ARLINGTON — Lakewood 10-year-old Maddie Telschow is no stranger to typing on a variety of electronic devices, but the old-fashioned typewriter at the Stillaguamish Valley Pioneer Hall proved a more intimidating prospect.
“I’ve seen typewriters like this at other museums, but I’ve never typed on them before,” Maddie said Sept. 19, during the annual “Pioneer Days.” “I had to press a lot harder on the keys to get the words to come out.”
Although Maddie’s friend, Stanwood 10-year-old Londyn Camp, insisted that Maddie was the better typist, Maddie herself reacted with amused horror when asked to imagine doing all her typing on an antique typewriter.
“That would be horrible,” Maddie said. “I mess up words a lot.”
By contrast, when Londyn tried out the fountain pen and inkwell at the Pioneer Hall, she was able to write her name in cursive by adopting the exact opposite approach as Maddie on the typewriter.
“I don’t push down too hard on the pen,” Londyn said.
“I just hand them the pen,” pioneer association member Marge Warner said. “They do way better than I would. But yes, the trick with a fountain pen is to tread lightly.”
The pioneer association has invited the public to its “Pioneer Days” at its hall and museum to teach people, especially youngsters, how the area’s settlers performed their chores, whether by grinding wheat, churning butter, pumping water or cleaning their clothes with a washboard and wringer.
Lake Stevens brothers Gordon, 5, and Winchester Woelfle, 5, learned how to use a foot-powered sewing machine from associating member Sally Shinstrom. The sewing machine was so old that even the boys’ mother, Melinda, identified it as something her grandmother would have used, but she appreciated that her sons could experience part of the past.
“It exposes them to something different from usual,” Melinda said. “We read Little House on the Prairie, so I can remind them of these things, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, yeah, we saw that at the museum.'”
Arlington sisters Noel, 7, and Bridget Colfelt, 9, learned how to cut their own firewood from Dave Walter and Marty Rausch Jr., son of Pioneer Museum caretaker Marty Rausch Sr.
“It’s good for kids to get some hands-on experience,” Rausch Jr. said. “I see them spending time with their iPads and on YouTube, but what do you do when the power goes out? You still need to cut wood for the fire.”
Rausch explained that cutting wood with a two-man hand saw requires teamwork and communication.
“Real life involves hard work,” Walter said. “It’s better that you learn that younger rather than later.”
