I Never Walked Alone
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Senior (55+)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
My dad was a sharecropper. That meant we lived on someone's farm and farmed it for a share of the crop. The farm was located about a mile east of Kelly, Texas. Mom and dad were poor and they didn't have money for a tractor. So most of the farming was done with the mules. This meant things didn't get done very fast and the work was hard. There had been lots of rain, making wonderful crops and gardens. Now, the weather had cleared up, the fields had dried so the harvest work could get started. What a beautiful morning with the sun already warming the earth and a light breeze blowing. The Mockingbirds were tuning up and down by the creek. I could hear the old whipper will. I could hear a chicken cackling out at the chicken house and I knew there was a fresh egg laid. Today was the day to start gathering corn. And that was done by hand daddy had the cows milked and the pigs fed while mother was cooking breakfast. Usually the first thing in the morning was to get the fire going in the cook stove as it took a while to get it hot enough to cook on. We had running water that is, you had to run and get it if it hadn't rained for a while and the cistern was dry. The cistern was a big tank above ground that held rainwater. It was filled with a pipe running from the eaves trough to the cistern. Of course, all this getting ready to start gathering corn meant we had to get started early while mother washed the dishes and did a little house cleaning. She split some wood for the noon fire and carried some water into the house. So when she got home, she'd be ready to cook dinner. She was part of the corn gathering crew, which meant she had to be ready to go. When the mules and wagon came up to the house. Daddy went off to the barn to catch the mules and harness them up to pull the wagon that the corn was to be loaded into as we had no tractor for these jobs. The mules had to do blue and I had to go along and help our dad catch the mules as we were part of the crew. He was about five and I was three when we got to the barn. One mule was easy to catch my dad put the bridal and harness on him and he was ready. Blue held him while daddy went to get the other one. Well, he was a different mule and had no intention of being caught and having a harness put on him. He stood with his hind end sticking out of the barn door. My dad got close to him. Both back feet came flying out at him. This went on for a while and my dad picked up a long pole reached over and touched the mule's rear. The mule kicked, touched him again and the mule kicked again. It seemed like about an hour of this. And then the mule turned around and stuck his head out of the door as if to say, ok, you win, put the bridle on. I'm ready. Now, the mules were hooked up and blue and I crawled into the wagon box looked like a pretty big box to fill with corn. We got to the house. Mother was ready to go. Daddy took her hand and helped her up into the wagon and told her step fast. These mules are ready to go. This morning. Mother had a strange looking thing she'd carried from the house and brought it up to the wagon with her. It looked all wet. I asked her what the thing was. She said, well, when we get thirsty, we can get a drink of water out of it and it will be nice and cool. This is a gallon jug with a sack wrapped around it several times. I took some thread and sewed it together so it will stay in place. And then I poured water all over it. So it would stay cool. It wasn't long until both blue and I had to try it out. We got awful thirsty and it was sure and nice and cool. We weren't long getting down to the cornfield. The wagon had no springs and had iron wheels. So it was rough and noisy for doing this kind of job. Two mules were all that were needed is they could pull a full load with no problem. We weren't long getting down to the cornfield, the wagon had no springs and had iron wheels. So it was rough and noisy for doing this kind of job. Two mules were all that were needed as they could pull a full load with no problem. When we drove into the cornfield, the mules had to walk between a row of corn and there were two rows between them. They were supposed to walk along slowly. Mother was on one side of the wagon, walking along between two rows and tearing the ears of corn off the stalks as she went, throwing them into the wagon, one side of the box had an extension on it, called the throw board. So the ear of corn could hit it and fall down into the wagon. That way, the person didn't have to watch so close. When they threw the ear of corn, daddy tied the long leather lines that came from the mules bridles onto the front of the box that blue and I were in. Then he told us to try and not get hit by the ears of corn flying into the box. Of course, all this getting ready to start gathering corn meant we had to get started early while mother washed the dishes and did a little house cleaning. She split some wood for the noon fire and carried some water into the house. So when she got home, she'd be ready to cook dinner. Those stocks were badly bent over and the person behind the wagon had to work fast. So he didn't get so far behind he couldn't throw his ear of corn into the box. Sometimes an ear of corn would get knocked off the stalk with the wagon going over it. So the one gathering, the down rows had to pick them up as well. Everything went fine for a while. My brother and I had ringside seats of all the action. Once the box got half full, I could even see over the side what was going on.