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If you grew up in the Great Depression, you learned to economize and appreciate value. Dad told the story of seeing a silver dollar laying in the road and it looked as big as a wagon wheel. Such it was with the Williams' brothers, Eb and Robert. A sure sign that Eb was affected by this time in the life our country, was that his name was shortened from Elbert.
Robert and Eb had a nice farm of some fifty or so acres near Athens, Texas. This area of east Texas is called the sticks by some to distinguish if from the "Big Thicket." Farmers here are "dirt poor", they have land but not much else. The Williams brothers raised corn for their stock and grew blackeyed peas and tomatoes for the market. Not unlike the farmers of the area, they used two horses to pull their plows, assorted implements and the wagon when it was time for harvest. They had a couple of cows and a small bunch of hogs.
As it was impractical to have more than one boar hog in the neighborhood, farmers would bring their sows and gilts to Robert and Eb when it was time for breeding. One way of moving the old sows to their farm was to tie a rope on one of the hind legs with a couple of half-hitches and start out down the road. A switch in hand was all that was necessary to get the show on the road, although one or two dogs would usually follow, they were observers, not participants. It was widely held that the sows and boars could smell keenly and so getting them together was no problem. There was no charge for this "service" and it was understood that this kindness would be returned in some way.
At the side of the dirt road, which some called "Williams lane," was the small white house with neat yard, gardens and assorted farm buildings. To the front stood a one car garage. It had been carefully placed so that in the event of a fire, the "car" would not be in danger. It should be remembered that never in the history of the Malakoff fire department, which was some twelve miles distant, had they succeeded in "saving" a house or barn. Widely rumored was that you called the department, if you wanted the structure to burn to the ground. Perhaps, now you can begin to understand the economy of the Williams boys. They took few chances.
It made no sense that both should have a driver's license or learn to drive, so it became Eb's responsibility to take care of the car since he was the family driver. To my knowledge, this car never was washed although it should be pointed out that water was a precious commodity which came from the well. While they had electricity and a pump, they would never have considered wasting water on the car. If it rained, that was good enough. Nevertheless, the car always looked most presentable, more than likely because it wasn't taken out of the garage except on Saturday for a trip to Athens, perhaps to Cross Roads or to the Church (But I'm getting ahead of myself.) Now if you happened to have in mind to go to Athens on Saturday, you only had to stand by the side of the road at about nine in the morning and sure as tooting, Eb would stop and offer you a ride. If you wanted a ride home; better be standing by the road side; they wouldn't come looking for you. Since they grew blackeyed peas and tomatoes for the market, the car provided a valuable service as a means of transporting bushel baskets and canvas bags of the produce to buyers in Athens. That was the only time the car went to Athens other than Saturday.
Now as will be noted, the title of this piece is Two Old Bachelors... well, that's not quite true. Hattie was Robert's wife. How this deal was struck, no one knew, but to be sure, if Robert hadn't married her, then in all probability, Eb would have, Good women and cooks are hard to find. Seldom did Hattie leave home, the exception being Sunday when she went to the Methodist Church in Cross Roads.
Here again the economy of effort was obvious. On Sunday the car was taken out of the garage for the one mile drive to Cross Roads. There, Hattie in her Sunday dress would go inside. But, Robert, who had driven her there, would sit waiting patiently for her to return after the service was over. Some might argue that this was so to avoid any sense of impropriety, but more than likely it was the brother's sense of economy; no point in having more than one hear the preacher. Hattie could surely fill them in on the details over Sunday lunch which she had prepared before starting out for Church and Robert remained at home to watch over.
In rural Texas, there wasn't a lot to do in the way of entertainment. Robert, Eb and Hattie had two weaknesses. The first was for the "Grand Ole Opree." Woe be unto you, if for some reason you got in their way on Saturday night and kept them from their program. Don't go visiting them anytime after five o'clock on that magic day, or ask them to be away from home either. Home is where the Opree was!
The other passion they had, was for the Dallas Morning News. They must have it; and early in the morning. Somehow the folks at the Dallas Morning News arranged for the newspaper to be delivered along the Athens highway at about four in the morning each and every day and it would be placed in the mailboxes along the way. At our house, Mom and Dad would get up, Mom would start the coffee and Dad would go down the hill in front of the house to get the paper. It was only a short walk of some hundred feet or so, but this was not so for the Williams. They lived almost a mile off the highway. For a while they had the paper dropped off at the place where their lane came out to the highway but someone must have discovered it and stole it or perhaps the delivery person just forgot to drop it off. Regardless, from that one time on, their paper was put in our mailbox and each day, either Robert or Eb would make the walk down to our box for their paper. They never drove and if the roads were open enough for the delivery, they would just as surely arrive for theirs. When they got their paper, they didn't stop to visit. No it was back to Hattie's breakfast and the feast of words.
The only family that Robert, Eb and Hattie had were from out of the county and they visited during the summer months. Visiting at this time was probably scheduled as much to take advantage of the overflowing garden and fields as any other reason. I am sure the nephews and nieces were brought along to see the farm that they would someday inherit. For the most part they kept their distance from the community.
This garden and home-raised meat meant that Robert and Eb didn't have a great need for money, and certainly the few pigs and calves they sold plus the peas and tomatoes met most of their requirements. However, if one was in need of a couple of extra hands, theirs were available. They built fences, cut post, and when the Government started a program for planting pine trees, they helped. The pine seedlings were delivered, wrapped in a water absorbent paper, and were taken to the field to be planted. With a short handled sharp-shooter, a slit was made into the hard clay and the plant pushed down into it, followed by a heel of the boot being used to snug the dirt around it. This was backbreaking work. They never complained.
Along came another Government program. To permit entry into Social Security at the minimum level it was decreed that if one who was sixty-five, would be eligible if they could find a past or current employer who would pay into the system a minimum amount and they then could draw benefits. So one day, they sat down with my Dad and calculated all the past days they had worked for him and he signed the necessary papers which were sent in with a check amounting to about one and one-half percent of the amount they supposedly earned. The monthly Government check was probably the most money they ever received on a monthly basis. If any three people deserved to get something from their Country, these three were it.
Today someone might accuse Robert, Eb and Hattie of being poor "country." In their defense, they spoke better English than most of the turnout of today's colleges; had a keen awareness of world events; an understanding of Nature (and if Hattie shared, Christ's teachings); believed in their country and voted in every election. Country? Naw. Poor? They would always help anyone regardless of position or actual need. They never thought of themselves as poor, they just got and gave the best that the world could offer, on the "economical" side.
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