More About Uncle Carl

As I believe I have mentioned he was socially inept. I rather resemble him in this regard. This was demonstrated in the one attempt he made that the family knew of. In his typical abrupt style he decided that there was a young woman in the Gowrie congregation that would make a good wife for him. He decided he would knock on her door and ask her to marry him. His brother Laurence told him that that was not the way to go about courting. But he proceeded with his plan. She said no, maybe she was astounded at the suddenness of his proposal, and that was the end of that. He never tried again as I understand.

He was a very strict believer in the Bible, both as a guide to what he did and what he thought. I would not rule out the possibility that he thought that in his mind he had lusted after this young lady and winner grievously and that attempting to seek another mate he was indulging in an adulterous pursuit. This would in my opinion be in accord with the psychological state of things in the Peterson household.

On his return to the farm he was again engaged in the farm work. Indeed in on of the letters my uncle Laurence wrote to him when he was in Des Moines, uncle Laurence expressed the wish that my uncle Carl would come to help with the farm work. By that time I am sure my grandfather was tapering off his actual involvement in the physical labor and his sons were taking over. In his later years my grandfather made it his duty to pump water for the livestock. This was quite a chore — I recall how difficult it was to operate the hand pump for the deep lower well. The barn had stalls for seven horses and there must have been quite a few cattle. That would add up to a considerable amount of water.