Chapter Seven: August to December, 1910. Pearl visits her mother at the asylum. Pearl returns to the caring extended family in rural Cotton County, Oklahoma.

In August of 1910, Papa, Brother and I went to see Mama in the asylum in Austin, Texas.  We boarded the train at Burkburnett, Texas, traveled to Dallas, Texas, arriving there when it was quite dark.  We had to change trains, railroads, as a matter of fact, as we were to be headed in another direction, now on our way to Austin.  It was raining, dark, and the way to the other railroad was quite some distance.  So there was no choice but to hail a cab, better known to us as service cars.  This cab was an automobile, with a top and rain curtains on the sides.  I still know the sensation of Papa standing there in the rain with me on one arm and Brother on the other, grasping the handle of the valise in one of his hands.  He said to the driver, “Is this thing safe!  I never rode in one before!”  The man assured him it was quite safe and I can remember the relief to be sheltered from the rain and free from Papa’s “walking under me”!  I, a five year old, was not used to being carried.  But Papa was careful and loving – we were all he had, and he was all that we had.

Papa got hotel accommodations for us in Austin while we were there.  He took us to the hospital to see Mother the next day.  The steps were high going up to the doors, but I could climb up with Papa holding my hand.  Of course, he carried Brother, sixteen months old by this time.  Inside the building that seemed to echo every word that was spoken, I was amazed at the marble floors, the massive marble staircases and the long halls.  Somewhere in the building women’s voices were heard speaking in loud mournful tones, the echoes reverberating up and down the halls and up the broad staircases.  It was frightening and impressive.  Even Brother, only a baby, remembered hearing those tones.  I argued with him telling him that he had heard me tell of the experience so many times, he just imagined that he was impressed with the sound.  He definitely said, “no”, that he recalled those mournful expressions!

 The doctors and nurses arranged a place for us to meet Mother.  We must not have seen her more than a half an hour.  She looked the same as six months ago, she knew us all, and was so happy to see us.  She remarked about the way we had grown and wanted so much to hold Brother.  Papa tried to hand Brother over to her, but he refused to go to her as he was afraid of strangers.  She said to Papa kindly, “Oh that’s alright, I don’t want to make him cry.”  She took me by the hand and an attendant opened a door out onto a small landing where she talked for a few minutes while Papa talked with the hospital officials.  She asked me a few important questions one of which was why I didn’t come and get the silver thimble as she left to go to the hospital.  She wore a neat little apron as she did the day I saw her last, and reaching into the pocket, she brought out the thimble and gave it to me.  I asked to go back inside, but she said, no, because I would have to go when I did; she wanted to be with me as long as she could.  Back inside, she looked at Papa and said, “You can just leave the children with me, and you can go back to Comanche County and preach!”  Poor burdened mind!  How burdened we were too, Papa and I!

On our return trip to Oklahoma, we stopped at Uncle Sam Kiplinger’s home near Graham, Texas.  Cotton picking was just beginning, and as we were there for about a week, Aunt Delia sewed up a cotton sack for Papa to pick cotton.  The cousins, older than I were helping, too, so Aunt Delia fixed me some kind of sack to pick cotton with them.

   The railroad which we would ride going back to Oklahoma passed by Aunt Delia’s house.  A grove of trees stood a short distance between the railroad and the house, where we children played.  We were interested in watching the passenger train go past taking all the passengers to their destinations.  Railroads still hold a fascination for me!  After a few short days, Papa, Brother and I were the passengers and as we sped by, we sighted Aunt Delia and the cousins and waived a “good-bye” to them all. 

 This brief stopover with Mother’s sister was a welcome respite from the strain we all experienced, including Aunt Delia’s family, because of Mother’s condition.

Somewhere along the way between Graham and Burkburnett, Texas, the train made a short stop and a vendor appeared at the coach windows shouting, “Chicken ‘n’ Bread! Chicken ‘n’ Bread!”  Papa bought some for us both, but I had barely swallowed mine when I became nauseated.  I was subject to train sickness, since my first train ride at age two.  So Papa told me to put my head outside the window while I rid my stomach of its discomfort.  I’m sure it was good food as Papa wasn’t sick from it, neither was Brother if he could eat such food – part of the nausea was caused by the jostle of the train.  At any rate, wherever I saw a vendor at fairs or circuses shouting “Chicken ‘n’ Bread!” I recalled the nausea I had experienced from it.  So I chose it not again!

This familiar family tree below will help orient you regarding several names Pearl mentions who are her father’s siblings. Uncle Bob is first, just older that Pete. Then, Uncle Bert, who is Alton Burton, much older half-brother. (She calls him A.B. Thornton later on.) Then, Aunt Dove is mentioned, in addition to Grandma (Elizabeth Lasiphene) helping care for the children. And finally, Uncle Charlie getting married at Christmas. See if you can find all of them in this family tree. 🙂 Ed.

 While Papa, Brother and I were away, Uncle Bob’s family moved to a new location, almost three miles south of Randlett; whereas, they had lived three miles north of Randlett, they now lived about the same distance in the opposite direction.  Mrs. Campbell, a music teacher, lived just down the road, asked Aunt Lula about Virgie’s taking piano (or organ) lessons from her.  In this way, Virgie began studying music.  I was visiting there one day when Virgie was to go for her music lesson, and invited me to go with her.  It was great fun for me, as I loved to sing and listen to music.  I may have accompanied Virgie to her music lesson another time or two, but I recall going only once.

     Sometime in the late summer of 1910, while in the Randlett community, we had association with Uncle Bert’s and Aunt Dora’s family who lived one and one-half to two miles from Aunt Dove’s home.  William Roy, 18, George L, 15, and Martha Ellen 12, were their children still at home.  Oliver Clinton, their oldest son, had married Miss Lee Ray at Bokchito, Indian Territory, approximately at the time the A. B. Thorntons moved west.  They still resided at Bokchito, and had a daughter, Inez, born May 31, 1908.

  That summer we attended a “brush arbor revival” some place in the community.  It seems to me that it was located at Uncle Bert’s home – and it may have been, as the house set back away from the road, with a small pasture of unbroken sod between the house and the road.  That would be an ideal spot for a meeting place, which was space enough for the buggies, wagons, carriages and saddle horses to park and to tie their animals.  I remember it as one of the most miserable experiences I encountered while there.  I would go to sleep on a pallet of straw with a quilt covering; being sound asleep by the end of the service.  Papa would pick me up, carry me over his shoulder, then disturb me again as he put me to bed in the house.  I wanted so much to be left alone!

  But I probably begged to go with him when time came for him to leave for the service.  An unusual item attracted my attention at these meetings.  To supplement the seating accommodations, chairs from homes were carried to the services.  I sat by Papa in one of these chairs which were of the cane-bottom variety.  The rounded tops of the front posts were patterns in checks, formed as the cross section of the wood was cut and shaped in the manufacturing process.  To my surprise, these two shaded brown checks on the chair posts was the same pattern of the revival preacher’s trousers!  And to this day, I still remember the fellow’s name – it was Reverend Hirt!

 At the beginning of the cotton harvest that fall, Papa found work at the cotton gin in Burkburnett, Texas, just across the Red River from Aunt Dove’s and Uncle Elias’ home.  I’m sure we spent some time with their family which consisted of Cecil, eight years of age, Bob, six, and Edgar, two years old.  Also, I can’t recall going to Grandma Thornton’s and Uncle Charley’s home that summer, although I’m sure we did, unless Uncle Charley, a young man of twenty-two might have been working away from home while Grandma divided her time between her three children’s homes.

      Papa found a small two room house, and a side-room kitchen, in Burkburnett.  It was located near the railroad; not an ideal location, but it was home and I recall some pleasant experiences while we resided there.

      Grandma came to live with us, or we with her, as she moved her furnishings there.  She was to remain a member of our household for more than two years as housekeeper and mother to Brother and me.

    I had a friend my age who lived next door, and she and I had fun playing together.  I don’t remember her name, but the most fun we had was on her Mother’s wash days when she would remove the sheets and pillowcases from the bed.  She led in the game, but we would play on the bed with the pillows and quilts and blankets, making tents; using our imagination to design all sorts of games with the bed coverings!  When I told Grandma how we played at my friends house, she was horrified!  She asked me not to go and make such a game of the neighbor’s bed things – she would never allow me to play such games – but I would find myself over with my friend on wash days, just the same.  Another fascinating amusement of ours was to swing in a lawn swing that had chairs suspended to a frame with chairs.  Oh, that was so much fun!  But Papa put a stop to that game when he discovered it, unsupervised could be a dangerous game for two small children. 

The fall and early winter of 1910, was eventful in my young life.  I saw my first picture show (movie) that fall.  Papa took Virgie, Herbert and me to see “The Galveston Flood” (a documentary, September, 1900), plus some “short subjects” – maybe some cartoons.  I don’t recall just what, but some of the horror of the catastrophe at Galveston, Texas, is still remembered from that poorly photographed black and white film.

 Another item of importance was that of sitting for a photograph with Papa and Brother, whose frail health was much in evidence as he sat on Papas knee.  Standing by him on the other side, I wasn’t sure where to put my hand, so I just put it on Papa’s other knee, which was alright, I’m sure.  I prize this photograph and the memory of the incident.  I was nearly six years old now.

Our Uncle Charley, Grandma Thornton’s youngest son was married on Christmas Day, December 25, 1910, to Katie Zuma Peyton who lived in the Randlett community.  Her father was a Methodist minister.  The newlyweds set up a home in the community soon after their marriage, and I recall the visit that Virgie and I were privileged to spend in their first home.  Uncle Charley was a favorite of ours and his new bride was young and lots of fun!

       

Grandma Thornton was 63 years of age at this time, nearing retirement age in any era.  She probably was neither physically nor emotionally able to cope with two young children, one a rambunctious five year old and the other a twenty month old sickly little boy.  I remember Brother being very sick there in the little house by the railroad tracks.  Papa thought he had finally found a remedy for him when he brought home a can of “Mullins Food”, but even this highly recommended baby food for treating diarrhea wouldn’t help. 

It was common among children of Brother’s age in that era.  It was termed “summer complaint”, “second summer teething”, which, uncontrolled, could take the life of a baby, and did in many, many cases.  The medical term was cholera infantum, I believe, but every case of summer complaint likely was not the dread cholera infantum.

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This ends Pearl’s writing for Chapter Seven

I couldn’t help myself. Here is some current information on what Mama mentioned as infant diarrheal disorders during 1910 era. Also, I looked up modern cholera definition. Cholera no longer occurs in highly developed countries. Remarkable to witness medical science applied and good public health and governance at work!!(R. Noel, MD, Editor)

cholera infantum

 A nonspecific term, no longer used in medicine, meaning either:

(1) Summer complaint—An obsolete term for severe, prostrating gastroenteritis in infants occurring in hot weather and caused by unknown pathogens, possibly Shigella and Salmonella

(2) Infantile gastroenteritis. No recognized cause. It was brief and self limiting.

(3) It is very likely that it was a recently identified cause, Rotavirus which is a very contagious virus that causes diarrhea. It’s the most common cause of diarrhea in infants and children worldwide, resulting in over 215,000 deaths annually. Before the development of a vaccine, most children in the United States had been infected with the virus at least once by age 5.

Cholera

 [kol´er-ah] an acute infectious enteritis endemic and epidemic in Asia, caused by Vibrio cholerae, marked by severe diarrhea and vomiting, with extreme fluid and electrolyte depletion, and by muscle cramps and prostration. Called also Asiatic cholera.

Immunization and modern methods of sanitation have all but eliminated cholera epidemics in the United States and Europe. As we read, my grandfather James Thomas Noel died of cholera in 1912. It was a significant risk in that era in the USA. It remains a danger in many other parts of the world, such as in India and many tropical regions. Travelers to cholera-ridden areas should protect themselves by vaccination, but this does not provide complete immunity. Careful hygiene is required.

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We come to the end of Pearl’s first five years of life. In Chapter Eight there is yet another move west in Oklahoma, near the Ware side of Peter’s family. This is farming country and Peter is hoping to become a settled farmer. Stay tuned. RAN, Ed.