Early Times

Memories are sometimes very sad.  Memories are sometimes very helpful when you have to make choices.  I have some memories that I like to keep hidden, but I would not give up even the very ones that hurt the most.  I think my memories are the very substance that helped me to move from the backwoods of my first years to a moderately normal existence.  My first memories give me a glimpse of a small child peering through the bushes of a yard when a stranger approached.  We sometimes would go weeks or months without seeing anyone other than our family.  Us children when young seldom went to the store.  We never went to a church until we were old enough to go alone.  When we got old enough to go to school, we would go there and back and then the only other people we saw was the school teacher and the other children at school.  There was one old man who would come to our house about once a year.  I can't remember his name, but I do remember that he had a long white beard and he always told long, long stories about the old country.  I remember wondering if everything about him was old, his cloths, his country and all.  Seems that all he could talk of was something old.  Mommie always told us to be kind and not laugh too loud or make him feel bad because he didn't smell so good.  So we were very careful to be kind to him, because he was old and didn't come too often.  Sometimes our Grandmother would come and see us for a few days, but she didn't have a bed of her own, so she didn't like to stay.  She always got nervous with so many kids around and would get faint.  I think she didn't like a big family.  She couldn't have a bedroom for herself and she had to sleep with us kids.   Sometimes there were two, four or six kids in bed at one time.  When there was more than three of us in one bed, we would sleep crosswise to keep from falling off. 

We would have what I now know to be boot-leggers come through our place also.  Sometimes a small group of men would stop by and we were told that they were wayfarers, but I knew who they were. They would have several jugs and jars of whiskey and I knew that they were bootleggers.  They never hurt us or did anything wrong and were always very polite.  They were most always from the next holler over yonder and when my Mom or Poppy asked them if they wanted a drink of water or some supper, they would almost always say yes.  I remember when they asked for a drink of water it made me nervous.   I remember they always asked me to get them a clean cup to drink out of and I would hate to do it because our cups and glasses were eiter chipped or broken.  We kept our milk in a bucket that as tied to a rope.  With the rope, we would let the bucket down into the well near the water to keep it cool.  When we went to get the visitors some water, we  would have to raise the bucket of milk first and I was always worried that would ask for some of the milk.  We never had very much milk at one time and I was always afraid  we wouldn't have enough for the "little kids".  You see, there were two little brothers and one little sister younger than me and I had to be sure they had enough to eat. My Momma seemed to be always gone, I can't remember where, but most always it was me who had to  be making supper or dinner-I don't remember how I knew how.  I had to see that we had supper or dinner or breakfast.  I think my Momma was working in the field or having another baby.  I guess that is one of the memories I will have to work on harder to bring them back.

We most always had one old red (brown) cow and she was always named Cherry.  When one Old Cherry would pass on, I never knew where she passed on to,  but we would get another Old Cherry and she would always be red (brown) too.  Most of the time the old cow was very gentle, but once we had an Old Cherry who liked ot kick whoever milked her.  She had big, long round and easy to milk "tits".  All you had to do was wrap your hand around these big red "tits" and squeeze.  The milk was foamy and warm and sweet.  I don't think anyone knew it, but I aways kept an old white enamel cup hid in the barn so I could sneak a sip of that rich, warm milk.  I don't think my brothers ever knew where I kept my cup.  I never dared take more than a sip because the milk had to go around among at least six or seven mouths.  There was always that lingering thought that sometimes our old cow would go dry.  I always tried to keep that thought way back in my mind. We mostly had enough to eat all the time; we never were really hungry, but the bad thing was that sometimes the food would be a little strange.  Have you ever eaten cream gravy and biscuits for breakfast every morning for over a year?  For supper or dinner we would have boiled beans and corn bread and sometimes buttermilk or sweet milk.  But oh! In the summertime we could have wild greens and when the garden grew really good, we had lots of fresh vegetables and fruit off the trees.  When we had a garden, we could have some beets, mustard greens and green beans.  Once I remember we got some celery seed and Momma let me plant them.  I had a real hard time waiting for the celery to grow.  I didn't really know what celery would taste like, but I was sure that it would be delicious.  I waited and cared for that celery to grow and then I found out I loved that stuff. That was the year our tomatoes were so large.  I remember that was the year we had such big red tomatoes and we swiped a bunch of vegetables from the garden and went to our play house under the big sycamore tree and had a real picnic.  Momma almost gave me a spanking that time, but I did my funny pout and she just scolded me. I remember this summer so very well because it was the summer that our well almost went dry.  We were living on Hensley's ridge then, right smack on top of the mountain.  The well and a spring that was about a half mile from the house was the only water we had for drinking and washing our clothes and everything.  To save the water in the well for drinking, my mother said we had to ?  (This entry was unfinished- I could not find the conclusion of this story. MMD 9/30/2023)