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Carolyn Mulford

Carolyn Mulford

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Monthly Archives: June 2025

4-H and Sewing in the 1940s

Carolyn Mulford Posted on June 30, 2025 by CarolynJune 30, 2025

4-H came to my rural community about two years after World War II ended. We had no other youth organizations available, so 4-H, led by two wonderful (female and male) county Extension agents, made a huge impact on us children—and our parents.

As I recall, the whole community met at New Hope School (grades one through eight) to hear the agents describe the program and recruit adult volunteers to lead projects teaching practical skills ranging from sewing to raising calves. Then all the dozen or so kids nine or older signed up, elected officers (an unfamiliar task), and took the pamphlets home to choose their projects. Being only eight, I envied my older sister and listened closely to discussions there and at home.

My mother studied the materials thoroughly, for volunteer leaders had to master and teach the standards 4-H set for each project. A former teacher, she had been making our clothing for years, but she felt that she needed the guidance the pamphlets and the agent provided. I later realized that 4-H educated parents as well as children.

By my ninth birthday, I had memorized the 4-H pledge, learned basic parliamentary procedure (a boon forever), and reconciled myself to tackling cooking and sewing projects rather raising a calf. I didn’t mind making biscuits and cakes, but I preferred to leave the sewing to my big sister, who loved it. The first year was basic: threading and operating our treadle sewing machine, using paper patterns to cut cloth, sewing straight seams in such items as tea towels and pillow slips. To my dismay, my mother made me redo everything until it was perfect.

The second year the project got harder. I came to hate sewing. I liked going to the feedstore and choosing the sacks for my practice rounds of shorts, blouses, and skirts, but the summer heat turned cutting and fitting and putting in and taking out imperfect seams into torture. I suffered through five summers of sewing projects. I earned blue ribbons at the fair for blouses with button holes and dresses with zippers and for judging others’ work. The successes didn’t compensate for the time robbed from reading and playing outdoors.

4-H taught me many other useful skills, including how to give a demonstration, how to speak in public, how to work with a group, and how to do well a job I didn’t like.

And I’ve never forgotten the pledge: I pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service, and my Health to better living for my club, my community, and my country.

—Carolyn Mulford

Posted in Historicals, The Feedsack Dress | Leave a reply

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4-H and Sewing in the 1940s

Carolyn Mulford Posted on June 30, 2025 by CarolynJune 30, 2025

4-H came to my rural community about two years after World War II ended. We had no other youth organizations available, so 4-H, led by two wonderful (female and male) county Extension agents, made a huge impact on us children—and our parents. As I recall, the whole community met at New Hope School (grades one through eight) to hear the agents describe the program and recruit adult volunteers to lead projects teaching practical skills ranging from sewing to raising calves. Then all the dozen or so kids nine or older signed up, elected officers (an unfamiliar task), and took the … Continue reading →

Posted in Historicals, The Feedsack Dress | Leave a reply

I Am a River

Carolyn Mulford Posted on April 19, 2025 by CarolynApril 19, 2025

Each week I lunch with a group of friends and discuss a topic. Last time the coordinator posed this question: What is the shape of your life? The answers included a rectangle, a vase, a cloud, and an octagon. Usually I wing it, but this time I wrote my response. The Shape of My Life I am a river, Birthed in a puddle, Nourished by rain, Pushed to overflow And grow broader And deeper.   Springs and creeks fed my flow. Widening waters gathered force, Thrusting me against unyielding barriers And cascading me over rocky falls.   Other streams joined … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized

Where to Find My Books

Carolyn Mulford Posted on April 1, 2025 by CarolynApril 1, 2025

While only one of my books, Show Me the Sinister Snowman, continues to be published in print and electronic editions, several of my novels are available from online sellers. Most of the copies are used, but columbiabooksonline.com, my supportive local bookstore, has a small stock of new Show Me hardbacks and paperbacks. I also have a few copies of all my novels except The Feedsack Dress, my historical children’s book, and Show Me the Murder, the first in my mystery series featuring a former spy returning   home and solving crimes with old friends. Fortunately e-editions still exist. Barnes and Noble … Continue reading →

Posted in Mysteries, The Feedsack Dress, Uncategorized

Looking Forward 60 Years Ago

Carolyn Mulford Posted on February 28, 2025 by CarolynFebruary 28, 2025

Reminders of my attempts to start my writing career arrived last Christmas. A friend, Joyce Campbell, sent me letters I had written to her while we were serving as Peace Corps Volunteers (teaching English) in Ethiopia from September 1962 to July 1964 and in the months after we returned home (Chattanooga, Tennessee, for her and Kirksville, Missouri, for me) after traveling through Europe. On December 21, 1964, I wrote, “Has anything turned up for you yet? People don’t seem terribly impressed with Peace Corps experience for job qualifications it seems to me. I’m going down to the University Placement Bureau … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing

Mid-Continent Earthquakes, Past and Future

Carolyn Mulford Posted on December 16, 2024 by CarolynDecember 16, 2024

About 2:30 a.m. December 16, 1811, an earthquake threw people in New Madrid, Missouri Territory, out of bed and crumbled brick houses and cabin chimneys, forced the Mississippi River to run backward and change course, disturbed sleep along most of the East Coast, and toppled dishes from shelves in the White House. That marked the beginning of some of the most powerful, prolonged quakes the United States has experienced. These weren’t the first in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which is centered near where Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky come together. Geologists and other scientists have found indications that powerful … Continue reading →

Posted in Historicals, News, Thunder Beneath My Feet

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