The Life of Me: An Autobiography

r the Reo. They had come in but there had been no hurry to put them on the car. They were ly

he action from ten miles away, when Papa asked if any of us would like to drive over there and watch the airplane. OH BOY! Would we! We got busy right away putting the new tires on

dollars to ride. And he would loop-the-loop for an extra ten dollars each loop. One man paid $40 to ride and loop three times

happiness, almost to abundance. We each had a saddle and a horse to ride, including Ollie Mae, but not William Robert. Papa braided quirts for all of us. He would take the leather uppers of worn-out shoes, c

ences and sand had drifted into the weeds, burying both the fences and the weeds in many places. There were abandoned houses here and there on the ranch. The vacant houses had most all the windows broken out. Most of the d

; the barrel had a curve in it. If I had found the old gun when I was younger, I might have thought I could shoot around corne

g a block of wood on it at just the right place and hitting it with a big hammer. Oh, yes, I got it fairly true, but not true enough

little paper for wadding, then put in a few shot from the shotgun shell, and a little more wadding to hold the shot in place. Then we would aim and fire. But the little birdshot wouldn't even go through an old rusted out washtub. After a couple

y of the gun split the wood stock and came almost to my shoulder. Smoke filled my eyes and a cloud of smoke rose above my head like a

t duck hunting. The swamps were four or five miles apart. There was a lot of water and plenty of ducks, but there were practically no trees or

and with only three little ducks about the size of quail-well, maybe a little bigger, and we were very tired

ll. And in the barn we found some cattle salt with some black stock powder mixed in it. First we built a fire. Then we picked th

doubt the best food I had ever tasted in my life. We divided the meat as equally as possible, and it came out to about one fifth as much as each of us needed. Then we drank the soup-two swallows for you, two for him

Papa tried to get the man, Mr. Wood, to pay us three dollars a load. Mr. Wood thought we were just trying to get more pay for less work, and he wouldn't pay it, so we quit. Then Mr. Wood finished heading the maize himself. Now, I say he was a good neighbor bec

new-born calves and colts and babies. Up until then, all I knew was that horses and cows found their babies out in the pasture, and doctors brought babies to women at times. And about Santa Claus, I wasn't curious about him

ping. We knew we were not supposed to ride wild horses unless Papa was with us. He had told us never to do so. It wasn't that we deliberately disobeyed Papa. It was t

d be unhappy with our disobedience, but when there is something that needs to be done, you just do it. I was scared and I hated to have to face Papa but I didn't hesitate a second. I ran as fast as I could to get him. I was about 12 or 13. Was I scared? Bra

es. The ridges held the horse up somewhat. Joel wasn't really hurt-just had

es up and give me all that fell "heads." We didn't make the deal because Earl learned what I had offered to do and he shamed me scornfully. He said, "That's just the same as shooting dice or playing poker." I didn't know how to shoot dice nor play poker. I only knew that either one was a bad thing to do. I was deeply hurt

d, never to gamble in any way. But, like Adam in the garden of Eden when he blamed a woman for hi

it seemed that fate was trying our patience. I think the devil also had a hand in th

200 a bale. It looked as though the Lord had finally smiled on us as he did on Job. But I guess we hadn't suffered as much nor repented as well as Job had. When the Lord fav

put a boll worm in each and every drop of that rain. None

to pay the taxes, interest, and the annual note. If the devil

ments we had made on the place cost about as much as we made on it. So we just about broke even. But the value of land had begun to rise and we didn't know it. Before we moved off the place,

er, "Oh yes

ad not really mea

amlin-all of us without money, and Mama and Papa very weary. In a short three years we had

an idea of the patience of a couple who had come through this valley of gloom and destruction-came

t least we were told which way to go. We were not all angels,

thering cotton. But he promised to pay us so- much a 100 pounds and told us to ke

Papa's ability to pay later, or they got a little pay from him now and then much faster than I did, or something. Anyway, after we moved to Hamlin, I still had my book which showed a balance of quite a f

ly subtracted the amount from their books and added the figures to my balance. I actually had over $23 in my balance when one brother accused me of cheating