The Life of Me: An Autobiography

gued me all my life. It even caused me quite a bit of trouble in college. As a small boy, when Santa Claus brought me a boo

rning the "why" of things often came through reading and I was the slowest of reader

The same was true with stories and other readings. In college I only read my hi

a boy. Some had pictures, so I looked at them. Some didn't hav

were times when these two rivaled each other in importance. Yet they were both necessary, the Bible for living and dying and the catalog for "Wh

wooden box half the size of a coffin. Then we would wait two or three weeks for the shipment to come from Dallas. Finally a postcard would come f

her around for the grand opening. There

ys until they began to look worn, then we could wear them to school. And they would last a long time if we would pull them off as soon as we got in from school in the afternoons, and wear our o

a straw hat. And naturally we wore a cap in winter, with ear flaps. Each of us would get two suits of the underwear, unless some of the

in their late teens, and those came down to their shoe tops. There were socks too. Socks were short and worn only by men and the big boys with long pants. Most of us boys got stockings which met the knickers above the knees. They were held up by ga

er when we walked, and that rubbing caused a swishing noise each time we took a step. As we walked to school, most of the boys went step, st

be made into dresses. I suppose they also made what they wore under the dresses. But that was top secret as far as we boys were concerned. However, tha

irls and their surroundings. And so, with a feeling of guilt, and in strictest privacy, I turned to the women

he kitchen, and gingham and calico and elastic and needles and thread. And there'd be a side or two of black harness leather

ets; leather lace for saddles, beeswax, welding flux and axle grease;

and some records. Only I think the phonograph came in a

could pick out that record easily because all the letters were worn off the label. Even people who could read couldn't read

e a spring that wouldn't break. Watch springs broke in those days. Cultivator seat sprin

ing our fingers on the label part of the record and turning it ourselves. Fingers got a

e started picking cotton in the fall with last year's old leftover sacks. But now it was time for new sacks. The old

couldn't bring all the toys was just not true. The fact was that Santa had ordered from Sears, Roebuck and they were out of some of the

the family before I did and it was as good as new after I was a grown man. When Papa put new half soles on our shoes, he would punch holes with an awl and we little kids always

made out the order in the first place. He also got socks- -a bundle of twelve pairs of gray Rockford work socks, also sock supporters,

you wanted. You just bought a shirt. All the sleeves were the same length-long enough for the longest arms. Then you put on the little elastic holde

copy of the 1902 Sear

f the socks I mention

d the price was 55

ir

s, fruit jar lids, Kodak film, Daisy fly poison, lamp w

er all that was in it. One thing for sure, if we just had to have it

new they couldn't be patched. But he knew they would hold cotton. So, he showed us how and we stuffed them full of cotton. And then we

the pedals anyway. Someone had to push me on it. But I didn't have to push anyone because I was too little to pu

ids. He had gotten himself a motorcycle. I believe it was an Excelsior by

re tire, and a top that would fold down for easier going when facing the wind. The top could be put up to keep off the rain and sunshine. I

ings which mean nothing in fact. Some of them are about as scie

ids going out in the hot sun bareheaded. They would tell the kids,

into the pasture and someone noticed that Lela, the youngest girl, didn't have her bonnet on. The

me since that day because I was the only one of the whole bunch who would wait

e end forward and shoved the stick forward by a thrust on the back end of it, our scientific name for that operation was "puking" the

Well, I wanted to be able to see the wind, but that seemed a little far out, even to me. And before I g

on wiggling. They told us a snake wouldn't stop wiggling till sundown, unless you turn him over and make him lie on his back, then he would stop wiggling

Mama sent me to Grandma's. I don't remember what I went for, but I do remember that when I

pt them. Now, everyone knows that all little boys like to play with matches. And since I was one of those

ch wall, on the porch posts, on the bricks along the flower beds and on t

was that much fun, a big handful would be a lo

e enough together that the breeze would blow the flame from match to match. Then I lighted the match on the up-wind end

ing questions. And since they knew that I had gone to Grandma's that day, I would be the first

remember I was glad I went. I came back with a deep, dark sec

ific" medical examination at bed time. We had to stick out our tongue for our parents to look at. If ther

l dictionary. And I sort of doubt that our family doctor knew how to spell it. But it's jus

family-if the tongue is coated, take a pretty little

e of one gagged me. To prevent vomiting in the kitchen, I

nother thing she didn't know was that there was a knothole in the porch floor, und

lomel in the daytime, unless he had nothing else to do but sit around and wait for a call to the bathroom

hrough ice or snow or any other bad weather rather than have that little tablet go through me. It didn't take long for me to put a tablet through a knothole, throw a g

e saved the cost of the tablets as well as those miserable early morning trips to the cold bathroom. An

m the Exum place. By the time I was 12 or 14, I began to understand the scripture where it reads, "As a man thinketh, so is he."

s, like putting knotholes in the most convenient places. Fifty years later, I learned that at age eig

his house and he wondered if I might know how to get rid of them. I told him, "

rpen our hoes. Playfully, Frank picked me up and pretended he was going to throw me over the fence and out into the county road. Well

est little boy in the whole wide world. I guess every b

he hadn't pitched me over the fence, I wouldn't have found it. So, a few days later, when he asked if he could borrow it,

was time for him to return my knife, he told me that a boy in town had

te, never! I still loved Frank just as much as I ever did. And it was the same when he had to correct

st about like the first one. And, as before, I dreamed I found it by the fence at the end of our cotton rows. I dreamed I

ead of holding onto it. So this time I clutched it tightly in my hand. This time, I reasoned, it could not possibly get away from me, even though I seemed to know I was dreaming. I felt

was dreaming, I would do things to entertain other kids-things no one else could do, like sliding down the roof of a

me I would laugh at him and close my eyes. He couldn't even find me, let alone hurt me. Often I

ining for weeks and was still raining. The highway was muddy and the ruts were so deep our axles were dragging. We were wet, cold, tired, and stuck in a mud hole. Then

d. It's not raining on us. There are no unpaved highways in Texas and no Model T cars on them. I'm dreaming that you are out here in this wet and cold

things to be just the way I had d

ttle fellow, with a neck about as long as four telephone poles, came toward us and stuck his head up over the rock banister where I stood. Ima had gotten scared and ran to the car. I called to her, "Ima, don't be afrai

m might take place within a few seconds. But

t of our Reo car. Papa was driving at about his regular speed of twelve miles per hour down a

ours in real life. When I woke up, I thought I had slept all the way to town and almost all the

y to find that we were about two hundred yards from