(Fannie's recollection, continued) I started school soon at the Christian School in Orange City, and walked to school every day. The teacher gave me examples on paper. I could do them, but she did not explain that it was the same way in America as in Holland, so I didn't do it. I was put in a lower grade and had to start from the bottom up. I could learn well so I got to the grade where I was supposed to be. I went half way in the 7th grade, and then one of my friends go a job in the hotel in Orange City. I thought earning money was nicer than going to school. They hired me right away. so I quit school and had to get up at 5 a.m. to peel potatoes with another girl. When that was done, breakfast dishes would come to be washed and dried. When that job was done, we had to go upstairs to make and change the beds, and sweep the rooms with a broom (no vacuums)—pretty dusty job. We emptied the potties as there were no bathrooms (outhouse only), clean the pots in another pail of water, and carry the one that was full to the outhouse, even in the winter. The people that ran the hotel had a family of 7 children, and they always cleaned up the deserts if there were any left. It used to make us girls so mad. I often thought later, "Why did I quit school!" We were getting only $3 a week, for seven days a week. We had a cold room in the winter, and we'd leave the door open so the steam from the kitchen would go up there. That iced the ceiling, and if it started to warm up, the ceiling would drip. No fun getting cleaned and dressed up there for the day. I must have worked there for a few years.
I would go to my grandparents once in a while (from work at the hotel). I had a few dates, but I never told my grandma because she would not approve. She told me I might not go to the movies: that was sin. Well, I disobeyed once in a while. But I never felt happy if I went because I knew I was doing wrong. So one day, when I was 17, I quit and went home to my folks who were living on a farm (about 5 miles from both Orange City and Melvin, Iowa). My mom was always so scared of thundershowers. If she heard it thundered, she would want to go the neighbors a half mile away. Pa wouldn't go along with her, so she would go alone, sometimes in the middle of the night. Pa rented from a banker, and he was a stinker. It seemed that he knew if I was home alone. If I would see him come, I would put the hook on the screen door, so he could not come in. He always wanted me to go along with him in the car, but I always refused. I said, "You have a daughter, why don't you take her." I was scared of that guy. I'm so sure that my grandmother prayed for me every day, so the Lord took care of me.
During that time, I used to help out at the neighbors at threshing time. I would bring the men lunch in the morning and afternoon. John was boarding at his sister Kate's; they lived about a mile from our place. But nothing happened. My folks moved to another farm, and then one day Hank Haak and John came over to buy a wagon from Dad. Later they came over at night for a visit; John came, too. They stayed close to midnight, and John asked me to go along. He had an old Ford car. I told him that it was too late. But he just begged me to go along, so I did. I bet his sister thought we were crazy. It was pitch dark, and the car lights went out. It blinded John, and he ran into the fence. I told him I better stay home, because he couldn't bring me with no lights on the car. He said, "I'll bring you home with the horse and buggy." We got there okay, but he had to go in the pasture to get his buggy horse. The horse thought, "I don't want to go anywhere." He didn't want to be caught. I think it took John a good hour to catch him. I got home late, but it was worth it. He wanted to kiss me, but I told him no kisses on the first date, not even my second date. But he got a kiss then only because my hat fell off on the road, so he had to pick that up. On Sunday we went to church together. At that time, my folks never went; I don't know why. Kate was worried that I would keep John from going to church, but I never did. I loved to go to church. Later on my folks started to go again, and we went pretty steady. I was 19, and did not work except for a day or so once in a while. John was farming with another guy; he didn't have much either. In Haak's yard, they had a big pile of corn in one big open crib. It began raining just about every day, so the crib broke, and corn spilled all over. They could not shell it as it was wet. By the time it could be shelled, it was all moldy. They hardly got a cent out of it. So they could not pay the rent; that left John with debts. Anyway, John wanted to get married, and I told him yes. I loved him from the start. The first time I saw him, I thought to myself, "I wish I could go out with him." So we were married in the house, the 24th of February, 1921. We had friends and neighbors over with some of John's family.
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