Old country memories of a more personal nature: We used to know everyone within at least a 10 mile radius of home. We knew their names, knew their kids & knew where they lived & what kind of vehicle they drove & the closer ones we knew their dogs. Also knew the old deserted homeplaces & whose they were. We knew where we were welcome or not & where we could hunt or fish without having to sneak in. We knew all our cousins to at least 3rd removed & all our aunts & uncles. We boys knew where all the girls lived & if their fathers were home & if it was safe to go there. We attended all of the night time Church Singings, revivals, singing schools, pie suppers etc. because thats where all the other local kids were. Everyone knew me & I could usually catch a ride to town with a load of logs so I could play ball. I bought a used bicycle for $8.00 in Amity & rode it 9 miles home. It made several more such trips to Amity, Point Cedar, Bonnerdale or just nowhere in particular. We had chores to do every day & did them because we knew the consequences if we did not & we did not sass any grown up. & we snuck around to do our cussing because dire results came from Mama if she heard that. In the morning there were kids at almost every mailbox waiting for the school bus. During my 12 years I rode in a 41 Chevrolet, a 38 Ford, a 52 Ford & a 60 Chevrolet. Mamas did not drive their kids to school. Nowadays, most folks dont know their next door neighbor or the one across the road. Kids dont know rheir cousins, uncles or aunts. Some dont even know what that is. Everything is posted with signs or purple paint. Folks have to sit in their yard & look over the fence. Drug labs & dealers are in every community. Kids cant get out of the yard or dont even want to get out of the house. Many of them cuss openly & they learned it from Mom & Dad. Not safe anywhere. School bus drives by mailbox after mailbox because Mama done drove the kids to school. I was raised & still live on the Old Amity Road on old family homesteaded land which was mostly gravel until recently. I started to work for SW Bell in 1965 & these roads & many more were gravel at that time: Sunshine Road, Pittman Road, North & South Moore, North & South Pearcy, Higdon, Harris, Rush Fork, Red Oak, Hamilton Dairy, Goose Pond, Bear Road, Owl Creek, Ragweed Valley, Hwy 290 & 298 & many more. In fact if you got out of town about the only roads paved were Hwy 70, 270, 7 & 5 . Anything that turned off was gravel. There was no such place as Hot Springs Village or Diamond Head. Were times better then?? They were simpler. They were safer. They were more enjoyable. Were they harder then??? Depends on ones definition of harder. Many of these things may never have been experienced by kids in town but many were. As you drive down streets & country roads today, you dont see kids on bikes or playing in the street or in the yard. You dont see a lots of moms at home because most have a job. Most of the family gardens belong to retired folks. Doors are locked, shades are drawn, alarms are on & Fathers mow the yard. Mine are locked also & my alarm is set. Im glad I knew the other life. I think Ill hush for awhile.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 15:41:29 +0000