.
Clabe had told his boys that if they ever got in a fight, to make sure their thumb was on the outside when they made a fist. Hitting someone with the thumb inside the fist could easily dislocate the thumb.
During the 1930s middle brother Dale got into a fight with a bigger kid on the way home from school. Danny and Junior ran ahead to tell their mother. The high schoolers, Delbert and Donald, were already home.
“Donald, you go see what’s happening.” Leora paused, holding a dish towel. “Danny and Junior, you boys stay here. Donald, make sure it’s a fair fight.”
A bedraggled Dale came home with Donald. “Mom, it was a fair fight,” Don told her, “but the other boy’s shirt got torn. His mother is really mad. She even said, ‘Mrs. Wilson had better get over here or she’s liable to take a trip’.”
Leora laughed. “Well, it’s been a while since I’ve been on a trip!” She asked Dale if he was okay. He was, just roughed up a bit.
That episode got around the neighborhood. Next time neighbor Mr. Neal saw Leora, he called out, “Mrs. Wilson, I hear you’re gonna take a little trip!”
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What messages did you grow up with about getting into fights?
Leora’s Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression has more stories of the seven Wilson children. It’s become readers’ favorite of the Leora books.