We woke up to a really heavy frost this morning--so heavy it almost looked like a skiff of snow. We’ve also had an unnatural, patchy fog around the community as many farmers are firing their tobacco one last time to put the final finish on it before taking it down to strip it.
KINDERGARTEN HOMEWORK. In preparation for Thanksgiving Ben’s class was given a cutout of a turkey and told to decorate it and write a story about it. Ben and Vicki worked on his turkey, gluing cereal and candy on it to make it look pretty. Then Ben dictated the following story about his turkey to Vicki:
“Once there was a turkey walking in the woods. He was going to a party but he didn’t know if the boys and girls would know he was a cereal and candy turkey. Then he thought he would dress up like a ‘real’ turkey. When he got to the party the boys and girls thought he was a fake turkey. It was present time and he didn’t have a present so he showed them his cereal and candy and they laughed and laughed. The End.”
HOMEWORK DEMON. Speaking of homework I need to mention my daughter. I am beginning to think she lives for homework. All kidding aside, it is very important to her that it is done right. Occasionally she’ll ask me to check her work. It is amazing how hard third grade homework can be when your child doesn’t have an example from class to give you the context of the problem or question. This really frustrates Jenna. I must say that Vicki really shines in this area as she is always there to help Jenna or Ben when they need it.
HERBERT FOLLOWUP. I got this email from Lori after she read about Herbert last week. I thought I’d pass it along. She writes: “Herbert is still alive and well! After 21 years of marriage I’ve finally quit jumping when I find him around the house. He went trick or treating with Mac this year. With 3 boys I would say Herbert’s going to be busy for a long, long time.”
ANOTHER ANCESTOR STORY. The Mr. John stories I ran last month made me think of another old story I’ve heard over the years. This story concerns Amanda Ayres (1859-1951), my great grandmother on Dad’s side of the family. As I understand it Amanda was one of five girls. The sad part of the story is that her father wasn’t around much and the family really struggled to survive. The economic situation during the Civil War didn’t help matters. To illustrate this point, at one time they had very little food. The had a hog but Amanda’s mother, Martha, didn’t want to kill it (either it needed to raise a litter of piglets or it wasn’t cold enough to put up the meat--an important consideration in the days before refrigeration). So to put some food on the table Martha cut off the sow’s ears and fried them up.
The story goes that one day the girls were playing out in the yard when several men rode up on horseback. They asked the girls to get their mother. When Martha came to the door of the house they asked her to fix them breakfast. Looking the men over she decided it was better to comply even though she probably couldn’t afford to spare the food. After the meal was over and the men were getting up to leave she decided to venture a question: “I’d like to know who I just served breakfast to?” One of the men replied, “You have just fed Frank and Jesse James and their men.” After the men left it is said that a silver dollar was found under each plate.
Naturally, we’re not 100% sure of all of the details of this story, it happening some 150 years ago. But we do know that the James Gang did operate in the area about that time. One cave about three miles from my house is named the Jesse James Cave because it is said he used it as a hideout. And whenever we’ve met distant cousins that descended from one of Amanda’s sisters and compared notes we’ve found they’ve all been told the same tales. At any rate, it’s an interesting piece of family folklore.
Joe
POST PUBLISHING COMMENT. I talked to David Lee Thompson a couple of days after mailing this. He said he had always heard that the “Sow’‘s Ears” story happened during the Civil War. The occupying Union soldiers had stolen just about everything of value and eaten up all the food. All they had for food was corn meal and a hog hidden in the woods. When Martha decided to go to the woods and kill the hog she found it’d had a litter of pigs. She must have made a stew with this as Amanda had told David that fed them for a week. Of course, they had plenty of meat once the pigs grew a bit. David stressed to me that Aunt Helen didn’t believe this particular story was true as she doesn’t recall hearing it from Amanda. Uncle Paul does remember this story.
David also gave me some more details on the James brothers’ visit. He said this happened after the war when the food situation had improved some, and history records that the two of them (no gang at this time) robbed the bank in Russellville, Kentucky, in 1868. As Amanda recalled to David, two men came up the road on horseback and she ran in to get her mother. It was about 10:00 in the morning. When the men got to the house they said they were traveling through and asked if they would cook them some breakfast. Amanda remembers they wore long coats. In their conversation Martha asked the men who they were. She must not have been up on current events or this was before they become legendary because the names didn’t mean anything to Martha at the time. David said they did find silver dollars under their plates when clearing the table.
David went to to say that the time after the Civil War (the Reconstruction) was hard on everyone. John Swann, Amanda’s future father-in-law, had a large farm. After the soldiers stole all his livestock, harnesses, etc. he could no longer pay the property taxes on his farm and lost most of his land. David said Amanda was a really tough woman. One time she cut and shocked about seven acres of corn by herself (Uncle Paul tried to help her but he was too little to be of much help). David remembered asking Amanda how they lived through all their hardships. She corrected him saying they were challenges.
