Grease on the Bacon
by Joe Stout
During the three year period in the mid 1930’s when my parents operated the old hotel in Greenfield I was just starting to school on “Happy Hill.”
The “permanents” that lived there consisted of Herman Elam, Ms Kate Roberts, and Nick Givens among others.
I remember Herman mostly from his card playing which I think was bridge. He also raised truck crop plants in hotbeds for sale.
Ms. Kate was like a grandmother to me and as I was an only child her son, Charles Moseley, was the closest thing I would ever have as an older brother. Charles was not really Ms. Kate’s son but rather the son of “Pete” Moseley who was a widower when Charles was a young boy.
Charles made tunnels for me out of cardboard boxes, soap box cars as well as many other toys that were out of the ordinary. This of course was before the days of the “wonder toys” we have now.
One that stands out the most in my memory was an “airplane swing” that he built and mounted on the big maple tree on the south side of the hotel. It had a propeller and wings and the amazing thing was it could take off and land. He had mounted a pulley on the big limb and the rope that held my “airplane swing” was run through it. This way he could pull me up for take-off and lower me for landing.
Ms. Kate was the owner/operator of The Style Shop. This was the place in Greenfield that those that could afford the hats and dresses that were out of the ordinary did their shopping. Ms. Kate made frequent trips to St. Louis buying merchandise as the seasons changed. It was located in a very narrow building just south of the Brasfield Drug Store on Front St. That building has since been torn down but The Style Shop is still in operation and is owned by Jan Coats Johnson.
Nick Givens, to a small child like me, appeared as the “Grinch that stole Christmas” or the “boogeyman” because of his gruff manner.
My breakfast usually consisted of a bowl of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and maybe a cup of hot chocolate and most of the time I would be in the kitchen with the “colored cook” (That was the politically correct term in those days).
During breakfast one morning, at the big oval boarding house table in the dining room of the hotel, I heard Mr. Nick complaining about all the grease that was on the bacon in the big platter that was served. He called out for the cook in his usual gruff manner and she came and got the platter setting it on the table next to the sink where she was washing pots and pans. She then took the dishrag and wiped the grease from the bacon and platter, then returning it to the table. The next time you are tempted to complain about food in a restaurant to an employee, just remember the grease on the bacon.
Mr. Givens was a photographer who developed his own pictures. He was constantly taking pictures of people and events in Greenfield.
In later years I learned what a kind and caring man Mr. Givens was. It seems that there were two sisters that were orphaned during those hard times that he supported anonymously. As an old bachelor he married Ms. Stella Mae Brasfield who was in a wheelchair and worked as a cashier at the Greenfield Bank. This was a wonder to the citizens of Greenfield on such a happy union. Ms. Stella Mae’s brother and his wife died tragically in a house fire and many of Mr. Nick’s pictures were in that house.
Much of the pictorial history of Greenfield was destroyed in that fire but some that he took and gave to others are still around. I have a few myself of how things were. This is Mr. Nick’s legacy.