Newspapers / The Shore Line (Pine … / May 1, 2008, edition 1 / Page 16
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Page 16 The Shoreline May 2008 A Childhood Experience By John Mays Soon after school was out in 1933 when I was seven and my brother Buck was nine, my mother packed our Umited belongings to travel 125 miles west of Richmond for the summer. We motored in my father's 1929 Model T Ford touring car, the one without windows. Prior to the trip mother purchased overall pants (now called jeans) along with a broad rimmed straw hat for each of us. We were taken to Amherst County at the foot hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There we lived with our four bachelor uncles until the end of August. They were our mother's brothers, Jake, Harry, Howard and Frank. They lived in a six room log/frame house. It had no electricity, no running water, no indoor plumbing, no telephone or radio and there were no vehicles. The house was near the road on the edge of a 150 acre farm, quite hilly. Another uncle named Joe and his wife Lunny and three young children lived on the opposite end of the farm. At times Buck and I would visit and play with the boys, George and Harold, who were near our age. Uncle Joe shared in the work and ownership of the farm. The uncles planted various crops, including corn, wheat, tobacco and hay. In addition they tended a large garden. There was also a sizeable orchard which produced delicious apples and peaches. There were chickens, hogs, milk cows and beef cattle. Crops were cultivated with horses as the source of power. The four horses were named Dan and Joe and Mutt and Jeff. When the horses were bought to the bam at noon. Buck and I would each ride one to the spring for watering, about 300 yards down hill. I thought it was neat how the uncles divided their responsibilities. They each seemed to know what to do without discussing it. At sunrise everyone was awake. Uncle Howard would do the breakfast cooking. Uncle Frank would walk some 500 yards to the cow pasture and milk two or more cows, bring the milk back to the house, strain it and take it to the spring box where it was left for cooling. Uncle Jake would round up the horses, feed and harness them for the day's work. Uncle Harry would feed the chickens and slop the hogs. It all went like clockwork. Usually Buck and I would tag along with one or the other uncle. Buck and I did various assigned jobs which included but not limited to: •bring in wood for the cook stove • carry water from the spring (uphill) •wash and dry dishes •feed chickens and hogs in the afternoon • gather eggs from the henhouse • grind corn for the chickens and shuck the ears •sweep our room and the front and back porch •help churn butter •weed and hoe the garden Of course we would also find play time. Often on weekends there would be visitors dropping in unannounced and we would hsten to the men tell big yams. On Saturday the uncles bathed, and so did we usually in the creek in very cold water, but never together. Uncle Harry was the main cook while others did the field work. His meals were always tasty and we were never hungry. He was our guardian and treated us very well. Buck and I considered it our duty to help him in any way and we did. All of the uncles wore bib overalls, the standard work clothes. On weekends they changed to khaki shirts and pants or to clean overalls. There was little conversation between uncles and they talked mostly to us. Uncles Frank and Howard were bald and I was asked several times to cut their hair, with hand clippers. I never made a mistake! It was customary for everyone to wash their feet before retiring. This was done in a small wash pan. Buck and I slept in a double bed on a feather tick (mattress) with a straw tick beneath. The only outside news beside visitors was the weekly newspaper. All of our uncles could read. Usually this stimulated conversation. The small back porch was the place where buckets of fresh water from the spring were placed. There was a single dipper from which everyone drank. The porch was also where everyone washed their hands and face and wiped on the single towel. A space was available for the weekly shave. At the end of the porch was the "hog slop shoot." It was a wooden trough which emptied into a large wooden barrel outside. Twice daily about two gallons of "slop" was dipped from the barrel for hog feed. It was mixed with ground corn meal. The hog pen was about 100 yards away. The extent of shopping we observed was when eggs were taken to the country store about IV2 miles away. Money received for the eggs was used to purchase salt, baking powder, sugar, coffee, gun shells and miscellaneous items. If the value of the eggs was greater than purchases made, you were given a "due bill" which could be used for purchases at a later date. In general the farm was self sustaining and there was little need for hard cash. Wheat was taken to the mill for flour and corn for corn meal. Hogs were slaughtered in the fall for meat and chickens were a Sunday treat. Vegetables and fruit were canned and stored in the smoke house for winter consumption. It all seemed to work out. In the evening everyone sat on the front porch in caned straight back chairs. The evenings were usually cool, but summer days were often quite hot. Aside from eggs and bacon at times along with lots of hot biscuits and Karo molasses for breakfast, we ate lots of cooked vegetables and learned to drink buttermilk. Now I look back and think about the many things learned or observed which included: •how butter was made • cutting, baling, shocking straw and hay by hand •using horses for plowing •horses being shod • chickens being "dressed" and prepared for cooking •making of soap •hogs being slaughtered and processed • tobacco being suckered in the field •how tobacco plants were cut and stored • thrashing of wheat •definition of a single tree and a double tree •how to use a cross cut saw •what Gee and Haw mean •why farmers walk with a stick (to kill snakes) •how squirrels are skinned •learned to enjoy the taste of squirrels •what it was like to live in the country In later years I realized that the time spent in the country was during the depression years and our absence from home helped out mother, relieving the strain of caring for two additional children, yet it proved to be valuable experience. I learned basic agriculture which later proved helpful in my 40 years of association with the dairy industry. It also drew me closer to my uncles whom I learned to love and respect. Best of all it provided me with many fond memories of my childhood, spending summers in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Written November 18, 1997 for my grandson Adam Christopher Perry. I
The Shore Line (Pine Knoll Shores, N.C.)
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May 1, 2008, edition 1
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