This is Home, Part 47 - For sale

This is part 47 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



For sale

Daddy and Uncle Doc were getting older and the big farm was so much work. Daddy was working as hard as a young man. In fact, Daddy always worked harder than anyone I've ever known. He finally told Mom that if Jean or I had been interested in a farmer, he would have kept it, but he couldn't keep working like he had been. It was listed for sale for a few years and not much happened.

Every once in awhile, a young man would try to buy it. He couldn't get financed for the amount of money Daddy wanted. They tried to get Daddy to carry back part or all of the loan. Daddy refused.

This is Home, Part 46 - Uncle Doc and Daddy were sued

This is part 46 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Uncle Doc and Daddy were sued

I think I must have been pre-school when this happened.

It was summer, I think, when Uncle Doc came rushing in through the living room doors. He was saying, "I've got it. It is right in here." His voice didn't sound calm like it usually did. Either Uncle Doc or Daddy had been served with a subpoena to appear in court. They were both being sued over the farm.

The spouse of a relative who had died and the children of another relative who had died were suing for part of the farm. My grandfather S.P. Rice had left the farm to Daddy and Uncle Doc and money to all of the other children. They had spent the money and now wanted part of the farm. They intended to break the will.

Uncle Doc took the will out of his lockbox, which was on the mantel by the chimney.

Everyone went to court, but the will held. The relatives were not awarded anything.

This is Home, Part 44 - Daddy stands by a friend, Uncle Doc

This is part 44 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Daddy stands by a friend

Daddy was a Mason at one time. Mom told me about it.

Albert Hooper was nominated for membership and was rejected. Daddy quit because he was being loyal to Albert. He said something like if Albert wasn't good enough to be a Mason, then the Masons weren't good enough for him. I think Mom said that some of them tried to change his mind.

Uncle Doc

Uncle Doc belonged to the Masons. He received his 50 year pin when he was older. I read somewhere that he belonged to the Shriners, but I don't know anything about the truth of that.

He had a more active social life than Daddy. Of course, he was single.

He used to go up to Maudie and Irvin Williams' house at night sometimes and play cards with them and talk.

Every now and then, he would also stay a few days with Albert Hooper and Zack and talk. I had the impression that Albert's farm was pretty isolated.

I think he also went to see Roscoe and Dora Mae. Mom told me that one time Roscoe was about to lose his farm and everything. It must have been around the Depression. Anyway, he asked Uncle Doc for help. Roscoe must have given someone a note, because if his things had been mortgaged, it wouldn't have helped. Everything was transferred to Uncle Doc's name. Knowing Uncle Doc, he had a lawyer do it. He always wanted everything legal.

After Roscoe paid back his debt, Uncle Doc transferred everything back to him.

I used to have different men telling me that they had gone to school to Uncle Doc. They all laughed and said he made the same speech each year at the start of school. It was something on the order of this: "I'm going to be your teacher this year. We have a great deal of work ahead of us. I'm going to help you all I can. We are going to get along just fine and you are going to do what I tell you. If you don't, I'm going to whip you."

I asked him one time if he really said that and why.

He said that he did say it. He said in those days, parents kept their children home to help with the farming. He said there were 16-year-old boys still in grade school and they were much taller and heavier than he was. He wanted them to respect him and, I think, be a little afraid of him. He said after the speech he never had any trouble with them.

I think Roscoe was one of his pupils. I seem to remember that he talked about Uncle Doc's speech.

Uncle Doc had a more serious and quiet personality than Daddy did.

I don't know how I would have gotten through grade school without him. He helped me with my lessons. I really had trouble with my arithmetic, especially with questions like this: Jack left home at 9 a.m. and drove 50 miles at 35 miles per hour, stayed three hours, then drove back home at 45 miles per hour. What time was it when Jack got home?

I hated that kind of question.

Uncle Doc helped me memorize things I had to memorize, like poetry. He listened to my spelling. Night after night, he sat at the kitchen table and helped me.

One time he was in the hospital for a week or two. Each night Daddy put his reading glasses on and sat down in his rocking chair in the living room by the lamp on the sideboard that Sharon has and helped me.

When Uncle Doc finally got out of someone's car out front, thanked the man for bringing him and started walking towards the house, Daddy breathed a very audible sigh of relief. Then he closed the book and we all went to meet Uncle Doc when he came in.

There was snow on the ground and Uncle Doc had on his heavy overcoat.

Uncle Doc was still helping me in high school. One year -- senior year maybe -- I took bookkeeping. They had us adding long columns of figures in our heads. I couldn't get the same answer twice, so Uncle Doc added them in his head. He didn't have any trouble.

This is Home, Part 42 - Edgar, Edgar and the flat, marriage and Edgar

This is part 42 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004. The "Charley" referred to in the beginning was Charles, a young man who was also dating my mother (and later married her). The Charley several paragraphs down was the old farmhand.



Edgar

When Edgar came home after Korea, he was really thin. He said the flour had bugs in it and he couldn't eat it. He was ordering milk, instead of Coke like he usually did. I remember sitting with him in a tiny eating place in Huntsville while the jukebox kept playing "Charley, My Boy" over and over. He said, "I just can't seem to get rid of that guy."

Another time when we had a date, there was ice and snow on the roads. It was afternoon when he came. He parked in the road by the mailbox so he wouldn't block the wagon road along the end of the front yard.

He reached out his hand to help me walk and get into the car when we got there. But, no, not me, I acted like an idiot and instead of letting him help me, I pulled away, then started walking down the embankment. My shoes shot out from under me and I slid down the embankment and part way under his car.

He rushed over, trying to keep from laughing (and not doing a very good job of it) and said, "Are you all right?"

This time I was happy for him to help me. I should have let him hold my hand like he usually did.

Edgar and the flat

Another time we sat in the car and talked until it was quite late. Finally, he kissed me goodnight at the porch door and left.

The next morning, Daddy, Uncle Doc and Charley came back laughing from feeding the cattle, and said they had seen Edgar since I had. He had a flat tire down where the mailbox used to be. He couldn't get the jack to work and he didn't want to wake anyone up because it was so late. So he had just stayed in his car.

They helped him change his tire.

Marriage and Edgar

Once, Edgar and I were talking about what we were going to do after we were married. I told him that I didn't want to move away from Mom, Daddy and Uncle Doc. I said they were getting old.

Edgar looked worried and said he didn't want to leave his folks. He said they were getting old, too, and they would need someone.

We decided to stay there and live close to everyone so we could help them.

Edgar got along with everyone, including Jean. He treated her like a little sister. He was a genuinely nice person. We didn't argue and our ideas were pretty close together. We had the same sense of humor.

I became good friends with his sister, Louise. We wrote to each other for years. He had two sisters and two brothers. I don't know if Louise or Howard was the oldest. Mildred was a few years older than Edgar. James was younger.

This is Home, Part 40 - Dead Man's Hollow, fishing in the creek, bread on the water

This is part 40 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Dead Man's Hollow

There was a friend or relative visiting Daddy and Uncle Doc one night. All four men were sitting around the kitchen stove talking and laughing. They were talking about things that had happened a long time ago.

Some of the stories were ghost ones -- at least scary ones. Mom wanted me to go to bed so I wouldn't have bad dreams. Of course, I didn't. It was interesting.

They mentioned Dead Man's Hollow and that it was called that because a dead man had been found there. I found out that it was at the back of our woods, beside Irvin's property. The man was a stranger.

Fishing in the creek

There was a creek that crossed the road a short distance past the hay field with the snakes. There was an old-fashioned bridge made of heavy boards that were bolted down. The boards weren't tight and they rumbled as the bridge was driven over. It had decorative iron sides. There was a little shack setting on the right side just past the bridge. The road turned sharply left right after the bridge.

Uncle Doc used to go fishing there and he got really large fish sometimes. The coal company had bought quite a bit of land toward Jacksonville, but they hadn't come near the road.

They were stripping the land for coal. Someone found out the creek would no longer be good for fishing, as the sulfur would kill them. So, the whole neighborhood turned out to catch fish one night. There were people all over the banks.

I don't remember if or how many fish they caught. All I remember is that Jean, Mom, and I were being eaten alive by mosquitoes. There were a lot of trees around, so the ground was probably damp. And, of course, there was the creek. Everyone was slapping at the mosquitoes, except Uncle Doc. They didn't bite him. Mom said it was probably because of the medicine he was taking.

Mom, Daddy, Jean and I started walking toward home. Jean was too little to walk. Daddy tried to carry her, but she only wanted Mom. So, we walked home through the pastures. I held Daddy's hand all the way and walked. It was one of Missouri's beautiful moonlight nights.

The fish did all die in the creek.

Bread on the water

I used to help Uncle Doc feed the fish bread in our pond by the garden with the apple tree. He kept pointing out how big some of them were getting and what good eating they would make. However, he never tried to catch them, even though they got quite large. He just fed them.

This is Home, Part 39 - Upstairs

This is part 39 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Upstairs

I loved the upstairs of the house. It had double windows on the side like the kitchen and double dormer windows with a wonderful view out front.

It had three old trunks up there. I have one that is a captain's trunk. They were filled with clothes belonging to Grandma Rice and Aunt Joann. There was a beautiful evening cape that I think was Grandma Rice's. She had a lot of nice clothes. Mom said the black ones were for wearing out and the gray ones were for wearing at home. There were black shoes in there. Very narrow ones with high heels. They fastened up about halfway to the knee, probably. They fastened with hooks that the shoe strings went around.

We also found handkerchiefs and fans. Very delicate fans -- some of them with painting on them.

We also found old pictures of the Rice family and some letters.

One other thing I really loved upstairs were the two grandfather clocks. Especially the larger one. I used to open the door and get inside when I was small. I also used to make them chime.

When fall came, Uncle Doc always put a lot of newspapers on the floor by the chimney and put pears on them. He really liked pears, but I didn't. They were not smooth like peaches or apricots.

Another thing I loved upstairs was the rain on the roof and the wind whistling around the eaves. The wind sounded almost like it had voices in it sometimes.

This is Home, Part 38 - Hickory school and Uncle Doc's hand, Uncle Doc, Assessor

This is part 38 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Hickory school and Uncle Doc's hand

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Uncle Doc drove us to Hickory School each day. He picked up any children that were walking and also gave them a ride back.

He came and played with the students for a short time after school sometimes. I don't remember what we were playing, but we had to choose people for each side. Everyone called him Uncle Doc and wanted him on their side.

One time when he was getting ready to go home, he was taking the Hill children in the car with us and he said, "Now, be careful, I'm going to close the door. Keep your hands out of the way." He was leaning over and looking in with his hand on the door opening. Then he closed the door on his thumb.

His thumb was cut along the middle lengthwise. It was broken and bleeding a lot,

The teacher -- I think it was Miss Hazel -- wrapped his thumb in his red or blue handkerchief that he wore around his neck when he worked in the field, and drove really fast to Jacksonville to a doctor.

He always had a deep line where it was cut and the nail had a caved-in line after that. His thumb was thinner, also.

When the weather was bad, Charley took us to school and picked us up in the buggy. Mom used to come running out with hot wrapped bricks that she put under our feet.

When it had snowed and we went to school, I always admired the outside of the turn to go down the hill below the barn. Snow always drifted there and it looked like layers of whipped cream.

Mom used to make extremely good chocolate pudding with real whipped cream and send it in our lunch. The whipped cream had layers and tasted cool and faintly sweet. Her chocolate pudding was really good. So is Sharon's chocolate pie.

I remember a spring day when it was too muddy to drive and Uncle Doc came walking after me. He couldn't take the jolting from riding a horse.

Anyway, this particular day was nice except for the mud. Walking was fun and different. When we almost reached the road going to the house, we went through the large gate into the pasture and walked through there. Just about where the large gate was when we were there, David. However, the fence used to run along the side of the road. It was straight.

When we got home, Mom, Daddy and Charley were working in the garden behind the barn. Uncle Doc went back to helping. Someone had made a raised bed for onions to be set out. They had rows dug in the garden and they were dropping seed in them and covering it. It was interesting and fun. This was the garden where sage grew along the fence every year.

Uncle Doc nagged the county until they finally put gravel on the road to our mailbox. From the mailbox on through the neighborhood we had dirt roads.

In the spring, cars made deep ruts in the road due to trying to drive in mud. At other times of the year, also. When it dried out, if something wasn't done, cars would follow the deep ruts and scrape on the underneath side of the car.

Daddy, Uncle Doc and Charley made a drag with very thick, heavy, rough boards. They bolted them together in a rectangular shape with the same type of boards on the top. Then they put a huge rock or two on it and Daddy or Charley dragged the roads themselves with the horses. The graveled roads and up past our house.

Uncle Doc, Assessor

When Uncle Doc taught school, he had a pupil who later became the Randolph County Assessor for years. His name was Walter Wright. His secretary was Frances, who became my boss' wife. They had three children when I worked for James Stone -- real estate office. A couple of the children were twins and really fast at snatching things off the desks when Frances brought them to the office.

Anyway, Walter Wright contacted Uncle Doc and asked him if he would assess some farm property for him. Uncle Doc did this every year for maybe four or five years, maybe longer.

Farm families are different. If you are there at mealtime, they expect you to eat. Uncle Doc wound up eating with a lot of different people. Sometimes, he took lunch with him if he didn't know the people.

I think he enjoyed the work, although sometimes he looked pretty tired when he got home. He worked at this job for maybe a couple of months each year. Maybe three. I'm guessing. I remember him being gone in the summer and early fall.

This is Home, Part 37 - Elliott, Grandpa and Aunt Edith, Grandpa and the Salesman, Aunt Edith

This is part 37 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Elliott

Mary Ellen, Bea and Katie's father died when Katie was little more than a baby. He walked to Huntsville to get a haircut and he didn't return home. A sheriff's posse tried to find him, Daddy and Uncle Doc looked for him and some organization like the Boy Scouts tried to find him. The neighbors also looked for him.

This was Elliott. Finally, he was found on ground that had been covered several times. He was lying under a bush beside a stream. There were candy bars in his pockets for his children. He had had a heart attack.

Daddy and Uncle Doc were the only members left of a large family.

Grandpa and Aunt Edith

Grandpa moved in with Aunt Edith to help her with the children and the farm. Finally, the farm was sold and Aunt Edith and the children moved to Huntsville. She started taking care of elderly ladies in her two-story home.

Grandpa and the Salesman

Grandpa came to stay with us awhile to visit.

There was a route through our area similar to the Fuller Brush Co. I usually know the name of the company, but it escapes me now.

Anyway, the salesman was a man probably in his middle thirties. He had polio when he was younger and walked with heavy metal braces on his legs and black dress boots. I think he may also have used a metal cane.

The man sold vanilla and spices, aluminum cookware, and other home products. He cooked a single layer cake on top of the stove to show Mom how easy it was in his cooking pan. She didn't buy them, but she always bought several things from him.

Grandpa and the salesman talked when he came out. Grandpa found out he was single and lived with his mother in Cairo. Also, they had a room they wanted to rent. Grandpa decided to rent it. He told Mom he would like to be close to everything, like the barbershop, and that he would run into a lot of people to talk to there. He said he would enjoy walking around the village. He said Cairo had just about anything he would need, although it was a small place.

Mom was trying to get him to stay with us, but he liked to be independent.

Aunt Edith

Aunt Edith said she would never marry and bring someone in to boss her children. She stayed single until the children were grown and married.

She bought or leased a three-story building (very large) in Huntsville and had a nursing home. I wonder if it was originally a nursing home. This was probably while I was in college. I don't know.

I admire her for making it on her own and taking good care of her children.

Later, Bea worked in the nursing home sometimes and so did Mary Ellen.

This is Home, Part 36 - Uncle Doc's stroke

This is part 36 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Uncle Doc's stroke

There was an older, little tiny woman who chased Uncle Doc relentlessly during the spring and summer of one year when I was around high school age. She had on spike heels, a flowery summery hat and a suit. She kept finding him when he went to town. He tried to escape.

Then, during the same summer, Uncle Doc had a stroke that paralyzed one side of him. The doctor (an MD I hated) kept coming out to see him, but he said there were other blood clots and a major one that would kill him. He didn't tell us -- he told Aunt Edith. When I told Mom what the doctor had said, she said "No, Uncle Doc is going to get well," with a lot of conviction in her voice. I believed her.

The leather couch in the living room had been made into a bed so Uncle Doc would be close -- and warm when winter came.

In the fall, the little woman chasing him came out to see him. I told Uncle Doc she was getting out of the car, and he promptly closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. She sat by him for a long time, but he just kept sleeping. She was determined to wait until he woke up, but she finally left, after a woman came back with the car and convinced her that they had to go before dark. As soon as she left, Uncle Doc opened his eyes again. I thought it was funny.

Uncle Doc kept fighting and by spring he could sit outside and enjoy the sun for awhile. Daddy and Charley carried him out and back. It wasn't very long after that, he was walking with a cane. Soon he was walking without it.

He recovered to do all the things he used to do. He drove a car until his 90th birthday, when he didn't renew his license.

This is Home, Part 35 - Rabies, chute and scales, corn sheller

This is part 35 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Rabies

Daddy, Uncle Doc and Charley were helping a neighbor (Irwin Williams?) with his hogs one time, and a hog grabbed Daddy's thumb and chewed it. The hog tested positive for rabies. Everybody who handled them had to have a series of shots into their stomachs. The men at home lost weight and looked terrible. The shots were very hard on a person.

Chute and scales

Daddy and Uncle Doc had a built-in flat weight scale for animals and a loading chute in the barn lot. The neighbors drove the animals to our house when they sold them sometimes, since they didn't have the scales or chute.

Animals are bought at so much per pound after a visual check to determine age and health.

Corn sheller

Another thing that I liked was a corn sheller in the big barn. I used to watch Uncle Doc put ears of corn in it. Then he turned a handle. The corn poured into a bucket.

There was a room in the barn past the stalls and just off the manger. The room was lined with non-rusting metal to keep the mice away. It was quite a bit lower than the manger and pretty much filled with shelled corn. I played in it as though it was sand.

This is Home, Part 29 - Mom's Red Dress, Mom's sore throat, Mom's headaches, Mom's hives

This is part 29 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Mom's Red Dress

Mom told me that when she was young her favorite color was red. She said she wanted a red dress but in those days, a nice girl didn't wear that color. When Jean and I were grown and I lived out here in Arizona, she bought herself a red and black checked suit. So she finally got to wear red.

Mom's sore throat

Mom said when she was little and had a sore throat that needed a doctor, the doctor blew a yellow powder onto her throat through a straw. The name of the powder was something like Golden Seal. I wonder if it was sulfa?

Mom's headaches

Mom said she used to have really bad "sick headaches" and there wasn't really much anyone could do for them except put a wet cloth on her forehead and tell her to rest. She said she was so thankful when they got aspirin.

I checked and found out aspirin was invented a year before she was born. It was evidently not in common usage since doctors didn't recommend it.

I remember her having them sometimes. She took aspirin and went to bed with a wet cloth on her head. Uncle Doc took over the cooking until she felt better.

As she got past middle age they just about went away.

Mom's hives

A funny thing happened one time, although I'm not sure Mom would characterize it that way.

Mom had hives for some reason. Nothing seemed to get rid of them. They just itched and itched.

One afternoon, a car pulled up out front. I told Mom a man in a suit was getting out. Mom gave me a horrified look and said, "I don't want to talk to him. Don't answer the door. Maybe he will go away."

By that time, the man was knocking on the door. We didn't answer. He knocked some more. He was pretty plain he wasn't going anywhere.

Finally, Mom said, "Answer the door, but don't invite him in. If he wants to talk to me, tell him I'm sick."

I answered and he did ask for Mom by name. I told him that she was sick and couldn't see anyone.

He said, "I'm a doctor."

I gave up and opened the screen door. Then I told Mom, who reluctantly crept out trying not to scratch or rub.

He turned out to be Dr. Grover Cleveland Rice, Daddy and Uncle Doc's cousin. He lived in Brunswick. He gave Mom some medicine to take. A doctor used to always take his black bag along. It had instruments and medicine in it along with first aid supplies.

Mom took the medicine, but it didn't work. She was having a miserable summer.

Finally, an old Indian traveling through sold her some medicine. By that time, Mom would have taken anything. It worked.

Dr. Rice often came to visit on Sunday after that and brought his wife and little girl. Everyone always enjoyed seeing them. They came for years until the little girl got old enough to be involved in a lot of activities. She was probably around three or four when they first started coming. She used to rock in one of my little chairs.

This is Home, Part 28 - Electricity, mail, Mom shopped, the lunch counter, crops, gardens and pesticides, no irrigation, the plane in the pasture

This is part 28 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Electricity

President Roosevelt's rural electrification program worked. Somewhere around my Freshman year, we got electricity, as did our neighbors. The white light was lovely compared to the yellow lamp light.

Mail

The men had moved the mailbox up by the garage. The carrier came by in his Model A. I used to run out and get the mail and he started holding out Edgar's letter to me and saying, "He sent you a letter today."

Sometimes, when it was cold and bad, the mail carrier would come into the house, sit by the fire awhile, and have a cup of coffee and talk.

Edgar and I used air mail stamps on our letters. They were five cents. A regular stamp was three cents.

Mom shopped

Sometimes, Uncle Doc would take mom to town while we were at school. When we got home, we would find new skirts and blouses on our beds. Sometimes, we would have sweater sets instead. Socks, too, with either.

I liked -- and still like -- wool skirts because they fit well and feel good. Of course, they had to be dry cleaned.

The lunch counter

When I was in college, I had a friend, Nancy, who worked at a pharmacy. They had a lunch counter she worked behind. I used to eat there everyday. I could get a grilled pimento cheese sandwich or a ham salad for fifteen cents and a Coke for five cents. No tax. Sometimes, I would have the chicken salad sandwich for 20 cents plus a Coke for five cents.

Things were a lot cheaper then, but income was less.

Crops, gardens and pesticides

Crops and gardens were never sprayed with anything on either farm. No other farmer in our area sprayed crops, either. The noise of a plane close to the ground and a cloud of what looks like dust is not something one could hide.

The soil on the big farm was very acid. Sometimes -- years apart -- Daddy would lime the fields to improve the soil. I can only remember this happening three times, but it could have happened when I was gone.

Actually, I think the acid soil was responsible for the beautiful color of the flowers and how well everything grew.

Daddy planted more grass in the yard for several years, then waited a few years. He had a sort of sack-like thing with a strap over the opposite shoulder that he put seed in and threw it out by hand as he walked around the yard. The yard was planted with bluegrass and some other grass. I keep thinking rye, but the description in the dictionary doesn't sound anything like the grass we had. The grass was very tender, cool blades that were single. It actually felt soft. The yard was covered with grass. So were the pastures.

No irrigation

There was also no irrigation. Water was provided by the frequent rains.

We had a changeable, capricious weather pattern. There was a saying back there: "If you don't like the weather, wait a while and it will change."

The plane in the pasture

One summer day, a small private plane landed on the rise in the pasture. This was the pasture between the house and the mailbox. The side David and I saw.

The men must have seen it come down, because by the time the pilot walked to the house, they were all coming into the yard. They got the container or containers of gasoline the pilot needed and he invited all of us to come see his plane. So we all walked over in the pasture with him and admired the plane.

See, one never knows what interesting thing will happen on a farm! I must have been in late grade school or early high school at that time.

This is Home, Part 27 - Edgar, Edgar joins the Navy, square dancing

This is part 27 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Edgar

When I became a Freshman, I saw this really dreamy guy. I kept meeting him in the hall when we were going opposite directions to class. He had brown wavy hair, blue eyes, and wore glasses. He was also wearing casual dress clothes that looked really good on him. No blue jeans like everyone else. His clothes were also pressed with sharp creases. I found out he was a Junior and his name was Edgar Taylor, Jr. Bea's brother-in-law and Howard's younger brother.

Martha and I started calling him "Mr. Glasses" so hopefully the other kids wouldn't know who we were talking about if they overheard.

I had a date with Edgar during the latter part of my sophomore year. He took me to a calico hop at the school.

After school was out, we dated a lot. He gave me his class ring to signify we were going steady. I put medical tape on the inside and wore it on my ring finger.

He had graduated from high school at the end of my sophomore year.

Edgar joins the Navy

Edgar had to spend some time in the armed forces, as did all young men. So he joined the Navy for four years. He came home every chance he got. Just like in the movies, he hitched a ride. Then sometimes he got a leave.

He was stationed in San Diego finally and from there was sent in a ship with his division to patrol the waters around Korea. I didn't know where he was until later; everything was secret. I wrote to a San Diego address and the letter was sent from there to him. We tried to write every day. Sometimes, the mail didn't get through and we would not get any letters, then would get several.

We had fun when he got a leave. We went to movies, went to see Bea and Howard where we played cards and laughed, went walking in the pasture, and sometimes went to a teen hangout where we drank Coke, talked and listened to the jukebox.

Square dancing

One time we went to a square dance at Edgar's parent's home. Edgar and James tried to show me how, but it was hopeless. I couldn't understand what the caller was saying. James was Edgar's younger brother.

Funny -- Mom said she used to love to square dance. Her father fiddled for dances, sometimes.

Uncle Doc used to like to square dance, too, he said.

After we came home from a date, we used to sit in Edgar's car by the garage with the yard light blazing in and talk.

This is Home, Part 26 - How to find a husband, a Freshman in high school, Martha, skating and Charley, Bea divorces, remarries

This is part 26 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



How to find a husband

When I was in high school -- all the way through it -- the girls did not plan to work. They intended to get married, instead. Even in college, this was true. They just went to college to find someone to marry. The magazines during that time had all sorts of advice on attracting a husband. Part of the advice was listening to his opinions instead of expressing yours. Never admit that you know things he doesn't. Never beat him in any kind of game. Encourage him to talk about himself and his job. Listen and look interested. Make him feel important.

They even had advice on manners such as who walked down a movie theater aisle first behind the usher. We had ushers with flashlights who found a seat for people then.

Articles like this were in Redbook, Good Housekeeping and other magazines of this type. Even Glamour, I think it was.

A Freshman in high school

Anyway, high school was a lot of fun, except the punishment for being a Freshman girl was dressing in blue jeans for a certain time period. I didn't have jeans, so Aunt Edith or Bea borrowed a pair of Edgar's from his mother. They weren't a bad fit, except the waist was larger than mine and they were a lot too long. I wore a belt and rolled them up. We were supposed to look like boys, so no makeup. I only wore lipstick and powder anyway, so that didn't bother me too much.

Martha

I kept getting to the room I was supposed to have a class in earlier than anyone else, except this tall girl with light brown shoulder length hair and big blue eyes. After we had stood together for several classes a day waiting for the door to be opened, for maybe a couple of days, we finally started talking.

We became best friends and walked around together. We stayed all night at each other's homes and sometimes we stayed weekends.

Her name was Martha Riley. We had the same initials and our fathers were both named Ernest, so they had the same initials.

When I first told Mom about her, she said she remembered seeing her at the grade school graduation.

Skating and Charley

Martha and Jean got along well. One time they decided to see if they could skate. Mom said it would be all right if they skated along one side of the wall in the South bedroom, since the "room size" carpet left quite a bit of space along the sides. Mom was just going to redo the floor later if it needed it.

Anyway, they took turns skating along while holding onto things. I think they finally got bold enough to go outside on the walk. I don't remember them falling.

Charley, Daddy and Uncle Doc came home for dinner. Someone talked Charley into trying skating. It wasn't me -- I didn't think it looked like fun. I thought it looked like work and maybe a broken bone.

Charley put on the skates and tried to skate on the walk. The first thing that happened, his feet shot out from under him and he landed on his back. He looked so funny that everyone laughed, then asked if he was okay and helped him up. He was, but I don't think anyone skated after that. It was time for dinner, anyway.

Bea divorces, remarries

Bea and Bob were divorced after he came home. She met Howard Taylor, later, and after awhile they were married. Howard was good looking. He had dark hair and blue eyes and a nice smile. I liked him.

This is Home, Part 25 - President Roosevelt, the war ends, the men come home

This is part 25 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



President Roosevelt

President Roosevelt had led the country almost through World War II. He is the only president in history who was elected for four terms. I read that in each of those elections, he carried 31 states out of 48. He was loved in the United States and the world.

Just a few days before graduation, we were listening to the radio and heard that President Roosevelt had died. This was on April 12th. I remember telling Daddy, Uncle Doc and Charley that he had died. They were bringing the horses and wagon back from working. For the first time, I saw tears in Uncle Doc's eyes.

President Roosevelt's friends and neighbors plus thousands of others stood weeping at Warm Springs as the funeral train left for Washington, D.C. It took around twenty three hours to get there. (I hope I remembered this correctly.) His casket had been placed on something that raised it so it could be seen out of the windows. At night, the lights in the train were dimmed and the car with his casket was brightly lit. It was also brightly lit during the day. His casket could be seen for miles. The tracks were lined on both sides all the way through the countryside with thousands of people weeping. No matter what the hour there were grandparents, mothers and fathers, often holding children. Mrs. Roosevelt sat watching the continuing tribute to her husband.

On the trip from Washington to Hyde Park, N.Y., the situation was the same.

His daughter, Anna, remembers sitting on the floor and watching from her window all the people who loved him. He was buried in his rose garden at his home in Hyde Park.

There is a famous picture of a black man in a uniform crying and playing "Going Home" on his accordion. I don't know where it was taken.

When President Roosevelt died, it was similar to when President Kennedy died. The whole world mourned and everyone remembers where they were when they heard.

Newspapers published a daily list of servicemen who had died for their country. The day after Roosevelt's death, some newspapers put at the head of their casualty list Roosevelt, Franklin D., Commander-in-Chief.

The war ends

The atomic bomb had been a closely guarded secret. President Truman got the shock of his life when he was told.

First, we had the formal surrender of Germany. V-E day -- Victory in Europe -- was May 8, 1945, but I think the formal surrender was somewhat later. President Roosevelt had told someone that the war in Europe would be over by the end of May.

After calling for the Japanese surrender and receiving their refusal, Truman ordered the first atomic bomb dropped on Japan. They still refused and kept fighting. After a second atomic bomb was dropped, they wanted to stop fighting. The formal surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 (V-J Day) on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. World War II was over.

The men come home

Lawrence (Mary Ellen's husband) came home. So did Bob Bolton (Bea's husband). Denver Williams came home with a bride, Caroline, from the South. So we acquired a Catholic girl in a community that was Baptist. Most of the servicemen came home, except for a military force which we maintained overseas.

The jobs that had been filled by their wives were given back to the soldiers. That sounds strange today, but in those days, women were usually housewives. However, some of them liked working and missed their jobs.

This is Home, Part 23 - General Lee, the clay statue of the surrender, Spencer switches sides, Victor Rice, surprise cousin

This is part 23 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



General Lee

I was fascinated by General Lee. The famous Southern General Robert E. Lee in the Civil War. I asked Uncle Doc one time if he had been the right age to go, which side would he have fought on. He said he thought General Lee was an honorable, upstanding man and he admired him. He also said that Missouri had good people fighting on both sides. He said he would have fought on the side of the North. He said all the states were part of a union, and without the states staying together they could be defeated by a foreign power.

The clay statue of the surrender

I admired General Lee so much that I made the scene where General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in Virginia to General Grant. I drew in the background inside of a box -- the courthouse, trees, etc. Then I made General Lee riding up on Traveler, his horse, out of clay. General Lee was very detailed -- his beard, his face, his horse, his uniform, his gun, and his hand holding the reins. In those days, we didn't know about the kind of clay my children and grandchildren used. This was made of clay -- a type of soil.

I think there may have been a dog or two in the scene, also.

The art teacher thought it was really good. There was some sort of contest she wanted to enter it in. She thought it had an excellent chance of winning, she said, if she could just get it there. She said the roads were really bad and her car was sliding around a lot -- that it might break on the way. She left it up to me what to do. I decided to let her take it. I couldn't keep it forever.

Next time I saw her, she told me she was sorry, but General Lee didn't make it. The roads were too bad.

Spencer switches sides

Katie Jane (my double cousin) told me a funny -- as in odd -- thing when David and I were back there in 1997. She said our grandfather, Spencer P. Rice, was in the Southern Army, but that near the end of the war, he joined the Northern Army. He wanted to protect his family and keep his home from being destroyed. His crops and animals, also.

Victor Rice, surprise cousin

Maybe the Civil War was why Victor Rice and I didn't know each other when we both rode the bus from below Darksville to Huntsville High School. I had people asking me if he was my brother.

Finally, he came over to me and said, "Is your name Maudie Rice? I keep getting asked if you are my little sister." We decided to ask our families that night. We found out we were cousins. This is all I was told by Mom. We didn't really become friends, although we continued to ride the same bus together for two years, until he graduated. We always smiled and spoke. Martha (my friend) thought Victor was cute. He was tall with brown hair and blue eyes. Actually, all the older Rices I saw had blue eyes. Uncle Doc would correct me. He said he had green eyes. Dr. Rice may have had brown. If so, he was the only one.

This is Home, Part 20 - Pearl Harbor

This is part 20 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. I was ten years old. Jean was just barely eight.

Daddy and Uncle Doc had been talking about Hitler's armed forces marching through and taking over various countries. I remember the big black headlines in the Moberly Monitor-Index about him goose-stepping across Poland. There had been headlines for a long time about Hitler. But America was very isolationist then and people were saying, "Our boys will never die on foreign soil."

Uncle Doc, Daddy and Mom thought we would eventually be in the war. England was being bombed and wanted our help. I thought how awful it must be to be bombed and to have blackouts at night. Uncle Doc said if we didn't do something to help them, we would be bombed in the future -- and our allies would already be defeated.

President Roosevelt thought of something. He started a lend-lease program with England and sent them military equipment.

We heard about Pearl Harbor being bombed while we were visiting Frank and Valere Rice, at Renick, Missouri. I remember how upset everyone was. They were saying that it wouldn't take long to beat the Japanese. Thus we were at war.

Everyone really hated the Japanese. None lived around where we were. People are having a problem now with the removal of Japanese in America to special areas for security reasons. They should remember that during the time Pearl Harbor was being bombed and all the American lives lost, two representatives of Japan were in Washington talking peace. They were at the very least sneaky and untrustworthy. How were we to know that Japanese living here weren't also helping Japan? They had relatives there.

I also know of another reason they should have been moved. With so much hatred in America, I don't believe they would have been safe mixed with the general population. They should have been moved for both reasons -- especially the first.

All of a sudden, neighbor boys were joining the service. Maudie and Irwin Williams' son, Denver, joined. Mary Ellen's boyfriend, Lawrence Burris, went and Bea met and fell in love with a sailor, Bob Bolton.

Mary Ellen and Lawrence got married, and so did Bea and Bob. Bea had been saying what I thought was a strange thing. She had been saying, "I have to get married and start my family now." In view of future events, maybe she knew.

Anyway, there were a lot of war time weddings. Suddenly, the streets of Moberly had a lot of soldiers, sailors and Marines walking around.

There were military planes flying over the farm. I think there were bases at both Kansas City and St. Louis.

Movie stars toured the United States selling war bonds. Some movie stars joined the service. Others entertained. We bought war stamps at school.

Some items were rationed all of a sudden. Just off hand, I remember coffee, sugar, shoes and tires being rationed. We had to have coupons to buy them. The men gave Jean and me their shoe coupons because our feet kept growing. We couldn't get silk stockings (hose). I think silk might have been used in parachutes.

New factories were created, old ones converted into turning out military equipment. Wives and single women got jobs there to help with the war effort and to feed their families.

There was one man in our neighborhood who got a draft classification that permitted him to stay and work on his farm. Farm work was considered vital. The armed forces had to be fed. But people in our area weren't too happy with the man. They considered him a "slacker."

The man was young and had little children and might have lost his small farm if he had gone. Although, he could probably have got his father to farm for him. He had a well-known last name.

This is Home, Part 19 - The times improve, Miss Evelyn plays detective

This is part 19 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



The times improve

President Roosevelt had reopened the banks soon after he took office and instigated a number of different work programs to put people back to work. When it was time for one of his fireside chats, we were all in front of the radio listening. There were no more soup lines. The tramps stopped coming by, and business executives were no longer selling apples on street corners.

Miss Evelyn plays detective

Miss Hazel only taught during my first year at school. We managed to get through three more years of school in spite of the fact that we had Miss Evelyn as the teacher. She was absolutely unbelievable. I kept telling Uncle Doc that I wanted him to get rid of her. He just said, "I have to hire whoever has the best qualifications."

Every winter Jean and I managed to come down with bad colds, heavy croupy coughs, sore throats and sometimes lung congestion. Mom used to use something similar to Vicks on our throats and, if need be, chests. Then she tore a flannel cloth into a square, held it around the lamp chimney to heat it, and put it on us. The heat felt really good.

We even managed to get flu sometimes. Then the doctor came.

One time when we got back to school, Miss Evelyn interrogated us separately in the cloak room. I think Mom had sent a note. She wanted to know why when one got sick the other one did. She wanted to know why we had missed school. She wanted to know where the one she was talking to felt sick and where the other one felt sick. She asked what the family said about it. She also wanted to know if a doctor had been called. Those are just some of the questions. She thought of more.

We went home after school and told Mom, Daddy and Uncle Doc.

Next day, Mom and Uncle Doc went to school with us. Mom was really mad and Uncle Doc wasn't too happy. Mom told her that she (Mom) didn't understand what she had been trying to do and that when she was told that the children had been ill, she should accept that and not question them about where they had felt bad and who in the family had said what. Mom said that she had never heard of such a thing.

Uncle Doc told her that she had been hired to teach and that was what he expected her to do. He sounded quite calm and firm. He also said questioning any of the students in the cloak room was not part of her job.

I really couldn't stand that teacher. I used to have dreams that I was flying just out of her reach and she couldn't catch me. I used to swoop down toward her in the dreams and fly back up when she grabbed for me.

This is Home, Part 18 - The double cousins, fun with Bea, Bea and I ride Tony, with an unexpected audience, Bea visits a saloon, Bea wins at hide and seek

This is part 18 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004. In the "Bea and I ride Tony..." story, where her father and Charley were coming back with the wagon and Frankie, Frankie was a dog, a fox terrier.



The double cousins

There is something I almost forgot. Jean and I had something special -- something that most people don't have. We had three double cousins. Daddy and Uncle Doc's younger brother Elliot married Mom's younger sister Edith. The children they had -- Mary Ellen, Lola Bea, and Katie Jane -- were our double cousins. We all had brown eyes and brown hair. Mary Ellen was the oldest, about nine years older then I was, Bea was six years older than I was, and Katie was about a month younger than Jean.

Fun with Bea

Mary Ellen and Bea used to come and stay for awhile with Mom, Daddy, and Uncle Doc before I was born. One time, when they were small, she left them with Uncle Doc while she went to town after something.

When she got back, Uncle Doc was sitting grimly reading the paper and Mary Ellen met her with eyes "as big as saucers." Mom said, "Where is Bea?" and Mary Ellen whispered "She stropped Uncle Doc." She pointed to where Bea was hiding under something. Mom thought it was funny. Sounds like she was the only one.

Bea was so much fun. I used to love for her to come. She would stay for weeks at a time.

She was the one who climbed up the ladder in the manger and got the baby kittens down from the loft so we could play with them.

She was also the one who went walking with me in the sheep pasture, stepped into a ditch, and sprained her ankle. She climbed on the stile over the fence and went to the mailbox with me.

Bea and I ride Tony, with an unexpected audience

One time when she was there I decided it would be fun if we rode Tony. The men were in the field. At least Daddy and Charley were. Anyway, I put a rope or halter on Tony and led him to the road beside the car house. I got him to put his front feet in the ditch and I climbed up the embankment above him. I got the bridle on him and the other off. I couldn't begin to lift the saddle, so I just left his back bare.

Bea and I had rolled our hair with metal curlers, which is what they had then. We decided no one would see us anyway.

Bea thought it might be fun to ride him, so we took off down the road. On our way back we suddenly saw Daddy and Charley driving back down the road with the wagon and Frankie. We were being smart and just as we were passing them we kicked Tony and took off at a gallop toward the house. When we got there, the farm insurance agent was talking to Uncle Doc. We couldn't get Tony to stop, he ran around the house a couple of times.

Uncle Doc and the agent ran and waved their hats in front of him and yelled "Whoa." They were going around the house on different sides. Tony stopped all at once and we fell off. We only sustained a little damage -- Bea got some curlers bent. She was mortified because she fell off in front of the insurance agent. She said later that she thought Daddy knew and had put the bridle on for us. Mom said "Maudie, what makes you act like that?"

Bea visits a saloon

One time when Bea was there we went to Moberly. Bea was a teenager. Mom bought her a pair of white high heels and a white purse.

We decided to get some ice cream. The ice cream parlor was on that street. Bea was trying to go in and pushed the wrong door, the saloon door. There was a bar with nothing but a row of men sitting, drinking. When the door opened, every single one of them looked our way. Bea was so upset that she hurriedly backed out, caught her purse on the door, and tore the handle. Nice women didn't go in saloons.

Bea wins at hide and seek

One summer evening, Bea, Mary Ellen and Lawrence, the boy who lived on the farm next to them, came over to see us. Lawrence was good looking, had sort of gold blond hair and was Mary Ellen's boyfriend. Bea had a best friend at school; I don't know if she was there. I can't remember if it was during the long twilight we had back there or during one of the bright moonlight nights, but anyway, we decided to play hide and seek. One time Bea hid so well she couldn't be found. Whoever was 'it' couldn't find her and the rest of us were trying to figure out where she was.

We only had the front yard to hide in, and she wasn't anywhere. Finally, the person who was it gave up and we heard a laugh. Bea was up in the oak tree by the garage. It had limbs that were high off the ground and very rough bark. I don't know what kind of oak it was; Missouri has several different kinds.

Anyway, she had climbed on top of their car and climbed up into the tree from there.

Bea was less than five feet tall, very slender, had light brown, wind blown hair, brown eyes and a mouth that turned up at the corners. She had a lot of energy and was always hungry. When her family brought her over, the first thing she did was raid the table and cook stove. And she never gained an ounce -- the rat.

This is Home, Part 17 - Helping Uncle Doc with the weeding, or Bye-bye rhubarb, Uncle Doc's pet goose, company

This is part 17 of my mother's book about her life, written in 2004.



Helping Uncle Doc with the weeding, or Bye-bye rhubarb

Uncle Doc had a hoe with a long narrow blade. He used to tell me he was "going grubbing." He was going to take the weeds and roots out.

I noticed some weeds in the yard between the meat house and the fence, so I decided to help him out. I pulled them all out, then I went in to tell Mom. She got this strange look on her face and said "where?" When I told her she said "Oh, Maudie, that was Uncle Doc's rhubarb."

He loved rhubarb pie and looked forward to it every year. When I told Uncle Doc, he didn't say anything except "Hmmm."

Uncle Doc's pet goose

We had six geese at one time. An old gray goose took a fancy to Uncle Doc. He talked to it and fed it. It kept getting into the yard and following him around. He was tired from work one time when he came home for dinner, so he curled up in the yard to rest. This was in the warm weather. The goose came and stayed beside him.

I took a picture with my little brownie camera, a somewhat blurred picture.

Company

We had company every weekend for years. I should say every summer weekend. They just showed up on Sunday. Poor Mom spent hours cooking. Mom cooked a special dinner for them with pie for desert. They admired the house, how nice the yard looked, admired the beautiful view from the yard with the rolling green hills in the distance, told Mom how good her cooking was, and sat around and talked. They were Daddy and Uncle Doc's ages, so no children. It was always a husband and wife. Sometimes two families came. These were not people from our neighborhood. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the roads were bad and they couldn't come. This doesn't include relatives.