(Taken from the Teutopolis Press dated November 10, 1999. The student authors were seventh grade students at Teutopolis Junior High School with Mrs. Marjorie Wiessing as their teacher.)
The Great Depression
By: Chassy Lindsey
During the Great Depression people were out of work and the businesses were bad. It began in 1929. Dorene Moss was six years old when it began. Dorene lived in St. James in Illinois. The Great Depression was a time when businesses were bad and many people were out of work.
Her father's job was he worked for himself as a farmer. Dorene's mother's job was a homemaker. Dorene's chores were to clean her room and help with the farm. Dorene was forty-three when she first had her job out of the house. She worked in a restaurant that one of her family members owned. Dorene was paid thirty-five cents an hour. During the Great Depression kids had to work part time.
Dorene had enough money during the Great Depression. Dorene's family managed during this time but she had very little money. She was the only child so they had enough money for them to eat. She did not know of anyone that did not have jobs during the time. Her family went into town and they saw people borrowing a lot of things from people.
The main foods her family ate were sweet potatoes, green beans and soup beans. They bought sugar, flour, coffee and some beans. They bought them in a little home town store. They went once a week. They had a garden. They grew beans, potatoes, corn and peas. They did not eat much meat, it came from stores, cows or rabbits. Her family had enough food during the Great Depression.
Dorene said that when the banks closed some people had nothing like jobs, homes or farms. Many people suffered these losses. Most of these people were farmers.
During the Depression her family had very few clothes. They had one pair of shoes, two dresses, one for church and the other for school. She did not wear hand-me-down clothes. Very many other children wore hand-me-down clothes. They bought clothes. They got their clothes from St. Elmo or a catalog. People who bought clothes went to stores or ordered them from a catalog.
Dorene's family had a car and it was a Ford. Most people had no tractors. Dorene's family had no electricity. The first electricity was in 1949. She had no phone until 1949. Dorene's family bought some new items for the house, the farm and the family.
During the Great Depression, banks failed and one of the banks was Skier Bank in Pana. People could not do anything if they lost their money.
Many homeless men came to her house once a week. Her family fed them what ever they were eating. The only way they helped the homeless was giving the food.
During the Great Depression her family celebrated Christmas. She would only receive one present. The usual gifts she would receive were paper dolls, story books or a little bit of candy. She did not have a lot of toys. Her family did not have a Christmas tree. Trees were not available during the time of the Great Depression. They had no decorations inside or outside the house.
Dorene does not think the Great Depression had an affect on how many people her age have lived their life. I think that it should have been better for people back then. People should have had a lot more money, food, clothes and a lot more things than they had back then.
Teutopolis, Ill. —
