Page 7 - North Haven Magazine Issue 32 Winter 2024

Oak buckets were kept by the well and used
for well water.

I was starting to gather up the baskets, eager to get back inside our
warm home. I looked but did not see the old oaken bucket! It was
not in the yard! Did the wind blow it away? But it was pretty heavy
due to the oak wood and metal ring around the sides. I called to
my sister and asked if she had it.

No! Where was it? Suddenly, with a heart stopping thought, we
realized it must be in the burn barrel. We had to get it out! It was
Mommy’s treasured waste basket!

My sister looked into the barrel, but the paper was really starting to
burn now. I could see some little flames reaching up to the rim of
the barrel already. We knew it was too dangerous to try to get the
old oaken bucket out of the fire. We had to put the screen on the
barrel and let the fire take its course. We knew only the ashes of the
family bucket would be there tomorrow.

We turned away from the fire in the barrel that was devouring the
paper, and the old bucket with it. Now the immediate problem was
how to go back into the house and tell our mother that we just
burned up her favorite antique heirloom wastebasket! How we
dreaded that!
We knew how much the family heirlooms meant to her. And that
old oaken bucket had such character! It was so different from the
other baskets that were currently in use for wastepaper. And it co-
ordinated perfectly with the other antiques in her bedroom. Boy,
we were really in a mess! We should have counted all the wastebas-
kets before lighting that match!

We slowly went back to the house. After removing our winter
boots, scarves, and coats, we went to find our mother to tell her
the terrible news. I don’t remember which of us, my sister or me,
told her about the tragedy but we both watched carefully as we
broke the news. She was surprised and saddened by the loss, but
she immediately praised us for understanding the danger of the
fire and that it was not worth it to risk getting burned even to save
the family heirloom. She was proud that we had been careful not
to get burned even though it meant the old oaken bucket was gone.
But its memory still lingers on for me!

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