Country Born and Raised

Have you ever heard the saying, “you can take the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy.” I am here to tell you that it is most certainly a fact. I was raised in the country and those were some of the best years of my life. We were poor but proud. We wore hand me down clothes but they were clean. We went bare footed in the summer because we just didn’t have money for shoes. We were given one pair of shoes a year and that was when school started. We were never made fun of by the kids we went to school with because most were just as poor as we were. The kids whose parent had more than we had; taught their children to have manners, I am not for sure if all today knew what hickory tea was. It was a branch taken from a hickory tree and used on the bottoms of the kids who didn’t want to mind. The teachers however were equipped with paddles and some teachers had holes drilled in theirs for better impact. I went to a one room school in Poe Run W. Va. that had a folding partition in the center of the building so there were two class rooms; 1st -3rd on one side 4th – 6th on the other. We also had a kitchen were hot lunches were provided for those who could afford the hot lunch. Milk came in pint glass containers. We had a cabinet that set to the left of our room next to the outside wall. On each side of the cabinet was a self that folded down and wash pans were placed there for us to wash our hands in; before we had lunch. It wasn’t too bad if you were the first to get to wash your hands, but after thirty kids washed theirs and you were on the end, the water needless to say was pretty dirty. We had a pot belly stove that set almost in the middle of out area that kept us all warm during the winter months. During the summer air was provided by raising the enormous windows in the building. At our homes we did the same thing. My parents and grandparents on each side of our family never had air conditioning in their homes they knew the importance of having shade trees around. If you ever watched the Walton’s on TV that was pretty much like it was for all of us in the fifties and sixties. We had sophisticated games we played like spin the stick, London Bridge and I spy with my little eye. Oh! We also played stick ball only we hit small rocks with broom sticks this was the boys’ favorite game. It was a treat for us to pick field corn just as soon as the silk turned brown and place it in hot coals inside the husks. After a few minutes it was taken out of coals; the husks were removed it was then buttered and served Yum! School days were also a treat. We kids knew we would get out of a lot of chores. It is funny though my wife still hands me a list of honey do this and that stuff. I rekcon you guessed; she also was born and raised in the country. Yes those were the good ole days. I will remember and treasure them always. I have lived in the city all of my adult life, but inside I will always be country.