THE HOUSE
- (1) The Kitchen
Dale: So much happened in the kitchen. There was a large cook stove on the north wall. It had a water tank on one side which kept water hot all the time. Against the south wall was a table with chairs. As a small child I remember sitting on the table, looking out the window at the chicken yard, and telling my mother that I wasn't going out there because I was afraid of the guenies (sp). In the winter this was the only warm room n the house. When you got out of bed, you grabbed your clothes and ran to the kitchen to dress. Against the west was a sink with a hand pump. That was the only water in the house, and someone was always yelling at the kids to put the pump handle down (to keep it primed). In the bowl of the sink there was always a fresh bucket of water with a ladle in it which was used during the day for drinking water. You took your glass or cup over, filled the ladle with water and filled your glass. If you grabbed the ladle and drank straight from it, that was almost as bad as leaving the pump handle up. In a soap dish were two bars of soap; the gritty Lava, and a bar of Life Boy. For years when I smelled Life Boy I had an immediate mental vision of that sink and the kitchen. In the spring my grandmother kept her newly hatched chicks in a wire or wooden chicken crate to right of the stove until they were big enough to make it on their own in the chicken yard. It was a treat to come down in the morning, dress, and play with the chicks, poking your finger in the cage, and letting them peck you finger. On one occasion there was an orphaned lamb in a large box that was fed milk with a baby bottle. Casual visitors always came in the kitchen door and sat in the kitchen. There was at least one rocking chair in that end of the kitchen.
- (2) The Dining Room
Dale: In summer the dinning room was used more frequently then in the winter. In the summer I can remember eating in the dinning when the hired hands or neighbors came to make hay or thresh whet. Some of the hands I can remember were Hipsley Price and Uncle John Shannon. Hipsley Price lived in a one room cabin back on what is now Cedar Lane. He never bathed, EVER. The kids used to fight over who had to sit beside him. Uncle John Shannon, from Shepherdstown, and the only black man I remember working on the farm was relegated to the kitchen to eat. Trying to gag my dinner down sitting by Hipsley, I took my plate and joined Uncle John in the kitchen. I remember asking him why he was eating in the kitchen, and he told me he like to eat in the kitchen by himself. Years later I realized why (in the 1940s) he had to eat in the kitchen, but I imagine he was just as happy not to have to sit with Hipsley as I was. I also remember Thanksgiving and Christmas family dinners in this room, and during the war (WWII), the big pitcher of iced tea in the middle of the table. Because sugar was rationed, the tea was partially sweetened with Pepsi.
- (3) The Parlor
Dale: I was born in the front parlor, inside the small alcove off the main parlor, delivered by Dr. Glover from Martinsburg, and attended by my father. My mother, Martha Virginia MYERS MORROW, was born in the same room in 1916, 21 years prior to my birth. On the north wall, there was a large wood or coal stove used to heat the parlor in the winter time. This was only used when company was coming, otherwise, everyone sat in the kitchen. I had a black mammy, 'Aunt Hattie', who took care of me for the first two weeks. When I was sick with that first congestion after birth, she greased my feet and sat in from of the stove to "get rid of the sickness". On the day I was born
- (4) The Porch
Dale: The porch was a screened in area adjacent to the dinning room. If I remember correctly, the entrance to the kitchen was through the porch. Other then the swing I don't remember much about the swing.
- (1) Front Bedrooms
- (2) Back Rooms
- (3) Porch
Dale: The most vivid memory I have of that porch was that it was screened in, and in the summer time, since there was no inside toilet, my grandmother kept the slop jars on the porch. Slop Jars for those of you who have no recollection of such things, were used for bodily functions, so that you didn't have to travel to the outdoor john in the middle of the night. One large porcelain slop jar was white with flowers on the side, and two large handles, which we named the 'sugar bowl'.