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that one but thank the good Lord none of them left him paralyzed. He lived to be 77 years old. Mrs. Hover said it was so hot at night until many times she'd drag her mattress out on to the front porch and then she'd stay awake the rest of the night fanning herself and one of the babies with a palmetto, a news paper or piece of paste board. But she said some times she'd go get all the boys up and tell them to go yoke the ox team up and start filling jugs and Dimmy Johns with water. In case some of you young folks don't know what a dimmy John is, its a five gallon jug covered with straw like baskets are made of. That's to keep the water cool also to protect the water jug. They'd start loading bedding, pots, dishes light wood to start the fires. And Mrs. Hover would go out to the store room or smokehouse and cut down a couple of sides of smoked bacon and a bunch of links of sausage, then start packing all kinda of food, such as flour, cornmeal, salt, pepper, sugar and you know what else is needed in the cooking line and they'd also hitch the horse to the wagon and throw a mattress in the back and away they'd go to Lake Shore long before daylight. The women and children rode in the wagon and they'd get there several hours before the ox wagon. So when the men that was riding and driving the ox team would finally came dragging in, the women would have coffee made and something for the poor hungry men to eat.
I wasn't old enough to be in that group then. I might not have even been born at that time. Mrs. Hover said some times after the crop was laid by they'd stay at the beach two and three weeks at a time. It was just according to hot the weather was. Then men would take torches and sacks and go way out into the lake at night and come in with one and two sacks full of mullet, flounders and all kinds. The men would clean them and no matter how late it was the women would have two big frying pans half full of lard and have it hot by the men would have a few cleaned they'd start frying and "boy" were they good with fresh French bread right out of the bakery still hot. One of the men would run to the bakery late that evening and bring six or seven loves still hot. It was so good you didn't have to have butter on it.
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