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In winter, when there was a fire in the fire place, there would always be a
boiler or pot filled with water by the fire to provide moisture in the room.
One night, while we were still living in the Section house, when I was about
3 or 4, I was standing on a stool in front of the fire, I lost my balance,
slipped and fell, my forehead hitting the sharp open round metal end of the
iron pot handle. This put a large gash in my forehead and blood was
everywhere.
I don't remember it but they tell me that there was quite a bit of
excitement there for a while. I still carry a "U" shaped scar in the middle
of my forehead from that little incident.
Albert and Annie Lou got married here. See
Annie
Lou's
comment page. Use your BACK key to return here.
I remember very little about Mama at the next house we lived in, except for
her rocking the baby.
In 1933, we moved into the house on First Street where Mama lived the rest
of her life.
It was here on First Street that I remember first seeing
hobos. The time was the middle 1930s and the depression was in full force.
Since we were less than 100 yards from the railroad tracks and the first
house on the railroad south of town, I guess, it's only reasonable that we
were visited most. Mama would almost always feed the ones who came asking
for food. Although, at that time, we were just "getting by", Mama shared
what we had. At times she would ask the hobo to cut some wood for the stove
or fire place from the "slabs" we got from the saw mill. The hobos left a
lasting impression on me. Most had not recently taken a bath or shaved and
was wearing well worn cloths, yet, most were polite and willing to work for
food. Mostly, these were men who could not find a job and had no family they
could call on. Sad to remember.
Mama was a stickler for cleanliness. She always said that we may not have
all that much money, but we could be the cleanest children in town. And I
believe we were.
Wash day was on Monday, also. Mama had her big black wash pot in the back
yard where she would first boil the cloths to be washed. Then the shirts and
other "light" pieces went to a #2 wash tub, where she scrubbed them on a
scrub board until they were clean. (Surely, you all know what a scrub board
is!!) Then to another #2 wash tub for rinsing.
After boiling, the heavier pieces, overalls, jackets, etc., she laid them
over a tree stump in the back corner of the yard. Then taking a stick about
3 foot long (something like an axe handle) called a
 "battling stick" she
would beat the overalls, "wap" - "wap" - "wap", to remove the dirt and
sweat.
This was probably the original version of the modern day washing machine agitator. May sound
strange now, but that was the way it was done by most all women those days,
and IT WORKED.
There were two or three clothes lines
stretched across the back yard, full of shirts, overalls, sheets, pants,
towels, etc.. In the afternoon we all helped to "take in the clothes".
I received the below comment in an Email and thought it would be interesting to include it
here.
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Years ago an Alabama grandmother gave the new bride the following recipe for
washing clothes.
It appears just as it was written, and despite the spelling, has a bit of
philosophy. This is an exact copy as written and found in an old scrap
book-with spelling errors and all.
Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water.
Set tubs so smoke wont blow in eyes if wind is pert. Shave one hole
cake of lie soap in boilin water.
Sort things, make 3 piles
1 pile white,
1 pile colored,
1 pile work britches and rags.
To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with
boiling water.
Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and boil, then
Rub colored don't boil just wrench and starch.
Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench, and
starch.
Hang old rags on fence.
Spread tea towels on grass.
Pore wrench water in flower bed.
Scrub porch with hot soapy water.
Turn tubs upside down.
Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs.
Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your blessings.
For you non-southerners - "wrench" means "rinse".
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On wash days, we always had rice and tomato
soup with either biscuits or hoe cake bread for dinner. (We called noon
meal, "dinner", the evening meal was "supper"). Washing took so much time,
that Mama didn't have time to heat the kitchen wood stove and cook a regular
meal.
There was no lunch room at the school at that time, so the lunch period
lasted a full hour to allow town children to go home to eat.
We were about ten minutes from the school, so 10 minutes home, 10 minutes to
eat and 10 minutes back left us about 30 minutes playing time before the
bell rang for afternoon classes.
This was well before the days of "wash and wear apparel so Tuesday was
ironing day. Flat irons were heated on the top of the kitchen cook stove or
in winter, before the fire in the fireplace. Ironing, folding and putting
away wearing apparel for two adults and four or five children was an all day
affair. Washing and ironing was hot, hard work but I never heard Mama
complain.
In later years, after Mama had her first stroke, Daddy hired a black
lady in the Quarter to do the washing and ironing. At that time there were
only June and I at home, so the lady only charged about 50 cents a week. But
then times were hard in the middle of the depression.
Having lived during that period, my generation can
really appreciate the appreciate the modern devices we have today: such as,
running water, indoor
outhouses, electric cook stoves, washer & dryers, electric irons for those
who still iron their cloths, electric hot water heaters, cars that start
with the turn of a key, pneumatic and battery powered tools, telephones,
computers, the internet, etc. Who would have ever guessed????
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