The Life of Me: An Autobiography

en all the rest of the Johnsons went to farming. And Papa preferred cattle ranching over c

ss with his father until the time they all moved back to Texas from Oklahoma. At that time he went to farming because

that would grow enough cows and calves to afford a better future for him and his family. This was not just a wild

were limited. Most of the good pasture land had been cleared and put into cultivation. But on the West Texas p

of Lamesa. It was a half- mile wide and two miles long. It was part of the old Higginbotham Ranch. The ra

m about five miles from the large one. It was fairly well improved. His plan was to live on the small farm while he sent us kids to school, built five miles of wolf proo

house, car shed, tool house, storm cellar, wash house, an out house, a yard fence, field fences

ode and Susie moved in with us-or rather, we moved in with them. The plan was for them to farm the small place an

ter, waiting for the weather to cooperate

this date, had not moved out. And since it was coming a blue norther and snowing outside. They were not in

n it, the livingroom with a heating stove in it, and a bedroom. They let us h

it to a small heating stove so we could fry flapjacks and heat the room. But when the wind blew from the wrong direction, the fi

their two kiddos. Boy! Did they deal us misery by not sharing a greater portion of our house with u

rooms that we had there was Papa, Mama, Susie, Dode, Earl, Joel, Albert, Ollie Mae, William Robert, and me-ten of us. And out in

s County and had shipped them to Lamesa by rail, alon

ell this time we didn't think things could ever be worse.

proving the large one. The dry weather prevailed throughout the year. Grazing dried

s each and cottontails brought six or eight cents. When we killed a rabbit, all we had to do was cut open his abdomen and

le and a lunch and some horse feed for their team and go out in a wagon and stay all day, while we kids were i

eight dollars worth. In one week he brought in enough rabbits to pay

out to haul cottonseed cake in his wagon to ranchers somewhere west of Lamesa. I didn't kno

nd poor that they became exhausted while plowing in the field. They stopped in the middle of the field and had to be unhitched and walked home.

they had become accustomed to stopping their work about mid- af

itched them to his wagon and trotted them eight miles to Lamesa to get the mail. Then he trotted them eight miles back home. They had never experienc

rked here and there in defense work. He told us he worked awhile in a powder factory in West Virginia. After the war was over, he came home in 1919 and worked some for Dawson County, doi

dry bones. There was a ready market for bones in Lamesa. A lot of cows had died here

They were hard and stiff, but by soaking them in water we were able to straighten them out, cut them i

r we might have to build fence or maybe chop wood or do any one of a dozen things that kept bobbing up to be done. If and when we got all those things done, and then if it was

The question of work came up one Sunday afternoon when we put some new tires on our car to go watch an airplane at Lamesa. But then, that was regarded as play since it involved only recreat

And if we could get a rabbit without a gun, that was all right too. But, no guns on Sundays. When a

e than the wire itself bent in the shape of a small crank. As the wire revolved over and over down in the hole, it wou

d down from pioneer days when men lived by hunting game. In those days hunting was a

and grew quite a bit of garden produce. Our garden was like an oasis in a dust bowl. And then,

e to the Exum place. Papa began getting the car ready immedi

d traveled a long, long way. The first thing Old Scotch did was lie down in the yard and rest. Then he chased all the chickens out of the yard as he had done many times before. Ne

m way down the road and leaped for joy beside the car all the way back to the house. He had finally found new hope. The B

of his car, Old Scot

and put his paws on

o that, he turned to

heir dog

rom Lamesa. I don't know how Robert got word to us about Old Scotch, b

his body, some of his beautiful coat had fallen away and his feet were sore f

sies came by our farm now and then, and both we and our neighbors had a

and we soon had him as fat and sassy and as good looking as

ny sandstorms but this one was not just one of the ordinary ones. This was an extra special-the granddaddy of all sandstorms. We kids were in school at Ballard and it got so dark in the schoolh

e of us couldn't make it home. She held us there until our parents came for us. The wind was st

ed to set. We didn't believe there were any clouds, only sand and dus

still spread over the table, over the food, and over the plates we were eating out of. We held the cloth up with one han

on't usually burrow, but cottontails always do when they need shelter. This time it was different. They needed

round to the west, a little while later, to the north, and then to the northeast.

round their respective bushes, keeping behind the bus

egan to snow. The temperature got down below zero that night a

were already dead. They were still sitting under bushes and looking very much like live ra

near Lamesa lost 500 cows that

sand which blew in with the snow was at least two feet deep. That was the first time I can remember

By that time we were still about four or five miles from home and we came to another windmill and waterhole. There was a lot of sagebrush around the waterhole and jackrabbits

d more jackrabbits than we could carry home. We swung some of them over our shoulders, tied some to our overall

ing even bigger and better ones. A neighbor named Debnam bought the biggest horse I ever hope to see. A big man had to reach high to touch his nose, and few men could reach the top of his shoulders. He

almost unheard of before the late 1920s. However, there was a company that made an attachment to go on a Model T Ford car which was supposed to make a t

hat he was willing to sell it at a bargain should have told Papa something more. And finally, when he wen

uy this thing for a lot less than four horses would cost. Anyway he bought the attachment and made it fit on the Reo. I suppose he reasoned

nd ready to go. It didn't prove to be the best tractor in the world, in fact, it might compare with a mo

s well as the Reo car replaced the horse on the road. Yet it filled in somewhat when feed was scarce and horses were tired. T

Come Saturday afternoon, if we were pretty well caught up

ere four stores in town that sold pocketbooks and I went to all of them but it was of no use. The cheapest one any of them had was ten cents. Now, if I spent my dim

nt pocketbook I had overlooked before. But it just wasn't there. A

a Saturday?" That's easy. Saturday was about the only day we went to town. I was a big boy before I learned

nting to fight and thinking that boys who did fight were bad boys. And here I was, faced with the stark realization that I needed something I didn't have-the ab

e cars parked by the curb. I was always in the lead, he was after me. Somehow I had hoped that I could lose him. But he kept coming

alk couldn't see us. It was just him and me. I had to do something-so I hit him and ran. That proved to be the best thing I could h

you?" Before I could answer him, the boy had turned and was going away. He didn't bother me any more. He probab

silver dollars and half dollars and other coins, lying there on a shelf where the store was only half lighted. Papa and the clerk were around behind some other shelves.

money. That is to say, I could have lived with my conscience but I could not have lived with the condemnation I would have gotten from my family, onc

receiving his punishment. It was my punishment alone, it hurt no one else in the family and it was soon forgotten. But taking any part of the money fro

If the wholesale cost of an item was four cents, he would usually sell it for ten c

ts a package up to ten cents a package. With six kids at home, that would put quite a strain on Papa'

15 cents?

came th

or a qu

I gues

r a half

yes,

and we all laughed at how fa

in the family and only one little girl still at home, and she was too little to be of much help. And since Mama's kitchen work extended to the milk shed, the henhouse,

em with a cloth. So, she didn't have to place the dishes at mealtime. We simply sat down and got our own plates and tools. And we

tinct in choosing the tool to use. That is, "If it's hard, use a knife, if it's soft, use a fork, and

oney, vinegar, pepper sauce and other such things. These were all covered with the same cloth that covered

ishes. So Mama was in trouble-but not for long. She came up with an ultimatum:

could wash them in a dishpan. And I seldom used any tool except a spoon. Plates were no problem either. When it comes to shining plates, a good, tough biscuit rin

nd take off for things more interesting. The last one to finish would help Mama spread a cloth over the entire table and the job was completed. Mama was o