This method crushed the coffee almost as well as grinding. After a meal cooked on the fire place was ready to serve, if it was dark, then one of the family held a pine torch while the rest ate, and I want to say right here, that if that torch holder was hungry their holding a torch while all the rest licked up the choicest pieces was quite an ordeal. Grandma had a little brass coal oil lamp with a little round wick, no chimney belonged to it. But coal oil was the problem, one of the problems and money was another and the stores were miles away on bad roads. William removed their meager possessions from Nicholas County to Midland City and found a 2 room log cabin for his family.
Grandma wove blankets and linsey.
Uncle Henry cut wood, kept the fire burning, went to mill and had corn ground for bread. He sang songs for us kids, danced, patted and told tales and riddles, made striped canes, and whistles from sourwood, did tricks with twine strings. Sometimes at night when the winds would howl over the little log cabin, we all would gather round the blazing fire in the old fire place and shell corn and tell riddles and sing. And this corn we were shelling was to be carried by poor Uncle Henry 4 or 5 miles next day to some far off grist mill to be ground into meal for bread. Poor Uncle Henry would dread those hard trips and carrying that corn to mill and back home.