| Growing Up In The 30�s taken from a letter written Dec 2000 from James Bailey (my uncle) We lived in a very small one room log cabin with a loft for a sleeping room. It had a metal roof which when it rained, the sound created by the rain pounding on the roof would lull you to sound sleep. On the other hand, on frosty mornings when the sun came out in force, it would make condensation on the tin roof. Then the water would drip down on you while in bed, and needless to say, you would climb out of that bed in a hurry. Our only source of heat was a small open fireplace and an old wood burning cook stove, on which Mom did all the cooking and baking. Our food source much of the time was meager having very little in the way of meats or sweets, except in the fall months when most all the families in the community had a hog or two to butcher for meat in the long and cold winter months. In the spring time we ate a lot of wild greens Mom would pick and fix along with her great corn bread she could bake. When wild berries were bearing, we feasted on Mom�s blackberry and raspberry cobblers which were delicious. We were very poor in the 1930�s. Dad got his driver�s license revoked for driving DUI, and it was several years before he got them back, so we had no means of transportation primarily except by foot. Dad was a terror to live with in the 1930�s when he was drinking moonshine liquor, which he made and sold until several years after his brother was killed by revenue men. When sober he was a different person altogether. Mom was scared to death of him most all the time. Dad became a changed man when he got converted. I remember the very night clearly when he surrendered his will to God�s. God clearly transformed him by renewing his mind 2 Cor. 5:17. I said to myself, thank God, no more beating up on Mom, no more living in terror much of the time. Our winters were very long and hard with much snow, with drifts coming up to our waist line along the road banks. We went to school by foot to a one room school house, which was heated with a round belly cast iron coal stove, which sat in the middle of the room. One teacher taught all 6 grades. During recess time we would throw a ball upon the school house roof and catch it when it rolled back. The boys played marbles, the girls �ring around the rosie�, and just run and romp playing �tag�. My first public job was in partners with my first cousin, Howard Cliff, as janitor for the school building. Our job was to sweep and clean up, and to get to school early in winter months to build a fire in the old pot belly stove so the school would be warm when the teacher and kids got there. I think it paid $5.00 a month which we split. I had a closer relationship with Ancel than I did with Butch, though he was 9 years my elder. I was especially drawn to Ancel after he got his hand cut nearly off, knowing he was working extremely hard to support his big family, Mom, Dad and myself while I was in high school. I felt an obligation to him. We had no electricity until I was 10 years old. I�ll never forget turning on the first electric light. What a great experience that was! Beautiful light! We played a lot of marble games. As teenagers we played some pasture field baseball with the other boys in the community, especially on Sunday afternoons. We also had boxing gloves and we banged each others ears from time to time. There were no deer to hunt locally at that time, we got into that a good many years later after we were all married, etc. We roamed in the woods which surrounded us, hunting squirrels with our sling shots before gun season came in, also we did a good deal of hunting for groundhogs, which we always ate. We would get together with Julian, our next door neighbor�s son, who was the same age as Butch and we would go into the woods with a can of pork and beans, a few potatoes, onion, bacon grease, salt and skillet and fry the potatoes on a fire we kindled from dead branches and have us a feast. At the same time, if we found a yellow jackets nest, we would cut us some thick branches to use to swat the bees after we had stirred them up for battle. We got stung several times, but it was an exciting and hurting adventure. Julian�s Dad had a job with the C&O Railroad and they could afford a battery-powered radio. Many times they would invite us up to their house on Saturday nights to listen to the Grand Old Opry broadcast live from Nashville, TN. If the reception was bad, the elders would play �set back� an exciting card game. Mrs. Scheibelhood and Mom would make popcorn to eat and Herman once in awhile would bring out a bottle of wine. It must of been in the late 39�s or 40�s before we got a radio to listen to. That also, was a great experience, having our own radio. We sang and played music at these times. Julian, Butch and I made a pretty good trio singing. During the late fall months, hog butchering time, we helped our neighbor kill his hogs and cut up the meat, and we had a festive time during all of this. In the early 40�s the war broke out to the extent the USA declared war on Germany, and shortly after against Japan after the Pearl Harbour bombing my them. Butch enlisted and Ancel was drafted, but they let Ancel out because of his family and they needed men to work in the defense factories. I was still in high school. Sandy, I have a lot of �precious memories� in my mind I could write about, some good, some bad, but I�ll take them to the grave when I die. I appreciate your interest in our heritage. I�ll close for now, 02:40 a.m. May God bless you and your family in all your ways. Love, Uncle James |
 |
 |
| James Homer Bailey |
 |
|