Roots in the Great Plains: The Applied Psychology of Harry Hollingworth

Part II: Public School Days

76 PAR T 11 PUB LIe S C H 0 0 L DAY S public school days 77 77 It wae 1n the 111;tle tr01m ot De~1tt ,salIne Jounty,Nebraska, on May 26,1800, that. I flrat a&V t.he l1ght ot day and the world bad it. tirst g11mpse ot me. The oharacter and tate of thl. town made 1t suoh a typlcal pN,lr1e T111ase that I have devoted to 1t a separafte volume. lance much of onets own h1story depends on h1e ear11 env1ronment f the blograpbJ ot DeW1tt, 1s an essent.1al part ot rq own etor,y, but mOlt or the deaerlptlon or the town has been separated from th1s personal narrative. Y.y mother ... Libble (or L1zz1e) J. Andrews (Hollin5worth) and m:y tather's gtven name val rhomal. tly mothet- died at the age of twenty-three yean ,during my sixteenth lIlonth. !- :y tather Boon married again, the maiden name or rJf1 step-mother be1ng Mitt1e mother Gunder. Of my ..,.,. I o&n -1 'but. l1ttle, tor I never tnew ber, -and not until rr.y elg.lj,teenth year d1d I even learn the faota about. her. these faota 1::elng few. She was t.ne daug.r.'-lter ot W1111am Rile, lmdrewl and 1·largaret Jane M.uCiows (Andre....). ;jhe had one brothel' (John Andrews) and two half-slsterl (Ella and Natt1e Spencer). rheae slaters were l:o~ t.o my grandmother anCl her seoond buabanA. ~eY1 Spenoer,atter whom I reoe1Te4 ~ mlddle name. r~ maternal grandmot.her's people had migrated fro. 80me eastern atate,t:IJ"OU&"'b Illlnola.vhere t::ey Bettled tor a time,into \:obrasta.!'hey took up lan(! near PeWitt 1n 1878.two yean 'betore I wae born.f.ccoro1ng to my aunts,my grandmother was 'born .!Il route to !l11no1e,ln a oovered wagon drawn by an ox team. :-ier obituary gives the date or her 1::1rth aa Oot.12,1832,and the place as Warren Jounty, Il11aola. Jho bad no schoollng and wal apparentl,y 1111t.el'ate, alt,hough v1gorous both 1n body and in mlnd.ihe d1eCi 1n 1924,aged roots in the great plains 78 92 yeara. In 1855 abe bad marr1ed Wil11am H1ley Andrewe ot Ablngdon ,Illinois; he died onll slx leare later.leaving her wlth two ch11dren.two yeara latAr,ln 1863,8he marrled Lev1 3panoer and fifteen years later oame wlth h1l1 to Nebraska. My mother,t.he oldest daughter,was at thia time twenty ,ears old. and wlthln a year she bad met and marrled my tather,who was then 25 years of age. My father ws l!I the &on of ::ienry Hol11ngworth. one of .everal lrotnere who ha~ come wlth a siater trom the neighborhoow;:,' :1,isht ~nd we aoul('\. hardly I repOl t ::'1". s !e~~lle desul tory rr~'T.or'~r i!') p'lrt. to excuse the sket.chlnesD o.~ ;:,,~is :J. ::;~OUL~ of Ie::! early YI:':3.rfJ ,and 1n part to expla1n to myself w~;y I :~mt.:lU'1 1nteresteC' ~.n the wrl tlnc~ of ILern01r&. Per- ~i.a)A tho endeavor :0 \tretched out in the warm sun".- what a nostalg10 ring those words now have; for lying am the ltaJle earth was Olle or my favor1te posJw~e8 in ohlldhood. During a good part of the year one could do that safely in Nebraska. The ground absorbed sunshine a.ll day and aven shady spots at one hour had soaked up heat dur1ng ear11er exposure. In summer nigh ts the ground waS cooler than the s tioky beds indoor. , roots in the great plains 104 Iet) but still Warm enough to be oomfortable and to proteot r~om oh1ll and damp and oonsequent oolds. With some kind or mosquito bar proteotlon against inseot pests I used orten to spend the n1ght outdoors under the br1ght. n1ght. 8ky. Suoh freedom has been den1ed 111 other plaoes where I have sinoe lived. The ground has been 1nvar1ably elther damp or oold or atony or full ot an) hllla or pltched at aft unreasonable angle wlth the horizon. Or the nights have turned oold with lnevltable thunder storms or threats ot them. It seemed to help onets mental adjustments to stretch out nat on the soil under the a'ars. Pe1!hapa lt was only that l1ttle human concerns assumed more tolerable magn1tude. 1n suoh a sett1ng. At any rate a type or reneetlon...