Little Adventures

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Eisenman Supriseman

As a young man, my grandfather worked as a sawyer and lived in a cabin in the woods. Later on he married and took a job as teller at the Citizens Trust Company in Clarion. He flourished and eventually worked his way up to be president of the bank. He and grandma had eight children.

My grandfather, whom I called Papa, was quite old when I knew him, but still he was a force in my life. I would send away for deals like "200 Stamps for Just 25 Cents!" and the stamps would invariably be delivered to his house. I am named after him you see, and he was better known at the post office than me.

Papa had a big house on Greenville Avenue that was filled with old things and as often as not, with my many relatives. The rooms were papered with floral patterns. The kitchen tablecloth was a bright red and white checkerboard and games like chess and chinese checkers were everywhere.

At these gatherings the children scattered through the house in search of adventure and the men talked in the living room. The women congregated with Aunt Betty in the kitchen while she baked bread and worked on her current quilt top. When the baking was done, everyone would mob into the kitchen for fresh bread and homemade strawberry jam.

My Aunt Betty Eisenman (pronounced eyes-man) kept house for my grandfather and was very interested in quilts and the local Catholic Church. Find yourself a church or grange quilt show. Your mouth will drop open when you walk into the room and the wondrous symmetry of the quilts first hits you. Look around for someone like my Aunt Betty and ask her how quilts are made. If you are lucky she may give you a guided tour of the show and you may learn a thing or two.

In the summer we would have these massive family reunions out at Papa's old camp in the woods. Aunt Betty always brought her speciality, chunks of different kinds of fruit in a big bowl of Jello. Every time she made this concoction it tasted different and better than the time before. So at the start of each reunion the men played their horseshoes, the women tended to their knitting and the other kids and I poked around for fossils on the gravel lane and kept a lookout for the arrival of Aunt Betty and her latest bowl of Eisenman Supriseman.