The Year of the locust, part 2
This was the year that Pop found out I could sing. Pop had talked a lot about a woman that we all knew and how she swept her floors everyday and it was obvious how great a thing he thought that was. So I being an Eight year old thought Well if that's such a great thing , I can do that So I took the broom and started up stairs with the sweeping and then I swept all the floors downstairs. While I was doing this I remembered a Lady that stayed with us one summer at canning factory time when we lived closer to the canning factory, but the main thing I remembered about was how I lovd to hear her sing. And so while sweeping I started singing those songs I had heard from her. In the next day or so My Father said "Come here Rose and sit on the Davenport. Let me hear you sing. So I sang the song I had heard her sing, in fact it was about the only song I knew back, then but I did love to sing. So I sang "I don't want your greenback dollar I don't want your watch and chain, All I want's your true hearted love dear, Wont you take me back again. Pop ,was really impressed and insisted that I sing some more , which I did. Mother had told on me about the singing and they both seemed very pleased.
This was the summer that we lived on the Joe Closson place- east of Blue River this time. This was the summer that Raymond was born. This was the summer that we had an upstairs, Also the newspaper came every day in the evening and I played under the front porch and on my Island (in the creek). Also sometimes we would take a walk back to the woods where it was very noisy on account of the Locusts chirping.
I think that the day Raymond was born someone had taken us children over to Grandma's house to stay until after the Baby was born. When we got back home we had a little Brother. The next morning the neighbor Lady came to give the Baby a bath and to do somethings for mother, which she did every morning for about ten days. Mother ask me couldn't I cook dinner and so she had me to bring the ingredients for cornbread to her bedside and then she would tell me how much meal, and flour and salt to put in the dish and sometimes I had to build a fire in the kitchen stove. But I learned how to cook beans and cornbread and get onions from the garden to go with that and then I would wash the dishes. Only until Mother got well enough to get up and take over most of the cooking.
Most all the houses back then had a wood house on the back and this house was no exception. There was a nice backyard on the east side with trees. And under these trees were a couple of beagle hounds tied there. Pop did not go very long without his beagles because he loved to go coon hunting. Under some trees bordering the back yard was where mother did the family wash in the summer. Of course she had her kettle set up for heating the water, which she got from the creek which ran betwwen the house and the barn yard. My job was to do the rinsing, and then hang the clothes on the clothes line for drying. I always tried real hard to wring the clothes as dry as possible. Now I realize that was just making more wrinkles to be ironed out later. It seems mother would give me something to do and I would try real hard to do it right and then she would say to me "Why can't you ever do anything right.?" That would just make me more determined to try harder to do it better the next time. But it seemed to me I always came up a loser because again she would say Why can't you ever do anythging right. or "you're too slow." ONe day this summer I was hanging wet clothes on the line and I had taken a load to the clothes line and hung them up and came back, and Mother said, "Rose, have you got that done already? My you're fast." I will never forget that day Mother actually bragged on me. I guesss that's why I have always tried to be respectful and encouraging to little children because that meant more to me than winning a Medal.
ONe day while cooking dinner Mother called from the back door "Rose fix some lettuce for dinner. I went to the garden and cut some lettuce then I got some water and proceeded to start washing it. I really had not had any lesson in how to do that yet and so I was taking the lettuce leaves one at a time and washing them. Gotta do this right maybe Mom will brag on me again I thought. But it was taking way too long. Mother kept sticking her head out the back door and calling where is the lettuce? We're ready for the lettuce and the hurrier I went the behinder I got. So finally mother came out and used a whole bunch of water and soused that lettuce down in it and it was done. Then I knew more about how to wash the lettuce. I do believe we must have moved here before school was out in the spring and then we stayed that summer and went to school in the fall of that year (of the Locust) because Junior had this thing that he did with the School Bus Schedule. He told me one day " Now Rose watch that shadow on the wall When it gets right there (to a certain place he pointed out to Noah and Me) the school bus will be coming over the hill. So sure enough we would watch the shadow and everytime it got to a certain mark on the wall we would here the siren of the school bus. I guess you could say we had our own Sun-Dial.
Sometime after the Reunion, which was on the Fourth of July, and the fireworks, while Raymond was still a very small Baby we went to visit Grandma and there were many people there from Mother's family and cousins from that side of the family, so many that Mother and my two younger brothers had to sleep up stairs. I was sleeping with some cousins in the north-side bedroom down stairs and doing very well I would say until a very loud "BOOM" shook us all awake. My immediate thoughts were more fireworks and I got a mental picture of a big hole in the ceiling over my head. That did not happen the hole in ceiling where I slept, It was just the power with which it struck that made me think that's what happened.
Grandma got up and lit some lamps and everyone else got up there was quite a stir in the household. We knew instinctively that something big had happened. When Grandma opened the stairway door to check on my mother She was carefully making her way down the stairs amidst a mass of broken glass and debri with the Baby in one arm and holding on to my brother Noah with the other hand. When morning came we found out there was a big hole in the west side of the house up stairs the window and the wall had blown out. No one even realized until later that my five year old brother had come down the stairs stark naked. Not even he. We were all so happy that no one got hurt.
During one visit to Grandma's house that summer Uncle Ted had the mumps. It was summer and my parents had set me up with a bedroom down stairs at our house when one morning I awoke in great pain I started to get up as usual but every time I moved my head there was searing pain behind my Jaw. I started to scream for Momma and when she came to me her comment was, "Oh my Rose you have the Mumps." So Mother and Dad were very concerned about me and they instisted I eat what we then called "light Bread" in stead of corn bread or biscuits and very soft foods. There were times when Pop seemed to revel in taking care of his little girl. Since Mumps were contagious I probably got them from Uncle Ted's mumps while visiting at Grandma's.
Rosemary's Songs
Turn Your Radio Onwith Mark and Jeff Brown
Wait a Little Longer, Please Jesus with The Brown family
Throw out the Lifeline with Rose Brown
Start here: Grandma's House
Mama's handsYes, Maam! Remembering how my grandma kept her house
We decided to have church in the kitchen
Uncle Lacy (and my brother, June, too)
Gladys:
Safe in the arms of Jesus
The little errand girl, part 1