Benjamin Makes His Mark

About the Book

This story, Benjamin Makes His Mark, takes place when there are no telephones in the beginning of the story, at least for most of the country people, no central heating, no electric sweepers, and no electric refrigerators yet. They have a cabinet with a square box outlined in metal. This holds a block of ice. They use wood and coal for cooking and baking. They have a parlor heater to heat the living room, and the kitchen stove heats the kitchen. Some people have a fireplace in both the living room and in the kitchen and some in a bedroom upstairs. They grow most of their food and raise livestock for their milk, butter, and meat and raise chickens for eggs and for the meat. They also raise a few geese or turkeys and have their own clucks (breeding chickens). Most of the clothing is sewed with a sewing machine you pedal for power, no electric sewing machines yet. There is no transportation to school (one-room schoolhouses), no taxi, or bus. Some towns have a trolley. There are trains and no airplanes. Horses are used for the family transportation. No bowling alleys, tennis courts, and golf courses; just baseball played in the fields by the children. Some farms still use kerosene lamps and candles; they are not yet hooked up to electric. Cleaning the outhouse (outside toilet) is a very difficult job but must be done once a year—and lime thrown in the pit below.

About the Author

Arline Gaugler began writing her first manuscript for a book in 1992 shortly after she retired from working at the age of sixty-four. In total, Arline has written twelve manuscripts, which have all remained unpublished until her self-published Benjamin Makes His Mark in late 2012. At the age of eighty-four, Arline Gaugler was finally able to see her dream of publishing her first book come to pass. Arline was born in Bally, Pennsylvania, in 1928 and lived with her parents, Eva Reigner Gaugler and Harry Warmuth Gaugler, for her entire life. Arline was never married and did not have any children. She began reading paperback novels after the death of her mother in 1992 and then decided she wanted to write books. Stories of the past that her parents and grandparents shared with her were precious to her, and they became the focus of her writing. Arline worked most of her life as a telephone operator before the time of automatic call switching. She connected callers by manually plugging in phone lines to complete the connection. She originally worked for the Conestoga Telephone Company in Sassamansville and later in their Boyertown office in rural Pennsylvania. When technology eliminated the need for manual switch operators, Arline finished her communications career as a private switchboard operator for C. S. Garber & Sons Inc. well drillers in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. Arline believes that anyone who has words stored in their hearts should share them with the world no matter what their age. It took Arline eighty-four years to make her mark.