"Back to the old homeplace"

As always, my heart does my speaking, and what you read in this column is the result. I get many of my readers coming in to talk about the things that I write about ,and so they ask questions that sort of opens my heart more, and thus the memories start flowing. One of my good friends who lived about two blocks down the street from the old homeplace, said that I really hadn't said much about the old neighborhood that we grew up in. So here we go on a memory trip that will take you back to where I lived, and we will go from room to room in that house that I lived in until 1953. In other words, you are going on a virtual memory trip. If you think while you read, you will have thought that you lived there too.

Take a walk up to Havens and Lafountain Street, and on the southwest corner, there was a white house with a picket fence all around it. The gate in the front always opened to the outside, so you had to be sure and keep it closed, because there was always people walking on the sidewalk. There was a back gate that opened both ways, and that was where most of our walking traffic was. Dad always parked his car next to that gate because he didn't have too far to walk to the house. Our property took up about one third of that whole block, because it has another big lot to the west of it. That was where most of us kids played and it also was the place where every year we had our garden.

In the side yard to the south, we had fruit trees. There was Black Cherries, Apricot, Peach, Pear and Apple there . To the west of those trees, we had a chicken coop. There was lots of chickens there, but I didn't like them and they didn't like me. I had to go out and get the eggs from the nest, and I went at that chore with trembling hands.

Right to the west of our house , there was the coal shed which was fastened right to the house. Dad made sure that there was always plenty of coal there ,so that we could keep warm and Mom could cook. It was our duty to make sure that the coal made it's way into the house, so that the heating stove always had some to throw into it when the fire got down low. Also it was our duty to remove the ashes from the bottom of the stove when it was needed. Ashes in the winter time were used out on the sidewalks so that no one would slip on the ice.

Going to the south west corner of the house we find the wood that is chopped up and stacked so that when it was needed for cooking or heating, it was not too far away to bring in. That also was the duty of us kids to make sure that the wood was chopped and ready at a moments notice. Back in the old days, you used whatever means available for warmth and cooking. As I mentioned earlier, the rest of our property was used for play and the garden that fed us in hard times. If it could be planted and if it growed, then it wound up in our bellies sooner or later. We never were hungry because we had Mom and Dad who knew how to take care of thier kids.

Ok, enough with the outside, we are going to go into the front door of that home and the first thing you see was the living room, and that was where Mom had her piano. Boy, she could sure play some great songs on that piano, and the kids from the neighborhood would gather around her as she played all the songs of that day. We always praised her for being able to play that good. We eventually find out that it was a player piano and there were different rows of slotted music in the sitting stand and that was really where most of the music was coming from. Mom knew a lot of songs on her own, and she would always grace us with them. She taught a few of us some songs, and love was always in her heart for all of us kids.

Going into the next room, there was the Florence heating stove, which kept most of the house warm except the upstairs . Right above that stove was a transom in the ceiling that allowed the heat to drift up into the bedrooms above. Off to the south of that stove was Mom and Dad's  bedroom, and to the east of that was where the girls slept. Going to the west of the heating stove we went into the kitchen, where we ate and where Mom did her wonders with food. We had our cook stove there which needed to be maintained with coal, wood, and corncobs. Corncobs were great for getting a stove's fire going and for maintaining the proper heat needed to bake with.

Leading off the kitchen to the west, there was the utility room where most of the food was kept. It was alway pretty cool in there, so you could store most of the food there so that it would not go bad. To the south of that kitchen there was the back door which led to the back porch where our icebox was kept. We always had to make sure that the iceman did not forget us, so we always watch out for him. If  he missed us, all we had to do was to go across the street to the icehouse and buy the ice and carry it home to the icebox. Man that ice was cold to carry.

Going to the east of that kitchen there was a stairway that went to the upstairs and that was where the men of this family slept. Man, it got so cold up there that when you woke up in the mornings, there was ice on the top of your blankets. Sometimes when Dad worked midnights, he would sleep up there where it was quiet. That man  did all he could to keep his family going, and he deserved being able to rest.

And so you have made a memory trip with me back to my old homeplace, and I hope you have enjoyed the trip. But I really would not be giving you the true memory without letting you know that it was a great neighborhood to grow up in, because it was where all of my childhood friends came from. There were the Hogans, and the Fowlers, and the Kirbys and the Weavers, who to this day have been my friends. There were the grocery stores operated by the Witacers, the Frenchs, the Winburns, and the Martins, who were there to take care of us when we needed food that could not be grown in our garden. And back then the word of the customer was good enough to just put it on the bill. They knew that come payday, that bill was taken care of.

That was a time when you could sit outside at either end of the house and not have to worry about someone breaking in. It was a time when you didn't have to lock your doors during the day, because all the neighbors were good people and trustworthy. People back then looked out for one another, and they helped each other.

Would you of wanted to live back them? It was and is a part of my memory of a time that will never go away. The things that we as children learned from living back then turns out to be the basis of what we cherished today. Sometimes you have to look back to see how far we have gone. The old house is not there anymore but once in a while, I take a trip down Lafountain Street from Monroe to North Streets, and I relive my boyhood all over again. Without the past, we would not have the present. Without the past and the present, we would have no future. Make the most out of what you have learned and put it to use to make those who follow us appreciate what you did.

We took a trip down my memory lane, and it sure felt good. Take a trip down your memory lane and relive those days that got you to where you are today. Remember to prayer for this old man who enjoys writing this column. Ask the Great Father to give me more time to do the job that he sent me here to do. As always, my website is there for you to enjoy and you can reach me by e-mail at [email protected]. Thanks for the memories.  Ray " Uncle Ray" Day