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there while it was rebuilt. It was there that Papa would read me a story from a big Mother Goose book that I had. Then we would take a nap. Then after coffee, it was time to feed the hogs and chickens and milk the cows. It was my job to shovel the fresh cow and horse patties out of the barnyard and into a pile. There were always two piles, one from the previous year that could be used to fertilize things and one fresh pile that could not be used until next year. (When did one year end?) Composting the natural way I guess.
A wooden sink and faucet was the water on the porch. That drained into a wooden trough that watered the "butterfly lilies" (ginger lilies) wild iris and fig trees that hid the drain ditch from the kitchen and porch. An old drip coffee pot with a spout hung from a nail by the back kitchen door. A wren would build a nest in it every year. Papa's "Turtle shell" hat hung on a nail beside it. Things like work hats and shoes would never be allowed inside. Once Honey caught Meade, a hired hand spitting in the kitchen sink.
She had a spell the likes of which I had never seen. I don?t think that the thought ever even occurred to him again.
I used to stay with Papa when Honey went to Aunt Ollie's to have a dress or two made.
He would make me fried Indian bread. Topped off with home made molasses. I always thought that it was wonderful.
It was during one of these times that Papa gave me one of the two whippings that he ever gave me. He went into the backfield to do something, it had rained, and I was playing in the water in the ditch when he came back and the water was about waist deep and running swiftly. I know the danger now but at that time, it was a nice pool to play in on a hot summer day. Well he came by the potato house and broke a limb off a pecan tree that grew there and forever more bet me the water and land in a 6-foot area. I never did that again.
I was allowed to roam the woods afoot and ride Creole in the woods. But not out on the main highway. Of course through the woods and up past Mr. Degruns house and out onto the main highway I went one day. I was seen by Eretta and Tad Acker of course they told Papa. Never, tell me I can?t or I will find a way. I got a bridle wreath switch for that. Papa had a heart of gold and the patients of Job but I guess I just scared him so bad that he was beside himself. Papa did not get that upset when Gene and I broke all the eggs under a setting hen that Papa had. We did it to see what they looked like before they were bom. Thinking back, we may have never mentioned that we did that. Ha Ha!
The church was a wooden structure painted white, unpainted wooden floor, brown painted benches and white wooden walls. The lights hung down from the ceiling on cords with pull strings. The cooling system was, non-existent. A funeral home fan made of cardboard with a wooden strip attached and you provided the power. The church consisted of a pulpit, three Sunday school rooms and an outdoor facility (toilet). The ministers always preached on ?HELLFIRE AND DAMNITATION?. The piano where Lottie Jo Hover banged out Old Rugged Cross, Just As I Am, and other standards that were Baptist favorites of the time. Lottie Jo also provided music for ?Dinner on The