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MISS
JENNIE AND MISS ALLIE FEED PJ
Miss
Jennie Colley & Mr. Jesse Johns on Wedding Day
August
18, 1911
I
have talked about Miss Jennie and Miss Allie in the recipes so to keep
you from wondering about these two fine ladies are I am going to tell
you
just what they meant to me as a child. Now Miss Jennie and Miss Allie
was
sisters-in-law. Miss Allie was a sister to Miss Jennie's husband. Of
course
you
know we lived in the country on a dirt, then gravel road. Now picture
this
there is crossroads, Miss Allie lived on the right in the crossroads,
go
up the hill and Miss Jennie lived on the left, then go over and down
the
next hill and we lived on the right. You have got to have that picture
in mind to appreciated this kid and her bike that I am going to tell
you
about.
I
never to this day have had a new bicycle. Mama and Daddy brought home a
used bicycle, bought at the Western Auto and of course it was a Western
Flyer but very used, when I was about 6 years old. I was scared of it
and
wouldn't even think about getting on that thing! Mama jumped on the
bicycle
and took off down the road towards Miss Jennie and Miss Allie's. Daddy
and Mama Jones was standing in the yard with me, I started squalling my
head off because I thought Mama was leaving home on that blame bicycle.
Now you got to understand why I didn't want the bicycle to start with,
it was a bribe! Mama put an ad on the swat shop and sold my baby bed!!!
I was still sleeping in that bed (6 years old and had started school).
You should have seen me when the woman came to buy my
baby
bed, I had a fit! I wanted my baby bed, but I got an iron bedstead in
Mama
Jones's room instead! I was upset! Mama came back shortly and they
tried
every way possible to get me on that bicycle, no way I wanted my baby
bed!
I slept in that new (about 100 years old at the time) bed that
night
and it wasn't too bad but I missed my baby bed. Well I guess Mamas and
Daddys and Mama Joneses are smarter than little 6 year old girls, the
next
day one of them asked me if I wanted to ride my new (old as the hills)
bicycle down to Miss Jennie and Miss Allie's but NO further. Well now,
I
thought
I was big to get to go down the road by myself so on that baby bed oh
no
bicycle (still missing it) and away I went, fell off a couple of times
but when I got to the top of the hill and looked back there stood Daddy
with his arm around Mama and Mama Jones holding Mama's hand. Over the
hill
I went.
I
stopped at Miss Jennie's first (I bett yo' Mama called her, of course
all
we had was the old timey phone that was in a wooden box with a handle
to
ring somebody and a place to talk into, our ring was a long and a
short)
and knocked on the door. Miss Jennie came to the door with a great big
smile on her face (she was Mama's brother's wife's mother) and said
come
on in, I have got a left over biscuit and piece of bacon you can have.
Well a smile came on my face then. I ate the biscuit and bacon, cold
grease
and all. I think it was the best I ever had. I thanked Miss Jennie and
was on my way to Miss Allie's, wonder if she was going to feed me
too?
Down
the hill I started to Miss Allies and had a wreck, skint my knees and
the
palms of my hands awful! I limped on to Miss Allie's and left that
bicycle
right where I went flying off it! I knocked on the door (sure she had
been
called also), took one look at me and grinned real big. I started
crying.
Miss Allie cleaned me up and asked me if I was hungry? Now what would
you
say? Of course I was hungry, I got another biscuit and a sausage this
time.
Well I stayed aliitle longer and done the right thing and thanked
her.
I
walked back to where that dang old bicycle laid in the middle of the
road,
picked it up, walked it to the top of the hill, got on it and went
home.
Mama, Daddy and Mama Jones was still in that yard waiting
on
me, but they had created a monster! I was six years old, remember?
That
day started a trend in my life that went on until I was almost grown.
Each
morning when I would start out the last thing Mama would say "Don't you
go down to Miss Jennies or Miss Allies and eat anything" (of course I
had
breakfast at home already). Well I headed straight to Miss Jennies,
had
whatever
she already had laid out for me to eat and drink. Always thanked her
and
was off to Miss Allies to see what I had there. Thanked her, got back
on
my best friend now and headed back to Miss Jennies to visit and then
back
to Miss Allies. Back and forth all day long, remember at this time, 6
years
old, I could only go to the crossroads. By the time I was 7, I could go
up to Rella's house, pass the crossroads straight to next house, well
you
guessed it, yep I added another but not on my regular schedule (she was
not as good a cook, shhhh don't tell anybody).
By
the time I turned 8 years old I was meeting my cousin Patsy Jones half
way from her house to mine, that was about 4 miles. The days of Paula
and
Patsy will come. I always got the spanking and she got nothing, except
our first day of school! Another day another story!
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