MORE GIN FOR OLD TIMERS! By Norris Chambers As
we grew older we found that gin
had other meanings. The word engine
was often shortened to just
plain gin. Of course there was the alcoholic gin and the cotton gin. We
even
knew a girl in school who was called Gin. Her real name may have been
Jenny!
With the
knowledge of the various meanings of the word we discovered that the
gin tanks
were at one time part of a very important operation in the country,
cotton
gins.
Most of the early settlers
planted many acres of cotton.
Cotton was in demand both locally and for export and provided the
essential
money crop for the farmers. Because it was essential that cotton be
ginned
(have the seeds and trash removed) and baled industrious entrepreneurs
built
gins within easy wagon driving distance of the cotton farmer.
My
grandmother told of raising cotton for making cloth for their own use.
She said
that there were no gins in their area and during cotton picking season
each
member of her family was required to pick his shoe full of seed from
freshly
picked cotton after supper and before going to bed. The cotton was then
“carded” by hand. This process was performed with two flat
brushes using steel
bristles. The purpose was to get the fibers stretched into the same
parallel
position and to remove any small trash from the cotton. The carded fibers were then fed
into a foot pedaled spinning
wheel and converted into cotton thread. The thread was used in a hand
operated
loom to make cloth. All clothing was then made from the hand woven
cloth.
In case you
have never given a freshly picked boll of cotton a close examination,
it
resembles a fuzzy ball about one and a half to two inches in diameter.
It has
opened from a round boll and the contents have fluffed out into a
beautiful,
white ball of cotton.
Cotton had
many uses besides clothing. In the old days it was used for making lamp
wicks,
stuffing mattresses and pillows, chair cushions, some harness padding
and even
a nice bed for Sally, the family cat. The green bolls were often used
by
southern farm lads for field fights in much the same manner that
snowballs are
used by northern kids for snowball fights!
Cotton
seed, saved for animal feed by the farmer, produced a rich flavorful
drink and
when properly churned and seasoned yielded a superior butter product.
This wonder
crop also had a more sinister use. It was used in the manufacture of
explosives
and was sorely needed by all nations at war or in the preparation for
war. `
I remember
at least one funny gin tank episode. Clifton, his brother Clyde and I
had just
finished a nice afternoon swim and were in the process of getting our
clothes
on when Clifton started jumping around like a cat with a grass burr
between its
toes and uttering some foul language. He had placed his clothes neatly
on a
large log and while we were examining the cool water a horde of wood
ants were
busy examining the inside of his clothing. When he started the dressing
process
they must have thought a three course meal had arrived and began
feasting on
Clifton! Both Clyde and I thought it was funny –
I sometimes wondered about
Clifton’s sense of humor! |