This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

fence. They were black topping the road in front of our house and they had the ditch full of tar and so Willie told me one A.M. when he was angry at the geese and probably at me too. He said he wished every one of them would get stuck in that tar. I had six beautiful young goslings and when I went to look for them that's where they were some of them had pulled their entrails out trying to get out but all six were dead. But I want you to know Willie heard about those goslings for a long time. He liked baked goose but after that I don't think he cared too much for it.
I'll try to tell about the house boat Willie had built for us and had it tied up at Nezane Landing. The living room and dining room also kitchen were all together. The living room had two couches which opened up into beds and there were eight windows in all and four doors not counting the one that went into the bunk room. It had four bunk beds, two windows and a door that went out on to the back porch where the rest room was. Then there was a porch or gallery which ever it's known best by, that went all around the porch with iron bars at the top. We have slept as many as twelve by throwing a couple of pallets on the floor for the boys. We had pretty curtains for every window. Had the boat with pretty paneling and that paneling and the floors are just as nice today as it was the day it was built. But the galleries have all rotted and some of the windows broken but its remains are parked out at Steve's. We had a pump in the kitchen over the sink. We'd pump water out of the river and boil it to wash dishes, bath and etc. Then we always took big jugs and other containers to drink and cook with. I had a rocker on the front porch where I'd sit lots of times and fish. We let Milly and Earl and their family all stay on the boat one week and they bought a couple of awnings for the two side doors to show us they appreciated the use of the boat as they told us several times how much they enjoyed it. Willie told me one day not to take any one and go on that house boat until he could have some bolts tightened to the pontoons. So I forgot that he'd told me. So one morning close to noon Volney, Sis, Wesley and Sabra the baby just sitting alone all came in at the house and I said Volney; I have all of my dinner cooked, white beans, rice, a big pork roast, biscuits made but not baked. I don't know what else but any way would you all like to take our dinner and go to the house boat and eat and spend the day, so they all agreed so we went and hadn't been down there but a few minutes when Willie, Willard, Steve and Buddy Dawsey all come so we
58