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Meeting the Neighbors
P A G E 4
“At that time I had made the acquaintance of Mrs. Stratton. She wove rag carpets three yards for fifty cents... She would take faded colorless rags and dye them bright colors and weave them into gay patterns. These added comfort and cheer to many who hungered for the comforts they left behind. From her I learned to make citron and green tomato pickles and cakes and pies, and in turn I taught my neighbors how to make coffee cake, potato salad, cottage cheese, noodles, etc.”
Sarah Thal, The Epic of Sarah Thal: Trail Blazer, American Hebrew, April 3, 1931. Thal lived on a farm in Nelson County, North Dakota, in the early 1880s. Courtesy of the American Jewish Archives.
“Saturday, the day after we arrived we dined at the hotel [and] Mr. Rosenberg introduced me to the faculty of the junior high school who came in that day. The teachers were Norwegians or Swedish, they lived on ranches in North Dakota, very tall. I invited them to my home although it needed a good cleaning. We had a grand time sitting around the table where I served fruit in a potato bowl, tea in cups and saucers where no two matched... We became good friends. They made my home their headquarters. I often served chopped herring, their favorite dish. I went to junior high school as a special pupil, the only place I could keep warm in the wintertime and to keep me from being lonesome. I was invited to join the Social Hour Club which made me happy. We had to read extensively; as they called the roll we were obliged to respond with a current event or an anecdote of interest... Passover I invited the club members to my home. My dear mother sent me a basket filled with goodies, wine, delicatessen, matzos, macaroons, sponge cake and nuts. The ladies enjoyed the food, the wine; they drank more than they could hold, and Mr. Rosenberg was obliged to take each one home.”
Betty Rosenberg, manuscript, 1976. Rosenberg, who grew up in Chicago, married, in 1915, a man who owned a business in Beach, North Dakota. Courtesy of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest.
top left photo: Sarah Thal, courtesy of the American Jewish Archives.
top right photo: The Thal cabin, courtesy of the American Jewish Archives.
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