Born on the Farm

Well, on Dec 22, 1914. I was born. And then we didn't have hospitals or doctors to come to your house. So they sent the children to the neighbors house and then they sent a midwife to tend to the mama. And when I was born, Papa wanted a girl so bad and I was a girl so he got on the top of the house and yelled, it's a girl its a girl! They heard him about a 1/4 mile away. When I was born, I was tongue tied and they had to clip my tongue. So they clipped it and my brothers always teased me that they clipped it on both ends because I was such a jabberer when I was little.

I had eight brothers, but three died when they were babies, so I didn't know anything about but one of them. I was the eighth child and there were ten children. Four years later I had a sister, but there was a boy between us that died. We lived out in the country and farmed. We had a smokehouse built behind the house. We had cows and horses back there at the back side of the house. We had a lot of fruit trees, muscadine vines and grape vines. We had a big time when they came in. We had cows. I had to mind the cows away while the boys milked until I got big enough to milk, then I milked. I got to where I could milk with two hands.

We had the schoolteachers stay with us, board with us. I started school when I was five and they helped me a lot. I was a star student because I had a lot of help. Honor student I believe you call it. I played marbles with the boys. Everything I done I done it with the boys because I didn't have a playmate. I played basketball when I got onto third or fourth grade.


On that subject I had the measles when we was playing the tournament one year. It was next to the last night and we was going to win that tournament and two of us had the measles. So we lost.





I wanted to learn to plow, I thought it was something big to learn. Papa helped me and the boys so I could learn how. We had to pick and hoe cotton, plant it first. When it came up we had to hoe it get the grass out and then we had to pick the weevils before the cotton came out because they would eat the bowls. The we picked the cotton. One day I picked 200 pounds, but my brother picked 500. But we was going to get a nickle if we done it, so we done it! We had a cotton house where we put our cotton when we picked it until we got enough to make a bale which I think was 2000 pounds. Then we took to to the gin where we got it ginned and baled and then they would sell it I guess.

When I was about four or five, my dad was building a walkway to the house. I was eating a pomegranate, and I cut my hand on my little finger and it didn't bleed, and I mashed it and my muscles were coming out. I mashed it and said, look Papa, my guts are coming out! and that's what happened to my hand.



When I started school I called him daddy. He said, don't call me that, Papa's my name, them city folks call them daddy, but my parents were mama and papa.