My Childhood and Youth
Growing up in the country
This was my boyhood home. I loved living there. At the time I wasn't aware of how blessed I was. Our family was not rich, but I don't consider us poor at that time. My father was always able to find work, whether as a carpenter, a mechanic, or as a baker. But we always had time for church and family. Back of our house was a garden plot where we grew our vegetables. On the right side of the house was a fenced in pen where my brother Charles and my father built a barn out of logs. There were stalls for the young calves and places for the cattle to graze. Inside the barn was a "corn crib" where we usually stored the potatoes we grew. Behind our house there was a chicken coop and room for the chickens to roam. In front of the chicken house was a two room structure where my mother stored the vegetables and fruit that she canned. Later my father used to back room as a smokehouse. One summer my sisters Dee and Gerry arranged a "shower" constructed of a tin can with holes in the bottom. Since the sun was bright and shone directly down there, leaving a bucket of water for an hour or so would make it warm enough to bathe in. If you needed it, someone would take the water and pour it into the can so you had a few moments to lather before the next part was poured into the can so you could rinse. Very clever as I remember it.
I often went hunting and fishing with my brother and my father, learned to shoot a gun, how to dress the squirrels we killed and clean the fish we caught. There were places to swim, and I eventually learned to swim. One of our favorite places to swim and fish was place on Lewis Creek, about 2 miles from the back of our house. It was often overgrown, so we had to make our way through weeds and bushes, but arriving there was to a young boy breathtaking. At the place we called "Corner Hole" the creek actually made a direct turn to the right, as if it had been constructed. At that point, the bank was high above the water, but there was a path farther down where we could walk down to the water, Usually the creek was not running at that time so part of the bed was dry. We would camp on the other side of the creek where we would have lunch or whatever we brought to eat and drink.
The creek was very deep at the "Corner" and since I was too young for my feet to touch the bottom there I usually stayed in the shallow parts. But one day I decided to cross over the creek at a place which was narrower, and in my thinking. a very easy place to cross. Immediately I was totally submerged, fighting for my life. Then I felt someone pulling me up by my hair. It was my sister Dee, who was providentially standing near enough to pull me out of the water. I would not be the last time she would save me from drowning. My grandmother Lites lived across the road, and back of the pasture was a pond where we frequently went to swim. Foolishly, I ventured into deep waters and went under again, and again there was Dee to pull me up again. Did I mention that Dee and I had a close relationship? Not only were we close in age,, but we spent much time together. From the time I was born, it seemed that she was a best friend to me. She would read to me (which it is written that I loved it) and in the spring we would go into the woods to pick violets, which grew wild under the pine and oak trees.