by Jeannie Travis
My grandmother, Ma, used to keep her money in a tobacco sack pinned to her slip. One from Lane Bryant or more likely homemade out of flour sacks with built up shoulders. She went barefoot all summer She had a lot of Indian blood/Melungeon, whatever, and her hair was black as a crow’s wing when she finally remarried at about 65 years of age. Not a single gray hair that I recall.
Ma wore dresses year round, as ladies never wore slacks, or heaven forbid…jeans ! She was never seen without that long apron that she wore pinned to her dress at the bib..’Less she was going to town to do her trading. I always thought she wore her apron this way maybe because she couldn’t stand that strap hanging around her neck, but have found out since then that other folks pinned the bib of their aprons on also at around that time. The white [or for everyday or hard working, denim, ] apron came down almost to the bottom of her dress and was used to carry chips from the woodpile to the kindling box, a few spears of wild asparagus she knew just where to find in the Spring. Apples from her Golden Delicious trees when she wanted to fry a few in early summer. And it was always handy to gather the eggs from her few hens, especially if she found a nest one of the wily hens had hid out in the bushes. I’ve seen her take the baby chicks from just such a nest and drop them gently into the pouch made from that long apron, and toll the loudly complaining mother to the safety of the hen house where a few grains of corn would make her content to give up her roaming ways…
Ma read the Bible a lot, but seldom went to church as she had no way. On Sunday she cooked very little and spent the day reading the Bible. Sis and I walked over there one time to see if she would teach us to crochet. I remember she was sitting there reading the Bible. Was quite surprised that we thought she would ‘sew’ on a Sunday! Said ” Every stitch you put in with your fingers on the Sabbath you will take out with your nose! ” We weren’t sure just how that would work, but it sounded pretty painful, so we visited awhile and went home. No fun around that place on Sunday! Visiting was alright, and sometimes her friend ‘Miss’ Daisy Brasfield walked up the shady lane to sit in the swing and talk quietly of neighborhood happenings. One time Mama sent us to visit the neighbor and sent along a dozen eggs to trade for different eggs to set. That way folks could try out other kinds of chickens and it wouldn’t cost them a penny in hard money..
Quilting was a way of life, and Ma ussd paper patterns to piece her quilts. Mama didn’t do it that way, so we were fascinated. One time Ma saved all the tobacco sacks my twin Uncles used up, dyed them red and made a quilt top out of them ! I remember it was rather pretty as the tobbaco pouches unraveled and ironed were rather oblong shaped. She loved to try new or unusual things.
Another thing folks did on Sunday afternoon was talk on the old wall phone, if they were lucky enough to have one. Ma spent a lot of time talking to her friend across the field – ‘Miss’ Annie Bell Culver – They talked just about every day and I’m sure they could hear the little clicks as others on the party line picked up their receivers to listen in. Oh yes, those party lines were something else. Everyone had a distinctive ring, and when it rang everyone would listen and someone could say, ‘Hmmmm, 2 longs and 1 short Miss Annie Bell is getting a call. ‘Of course you weren’t supposed to eavesdrop on your neighbors, but lots of folks did. Sometimes there would be so many snoops on the party line that folks would just go do their business dealings in person! Jeannie T, Ma’s ‘ pet ‘