Helen Brooks Starke

As I read through papers and letters from an old box labeled "Farm Stuff", it became clear to me that my grandmother, Helen Brooks Starke, loved to write. It also became clear that one of her favorite things to write about was one of her least favorite things--Farm life. Below are some of the papers I've scanned. It seems she had begun writing her life story in her old age. Her brother, Terry (Uncle Terry), was helping her by making some drawings to go with her story, titled "Today Untill Tomorrow". It's clear she's trying to write in the style of common, country folk--a style made famous in books such as The Egg and I. Beyond the diction, though, I think we can hear Helen through the humor and sarcasm. Unfortunately, she didn't get very far in her writing and it is difficult to find the correct order of the pages, but I thought I'd post the ones I've scanned. I have really enjoyed reading them. The title page is below.



Next is the first page, labeled Chapter 1. It's a sort of preface to her story. She talks directly to the reader and explains her reasons for wanting to write down her story.




She continues talking about her childhood, her father administering the "Slipper", her brother, and her wedding which was not a "Shotgun Wedding" because they ran away and got married.

I can't find the page to follow this one. I can only imagine what she was about to say about wedding pictures........The next page is marked chapter 2 and is a continuation of her young life, only now she is married and living on the farm. She doesn't hide her feelings here.





She continues with a funny story about Uncle Willie (Pop's Uncle From Wisconsin?)
and "the Stony Lonesome"........you'll figure it out.


More sketches from Uncle Terry. That's all I've found of this book. In my next post, I'll scan a poem she wrote called "The Daily Calens'thinics of the Well Ballanced Farm Wife"