I was born at my parent's farm home southeast of Leonardville on Nov. 8, 1909. My parents were Henry and Perseda Zeisset who had married on Feb. 20, 1908 and had lived on this farm less than a year.
I don't remember being an only child as my sister, Carol, was born on Dec. 25, 1911. As siblings go, I think we got along quite well and we were loved by our parents and our living conditions were as good as most.
Getting used to automobiles
When I was a baby, we were going to church in a buggy drawn by one horse. We had a "third seat" that was made for being between and slightly above the two adults in the buggy seat. I sat on that as I got big enough. When Carol was about two, daddy bought a carriage--a two-seated horse-drawn vehicle (two horses). Ours did not have fringe around the top as "the surrey with the fringe on top" of the Oklahoma musical, but it was nice--black, with pinstripes around as autos have today. The buggy had a baggage compartment at the back, but the carriage did not (except a small compartment under the back seat), and the floor had only a small edge so that packages were not very secure on the floor.
When I was a boy, we had no automobile, and I was afraid of them. Whenever a car drove into our yard (which maybe happened as often as once a month) I ran for cover. Once I hid under the bed in the bedroom; I don't remember that, but I do remember running for the cow shed and staying until the car had gone. At that time, Uncle Ed was working in Kopachek's garage selling Reo automobiles. He offered to take our family for a ride on a Sunday afternoon (pre-arranged) so my mother had a talk with me about accepting the car and enjoying the ride. I had to agree, and surely enough, the ride was pleasant. The day was nice and the touring car top was down. I sat at the left end of the back seat and could see a lot that was fun. That was the end of the auto rejection.
Fairview school
My birthday being in November, I either started school before I was six or before I was seven, and my parents chose the latter, partly because I did not have older siblings to walk with (about 1 1/4 miles). Fairview School, District 14, was then a l-room school and that school year (1916-1917) had 39 pupils and an inexperienced teacher. She was Esther Boell, daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. E. F. Boell, Fairview Presbyterian Church pastor who lived across the road from the 1-acre school ground. You can guess that I did not get the best start in school. I sat in seven seats that year; there was always someone pulling my hair or poking me or sticking something down my neck, and the teacher chose to move me rather than discipline a bigger, stronger person. Discipline was in short supply because some of the 7th and 8th grade boys were fully grown. The teacher was the one to start the fire on cold winter mornings and sometimes we couldn't begin classes right away because the room was too cold. The desks had cast iron legs, and I remember seeing an older boy kick his desk leg, and the cold cast iron broke. Then he said he may as well go home since his seat was broken, and he did. I have never been one to brag about the old one-room school. Surely, it had its advantages of providing learning from the other grades, but personal attention from the teacher was harder to come by when the pupils were so many.
The next spring, the school board decided to build a two-room building and buy an additional acre of ground. New and better out-houses were built, too, and Fairview School became one of the better rural schools of Riley County. The two rooms were separated by folding doors which opened to give a fair-sized meeting room. Patrons were able to get seats for programs and plays. In my 7th and 8th grade years, we gave three 3-act plays. We built in a stage on trusses about two feet high so that everyone could see the action. Light-weight curtains were hung to provide entrance places from both sides and back.
We had 41 pupils the first two-room year, but that gradually declined to about 34 in my last year and to being just enough for one room a few years after I finished. The full basement that provided play space in winter and on rainy days was an asset of the new building, as well as cloak rooms and a small library room. Even the porch where overshoes could be taken off and left was better than the old school. The modern coal furnace heated the corners of the room, too, and also held heat overnight. John Fosha bought the old building and moved it to his farm home just north of Riley.
When Fairview School closed, the building stood empty for a number of years. The Fairview Church considered buying it and held some social activities in it, but it was later sold to Fairview district in Clay County. The church bought the land and still maintains it. For a time the south half (where we used to play football and baseball) was planted to trees, but now only a few remain. The north end is used for parking for church and Riley County High School. When Clay County's Fairview School closed, a member of the Ebenezer congregation bought it for a home, and we can still see it 1/4 miles north of US 24 one mile into Clay County. Fairview Church cemetery is just to the east of the original school ground. In my school days, there was an osage orange hedge fence between. This was a handicap whenever a ball went over or through the fence. I don't remember that we ever played in the cemetery.
Going to church
I don't remember Sunday School from very early days, but I remember that the preaching hour seemed long. If I asked my father how soon church would be over he'd say "After a while." The organ in the church was larger than a parlor organ and had a wheel on one end that could be turned to operate the bellows. Mostly the organist operated them with her feet, but I do remember seeing the wheel turned by a man. There were acetylene lights in the church. They made a fair light and had to be lighted and put out individually. The organ was replaced with a piano in 1920. It had been wanted especially by the young people while some of the older ones were very much opposed. (It seems that having both was not considered. My parents were neutral and gave $10 toward the $200 it took to buy the piano.
I started slowly, but gradually I took part in the Christmas and Children's Day programs, usually by speaking a piece. I think I learned several before I was bold enough to get up and speak it in the program. I first sang in a mixed quartet at the time my voice was changing so that I sang the tenor, Milt Nanninga sang the bass an octave high, Elizabeth Nanninga sang soprano, and Emilie Nanninga sang alto. Bertha Nanninga was accompanist and coach. We sang "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."
When I was in high school I began singing in the choir at church, my voice having dropped to bass. In high school I was in a male quartet composed of Lawrence Oman, Bill Stone, Milton Nanninga, and myself. In church our quartet was composed of Frank Coltharp, Dan Nanninga, Milton Nanninga, and myself. Beginning my Junior year, the high school principal, Mr. Adel, was our church choir director, and we had 15 to 20 in the choir. Thursday night was our practice night and we met in the Adel home. Mrs. Adel was an accomplished soprano and they had a little boy (Jerome) who was not an interference. Bertha Nanninga played the piano well enough to handle whatever music the Adels chose, and they chose among the most difficult--such as only the best of choirs take on in our time. The congregation only partly appreciated this difficult music, but I have; I still remember some of those anthems. We sang three cantatas over the Milford radio station, and we thought that quite an accomplishment.
Bible memorizing
The beginning of my Bible memorizing came with catechism. This was not considered by many of our people as important and I was the only one to ask Rev. Platz for guidance through The Smaller Catechism. I spent three summers at it, meeting with him on Saturday afternoons. There were 150 questions in the book and I memorized and recited the answers to each, along with the four or five supporting Bible verses. Some of the verses were hard to understand, but I memorized them. Later I came to understand them and to know that you can memorize what you don't understand and it can be valuable later when you do understand. Mostly, I rode my bicycle to class (though I walked a few times) and mostly we sat in the tabernacle for the classes.
I have often said that I learned much of the Bible and about the Bible from sermons. Rev. Platz used to preach a long time. One year I timed him--43 minutes on average, morning and evening.
He used lots of Old Testament stories. We had tabernacle meetings each August and a two weeks revival every fall, often with quite good speakers as evangelists. I remember especially the Rev. F. F. Jordan, pastor of First Evangelical Church in Elgin, Ill. who was with us three weeks and preached about 45 minutes each night. People like the 15-minute sermons of today, but there is no possibility that you learn all you need by such timing. Sunday morning is no longer supplemented by Sunday evening and Wednesday night Bible study. Attendance, even on Sunday mornings is not as regular as it was in our family.
High School
In the fall of 1923, I started high school in the old building at the south end of Erpelding Ave. in Leonardville. The elementary grades were on the first floor; the high school occupied the top floor and the basement. The new high school building at the west end of Barton St. was nearly built, but we did not move there until Dec. 4. In my high school days, we had the best building anywhere near. J. B. Underwood was the principal and O. R. Cragun (a new K-State graduate) was the coach. There was hot rivalry between our schools, especially between Leonardville and Riley. In my four years, we did not lose to Riley in any sports event, and we considered that very important at the time.
H. E. Adel became the principal in 1925 and then we had more music in the school. We had boys and girls glee clubs and took part in the state music contest at Emporia State.
Baccalaureates were held in the Evangelical Church and the Rev. Walter Carpenter, Clay Center Baptist Church pastor, was the speaker in 1927. Commencement exercises were in the high school study hall-auditorium. I was the valedictorian and spoke on "Consider the End." I also sang "The Big Bass Viol." The Rev. A. C. Brown, Methodist district superintendent from Manhattan was the speaker at ;our baccalaureate on "Bargaining vs. Purchasing." His idea was that you get what you pay for and advised us not to try to "get by cheap."
We had a 21-year-old mare that I first drove to the buggy to high school. While old, she was not yet disspirited and I was soon in trouble with her discipline. While we were in the old building, I kept her in the car sheds at the church. After we were in the new building, we rented space in Uncle Lou Hoerman's barn in the west part of town where Gertrude and Gladys also kept their horse. Even with another horse nearby, my Maude got so nervous about getting started for home that I kept a halter on her at all times so that I could just unsnap her after I had her hitched to the buggy. At that, I had to get into the buggy quickly and without a misstep so as to be master of the situation. Even so, one evening we ran over a discarded kitchen range that stood by the fence a rod down. In my Sophomore year, we had to change to a white mare, Daisy, who was about the same age but docile; she soon wore out at the task, and daddy got an old broken-down horse from Hio van Elst. I was in no danger with that horse except that he couldn't always negotiate. One icy morning he fell and lay sprawled on the ground in front of what is now McDonald's garage. I got out, lifted the shafts to give him room, and he got up again, and we proceeded to school. At the very last, I drove the family car. That was safer than horses (?) In some ways it was.
In those days I often took cream and eggs to the station on the way to school and picked up the empties and possibly did some trading in the evening. That was a cause for danger, for hitching posts were getting scarcer and scarcer, and if I parked and tied up in a way favorable for driving away and a car parked in front of me, I was in trouble because backing was very dangerous. My horse backed too fast and didn't obey. I had hold of the lines and a severe bit in the bridle for being in control in forward movement, but one didn't have such controls on backing. I scared bystanders more than once, but never had an accident. If boys and girls of today obey their 14-year-old driving rules, they are easily safer than I was in the horse-and-buggy days.
I remember when we got my bicycle. It was ordered from Montgomery Ward and came in a wooden crate only partly assembled. We got it put together next day and I tried riding. It was easier because it was a girls' model. I rode down a slant in our yard and succeeded for 10 feet first, then more, and by the next day I could ride anywhere. Carol learned right after me, but it took a little longer because she was smaller.
My cousin and close friend, Milt Nanninga, decided to be a school teacher and enrolled at Emporia State College. I stayed at home and work at farm work for three years.
Projects around the farm
Our first project was to modernize our house. Henry Nanninga was a helper in the plans, but Arnold and Martin Bohnenblust were the engineers for the plumbing and carpentry project. That started with building a new cistern. It wasn't just water that we wanted in our house, but soft water. There was a small cistern under our back porch, but it had leaked for years so that while it filled with the rains, it was empty before we got to use all the water. First we removed the porch floor which was of wood. Then we dug out the stone and plaster wall of the cistern and dug it deeper. The difference between the thickness of the stone wall and the brick wall we put in made for a foot more of width. We arranged a rope and pulley and barrel for hauling out the old cistern wall and the dirt we dug out. John Sharples, a plasterer from Riley, plastered the new cistern and laid up a brick filter (made with a porous brick) in the bottom. The pipe to the pump was cemented into the top of the filter so that all the water we used went through 4 inches of brick to filter it. The brick for the new cistern came to Leonardville by train, and I hauled it on a wagon without sides and a team of leftover horses--left after daddy took the best 4 for field work.
Another project was drilling a well. It was not advisable to put in the plumbing we planned unless we had a dependable water supply. The well casing probably dated back to 1881, so we tried to pull it out and replace it, but it was too rusted. We tried to smash what was left in to the bottom and see if we had water enough, but that idea failed because the hole caved in. So, we dug a new well about 10 feet away. The well driller was A. Hadin, father of Howard Hadin.
The new well had a cement-walled pit at the top to contain the pumps deep enough into the ground to escape freezing. There were two pumps--one for cistern water and one for well water , both to be driven by the wind through the new Aermoter windmill we put up replacing the old wooden tower that had been there probably from 1881
We arranged that all the water (both hard and soft) go through the house. The soft water all went to a 100-gallon tank in the attic. The hard water either went to such an attic tank or to a square tank in the east end of the kitchen work table, depending on whether we closed the gate valve at that tank. The kitchen tank had a metal box built into it (about 4 cubic feet in size) to keep our food cool. This was 1927 and rural electrification did not come until 1943.
In replacing the back porch, the area was enlarged and made into a room with outside door to the south. The washing machine and cream separator were placed out there, and coat and overshoe space was no longer in the kitchen.
We dug a 8x10 cesspool to the west of the house 8 feet deep and set off a charge of dynamite in the bottom to make sure there would be seepage enough. The folks left the farm in January 1959, and it was all still working, but I know that later owners have had to make other arrangements for the sewer.
This whole project was of great interest and learning for me. I don't remember its total cost, but it was surprisingly much for a farm still $6000 in debt. I wish I could talk with my father now to learn his ideas about saving and spending. We always needed to be very saving, and still he saw the importance of having the improvements we really needed. He bought the Maytag motorized washing machine in 1918; mother was not well and needed it. We put off having an automobile until the last day of school in 1920. The 1920s were not good farm income years, but in 1927 we took on this house modernizing which was the first in the community. We were the first not to use our outdoor toilet.
For 1928, 1929, and 1930 daddy rented the Lottie Salstrom farm north of Leonardville (where Fred and Betty Wohler now live). This kept us busy, but they were poor crop years and we didn't earn any money. Along about that time, John Johnsmeyer wished to quit farming and he asked if we'd like to put out the wheat on his "80." We did well in raising the wheat, but that was when it sold for 25 cents a bushel. It was a good thing that daddy stayed with horses because I didn't stay with him long enough to be worth buying tractor equipment.
Going to college
In the summer of 1930, I confessed to my parents that I was called to be a minister. I began planning to go to LeMars, Iowa to attend Western Union College. Jake Nanninga had urged me to go with him when he returned for his Senior year in the fall of 1927. I had finished high school; his brother Milt was going to Emporia; he wanted me to go to Western Union, but I said No. I was not going to college. However, I always kept LeMars in mind and did go three years later. I remember how hard it was for me to tell my parents that this was what I wanted to do.
My parents were supportive in every way and helped me in many ways prepare for college. They paid my expenses as I had need. I was trusted so that I wrote checks on the family account as needed. I spent $1250 on the four years of college and $250 on the three years of seminary very different from the school expenses of today.
Epilogue
I was at home for summers on the farm through 1935. I married Ina Hubbard May 12, 1937. Except for visits with my parents and other relatives, I was away from Leonardville for the next 42 years. Then Ina and I adopted Leonardville as our retirement home. We lived for 20 years in the home my sister had owned until she died in 1978. At the end of 1999, we moved to an apartment in Beninga Acres, out of concern for my health. Ina shared that apartment with me less than a year before her death December 6, 2000, at the age of 95.
| Merton passed away at the Leonardville Nursing Home, February 18, 2005, at the age of 95. |