N.. Baker's House

Charlie Olson: out where this place is here that you have a picture of.

Bob Zybach: I definitely want to stop at Baker's.

Charlie Olson: I can't . . . from the picture, I can't tell for sure what was there.

Bob Zybach: Oh, okay, that's at Baker's. That's an old logging camp.

Charlie Olson: I don't know where that is.

Bob Zybach: We're about ready to go.

M. Grabe's House

Bob Zybach: We're right here by Lorna Grabe's driveway. Where was Baker's from here? Baker's house?

Charlie Olson: You're not to it yet.

Bob Zybach: Okay.

Charlie Olson: We're not to it yet.

Bob Zybach: Were you seeing something over here?

Charlie Olson: There was nothing over there.

Bob Zybach: This was just all open pasture land. This orchard up to

Charlie Olson: This house wasn't here either.

Bob Zybach: This little orchard to our right, it may have been Baker's orchard, that would have been before Cook's.

Charlie Olson: It's possible that Baker's made that, I don't remember seeing that. I kind of believe that it was planted afterwards . . . after I was out of here. Because if there had been anything there that would have had apples, we would had stopped and eaten some of them at times.

Bob Zybach: That's why we've got you in the truck here.

N. Baker's House

Bob Zybach: Now, in this draw right here, this is Hosteter's house, where did they live at from here?

Charlie Olson: They had a big grape vine right up there. And as far as orchard is concerned I don't think they had any in here. Back in here was their barn.

Bob Zybach: Okay, where this house is now about?

Charlie Olson: Their house was right there.

Bob Zybach: Right on this knoll?

Charlie Olson: It was right there, yeah.

Bob Zybach: So, what happened to the Baker's house after Cooks bought it, did they tear it down or.

Charlie Olson: It was already down.

Bob Zybach: Did you know the Bakers?

Charlie Olson: Yeah, Baker was the girl that told me what "became" was.

Bob Zybach: 1Wat did she say it was?

Charlie Olson: The woman that wrote this thing . . . wrote that other book up. Got all that mixed up. Right in the back there.

Bob Zybach: Marlene McDonald.

Charlie Olson: Right there.

Bob Zybach: Yeah. I quote from her only because she's got some nice pictures in there. Eveiybody I've talked to said there are real problems with it.

Charlie Olson: It was . . . a man teacher, Mr. Wing, he lived in Corvallis, he walked over the ridge. He walked right over the ridge, over the Vineyard Mountain and over to the school house. And my folks taught us the Swedish language before they taught the American language, otherwise we would never have learned it. And when we had learned so that they figured that we should start to learn the American language they started to speak the American language. And when we started to school, Mr. Wing, had me come up and recite and I went up there and I read what I was supposed to read, you know, and I came to a word and I called it "become." And he stopped me, and he says "That isn't become." And I studied at it and studied at it and he didn't say anything and pretty quick he just grabbed me the neck and throwed me across his knee and gave me a darn good paddling. And sent me back to my seat and he said, "You study your lesson." And I went back to my seat. And after awhile he hollered down there and wondered, "Well, do you know what that is yet?" And I said, "No." Well, Verna Baker was sitting right back of me and she was about thirteen years old at that time and she watched him and when he wasn't looking she whispered in my ear, "became." I had called it "become." I didn't know there was such a thing as became.

Bob Zybach: And he gave you a spanking for that?

Charlie Olson: Yeah. So when he hollered the next time, and asked me, I told him "became." I

Charlie Olson: didn't know there was such a word as that, you know. A kid's vocabulary when he is six years old when he hasn't had but probably a year learning the American language became and become wouldn't be very much a part, you know.

Bob Zybach: Was it common for those teacher to give spankings in those days?

Charlie Olson: Oh, not too often.

Bob Zybach: What did you think of Wing? Did you ever like him after that?

Charlie Olson: No, I didn't. And there were several older boys there, you know, that hadn't gone to school early enough so but what they were still in these lower grades when they were about nineteen, there was one of them that was in his twenties. And they certainly didn't have much faith in that Mr. Wing. I'm going to have to straighten her [Marlene McDonald] out because . . . if I get an opportunity because she has written that it was a woman teacher that give me a licking and that teacher, I fell in love with that teacher.

Bob Zybach: She got the wrong teacher.

Charlie Olson: She had the wrong one, she had Mr. Wing, honorable teacher and this woman supposed to given me a licking.

Bob Zybach: When you said [previous conversation] I had some mistakes in that book, I was glad it was some body else's reference.

Charlie Olson: Anyway this teacher gave me her picture when school was out, she gave me her picture and it had a little string around the book that the picture was in and her picture and a little tassel on a string, you know, all pretty. If there were more teacher like that today, there would be a better world.

Bob Zybach: So she got the bad rap. . . she was the one that was blamed as the bad teacher by that other book. She was actually your favorite teacher.

Charlie Olson: She was my favorite teacher, all right because she taught us a lot of things that wasn't in the book.

Bob Zybach: Well, you've got the record straight now.

Charlie Olson: She . . . one of those was, first of all, "to thine own self be true", "thou canst not then be false to any man". "Love without respect is an angel with but one wing".

Bob Zybach: What was that?

Charlie Olson: Love without respect is an angel with but one wing". Then there was another one

Charlie Olson: that was a song. "There's danger in flowing bowl, touch not, taste not, handle not; twil ruin body, ruin soul, touch not, taste not, handle not; twil lead the young and strong and brave, twil lead them to a drunkard's grave; twil lead them where no arm can save; touch not, taste not, handle not."

Bob Zybach: Is that about alcohol?

Charlie Olson: Yeah.

Bob Zybach: Have you ever drank alcohol?

Charlie Olson: No. What I have tasted in all my life wouldn't make you drunk if you drank it all at once.

Bob Zybach: So, you did take it to heart.

Charlie Olson: I'll tell you something that helped that. There was a family by the name of Swansons that lived just about three miles north of Corvallis and they came over on the same ship that my folks came over on. It was different times but they came from the same area. And we got acquainted with them, or my folks got acquainted with them. They had a big family and a big house. And we had Christmas dinner with them. And there was a little glass about so tall, [indicates 3 inches] by each plate. They had to have it formal just like they had it in Sweden, you know, everything had to be just right. We came to the table and I sat down where they put me and my folks were over on the other side of the table, my father and mother. And the first thing was somebody said grace. And next thing we pick up this little glass and touch it to our neighbor's glass and touch it the other neighbor's glass and then we would say "Skoll." And then we would take a sip and we'd put it back down again. And then we'd start passing the grub. Well, there was one glass that stayed there. Didn't get picked up and everything came to a dead stop, you know. I knew that every eye was on me, but I didn't flinch I just sat there. And I looked across and saw my father and mother but I didn't let them see that I saw them but they weren't embarrassed. They seemed to have a sort of a proud look. That helped me just as much as that little teacher that helped me because they didn't . . . I knew that they didn't . . . they weren't embarrassed.

Bob Zybach: They approved of your health and decisions over traditions.

Charlie Olson: After I had sat there and just nothing happened for a little while, they all went ahead.