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Yesteryear

These are three stories written by 2 wonderful Christian ladies of Tallahatchie County Mississippi, and another story about Aunt Sally's father. Folks, this is "HISTORY". It would be great if everyone in Tallahatchie County would dig up all of the old writings and put them together in a book, and best of all, send the to the MSGENWEB project to be put in the archives for preservation.

I personally knew "Aunt" Sally Brown when I was growing up. I always called her Aunt Sally, and don't know if she was an aunt or not. Maybe because Uncle Spencer's sister, Ellie, married my Uncle Henry Staten. These are things Aunt Sally wrote. Uncle Spencer her husband was a wonderful man. They both were pillars of the "Paynes Mississippi Community". Loved by everyone. If there was a project that needed to be done, it got done. Uncle Spencer and Aunt Sally saw to it. This note is by me-Helen Elizabeth Staten Arnold.
I made one of the biggest boobos I have ever made, and this was put in one of our books. Spencer Brown was Ellie Brown Statens brother. There was quite an age difference and I grew up thinking Uncle Spencer Brown was Aunt Ellies father. What a boobo. I am sure all of them would chuckle if they were living or maybe give me a good lashing.

Aunt Sally
1949-1950 Home Improvement Record:
By: Mrs. Spencer Brown
Charleston, Mississippi
Tallahatchie County
Paynes H.D. Club

1. Story of Old house
2. Story of Improved House
3. 1949- 1950 Record
I. We lost practically everything in 1920. We managed to live through the 1930-1933 depression. We started over in 1936 when we purchased a home, again. The house we moved into was in shambles. Part of the front porch was gone.
Rusty tin and rotten boards covered the house. Not one shrub or flower in the yard. Faded, dirty, smutty paper was on some of the ugly walls. Two dining room windows were walled, half way up, with tin one could put an arm through, and rat holes in the south kitchen wall. The kitchen floor was unlevel. All screens were ragged and ruined. I kept falling through steps of back porch, when I went 100 feet out across the yard to bring water in the house, with a bucket. One front step was a hewn sill, that came from under the old porch. We had coal-oil lamps for light and a smoky fireplace, and chimney where we burned wood to heat the house. There was no heat at all in the kitchen, except the cooking stove. The tenant houses were worse than ours. We had no decent fences. The barn was falling in. We had to build a barn first. It was such a nice barn, I said "lets move into the barn." But with livestock, we had to have storage room from corn, cotton seed and hay. We had to clear some land.

The farm had to be bought on the installment plan. We did some improvement on the house but before we were able to do much we had to do our part in building a large country church and a pastorium. It fell to my husband's lot to be chairman of this community need. There was no money on hand to do the building - while others warmed by January fires in frigid weather, he took his farm labor and sawed down trees for lumber to make the church. His teams dragged the logs down steep rough hillsides, so trucks could haul them to the saw mill.

We got up that winter, in the cold house at 4 o'clock. I cooked and packed lunches for the laborers, as well as my husband. Few know, even now how hard a time we had; 4 o'clock, frigid weather, and that cold kitchen! The kitchen was so cold, water could not stand over night without freezing. It had to be brought in fresh from the well across the yard before day, every morning. We had, along with our neighbors, to pay cash, all along on the buildings. We paid as we built. Had no debt hanging over the church when it was finished. Both church and pastorium were financed that way. The community cooperation, was a beautiful thing to see. All helped Methodist, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and the Church of Christ neighbors helped this Baptist work. But it was push, push, push.

Our home roof was leaking, the rusty tin on the roof kept flapping. Our house had to wait. I wasn't getting any younger. I needed modern conveniences and a comfortable home if I was ever to have them.But, God has blessed us financially every since that winter. By 1949 we had a nice farm paid for. All machinery and livestock paid for. We have a nice bunch of grade Hereford cows, about 200 to help out in farm income. Our farm has yielded good crops. But all tenant houses were in a pitiful condition. We just had to build eight new four room houses. We had to dig a new artesian well. The old tin kept getting rustier on the roof- one time at night a whole strip blew right off the top of our bedroom during a rain storm. Looked like we would never get to remodeling that house! How I wished for running water, a bathroom and modern conveniences!

II. Well, I realized that dream in 1949! We got to that house and made it completely over. The foundation is concrete entirely around the house, white asbestos shingles covered out side walls. Front porch enlarged and a new front improvement. The roof is of asphalt shingles, of a reddish color, new doors, some windows and all wood work were painted with clear varnish. Five of the rooms have hard wood floors, three are covered with rubber tile. The walls of six rooms were sealed with wood pulp plank, a material that is attractive and insulates as well. The top ceiling of rooms are of flint coat. We have hot and cold running water in kitchen and bathroom- Gas heat in every room, electricity, and this year we have a telephone. Now I can talk all I please, to my good neighbors.

My new back kitchen porch has a concrete floor, aluminum screen and the ceiling and wood work are painted, natural like the rest of my house. My front and east porch, has a concrete floor covered with asphalt tile. It is built up a piece with brick, then in both porches there are 17 brick pillars from brick work to roof. It has new aluminum screen, and has car siding for ceiling, painted natural. It contains 589 square feet floor space. We purchased three new gliders, ten steel porch chairs and two enameled steel tables for it . Pot flowers are all around it. Just a note here--I remember this beautiful porch. It was so warm and inviting, and as a nine year old I remember thinking, "Some day I am going to have a porch like this",Helen Staten Arnold.

III. We also added in 1949-1950 Bath tub commode, lavatory Linen closet, bath room scales Commode cover and rug 6 new towels 60 gal. Hot water tank 5 florescent lights 1 electric table lamp 1 set door chimes 1 Shelvador refrigerator 1 automatic Bendix washing machine 1-6 eye, 2 oven, gas cooking stove. 1 electric pump, 1 pump house, 1 septic tank, 1 gas heater for bath room, 1 gas lawn mower, 27 Venetian blinds, 1 cabinet (toil p. And paper towel), 1 cabinet over stove (matches, salt..)1 porch overhead light 15 new doors, locks and knobs, 5 screen doors, Entire porches, screened with aluminum screen, 1 fireplace mantle, 3 hearths, tiled, 1 dinner set of dishes, 1 set silver ware, 1 electric ice cream freezer, 1 hooked rug, 15 crocheted pieces, 2 chair slip covers, 1 sofa slip cover, 1 quilted bed spread, 2 pillow covers to match, 2 new pillows,1 chenille bed spread, 1 wool blanket, 1 satin covered feather comforter, 10 sheets, 12 embroidered pillow cases, 1 tray, 1 teapot, 1 book on prayer, 1 hand mirror, 1 nylon comb and brush, 2 pictures, 4 hand painted plaques, 5 cans wax, 1 kitchen mop, 1 fiber broom, 27 pot flowers, 1- cuttings, 7 new shrubs,10- pkg flower seed, 7 hanging flower pots, 56 bulbs planted, 4 Mahan pecan trees, 1 gricer 2 plastic table clothes, 2 cake pans, 1 waxer, 2 Stainers, 5 pr. Window curtains, 1 new telephone, 1 telephone stand, 6 doz. clothes pins, 1 chair upholstered, 25 PCs. Furniture painted, 21 chairs varnished, 3 plastic drapes, 1 pkg insect dust, 1 spray gun, 2 woven bed spreads, 1 rubber porch mat, 6 ash trays, 1 candy container, 1 staple machine, 1 box staples, 8 floors waxed, Yard mowed many times, Yard cleaned, 34 windows of glass Doors washed 3 times, 4 closets sealed and shelves added, 4 quilts washed- Hedges pruned, Henhouse cleaned, Chicken yard cleaned, Made a garden (589 sq feet floor space), porch waxed, 1 medicine cabinet and mirror Chroninum bath room fixtures. 1 grease tank, 1 three shelve tea cart with castors.

Home Improvements on the Farm:
New lot fence, 40 acres of pasture grass fertilized, Remodeled 8 four room tenant houses (32 rooms).
a. 8 new porches
b. new top ceilings
c. 8 houses covered on outside with com. Brick siding
d. New windows where needed and screens
e. 10 new doors
f. 10 hedges and 8 shrubs
g. New floors in each house
h. 9 tenants have cleaned yards
I. 9 tenants have made gardens
j. walls of 8 houses papered
k. 1 tenant a smoke house
l. 2 tenants, made closets for bedrooms
m. 9 tenants had houses sprayed with D.D.T.
n. All (9) have hogs, we vaccinate them.
o. 9 tenants have free pasture for livestock
p. 9 tenants given free land for gardens and truck.

(Negro) 5 tenants have lived with us 15 years each
( ") 2 tenants have lived with us 7 years each
( ") 1 tenants have lived with us 2 years each
(White) 1 tenants have lived with us 7 years each
(" ) 1 tenants have lived with us 2 years each
(" ) 3 tenants have been given 3 water pumps.
All tenants are given itemized statements at settling time and told "a mistake is never too old to correct". We furnish cash to tenants to make crops. We carry them to hospitals or give medical care when needed. We pay cash and wait till end of year for them to pay us. Most of the time they do. Sometimes we lose it.
Every year we build levees to protect crops.
Every year we buy lots of commercial fertilizer.
Every year we delint and inoculate planting cotton seed.
Every year we plant hay, corn, cotton and gardens.
Every year we hire work, pay cash for extras.
Work at least 10 months (tenants).

Some of our Community Activities '49 and '50.
10 sprays for 10 friend's funerals.
Helped to pay for shingles on outside of church.
Helped to pay for septic tank, well and pump for church.
Helped to bear church expenses.
Helped to give to nine needy families.
Helped with church building for Negro's in hills.
Helped with eight "showers".
Helped clean Poplar Spring Cemetery.
Helped with gifts to eight high school graduates
Talked to two people who later were saved.
Helped in various ways in our local H.D. Club.
The community's interest is "ours."
We want our "yearnings to be less than our earnings".
I divided flowers with people.
Gave shrubs to 7.
Gave vegetables to 8 families.
Gave eggs.
Gave milk to colored people.
Gave away 28 hens to others.
Gave away 10 fryers ever so many baby chickens (50).
This is the end of Aunt Sallies story, hope you enjoyed it. I sure did.

Here is another Yesteryear story:

MRS. Mary

I call this one Mrs. Mary-because it was written by a lovely lady name Mary. This was written by a lady in her 80's years ago. It is not known exactly when she wrote it, but probably just after WWII. Her name was Mary Harper Worley Carithers. Mr. John Ottinger sent it to me. I have typed it just as she wrote it. Some words may not be spelled like we do these days, but for an 80 year old lady, she had a lot on the ball. She did a wonderful job. Is life worth living? A question long been echoed in the negative. After you read what I have to say it will still be a wonder. In my 80 years of living I have acquired a store of knowledge, never learned of books but through experience, The hard way. I have paid for all I have gotten in this life and got nothing I did not pay for, for some things I paid an awful price, nothing free. James Russell Lowel said "Only heaven can be had for the asking". On the 24th day of June 1871 I was born in an old log house built in the early 40's. My grand parents both maternal and paternal came from Virginia. My father from Bedford County Virginia. Grandfather was named George Washington Worley, Irish decent. His wife was named Mary Elizabeth Cairns, Holland dutch. They came to Mississippi and settled in Tallahatchie County just half way between Oakland and Charleston in 1833. They moved in a covered wagon bringing cows, chicken, and children, stopping on the way to cook and sleep. They had nine children, seven of them lived to be grown. Four of the boys fought in the Civil War. Only one lived. My father Charles Thomas. Uncle John was wounded and came home and died here. Uncle James and George were killed at Gettysburg, said to be the bloodest battle of the war. The ground was so covered in blood that the sky was red. Two of the boys, Uncles Reed and Uncle Harvey did not go.
Both of fathers lived to be very old. I can remember my grandmother was 86 years old. My mothers father was named William Prince of Irish decent. His wife was Sarah Reola Harper a direct descendent of Pocahuntes, daughter of Poweto, the Indian Chief. She married John Ralph. Grandmother was very proud of her Indian family. They came from Harpers Ferry, Virgina 1833, traveled in a covered wagon too. I think she was a very remarkable woman in many ways. During the Civil War she carded and spun wool, made clothes on an old loom, made clothing for her sons in the war. She road through the yankee blockade and carried them to the places they were stationed-of course she was dressed in men's clothes and hat. My mother was Anna Frances Prince. I had one brother older and two younger than I was. When I was not two years old mother had trouble with her eyes and for a while she thought she would be blind. I was carried to live with grandma Prince who with all her family that was left went to Conway Arkansas. A small town thirty miles north of Little Rock. There I spend most of my childhood, sometimes here and sometimes there just as they saw fit to leave me. One thing I remember distinctly in 1882 the year of the big overflow of the Mississippi river. Father told grandmother to bring or send me home. I was placed in care of the conductor when I left Little Rock. The train could go no further than Madison, there I was put on a steamboat and went to Memphis. I did not know anything about the dangers so I enjoyed the trip on the big boat. The Conductor put me on the train for Oakland. I was eleven years old and thought I knew when to get off of the train. When the porter came through the train calling stations, I thought he said Oakland, when he said Courtland, so I stepped off. I saw my mistake as the train pulled out. The conductor did too. He wired back to send me on the next train that night. It was a freight train. I went into the depot and told the agent my mistake, and my name was Mary Harper Worley the daughter of Charles Worley. He told me my father went to school to him. His name was Lem Rainwater. He took me home with him and I was so pleased to play with his girls. I wanted to spend the night, but he put me on the train to Oakland. I went to school one year in Oakland and boarded at the dormitory, and roomed with Sallie Patterson and Epps Parrish, both of them have died. I also went one year in Charleston. The supertendent was a Presbyterian preacher his name was Mr. Morrison. One thing that impressed me very much was he prayed the same prayer in Chapel every morning. Now at the age of 80 I still know it. Later I went back to Conway and went to school until I was nearly seventeen, then I married. Of course my parents did not approve of such and early marriage, but consented so I come home and married John Wesley McCulloch May 3, 1888. Now that was mistake number one. We lived very happily and July 14, 1889 I had a son John Jr., who still lives. On Sept 1, 1890 his father was killed. His brother Will was running for sheriff. The whole town and county was in a terrible fight between prohibition and whiskey. Prohibition won. The result Will was defeated and John was killed instantly. Whiskey was the direct cause of his death. Whiskey had been the direct or indirect cause of all the trouble I have ever had in my entire life, no wonder I abhor the name of it, but am very patient and sorry for anyone who drinks to the extent of injury. That was my first great sorrow. I will not dwell on the days, weeks and months that I grieved and wondered what would be best. I realized how helpless I was as far as supporting myself and baby. I just trusted God. I did not wait long. I went to the President of Hendrix College for advice. He told me to get what money I could and enter College and study for a Missionary to China. But all my family objected to that, but I went on three years. That was the best thing I ever did, without the education I got at Hendrix my life would have been blanker than a stone wall. My father had secured a school for me nearer home so I could leave the boy with them. I sent him to live with them my last year in school. The training my parents gave him lasted him all these years. Before I left school I found that to get a license to teach I had to have Mississippi history and civil govenrment. I went to Iuka normal and spent the summer. That fall I took the county examination got a first grade license and began my career as County school Marm. I taught at three different places, but I cannot say that I liked it. But I decided it was not my calling-on Jan. 23, 1901 I married Thomas Edward Carithers. That was mistake number two. He was a good husband, a good father, and a wonderful step-father for John who by that time was nearly eleven years old. On December 18, 1904 we had a son, his name was Floyd, but was always called Pat. Four and one half years later we had a little girl, we named her for our mothers, Sarah Frances, but we called her Sister and she is still Sis. About this time we decided to move to Charleston and have a bakery shop and grocery store. His father had had one in Grenada when he was a child. We sold our farm and all the farming equipment and came here early in the fall of 1908 and moved in the house that Miss Cora Ladd and Mr. & Mrs. El Darby live, we lived there for 8 mo's then moved up on a hill just North of town. There we lived 14 years. Many times it was a struggle to make ends meet. The children had measles, mumps, chicken pox, etc. Tom had pneumonia following measles. In addition to losing work the Dr. bills and drug bills were enormous. During those years we had many ups and downs, mostly downs. But just as I reached the limit of human endurance the Lord always took over and things worked out right, "we know there are no errors in the great eternal plan all things work together for the good of man."
I had two good neighbors Mrs. Houston on one side and Mrs. Walter Henning on the other. Together we had thirteen children unlucky number. We had rule only concerning the children, if they did not behave, quarreled or faught they were immediately sent home to come back anytime they were willing to be good. Pat got sent home often, but sister never did. We did fairly well with the bakery both in Milltown and up on the square until it was burned. In 1922 we moved to the Lafisco Hotel and ran a small bakery and lunch room until we took over the hotel. Later when the lumber company failed it was taken by the hands of the receivers. It was a good place to make money, also a good place to spend it. The expense was heavy and by this time the children were in high school. Sister went to university at Oxford. We took Floyd to Collee in Arkansas in a car. He caught the train and got back home before John got back. Tom and I sat down and cried, it was a disappointment to us. Tom said I believer it was Banjamine Franklin who said "one man can take a horse to water but ten can't make him drink". We ran the hotel 7 years but after the lumber was all cut and the mill closed down, we went to Durant. We were there only a few months when it burned down. We knew we were only there for a short time and we had no insurance. We went from there to Marks to keep the Marion Hotel in Marks. One year later Tom got sick we took him to Memphis. The Doctor said he could never be well anymore. He wanted to come home to spend his remaining days. We rented Mrs. Brooms' house and kept roomers and boarders for nearly two years. Tom Died in 1931. Then we took the Stapp house what is now the hotel lived there until Sept. 1938. When I came to live with Sister in her new house. She had married and had only one child. After having kept house over 50 years I naturally had to change my way of living. I have never been away from Sister and now that I am old and feeble and gray no one else would have me. No one has any time or patience with old people. Of course my children will not let me want for anything. That is what is called duty a word I dont like. I have lived through the Spanish American war and world war I and have lived through world war II Still here. In 1940 Pat volunteered for the army and was placed in the medical Corps and trained at Fort Benning, Ga. for 2 years. He also volnteered for overseas duty. Was placed in the air evacuation transport sqd. Floyd went to North Africa then to Sicily and Italy where he died June 18, 1945, Waiting for a ship to come home. The day I received the telegram " I regret to inform you that your son Pat Carithers died June 18, 1945." My first thought was just give up and life for me is over but God always tells me what to do. That death cast a shadow over my life that will never be lifted. George and Prince have been dead for several years. In 1947, Mike my youngest and favorite brother died of cancer. No death ever hurt me like seeing him lie for months and suffer. Perhaps somewhere sometime we will understand. Pat has a friend J.C. Burke who came last week and brought his wife and three darling little girls. He said his visit was the love of soldier for another soldiers mother. He has another friend in La, Roy J. Mensncin. Both of them never forgot me. It gives me lots of pleasurs to be remembered by Pats' friends who were over seas in the same outfit with him. I have 3 dear little grand children Wade Jr, Joe Cariithers and Floyd Mason. Their mother is my only daughter. I have one grand daughter Pauline Davis. She is the only child of Johns'. She has a precious little boy my only great grand child. His father J.E. Davis is in Japan. I love him dearly. I am glad that I have been able to spend my last days with my children and grand children. No one has ever been better than John's wife and Wade my daughters husband. I can truthfully say in the 16 years I have known him, he has never given me an unkind word. I have tried to be good to him and his family, and I sincerely hope I deserve the kindness that all of them have shown me. I had my 80th birthday last sunday. I may be as well as one of my age should yet I never feel well. I know according to God's law I cannot be here many more. I have worked hard but to my sad regret I have not worked for the Lord as I should, all I can do is trust in his infinite love and mercy. I pray that he will still guide me all through my remaining years and at eventide give me perfect light. ***************************************************************************

Another Story by James Robert Madison Denman:

James Robert Madison Denman was Sallie Lee Denman's father, making him my great-great grandfather. He was born December 1, 1857 and died in 1940. This piece is written by James Warren Denman, who was his grandson.

"For the most part, those of us who gather every year for the annual family reunion are the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and possibly even the great-great grandchildren of James Robert Madison Denman. Yet, with the exception of his immediate children and some of the older grandchildren, very few of us know much more than the vital statistics about the man in whose honor we come together each year.

At one time or another we have all possibly heard that he was born in Montgomery County, MS and on January 12, 1857 to Daniel and Betty Holmes Denman and that early in childhood his family moved to Tallahatchie County. We know that he had four brothers and sisters- Martha, Frank, Luther, and Emma-whose descendants often join us in these reunions. We know, too, that he first married Ella Pittman about 1878, that they had one child, Mary Ella and that his wife died soon thereafter.

Subsequently, in 1883 on March 14, he and Virginia Lee Brunson were married in Charleston, MS by the Reverend Melton. There were eleven children born of this marriage- Robert, Sallie, Maggie, Lou, Walter, Jim, Joe, Annie, Glynn, Dan and Martha Virginia_______ of whom are here today along with their families.
These are some of the facts we know about JRM Denman, but it takes more than just mere facts to make us remember of know a person. So we have tried to put together some random information about JRM Denman, The man, as drawn from the recollections and reminiscences of those who know him best--his own children-which are both interesting and entertaining. Generally speaking- most of these early memories concern the Tallahatchie River and the life and home there, so that's where we'll begin:

It was around 1900 when Mr. Jimmy, as he was know to most people, first came to the river, having obtained a 160-acre lease from the Lamb-Fish Company. The area where he chose to make his home was, at that time, pretty much a wilderness. There had once been a small town called Locopolis very near where he settled, but northern gunboats had destroyed it during the Civil War. In 1900 the entire area was a lush thick growth of cane, brush, vines, weeds, and small trees and abounded in wild game such as wolves, bears panthers, and all varieties of smaller animals. All that connected the place to any sort of civilization was a steamboat landing where boats put in from time to time to leave and pick up supplies for Charleston, Oakland, and surrounding communities. A road of sorts led from the landing into Charleston. This was the land Mr. Jimmy chose to settle on, to clear, to build a home on and to raise a family on.

He had only been there about a year and was slowly getting some of it cleared when he learned that the land company was planning to sell the land. Having decided that this was the where he wanted make his home, he made up his mind and immediately went into action. Using the only means of transportation available to him at the time-his mule-he rode the twenty-five miles to Oakland where he contracted to borrow $600.00 to buy the land with. He then rode back home where he and the mule crossed the river on the ferry. Mounting the mule once again, he rode all the way to Webb and there, temporarily leaving the mule, he caught a train into Greenwood where the land company was located.

There he bought his 160 acres of land for from $4.00 to $6.00 per acre. Having made the purchase it was home again by the same laborious method of travel and one can only wonder who was happiest when the trip was over-Mr. Jimmy or the mule.

Now the proud owner of his own land, he set about making a home and a farm of it. First, he built a house-in its original form it consisted of two rooms on one side for living connected by a large hall in the middle of two shed rooms on the other side. Other rooms were added later, of course, but the time-being, this was the living quarters for his growing family.

At about the same time he also hired a Negro share-cropper to help with the clearing and farming. They build a one-room log cabin for the Negro to live in and started a shed room on the rear of this, but the Negro left so he never did get a roof built over the shed.

The log house did serve a useful purpose, though, because he later hired what was know then as a "wages hand"- Instead of actually farming some of the land himself and getting part of the profits as was the usual practice then, he simply worked for Mr. Jimmy for a fixed salary, and this wages hand slept in the extra log house. Because of the lack of space in the main house, some of the older boys were also sent to sleep in the little house at night- usually Robert, Walter, Jim and Joe.

Everybody knows what pranks growing boys can pull when no grown-ups are around to keep them out of mischief and apparently this opportunity of sleeping away from the main house was full of adventure for these boys. They've been known to laugh among themselves over the picture they must have made trudging the maybe 300 yards to the other house every night, the older boys in their much prized long pants and leather boots and Jim and Joe in their long red flannel shirts. One of the tongue-in-cheek stories they sometimes chuckle over among themselves concerns the times when Walter, too, was forced to do without his boots and don the red flannel shirt because of some mysterious trouble in keeping the boots dry. Since no explanation has ever been heard from Walter as to why the boots sometimes turned up wet we're at a loss to explain why the other boys found his problem so funny.

Apparently that trip from the main house to the little house was as full of surprises as it was mud-holes, ice or snow. Robert, as the oldest, usually led the way, carrying the lantern. A favorite trick of the older boys was to try to run off from Jim and Joe and beat them to the cabin. They really never got to far ahead because a dark night on that river with no moon showing and sound of wolves and panthers howling not too far off the path would make anybody move pretty quickly. Jim and Joe, shirt tails flapping wildly behind them, usually reached the cabin just in time to have the door slammed in their faces. They usually had to do a lot of begging, door banging and name-calling before they could get in and, the way they tell it, the closer the howls of the wolves and panthers sounded, the louder the yelling and banging got.

Once inside the fun really got under way with the tussling, scuffling and pillow-fighting before everyone was settled for the night. And, of course it was pretty dull night if Robert and the wages hand didn't slip out after the others had gone to sleep to find a possum and turn it loose in the one room. With no light in the room it must have been one wild mass of confusion with that possum running all over the floor, beds, and walls and Walter, Jim, and Joe taking to the rafters and joists until the other two decided to relent and turn the possum out.

But life on the river wasn't all fun and pranks by any means. Mr. Jimmy was a firm believer in hard work and early rising and he had the boys up and in the fields long before daylight. Usually it was a matter of having to wait until it was light enough to see the cotton they had to chop.

He was also a hard task master and everyone on the place had his or her assigned chores just as soon as they were old enough. And Mr. Jimmy didn't take it too lightly if anyone happened to forget his job. For instance, when Joe was about ten years old he had a very special job. Whenever the steamboat passed that way, usually at night, it blew for the bridge. When that whistle blew, Joe was supposed to pull all the small boats up on land to keep them from being washed away by the waves from the steamboat. At night, of course, he had to light his way from the house to the landing with a lantern.

Well, ten year olds sleep pretty hard sometimes and one night, Joe failed to hear either the steamboat whistle or Mr. Jimmy calling him to get up. Naturally, the boats were washed away. Mr. Jimmy must have used some pretty strong "measures" to make sure Joe remembered what his job was because about a week later when the steamboat whistled blew again, Joe jumped out of bed, grabbed an umbrella from the rack by the door and was probably half-way to the landing before he woke up enough to realize it was an umbrella instead of a lantern he was carrying. And he wasn't about to take a chance on letting those boats get washed away while he took time to go back for a lantern. It must have taken some doing for him to find his way to the landing and get all those boats pulled up with all the light he got from that umbrella- but he managed somehow. Mr. Jimmy's lessons made a lasting impressions. Even with a family of strong growing boys and girls working 160 acres in those days was pretty hard business and extra hard business and extra help was always needed. Mr. Jimmy solved part of this problem for a time by keeping the county prisoners. They worked out their fines by clearing land and working on the farm. By that time he had built another room. You might say Mr. Jimmy was an integrationist, before his time, because he kept all the prisoners, white and Negro together, in that room which was called the ‘cage'.

But being a hard worker and an early riser weren't Mr. Jimmy's only idiosyncrasies. He was full of them- and consistent only in his inconsistencies.

For instance: when he made up his mind to do something, he couldn't wait to start doing it. After the children were all grown and Joe lived up the road from him, he used to walk up to Joe's to get a ride into town with him. But if, for some reason, Joe wasn't ready when he got there, he couldn't stand to just sit down and wait for him, so he'd start on into town and sometimes be almost there by the time Joe caught up with him. Maybe that was why in the early twenties he bought himself a Model-T Ford so he could get where he wanted to without waiting for anyone or anything. But he never really got the hang of driving it and could never quite understand why it didn't respond to his orders the way his old mules did. Once, coming home from town, he pulled into the garage and absent-mindedly yelled "Whoa!" to stop the car. Not being as well trained as his mules, that Model- T just kept going right through the back of the garage and on down toward the river with Mr. Jimmy excitedly yelling "whoa!" at the top of his voice, over and over. Someone finally jumped on the funning board and got the message across to him that he had to mash the brakes before the blasted thing would stop.

He was nothing, if not honest, and demanded honesty from the people he dealt with, too. In later years he owned and ran a small store-or commissary as it was called then- where he sold staple goods. He sometimes operated on a credit basis, but he never forgot who owed him money, no matter how small the amount. If he were sitting on the front porch of the commissary and saw someone going by who owed him, even it was just a can of sardines, he would call out to them just to remind them that they owned a bill to him.

He hated to be in debt to anyone, himself, and was just as strict in paying what he owed as he expected other people to be about paying him. Once, when he was getting on up in age, he had a spell of sickness and was unable to get out of the bed for quite a while. While he was sick, Joe got the barber in town to come out and shave him, and without Mr. Jimmy knowing it, paid the barber himself. Well, owing that barber for the shave is probably what got Mr. Jimmy on his feet again. He worried about it so much that finally one day before he was really well enough and without telling anyone, he got up, put on his clothes, and caught the bus into town to pay for that shave. The bus ride cost 50 cents and the shave only cost 35 cents at the time. But that was the kind of man Mr. Jimmy was.

This has been a brief glance into the person of James Robert Madison Denman in an attempt to point out some of the interesting and entertaining highlights of his and his family's lives. Some of you probably have equally vivid memories of him that haven't been mentioned here. If so, we hope you will add them to this collection so that those of us who knew him only slightly or not at all, can form a better picture in our minds of exactly who and what Mr. Jimmy Denman really was."

By: James Warren Denman


Updater: This page was last updated Monday, 29-Oct-2007 18:17:05 MDT

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