GrandMa's Dress

My Grandpa and Grandma were very young when they got married. He was 17 and she was 14. They had to lie about their age to get married. My mother was born when Grandma was barely 15. Then came my Aunt Cora followed by Uncles Perry and Bob. Aunt Hazel was the youngest and the last child they were to have. Grandma died tuberculosis at age 27 and Grandpa married again and much later in life had two more children. Not much fun for two young girls to be born to middle age parents but Carrie and Nancy didn�t seem to have any problems adjusting to life as teen-agers growing up with older parents.

Times were very hard in the mountains of Kentucky where they lived. I remember Grandma telling about one old house they lived in with rats so bad they would come through the cracks in the floor and walls. One actually got into my Aunt�s bed and bit her in the head. People today would not believe something like that could happen, but it did.

They had oil lamps for lighting, and the house was heated with coal. Often the house was so cold Grandma would just go to bed to stay warm. This was the only house they could afford. Grandpa had a job making very little money. They really had to scrimp to get by.

Grandma washed their clothes on a washboard every day to keep up with the diapers that both my Mother and her siblings had to have. There were no such luxuries at that time such as Pampers and Wipee�s. A mother was fortunate if she could afford to buy plastic or rubber pants that had snaps on them to put on her precious children. Baby�s bottoms were wiped with warm wash cloths. Many mothers made their own baby powder-using cornstarch. Times couldn�t have been any worse financially for my Grandpa and Grandma.

Grandma was so excited one day. Grandpa had made a little extra money doing some type of an odd job. He brought her home enough material to make herself a new dress. She cut the dress out and worked on that dress with her fingers all night long, until daybreak. She had used the oil lamp to see by, it still did not give sufficient light so, she used Grandpa�s Carbide Lamp he used when he went in the coalmines that gave forth a pretty good light. She was very exhausted from making that dress, but was so proud and she finally went to bed.

Grandma woke the next morning to discover that in her exhaustion, she�d hung the old carbide lamp over the back of a chair and then thoughtlessly tossed her treasured new dress over the carbide lamp and burned a hole in it. I can only imagine her discouragement and dismay as she realized how long it would be before she would actually see the money for another dress. I am sure she shed an ocean of tears.

I just thank God that Grandpa went on to be a great worker and was in high demand everywhere he went. He began to make more and more money. Grandma was blessed when they moved into town and she had more dresses than she could wear. The tailor (a truck on wheels) came to the company store and would measure you and make the dress of your dreams to your specifications and Grandma had plenty of them. Grandpa was always so proud to be able to give her all those pretty clothes. Never again did she have to hand-sew her own dress.

As I grow older, so many memories crowd my mind of those days in the mountains of Kentucky. Most are wonderful memories, however there were tragic times as well. I like to dwell on the good ones. We never realized back then that violence could exist such, as the world knows today.

It was not unusual to see people sitting on the front porch with their bluegrass instruments playing and singing, enjoying it more than they would have anything Today�s world had to offer.

So, I thank God always for my heritage. I thank Him for my Grandpa and Grandma who tried to give their children the best of everything. They didn�t always have a lot of money, but they were rich in their love.

Grandpa went on to be with the Lord in 1969 but left a wonderful heritage. Uncle Perry, Uncle Bob and Aunt Hazel are all gone on to a better place. The only living children are my mother and Aunt Cora, but they will never forget their heritage.

Grandma�s dress making will always be a part of my special memories, as will so many other events that took place in our household. Look for me for I will be by from time to time to share more of my special memories with you, so keep on looking for them.

Carrie