Growing up on the River

From now on, I will tell a little about growing up in the house on the river.  We had to work on the farm like other people do but there was lots of fun also.

Saturday Nights

When Saturday night would come, we would always clean out a room for dancing.  Mommie and the other musicians would play and Kyle Jayne would call sets.  Sometimes we would dance until away up into the morning.  Sometimes we would go to the other people’s houses. 

Playing Music at Different Places

My mom’s band would be called to play at different places.  There was a school to the left as we came to the river, going down Yuma Road.  I don’t know what the school was called, but I think it is still standing.  That is where we went one night.  There were a lot of people there.  I got to dance all the time. (image)

Hick and Nancy

My brother Hick grew up to be a fine musician.  He could play anything and was a great bass singer.  My sister Nancy could dance.  She also was elected to be Miss Scott County.  She was a beautiful girl. (image)  My brother was a fine looking man (image) when he grew up too.

Queenie

Queenie was a dancer and she played the piano, which was bought when she was in high school.  She was another beauty. (image)

Our Little Dancing House

We had a little house just above the spring, just two rooms but it was just right for parties and dancing.  Since it was empty, it was easier to go over there than it was to clean out a room at the house.  A lot of people would come every Saturday night.  They came from Carter’s Valley and across the river and lots of other places.  There was a little stove in the kitchen to keep the place warm.  My dad loved to go through sets.  He was a good dancer. 

Swimming in the Summer

Then in the summer, we went swimming a lot.  About every night.  We would wait until sundown and stay as long as we wanted to.  It felt so good to get in the water after working out in the hot fields all day.  We always had Dad’s boat. (image)  The boys would turn it upside down and we would dive and get under it.  There was plenty of air to stick our heads up underneath. 

If you wanted to talk real low, the sound was loud.  You could peck two little gravels together and it sounded real loud. 

Anti-Over

The boys and girls would get together and play “Anti-Over”.  That was when one threw the ball over the house.  They would say, “anti-over!” and the one on the other side would try to catch it. 

Kingsport

Then as we got older, our Uncle Wyatt Enix (image) would load us in his car and take us all to the movies in Kingsport.  Broadstreet was a very busy place back then.  All the stores stayed open until late at night.  There was the Charles Store, Kress’s and Woolworth’s.  Also, the movie houses, The Strand, Rialto, The Gem, and others I can’t remember their names.  This was what we did on Saturday night. 

If we went to Kingsport in the afternoon, we would trot up and down the street.  We didn’t have money to spend, but we sure looked at everything.  We sure learned what to wish for. 

When I was about seventeen, my mom and I had one pair of silk hose and one winter coat to wear to town.  If she wanted to go to Kingsport, she would go in the daytime and I would go at night.  That way, we would wear the same thing.  When I was eighteen, they bought me a pretty brown coat.  It was a little bit like artificial fur, but it was flat.  They bought Nancy a cream-colored coat.  It was real nice. 

Going Out

Queenie (image) wasn’t old enough to go with us, or maybe we didn’t want to be bothered with her, I just don’t remember.  Nancy was about twelve years old at the time.  Queenie was about five.  Too little to stay out late. 

We always had friends and boy friends.  There was a bunch of boys that would come over from the Cotton Mill area. They were always real nice and we enjoyed them very much.  Then we had Buck Sword (image) and Pete Yoakley. (image1) (image2) (image3)  We would go to the movies on Saturday night and then go to Church on Sunday.

Church

We always walked to church; it was about two miles but we enjoyed the walk with our fellers and some girls.  Virgie “Hubbs" Harris, (image) she would cross the river and go with us.  We all went to a little church called Walnut Chapel.  It was just one little room and in the winter, they would set a little iron stove in the center of the room.  

Every so often, they would have a foot washing and we always went for that.  The older men and women would sit on benches.  Women on one side of the alter and men on the other.  The men would wash one foot of the other man.  Then dry with a long towel tied around their waist.  The women would do the same. 

Then sometimes, they would have a box supper.  The girls brought a box full of food for two people and let the boys bid on the box. Of course, the boys knew which box to bid on to get their girl.  There was always a lot of shouting at this church.  The congregation was just old-time country people, probably not very educated but you could tell they were very fine Christian people. 

When they heard a sermon or a song that they liked, they were not hesitant to shout “Amen!”  Some of the women would shout the house down.  Of course, we were young and not very Jesus-minded; we would sit and listen.  I think what we went for was to be with other young people.  We had our boy friends and lots of others to walk with. 

I enjoyed going to church around the twentieth of April for that is when the Sweet Williams are in bloom.  They grew all over the hill and beside the road.  They range in color from lavender to purple and they smell so good. 

Plowing Dad’s Fields

Dad had plowed the fields in front of our house.  It lay on the other side of the branch and along the road.  The fields had the harrow run over it but Dad always used a “smoother” to smooth the dirt.  He always called this a smoother, but no one else had ever heard it called that.  It was made of heavy planks, about eight or nine feet wide and about six feet long. 

Helping Dad Plow

So one day, I decided to help, for I could drive the horses and ride the smoother.  I put on my brother’s pants with the legs cut off and put on my bra.  That was back when girls were not supposed to do these things, but I did anyway.  It was fun to ride not bundled up.  I was about seventeen at the time.