# 61 FEED BAG MATERIAL USED FOR CLOTHING

French's store - note.. our church to the upper right, behind the store

In 1869, French’s store was built in Bedford Center, located at the bottom of the long, grassy hill from our Presbyterian Church. It mainly was an animal feed store. In addition, one could buy gasoline, groceries and farm tools. Their ice cream was the best. Vanilla, chocolate and strawberry were the only three flavors. I remember Fred French piling as many scoops as he could on a cone for ten cents. Balancing it carefully, sometimes we had to use both hands as my friends and I would take our mountains of ice cream outside. Sitting on the wooden steps, we ate this delicious treat as fast as we could before it melted on a hot summer day.

After this country store burned down in 1963, the lawn in front of the church was extended all the way down to route 101, which, at the time, ran through Bedford Center.

Another fun activity at French’s store, is that, in the 1930’s, when Tony and I were small children, we were allowed to go back into the very large grain storage space at the rear of the building and jump around on the big stacks of hundred-pound bags of grain as though we were in a gym. The bags were brightly colored with geometric and flower-printed patterns. The grain in the bags provided a wonderfully sweet, pungent aroma filling the air, a memory that is clear in the minds of Tony and me to this day.

For many years, most grain bags had been made of white cotton. About 1925, the grain companies realized that the farmers’ wives had been using this soft, white fabric to make undergarments, baby clothes, dishcloths and many other utilitarian items. The manufacturers began offering feed bags in appealingly printed designs. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, as many as three million women in this country were making their own dresses, children’s school clothes and men’s shirts. Leftover scraps were saved for quilts and doll clothes. Grain companies hired national artists to create the art work for this unusual promotional market.

Many boys and girls in my grade school wore grain-bag material shirts and dresses to school and were delighted to do so. This homemade clothing was comfortable, colorful, fashionable, and furthermore, the children had a varied wardrobe.

One winter, when I was in the seventh grade, several of my friends and I belonged to a 4-H Club. As a project, I made an apron and a pair of pajamas out of feed bags. It took me all winter to complete this task because I had to sew all of it by hand. I did it but I was not very good at it. Sewing certainly was not my favorite thing to do. Mary Carr, the 4-H leader, was quite strict, and criticized my work a lot. That took all of the fun out of the project. I think that she hoped that her group of children would win a prize at the county fair. For sure, the pajamas I made would never have won any kind of a ribbon.

However, that same winter, I did learn to knit, which I loved. I made a large, light-blue, cable-stitch, ski sweater. I remember that it had four cables on the front, four on the back and one cable on each sleeve. It was my favorite sweater and lasted for years until I really wore it out. Time after time, I mended the holes in the elbows. Finally, the wool in the whole sweater became so threadbare, it was beyond repair. I had worn this sweater for so many years that now, sixty-five years later, Tony still remembers it.

This sweater meant so much to me that I even chose it to wear for a family picture-taking event.

It was a sad day for me when I threw the worn out sweater away!

My beloved sweater.