Ed. note: This chapter covers about 7 months from before Christmas, 1914 through the Spring of 1915. Several significant things occur which Pearl finds memorable and she makes these events come alive for us over a century later. Enjoy. RAN
“AND BABY MAKES THREE (OF US)”
I remember the day the new baby came to our house. Mama was very ill during the delivery as she was forty years of age and this was her first child. Behind the closed bedroom door, the sound of her cries of pain was upsetting, and all of the activities surrounding the birth of a baby in the home were vague occurrences to a nine – going on ten – year old girl. But Grandma was there to help and to call on me to do what I could in finding cloths and utensils in accomplishing the task before us.
The tiny little boy came on December 18, 1914. Mama assumed that his weight was no more than three pounds (that was her weight at birth), although, Dr. McCollum didn’t have his scales along with him that cold afternoon. He was perfect in every way, though, and soon began to cry with hunger as Mama, try as she could to nurse him, finally concluded that she had no mother’s milk for him. Mama abhorred bottle feeding for him, but there was no alternative. Dr. McCollum recommended a formula of sterilized cow’s milk, if he could tolerate it, so early the next day, Papa went to Burkburnett, soon bringing home a set of bottles, nipples, and directions for the care of them, plus directions for processing the milk. I will never forget the look on Mama’s face when Papa came into view holding the bottle up for her to see; she shook her head negatively and sadly, and shed a tear or two, while Papa stood proudly grinning from ear to ear. He was glad there was a way to feed this little boy who had come to live with us. An old tried and true method of feeding new borns until the mother’s milk “came down” was with the “sugar-teat”, constructed of sugar and a dab of butter tied in a clean, white cloth. It was moistened to form a soft mass so that a teat could be formed to fit the newborn’s mouth. This method was normally not employed, at most, for more than two or three days, but was sufficient sustenance until a formula could be found.
The formula of cow’s milk agreed with the tiny little fellow and he grew and slept well making us all very happy. His name became Arthur Hamilton Thornton, his second name the same as Papa’s second name. We kids were very proud of him and loved him more than we ever dreamed we could love a newborn baby. He soon grew to give us a toothless grin and to “coo” as we learned to play with him. I became a built-in baby-sitter as I could feed him and care for him at an early age. Ironically, I hadn’t cared much for babies up to this time! But this baby was different – he was our very own.
He was one week old on Christmas Day and I cannot imagine our having much Christmas cooking, with Mama still lying in her bed. Grandma had long since given up that kind of cooking; in fact, I don’t remember Grandma ever making a layer cake during the time she lived with us. She made good fruit cobblers, egg custards and fried pies or turnovers, as they are sometimes called. I’m sure we didn’t suffer for want of good food at that Christmas time; we probably wouldn’t have known the difference!
I believe that was the Christmas that I got my long wished for china doll with yellow hair and blue eyes. I don’t remember Billy’s gift, but it must have been an interesting toy of some sort. Arthur Hamilton wasn’t old enough to enjoy even a rattle at this point, but it wouldn’t have been Christmas unless the baby received some gifts, too, and I’m sure he did!
The relatives living nearby all came to visit the new addition to Pete’s family and the new mother. Aunt Dove came with her youngest, George, who was a little past two, I’m sure Uncle Bob made his way down to see us very soon, but I recall Uncle Charley’s and Aunt Kate’s visit more vividly than the others. They had a son Arthell, age two and Vineta, a two month old baby girl, with red hair and blue eyes! I adored her, a beautiful plump little baby girl that I could hold without fear of breaking! Of course, this was early on, and Mama and Arthur were still in bed. I can recall seeing her lying on the bed giving us her big smile, leaving Billy and me wondering when Arthur would ever grow to be that big!
Soon after Arthur’s birth we began to learn of other babies, little cousins of ours, born to relatives on both sides of the family: Uncle Jim and Aunt Lou who lived at Vernon, Texas, had a little boy named Marion Merritt Thornton, Aunt Bee and Uncle Clint had a little girl named Lila Ray (now known as Lilah Rhea Hundley). On the Savage side, Mama’s brothers, Uncle Monroe and Aunt Lillian had a son, named Wayne Savage. Uncle Noel and Aunt Vesta, had Vineta Savage, and Uncle John and Aunt Annie had a son about that time whose name I do not recall. This seemed to be the year for additions of our family.
On Arthur Hamilton’s calf of his right leg, there was a brown spot – light brown, to be sure, but it was there, and try as we might, it could not be removed! It’s a birthmark, Mama told us, but Papa shook his head. Mama said yes, she knew exactly how and when it happened. One day the two of them stopped by a neighbor’s at mealtime, when they were just ready to sit down, but Papa and Mama wouldn’t stay, and stating their business as quickly as possible they left. Mama recalled that they had a platter of ham on the table and it looked so delicious, she wanted a piece of it. She didn’t voice her desire, of course, but remembered reaching down to rub a place on her leg that itched as she sat waiting for Papa to state his business. So, on that particular spot on Arthur’s little leg was the brown spot that resembled the slice of ham! This event occurred some 4 1/2 to 5 months before Arthur’s birth. Papa laughed at Mama and shook his head, saying that was only superstition, but no argumentation would sway Mama’s belief.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/04/the-odd-superstition-behind-birthmarks/389958/
Papa would never allow us children to take the superstitions seriously. Mama loved to relate the horrible “graveyard” tales and numerous superstitions that Tennesseans held. While Papa explained that all ghosts or “haints” (haunts) could always be justified if one bothered to search them out, get to the bottom of them. Actually, Mama would usually have an explanation at the end, but she loved to watch us as we listened, wide eyed, to her ghostly stories. I suppose that they were still enjoying such stories back in middle Tennessee at that time!
At school in the spring of 1915, everything became more lively than we had heretofore experienced. There were older school mates that held an appeal for me. I recall the Vaughn twins, Ruth and Ruey, who lived a mile east of Valley View and three-fourths mile south. They were personable young people in the seventh grade, very astute students. In addition to Ruey’s academic achievements, he also had a talent for drawing. He could reproduce with pen and paper a likeness of an automobile to minutest details. I recall that Billy and I obtained a copy of one of his drawings, we were so fascinated with them. Cars, as automobiles were beginning to be called, instead of autos, frequently passed on our road with tops lowered, women’s hats tied down with ribbons and drivers wearing driver’s caps. It was the beginning of a new era!
With an interlude of Billy’s bout with the deadly croup and the quarantine that followed, he was now a full time student, accompanying me to school as we walked the two mile stretch.
Our activities at school included games such as “We’re Marching ‘Round the Levee”, “Drop the Handkerchief”, “Ring Around Rosie” and “Jump the Rope”. The latter named game was played by using a length of heavy rope with two students throwing, or turning the rope while others jumped the moving rope. There were degrees of skill exemplified by various jumpers. I was a slow learner, being chubby I was never very agile and moreover, I was afraid of being struck by the rope! In spite of the obstacles, I was determined to master the skill, so I kept working at the task until I was rather proud that I could really jump the rope! I never cared for the “hot pepper” version of the sport, but the one skill I sought to accomplish was “running in”, or getting into the action while the rope turned. I studied the game carefully, the position of the rope when starting toward it to the split-second timing of jumping in. That was just about the extent of my skills of rope jumping. I never cared for “high water” either, as I was so short legged I couldn’t jump high enough; I feared being tripped by the rope.
The game, “Ring around Rosie”, was played by several players, holding hands and marching in a circle singing, “Ring around Rosie, a bottle full of posy, the last one to squat is a “dirty dishrag”, a “n….. baby” or any undesirable name, previously agreed upon. The one who lost was out of the game. In “Drop the Handkerchief”, the dropper marched around outside the circle of players, suddenly dropping the handkerchief behind some unobservant player, then began to run around the circle. If the first dropper made it back to the second dropper’s space, the second dropper became “it”. “We’re Marching “Round the Levee” was a more complicated game than the others. One player was chosen to be “it”, sometimes by the method, “Eenie, meenie, miney, mo,” which was another game in itself, but lots of fun. Or the group would elect a player to begin the game. She would occupy the center of the circle while the players clasped hands and marched around singing, “We’re marching “round the levee, three times ending with, “For we have gained the day”. Next, all drop hands, while the player in the center weaves his way, in and out between those in the circle, while they sing, “Go in and out the windows” finishing with the same line in the first stanza. After the player had come back to the center, “Go forth and choose your lover”, is sung in the same manner as the other stanzas, while the player chooses one from the circle of players. As the player grasps the hand of the one he has chosen, “I pledge my love to show you” is sung. The player kneels in the next stanza, which says “I kneel because I love you.” In the final stanza, both players standing, grasping right hands while the song says, “Goodbye, I hate to leave you… for we have gained the day.” The first player becomes a member of the circle, the second player is “it”, and the game starts all over again. It made for more fun when we could have a mixed group in this game, but our chances to involve the boys in the game were just about nil.
“Needle’s Eye” was an enjoyable game, but could be a little rough at times. Two leaders were selected to “hold up” as we called it. They secretly chose, between them two items of approximate value, which they each would represent to the other players. Then, clasping their hands high above their heads, forming an archway, the players began to march under the arch, only to be caught and asked in a whisper to choose the item she liked best. She would then take her place behind the one representing her choice. Throughout the marching and choosing of items, all players were singing this ditty:
“Needle’s Eye, I do so ply;
Threads that run so true;
Many a beau, have I let go
Because I wanted you.”
After all had passed through the arch, the players, with arms clasped around the girl in front of her, formed two opposing lines. The leaders then clasped their hands as tightly as they could while the two teams engaged in a “tug-of-war”. Whichever team pulled the opposing team’s leader across a designated line was the winner.
That spring, we girls at school became very industrious and cleaned out the concrete cellar, with the permission of the teacher. We actually made a play house” down there. We picked up bits of broken glass and china off the school ground or from home and decorated our tables made of boards set on stray bricks we found scattered around. Of course, “all good things must come to an end” and this occurred when some mischievous boys down in the fourth grade came down into the cellar and tried to join us, then decided that it was more fun to wreck our play house! Our teacher advised us to give up the project and closed the cellar door for good.
”storm cellar”. They were designed for safety with a tornado threat. Some were concrete lined. Some were earthen caves. Pearl’s school cellar was concrete lined, we assume from her description.
Ed. note: Homes were usually not built with basements in that rural frontier area. Having a dugout or concrete cellar to store the potatoes and other ‘roots’ was useful. Twenty seven years following Pearl description, in 1941, our father built a bungalow and a nearby “washhouse” on top of a large concrete “storm cellar”, which was used to store root vegetables and fruit and vegetables “canned” by Mama. Also, later on, we had an electric “deep freeze” which held butchered meat and other necessities. We rarely went down there for a tornado threat. RAN
Another day that spring a photographer came to take a group picture of the school. There were 42 of us, but three were absent that day, and one boy brought his young brother to school, which added up to 40 students and the teacher, Mr. Lovinger.
Several young men in our school were as tall as our teacher Mr. Lovinger. This was true of all rural areas where both boys and girls were absent much of each school term while helping in the fields. I venture to say that at least four of these fellows were twenty or twenty-one, attending school to complete the 8th grade to qualify for an eighth grade diploma, a prerequisite to enrolling in high school courses. Also, about four young ladies, of age eighteen or more, were in grades seventh or eighth.
Consequently, in order to accommodate the wide range of sizes of the student body, the photographer put up a set of benches resembling bleachers – which might well have been already placed there for seating during athletic games. There were three tiers of benches. On the back tier, our tall teacher and the tall boys plus a couple of girls took their places; the second row also stood as the first row, but the third row was seated. The fourth row, on the ground, where I wound up, were asked to take a kneeling position. Mama, still making me wear pinafores to school to keep my dresses clean, embarrassed me no end, so I removed the pinafore while preparing for the camera. I wore my long dark hair in two braids, so some of the big girls pinned the braids up across the back and put a wide black taffeta ribbon on my head with a big bow on the side. I was very pleased as the big girls wore their hair in this style. It must have been the vogue at this time! I don’t recall any complaint from Mama when she saw the change of my appearance in the picture.
To continue the organization of the photographic process; a tall boy who was helping the photographer arrange the group was left standing as he surveyed the arrangement. He lay down in front of my row, kneeling on the ground. The athletic equipment was yet to be positioned in strategic spots. For this task, the photographer took the situation in hand. The big boys kneeling on one end of the row put their four caps in a row in front of them, the small boys on the other end of the row, each held his cap under his arm, so I suppose the photographer reasoned that we girls in the center should hold the football, baseball and baseball mitt in a prominent spot, to exhibit our sports interest in our school. As I was the tallest girl kneeling, and about center, the man handed me the football! I wasn’t interested, neither could I identify with the ball, nor the game! So, I just dropped it to the ground. As he came by again and noticed I wasn’t holding it, assuming I had accidentally dropped it, he gave it to me again! About this time the tall boy, as I remember as Morris Smith, took the sports equipment from the photographer, positioned himself on the ground in front of us and while resting on his right elbow, he held the ball mitt and ball in his left hand and the football in the curve of his right arm. I am thankful for this ancient photograph of 74 years ago.
Ed. note: Pearl, in dating the photograph, lets us know she was writing this section of her autobiography in 1989. So, she was 84. RAN
I don’t remember seeing a football game there on the Valley View playground; probably some scrimmage among themselves. We did have baseball games on Friday afternoons in the spring in the last period of the day. I shall not forget the balmy afternoon in late spring when a few of us girls were wandering around the school grounds instead of watching the boys play ball. We had made our way down the road apiece, going south. It was against school rules to leave the school ground without permission, so as we turned back toward the school house, we saw a couple of girls running toward us. Oh, no, we thought! Mr. Lovinger had discovered us! But, not so. The favored small boy, Leonard Lents was hit in the stomach with a baseball! We all ran quickly to the school ground. They had bathed his face with cool water and were preparing to take him home. He did not have a serious injury, but we all certainly received a scare by the incident.
A humorous incident occurred that spring which involved the Lents family and the Pages from which some of us students got a laugh. The Lents home was about one-half mile east of the school, and we were just passing the house when Lessie Lents, an older sister of Leonard, but not in school, ran out to meet us. She was laughing, very excited. She told us she had just played a joke on her mother and had to get out of the house before she discovered the joke. She wanted to stay at school and visit for awhile. Her mother had sent her across the creek upon the hill to the Page home to borrow something. She got the idea of the trick as she started back toward home, so she ran down the hill, across the creek, then up the hill. Breathlessly, she entered the house and told her mother that Mrs. Page was sick and she must hurry and go see about her. “I want to go to the school house with you,” she laughed, “because I can’t be here when Mama comes back. Mrs. Page is all right!” We learned the rest of the joke that afternoon. As Mrs. Lents approached the Page home, she saw Mrs. Page sweeping the back porch. The two women had a good laugh, but vowed to get even with Lessie in some way!
Ed. Note:In Chapter Seventeen we will experience a lot of visiting family, in which Pearl seemed to delight. There is a new teacher for Valley View and many other wonderful experiences to look forward to in filling out Pearl’s tenth year. Stay tuned. RAN