WEEKENDS AT STURGIS

by

Billy Whitehead

During the summers of 1954-1959 I spent many weeks at my grandparents out from Sturgis Mississippi. There I would play with Charles and Cotton. Many times the first things to do were to walk to Uncle Punk’s to see what was going on there. Sometimes Paul Henry would be there so we knew that he would join us sometimes. Then maybe David, Dewayne and Jimmy Dale might be there for part of the summer. Paul and David were younger than us but the more the merrier.

Then we would stop by the barn to go into the hayloft. There we would place hay-bales around to make tunnels. Over the week we would have tunnels all over the hayloft.

One week I got to see how these bales were made. I do not know who the bailer belonged to but all grandpas’ mill workers were there to lend a hand to baling the hay.

The hay was cut earlier in the week. It lay there for a few days then the hay rake was brought to gather the hay in bunch-piles. The baler was pulled to the pile of hay where men were ready to fork the hay into the hopper. A large square ram pushed the loose hay into the baler. Whatever took place inside that baler; I did not know but at the back, square bales of hay came out, falling to the ground. A flatbed truck came along and the bales were loaded onto the truck. When the truck was loaded it was driven to the barn. The hayloft was above the stalls where the mules were kept and fed. I think there was a stall for milk cows on the other side.

At the ends of the loft was an opening with a door. This door was opened. There was a pulley over the opening. Sometimes there was a rope in the roller which was used to pull hay bales up but this time Uncle JW just stood on the hay and threw it to the opening. Someone inside the loft stacked the bails along the walls until that half of the loft was full. After it was full the other door was opened and hay was put in from there. In the end the hayloft was completely full. Maybe some hay was put in one of the stables but I do not remember that.

Then there were trips to the woods. We would go all over the woods visiting the pool for a swim. There was a section of pine saplings which we would climb. Near the top the sapling would lean over. From there we would move to the next sapling. By doing this we moved over the area without getting to the ground. Sometimes we took the wagon to the pool. We would roll it into the pool and dive from it. When JW fussed at us for having the wagon in the water, Cotton told him that all he was doing was swelling the tires. JW told him that it seems he was swelling the tires a lot lately.

One day we made our trip to the hayloft, to the pool to the trees then walked along an old wood road to Uncle Punk’s house. However this one time Charles jumped over something. He yelled, “Watch out, Spreading ‘Outer’.” I now know that this was a spreading Adder! This road was not very wide but to me it looked like this snake spread completely over the road. It scared me to no end! We looked for it so we could kill it but it hidden in the leaves.

When it was raining we would play in the house until we were told to get outside. We played on the porch for a while but then went to the old garage. In there was an old International pickup truck. It would not run but we drove many miles in that old truck. Sometimes we would take turned behind the steering wheel and talk. “We are not going 100 miles per hour!” “This road is really muddy.” “We are now stuck, you get out and push.” I think that old truck had more miles on it parked than it did while running!

There were several boys. Charles was the youngest, and then there was William who we called Cotton, Sam, and Harold who was called Tarp, JW, and Buddy. Tarp JW and Buddy were married and Sam was old enough to have other things to do such as looking for girls. One Saturday Grandpa was gone and told everyone not to go anywhere in his truck. Saturday morning he ask who took his truck out. No-one knew. As it turned out he knew who had because he saw the tracks but more because he had marked the dirt where the tires were. Saturday morning he saw that the tire marks were not where they should be! He was slicker than the boys thought!

I was not there when this happened but Sam said it happened.

Sam wanted a car so he found two Ford Sedans of the same mode. One had a good engine but the body wasn’t much. Sam changed the engine over. While at it he drained the transmission oil, which came out in globs! He changed the oil and drove the car. The transmission made so much noise that he swapped to the other one. Sam decided to sell whatever he could. He sold the old body rather quickly. He put the engine in the paper for $25.00 with no calls. Grandpa told him that his price was too cheap and all figured it was no good. Grandpa finally convinced him to put $200 on it and he got three calls the next week!

One time I was there it was time to clean the cistern. A cistern is a large tank in the ground which holds water. This one was lined with brick. There were metal troughs running from the tin roof of the house into the cistern.

To clean it all the water must be drawn out. Then someone had to go inside and dip the remaining water out. Then with a stiff brush, every inch was scrubbed. After scrubbing, water was lowered into the tank in a five gallon bucket where it was splashed onto the walls. All this water was then dipped out. After a thorough cleaning then a wash-down with bleach, a tanker truck loaded with water brought from Sturgis was piped into the tank until full. After several weeks, one of the boys caught a catfish and put it into the cistern to keep mosquito larva out. Someone checked to make sure the catfish was still there every day because it was tempting for some boys to catch it when the fish had grown bigger!

During winter around Christmas holidays I would spend a few days there, mostly for a week or so. We would make the same routine as in summer except for swimming in the pool and sometimes even that was tempting! Sometimes a truck tire was fun to roll. Then there was times when we would roll the tire to the top of the hill, someone would get inside and someone started rolling the tire with the passenger down the hill. Generally he could see where he was and when close to the house he would lean to make the tire roll off the road to a stop. Once Sam was inside. He started rolling downhill but wanted to see how far he could co. He rolled past the house driveway on toward the bottom which was about ½ mile; except that he did not see the car he was headed toward or maybe he just could not stop or turn. The car stopped and Sam ran right into the car. I do not think there was any damage to the tire or the car but Sam was some skinned up.

In the cold winter the fireplace was going all day. At night the fire would die down or maybe go completely out. One of the boys was assigned to have the fire burning when grandpa got up. If he was knowing, he would build the fire late at night with a big backlog so that the fire would be easier to start the next morning. A bucket of coal oil with some pine kindling in the oil was set by the fireplace. About five in the morning he would get out of bed onto the cold floor and run to the fireplace to throw wood into the fireplace then pour some oil onto the wood and light it. He would then run back to bed. Once Cotton forgot to set his clock to get the fire going the next morning. When grandpa got up and the fire was not burning, needless to say, Cotton did not forget then next time!

On Saturday night it was rummy night. A large table was set up in the front room. About 6:00 people would arrive. Most of the time there was Grandpa and Grandma Ford who were Grandma Kent’s parents, Uncle Punk and Aunt Willie, and sometimes Uncle JW and Aunt Nell. With the Emerson Electric radio set in the window it was tuned to the Louisiana Hayride. After it went off the radio was changed to a Nashville station to listen to the Grand Ole Opera. As the grownups played rummy we kids would listen to Hank Snow, Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline and others sing and play instruments to tunes we knew. Then we would laugh at String Bean’s joking.

Sometimes the card game was more fun to listen to. As they played, grandma would get excited arguing who had won the hand. Or she would try to convince others that it was she who should have won the hand. The card games would wind down around 9:00 or so. All would leave for home and the adults would go to bed. We younger ones would turn the TV on to see what was to watch. Most of the time we just curled up in a big chair and talked about what we had done that day and planned what we would do the next day.

Things were simpler for a kid in 1960’s. We knew our limits and we knew the results of disobedience. If we did wrong, knowing it was wrong, there was a belt as payment. No questions asked. With all us boys I remember not one time that we got other than a scolding not to do that again. If we were told not to go there, we did not go there!

Grandpa Kent died in 1960. The house was sold and grandma moved into a smaller house across from her brother just up the road from the home place. She died in 1870 at the age of 69. Both are buried at Antioch Cemetery in Winston County, Mississippi.

Ben Ervin Kent Timber Man

by

Billy Whitehead

Ben Ervin Kent was born Birdie Ervin Kent. He hated the name Birdie and never used it. Instead he took the name Ben Ervin. He was born January 26, 1903 to John Kent and Mary Dawkins Kent. He married Christine Beatrice Ford born September 23, 1923, daughter of Thomas and Mary Alice Ford.

To my knowledge, Grand paw Ervin Kent was always a logger and sawmill operator. His mill was one which he moved from site to site. There was the Case engine sitting on a stack of crossties. A wide belt ran from the engine to the saw shaft. This saw shaft was about 12 to 14 feet long. On the end was a saw blade of about five or six feet. About midway there was another belt which ran the carriage pulley. The carriage was at the end and ran by the saw. It was set on a set of rails. The log was rolled onto the carriage. A large hook was dropped to pin the log to the carriage. A gauge was on the carriage to set the size lumber to be sawn. A cable system pulled the carriage both ways. One way pulled the log into the saw and also pulled it back for another cut.

Most of the time Grandpa Kent ran the saw and Mr. Albert Perrigen was the carriage operator. If grandpa was not there his older son Ervin who we called Uncle Punk, ran the saw. I never remember Mr. Perrigen not being there to run the carriage.

When the lumber was sawn it fell on to table and was slid over to the edger ran by Mr. Joe Starnes. When the lumber came out of the edger it went to Henry to be slid down a rail to the proper pile. Each pile was for a width or length. The mater trimmed from lumber had bark on one side or it was damaged and unfit for lumber. This material must be hand carried to the burning pile. I worked at the sawmill one summer. I did several jobs one which was to carry cut-off to the burn-pile. That was one hot job! The cut-off had to be piled tight so that it did not burn so hot. At night it would burn down. There was a tin wall all around it to prevent fire spreading into the timber.

The timber crew cut the trees down then rimmed them and cut to length. This was a dangerous job as well as a hot job. They had Poulan or McCulloch chain saws. In the heat of summer it was not unusual for one to fall out of heat.

Uncle Punk was the timber man. His job was to take a wagon and mule into the woods to bring the logs to the mill. He would drive the mule team and wagon into the timber road to the logging site. There he would hitch one mule to pull the logs out of the woods to the wagon. I went with him one time. He took the mule to one pile, hitched the pulling chin to the log and said, git-up. The mule pulled the log to the wagon and stopped in the right place. After pulling a bunch of loge and no more could be pulled into place, he set a wood rail up on the side of the wagon. With chains the mules pulled the logs onto the wagon. When these were loaded, he moved to another log pile. The pulling was repeated then the logs were loaded. When the wagon was loaded he headed out to the mill, however on this road there was a hill which the mules could not hold the wagon back from running away. To prevent runaway, uncle punk made a cripple pole by putting a pole of about 4-5 inches and six or eight feet long under the back axel. The end under the wagon load of logs was chained up to lift the wagon weight putting the weight to the end on the ground. He now headed down the hill. At the bottom the pole was removed and the trip to the mill was on again.
Sometimes the logs were large enough that only one or two logs could be carried at the time. Later grandpa bought a Taylor Big Red Loader. This loader had a set of arms on one side. A set of cables with a break dropped to the ground. Using peavey hooks the log was rolled on to the lifting arms. A peavey hook looks like a baseball bat with a hinged hook on one side. After the log was on the lifts the break was applied. The arm would then be lifted over the side falling onto the truck. When loaded the truck was driven to the mill. At the mill the securing hitch was loosed and the logs would fall off the wagon or truck on to a set of log rails ending at the carriage. Usually Robert, who we called Cotton, and Sam were the ones who kept the logs rolled close to the carriage end. When the carriage was in place for another log the log was rolled onto the carriage. It was turned to the best place for cutting. The small end was set for the least waste. When the first cut was made making a flat place the log was turned so the flat was down. At that time another cut was made. The log was then turned so a flat was on the backside as well as down. Now the log was cut for lumber.

When there was a trailer load of lumber a log trailer was brought to the mill. This was usually early in the morning so everyone could load the truck by hand. As the truck left all others went to their job. He sold his logs to Sturgis Lumber Company or to Fair Lumber Company.
Ben Kent was known to be very good at estimating. Both lumber companies hired him to estimate timber for them. He as also known as an honest man. Once a man made him an offer to sell his timber for $10,000. Grandpa said that he went to look it over. As he drove up to the timber he knew there was more than $10,000 worth of timber there. After cutting it he said that he made much more than he expected so he gave the man another $5,000.

One of his workers, Henry, broke his leg while working. Grandpa took care of Henry until he was able to return to work. I remember one time he stopped at Henry’s house to pay him as if he had worked all week. He asked if he needed any groceries or anything else.

Ben Ervin Kent was a hard working family man. He expected his boys and girls to work hard also. He died on August 2, 1960 and is buried at Antioch Cemetery in Winston County Mississippi.

Peas Beans and Other Goodies

by

Billy Whitehead

Dad always had a garden. He often said that he could not stand to look out and not have something growing. When we moved back from Indianapolis in 1953, we moved into a house on North Street. Just up from the house was plenty room for a garden.
Dad knew Tex Sergeant and knew that Tex had a mule and plow. One Saturday he went to check with Tex about borrowing the mule. Of course he came home with the mule and plow. By Saturday evening he had the ground broken for a garden. By Sunday evening we were planting the garden. He had purchased tomato seed earlier and started young plants in a tub so he then set tomatoes.

Later that summer the young plants were up, as well as grass. We older kids then learned that the grass could be removed. We also learned who was going to remove it with a hoe. As the beans and peas grew dad said that we were going to cut some bean sticks. With an ax and some string we headed off down a country road stopping close to some young saplings. Dad cut every sapling of about 1 inch, trimming all the limbs. It was Willie and my job to get those sticks to the car trunk. After he had cut about 100 sticks he tied them down then tied the trunk lid and headed home.

Somehow dad had some galvanized wire which he tied from several post along the bean rows. To this wire he put a stick from the bean and pea plant then tied the stick to the wire. As the plants grew he would tie the vine. By late summer there were bean and pea plants over six feet high.

The next summer there were to gardens, one up from the house and another down from the house. A couple years later there was another spot behind house.

Across the ditch was Mr. Will McGee who worked for the Mississippi State Highway Department. Mr. Will had a garden much like dad’s except that he grew Cushaws. Mr. Will explained that the cushaw was much like a sweet potato except that it grew on top of the ground rather than under the ground. We learned to love cushaw and know what? It was like sweet potato, which we loved!

When the garden was ready for picking we had peas, beans, corn, eggplants, okra and all other good vegetables to eat. We ate well too!

Then there was canning to do. Much of the garden was canned in quart jars. Mom and dad would put peas and beans in a large hallway then when school was out we had to get out lessons done then shell peas and beans. Mom would wash then fill the jars. The jars were then placed in a large pot which we learned was a pressure cooker. It sat on the stove to cook. When it was heated the steam would start whistling. After a time it the stove was turned off to cool. When the jars were cooled enough they were removed to the table to finish cooling. New jars were placed in the cooker and the process was repeated. This was a lot of work but we learned that come winter when no garden was growing, we had great food to eat and us country chillen loved to eat!

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When late fall came around dad cleaned out the early garden and made ready for a fall garden. In it there would be turnip greens, collard greens and cabbage as well as late beans and peas. These peas and beans were called bush beans with no sticks.
Dad loved to give the neighbors a mess of vegetables from time to time.

One time we were gone to Sturgis to visit overnight. When we returned Sunday morning there on the kitchen table was two large grocery bags of turnip greens.

Oh, you wonder how they got into the house. They got in through the door! In those days it was not unusual to leave a door closed but not locked. Many times no-one even had a key to unlock the door if it were locked. Later, if we were going to be gone overnight we would lock the door. Once mom closed the door and realized that the key was in the lock, inside the house. How was she going to get the door open? She checked all the other doors, but they were all locked. I had read a comic book where the star got the key. I took a newspaper, slid it under the door then, with a pencil, I pushed the key out of the lock! I was a proud boy now.

For meat dad had a pig growing for the fall but his main resource was fish and other game. Rabbit, squirrel and deer were common fare for the Whitehead table.

For milk he kept a cow behind the house where Mr. Paul Graham and a lot which he allowed dad to use. There was a shed he could use to store milking feed. Later, I learned how to milk the cow. In a bucket we put warmed water and carried it to the milk lot. We would wash the udder with the warmed water. With a process I massaged the teat to get the milk to come. I did not care for milking the cow because she always slapped me in the face with her tail.

When the coffee plant closed in 1958 dad had to sell his cow so that we could move to Sturgis where he worked for Grandpa Kent in the saw mill. We lived in a house off the Sturgis Maben Road. There was running water, outside. Dad made a crude shower by building a small room about 5X5. He then fastened a garden hose over the top. It worked well even though it was cold water, even more cold in winter but we had it to do. The water came from a spring about 200 feet behind he house in which a pump was placed.

We did not have a refrigerator at this house. Instead, there was an icebox. An icebox has no electricity to keep it cool. At the top there was a box in which a 20 or 30 pound block of ice was kept. Once a week the ice man would come by so Mom would buy ice. The man would put it in the icebox. If the ice melted before he came by dad would go to the ice plant and buy more ice.

Dad loved to kid mom’s younger sister. One day he came in from work. Seeing Bay Doll he walked by her, grabbed her and kissed her right in the mouth and ran out the back door. Only she was right behind him, with a mayonnaise jar which she threw. She hit him square in the head. The jar broke cutting him in the scalp. She cried saying that she did not mean to hurt him but she was mad at him for kissing her. I think it took several stitches to sew his scalp.

One week Clyde, dad’s /12 brother was there. Mom’s brother, Sam, was over playing cards. They played cards until 11:00 or so when Sam decided to walk home which was about 1 ½ mile down the gravel road. Clyde and Dad knew that Sam had to walk to the “Y” then turn toward his home. They ran through the woods where they hung a white sheet with a lantern inside on a limb. Dad had a wooden keg with a deer hide stretched over it making a drum he called a “dumb bull.” With a cotton string set in the hide. When he pulled the string it sounded like a bull. As they pulled the string Sam heard the bellowing of the bull. However he was confused with the white thing there shining. He realized that someone was messing with him. He tried to sic his dog, Pluto, but Pluto was afraid too! Soon he walked into the field and around Mr. White’s house. Back on the road, he promised to be back with his shotgun. Later, Sam found who had tricked him. He said “I knew it was yall all the time.”

Dad worked for Grandpa Kent until fall when he found work at B&W Boiler Works in West Point. We then moved back to the same house. He first time we lived there, we lived on the west side of the two apartment house. This time we lived on the east side. Mr. Butler lived in the west side now. Dad still used the garden spot.

Over the years we moved back and forth to that house five times. We finally wound up with the whole house.

Being some older now I would use the yard mower. After mowing our grass I would go to Miss Betty Holman to mow her grass. She had a little grass but had Magnolia trees in front. After mowing the grass I had to rake the magnolia leaves to the street. This mower was not one with a motor. It is a rotary reel type mower. When it was pushed the reel would spin. As one pushed the mower over the grass the rotor would clip the grass.

Later Miss Betty told me that we could pick up pecans on halves. That fall we were there picking up pecans. After the dividing we had a burlap feed sack full of pecans which we would shell the following winter. Many we would eat as we shelled but some were set aside for cooking treats such as a pecan pie!

Come winter when no garden was growing, pecans were all gone from the trees and it was cold outside we would be inside. Sometimes we would watch TV, which was a new thing for us. On Friday nights the TV was off. The old Mallard radio was turned to the Grand Ole Opera. Sometimes one of mom’s brothers would show up to play cards while listening to the Opera. If it was dry weather we might have to pour water on the grounded end of the antenna wire.

At other times we would drive to Sturgis on Saturday morning. I loved to go to Grandma and Grandpa Kent’s. There I would romp about with Charles and Cotton. We would go to the barn where they kept Pall Mall cigarettes and Days Work Chewing tobacco. They seemed to love it so I tried it. I then never saw how they liked its so much. One time they showed me a whirl-a-jig. Someone had sawed a tree of about 8 inches off about three feet high. Into that there was a large bolt or nail. On the bolt they then balanced the rest of the tree without the limbs. Someone got onto the ends of the pole. You rode it round and round like a merry go round. The problem came when the guy on one end jumped off. The remaining one had a rough but short ride to the ground! !

Grandma Kent dipped snuff. She kept two or three bottles of Garrett Sniff in her bedroom. On the table she kept a small can of Tube Rose. When visitors came around she would sit the Tube Rose out. If they wanted a dip, yep, they got Tube Rose. She would let only Granny Ford use her Garrett’s.

Several times dad was laid off at the B&W plant. He went to work in the saw mill until he was called back. Later he found work at the American Bosch plant in Columbus. He and mom worked there for about 12 years being laid off several times. In about 1970 Mr. Will McGee helped get him on with the highway department. This job would likely not lay off as a plant did. Mom kept working for Bosch where she worked for 36 years.

Dad loved working for the highway department. He soon bought a home on Hale Street where we moved in 1961.

This house was across the street from Mrs. Jones store. The yard was rough with a big pecan tree in front. I do not remember that tree having one pecan so it was soon cut down. To make the yard better dad would bring dirt from ditching and dump it to fill in the yard. He spent many an hour leveling the dirt until he had a nice yard.

In about 1962 he built another room bedroom and bath. There was no air conditioner in the house so he found a large fan which he put on the east end of the house. In the late evening he would turn on a sprinkler on the west end. With the fan pulling air from the east and the water sprinkler on the west end the house cooled easily.

At this house on Hale Street dad had room for a small garden so he had to find more ground. He found that ground south of the house near a stream which was also behind the garment factory. He fenced a large place in for a cow. For water he dug a place for a bath tub. This was in a small ditch which drained the steam from the garment plant. This warm water kept the cows water in winter. For summer water he had a large tub which he filled by carrying a bucket full every day as he milked the cow.

Dad gave up the milk cow when Mr. Allen Paterson decided to build more houses. The cost of milk from the grocery store was now more affordable now that he and mom were working without the fear of layoff. He now had time for his garden and hunting dogs.

Dad kept several dogs. Usually there were three or four blue ticks as well as five or six Beagles. The blue ticks were generally for deer but would run a rabbit. The beagles were for rabbit but some would run a deer.

When the girls were old enough they got jobs waiting tables at a Havey’s restaurant. Dad made a deal to remove the food scraps. Every evening he would stop by the restaurant to pick up the scraps. He would then go across the railroad to his pig pin. When the pigs heard the truck they would be waiting by the trough. Many times when he opened the top of the can there was a package wrapped on top. The cooks would have a steak or perhaps shrimp were inside.

He would raise the hogs to kill and freeze when he first cold weather came on. He had a house out back where there was a freezer. There he kept vegetables, fish and other meat he had prepared during the summer. They still canned some vegetables but not as much as before. Some vegetables were simply better when canned. Sometimes he would cook up a large pot of soup with vegetables left over. He would freeze this for later use. When he caught fish there were always some he froze. He loved to use ½ gallon milk cartons. He would pack as many fish in the carton as possible. Then he would fill the carton with water then put in the freezer. To use he set the box out, usually in the kitchen sink to thaw.

In 1967 built my house where the cow had been kept. Dad planted a garden nearby. This garden was about ¼th acre. After his heart attack he did not work his beloved garden for about a year. He finally told his doctor that he was going to work his garden. The doctor grudgingly approved however I think he knew he was going to do the garden anyhow. Dad paced himself and did well. His strength returned and he did well.

Very soon he was back at his earlier routine. Up by 4:30. feed the dogs, work the garden. After the girls were off to school he would head out for his six mile walk. Sometimes he would walk out hwy 14 to Mr. Patterson’s which was about four miles. Or he might go west to Lanky Tensely. At both places he would sit and talk for an hour or so then head back home. Likely he would work in the garden some more then off to catch a mess of fish. One day I stopped in to find dad and his brother in law, Charles Oliver. They were making pepper jelly from jalapeño peppers. They had tears in their eyes from wiping sweat off their foreheads but laughing all the time.
One day dad went to Patterson Grocery for chitterlings. He cooked up a gallon with peas and fixings.

One time, the Masonic Lodge ask him to make his Brunswick Stew, which he pronounced “Bronical Stew.”. He made 15 gallons at the time. He needed two bottles of Bull Hot sauce however Mr Patterson did not have any. He told dad that he had some Tabasco sauce. “Gimmy two bottles.” The Masonic Lodge served the Brunswick that evening but was soon out of tea. The stew was really hot !

One weekend he told neighbors that they were invited to Freddie’s place for stew. Freddie’s place was a place on the river that dad, Fred Rigdon, Buddy Auston and some others had cleared off for a small park. There was a brick barbeque pit and a large table.

Dad had all the ingredients together and was cooking early Saturday morning. All knew that his meat would be whatever he had including wild game. Peggy Patterson said she did not want any of that so dad made a smaller pot for those who did not want the game. As I remember, he had there was a quart of lima beans, peas, corn, potatoes and two or three onions. Then there was five pounds pork, a whole chicken, a couple rabbits. Then there would be five pounds of beef or deer. To that he added enough water to cover by about four inches. That would simmer for four or five hours in an open fire of pecan wood. Near the end he added two bottles of Bull Hot Sauce. To that there was an abundance of stories. Rabbits were hunted, squirrels were treed as were coon hunts talked about.

Dad was about family and friends. He always had time to idle the day away talking to friends, telling stories, talking about how this one is doing or what he was going to plant next year.