Upon Which Lennie Maintains Sobriety and Spreads Manure

Lennie has been attending what I thought were JOGT meetings on a regular basis. I googled and googled and could not find reference to JOGT. I knew it had something to do with a lodge or fraternal organization but was puzzled that I could not find any information online. Then I realized Lennie was writing IOGT and not JOGT. Lennie's IOGT could have been the International Organisation of Good Templars that was devoted to and encouraged sobriety.

In today's photo Lennie is wearing what I believe is indicative of his later membership in freemasonry. This is not an IOGT outfit...but I do not know what it would be. In this photo Lennie is probably in his mid twenties. We do not know if he remained active in the masons. Nor do we have this outfit handed down to us. Pretty cool outfit. (You can click for a sharper image.)

Sunday, June 5, 1898
Nice Day.
Children's day had exercises at church.

Monday, June 6, 1898
Started to haul manure for Green.
Did not play in band. Hauled loads.

Tuesday, June 7, 1898
Worked for Green.
Went down and watched the soldiers tonight.
Business meeting.

Wednesday, June 8, 1898
Nice day.
Hauled manure. (Read about manure below.)
Went down and watched Co. G drill.

Thursday, June 9, 1898
Rained all day.
Did not work.
Went to bed at 7:30.
Rev. Giffen came back with his wife.

Friday, June 10, 1898
Rained in forenoon.
Cloudy all day.
Didn't work.
JOGT.

Saturday, June 11, 1898
Nice day.
Did not work.
Watched soldiers drill.

Lennie's job of hauling manure could not have been a pleasant one. But it was a necessary farm activity.
Each spring the pens and barns would be cleaned of manure...usually by hand using a pitchfork. The smelly stuff would be tossed into a manure spreading wagon and hauled out to the fields. A mechanism on the back of the wagon spread the manure evenly over the field. You can read more about that process here. This photo is from the Illinois State Museum Collection.