Browning chief., 1945-01-26

uboAb III" 1uSC ~ WdS IL l1A0 SoAAy
days. No chinch bugs, no cutworms,
no corn borers. no black rust, no
Russian thistles. But it was differ
ent about the grasshoppers. They
almost got him, once. He would
drop his voice when he spoke Of that
year; and SO vivid and personal did
he make it that it always seemed
worse than the Battle of Chicka-
mauga. He still had his "catridge"
belt, as he called it. And he talked
about having had his army rifle,
but have no memory Of ever hav-
ing seen it. expect, when I came
along, he gave it away, for he was
always afraid his child was going to
be hurt.
The next thing was to start an
orchard going, SO they got apple
seeds, and currant cuttings and
put them in the ground, for not one
edible thing was then growing on
that land.
The next was to get place for
the work stock, so they hauled in
poles and made a jack oak barn lot
fence. There the horses could ex-
ercise and the oxen roam around.
The first living annual to 60 into
the ground, in addition to the Or
chard and "low bushes" was Usage
orange. This was designed to be
used as fence; "hedge fences"
they were called, for no one at that
time knew they were called Dosage
~ Ir,cf haI1a IL,
STUFF, too. After time, when the
farmers could obtain posts, they
wanted to get rid of the hedge, for
it sapped ten feet of corn, and
barbed wire was all the style. The
hedge must be cut in August and
its roots fed salt. There's no hot
ter work in the world than grubbing
hedge roots along a cornfeld in Au-
gust. Don't try it.
Once month my father and moth
er would get into the wagon and 60
to Maryville, the county seat. It
was six miles, but shorter than now
because there were so few fences.
They'd have to. hurry with their trad
ing and get home, because there was
the stock
Grandfather Croy came and built
a house half a mile away. Then
! Uncle Jim came and Uncle Al and
Uncle Dexter and Uncle Purl. It
wasn't long until the Croys we're as
thick as johnson grass. The Sew
ellis stayed down on the other side
OF the county, twelve miles away. It
was tremendous distance. The
Croys hardly ever heard from them.
Neighbors began to filter in. Some
from Indiana and some from Illi-
nois. A few from Kentucky and Ten
nessee. These'd bear watching.
| Rebels.
My mother used to tell me about
corn shucking in those early days.
| My father had no shucking gloves,
for cotton flannel was too expensive,
SO he had to pick bare handed. The
shucks cut and lashed his hands.
| During the afternoon my mother
would bring out some corn bread
and an apple. Then she would work
along with him until time to go in
and begin on the housework again.
When the wagon bed was filled, Pa
would come in and scoop out the
corn, do the chores, and eat sup
per. After supper my mother would
pour melted candle tallow into the
cracks and cuts in his hands. She
always spoke of this with kind of
horror. "It made him moan in his
Sleep"
More people moved in and some
fool suggested roads. The "old set
tiers" such as they were already
being called, fought it tooth and toe,
but had to give in; so it was not
long until nobody went to town
over a trail. 1t took Pa years to
get used to the idea. Mother was
more progressive and took it in her
stride.
But when they sold a load of
steers and had to take them to
town to ship, it was all right to drive
them across the country straight for
their target. 1t was all right, too, to
run ahead and pull down a barbed-
wire fence SO the steers could cross,
like the children at the Red Sea.
After the steers were past, the fence
had to be nailed up again. A man
who didn't properly nail up fence
was considered pretty low. One
notch lower and he'd poison dogs.
It was not long until somebody
suggested there ought to be school.
So the farmers met and talked it
over. Mr.. Knabb said he would give
an acre of land if they would name
the school for him.
The farmers hauled out the lum-
ber and dug the corner holes and It
was not long before there was an
institution of learning on Mr..
Knabb's land. The next year it
was painted, and there the school
house still stands.
The exhausting labor Father was
sinking into the farm began to pay
dividends. The orchard was COM
ing up, hens were busting themselves
under the gooseberry bushes, and
Mother was thinking of getting gum
/ mi