When potatoes got ripe we had plenty of the best. 0n portlyher's first visitto Michigan he was told that the soil of Michigan would not produce goodpotatoes. We soon found that this was a mistake for we had raised somegood ones before, but not enough to last through the summer.

We still had wheat but sometimes had to almost do without groceries. Wealways had something to eat but sometimes our living was quite poor.Sometimes we had potatoes and water and sometimes thickened water. This wasmade by dampening flour, rolling it into fine lumps and putting them intoboiling water with a little salt, and stirring it until it boiled again.This was much more palatable than potatoes and water.

0ne evening two neighbors' girls came to visit us. They stayed late.After they went away I asked mother why she didn't give them some tea;she exclaimed she had no tea to give them, and that if she had given them thebest she had they would have gone away and told how poor we were.