GRANDMAS DO GOOD THINGS! By Norris Chambers She
had a birthday every year, and just about every birthday was celebrated by her
children and grand children along with friends and neighbors by having a
regular all day picnic on the creek. There were many grandchildren, great-grands
and great, great grands, and many of these brought friends along for the day's
festivities. And
so it was on this memorable birthday in 1937 when Grandma Almeda Williams'
birthday was celebrated that the celebrants came for the fellowship and eats.
I didn't much want to go to this affair. I wasn't in the mood for that sort of
thing. But I was prevailed upon very heavily to make my presence felt, so
along with Mamma and Papa, I journeyed the two miles to the creek for the
day's activities. It
so happened that there was a first cousin there by the name of Roxie Williams.
She brought her mother and father and another girl by the name of Irene. She
lived somewhere away east of our diggings, probably ten or twelve miles across
the country. Irene
had red hair and freckles. I was always partial to red hair and freckles, so
during the course of the day I carried on some conversation with Irene. We
decided we might have a little fun on a date, so I went motoring over that way
about the next Saturday night. I located her country place of abode from her
detailed directions and we went to the picture show in Rising Star. I don't
remember what was showing but we seemed to enjoy each other's company. I could
fill a much larger column than this about our dates and activities during the
summer but Irene left when her family moved to On
one date during the summer we had doubled dated with a girl and her boy
friend. Her full name was Ella Moselle Sudderth. She lived a few short miles
east of Irene. A
few weeks after Irene left, I got a letter from "Can
you give me Irene's address? I would like to write to her." I had written
a few letters to her, and had her address. She lived around So
I sent it to her and added a few lines of my own asking her if she would be
interested in having company on Saturday night. Her answer was favorable and I
told her I would be there the next Saturday night. Well,
that night came, and Sam was visiting me. He visited a lot, and I visited him
quite a bit. After playing for the radio show at 11:00 at We
drove up to Uncle George's and went in to get Dow. You would never believe
what we saw there. The dining table was piled high with meat. They had killed
a couple of big hogs that day, and everyone, including Dow, was gathered
around the table cutting up meat to be ground for canning. It
was immediately obvious that Dow could not go anywhere until the meat was cut
and ground, so we got busy and in about an hour finished the job. Then she had
to do a little make over before we left. It didn't take long, but by then it
was getting a little late, and it was very dark. Of course, at this time of
year it got dark early, and it wasn't really as late as it seemed. But by the
time we got to I
went up on the porch and knocked on the door. That was about as hard a thing
as I ever did. I was practically a stranger there, and I didn't know what kind
of reception to expect. But I knocked, and her brother came to the door in his
sleeping clothes. I muttered a bit and told him I had a date with He
said, "Well, we've all gone to bed. I don't know what you all can
do." He went back inside for a quick consultation and announced that the
decision had been that it was too late. So with a sad countenance I walked back to the car and we drove back
down the hill. We then had a quick conference to decide what our course of
action should be. Since it was so late we decided to go to town and drive
around a little. I was disappointed with the outcome of that first date, but
Sam and Dow seemed to have a good time. The night wasn’t completely wasted! It
was a couple of weeks later when we exchanged letters again, and I made
another date. This time, I went by myself and didn't have to stop and grind
meat while bedtime approached. It was a nice country date. We went to the show
in Rising Star. I don't remember what was showing. It probably wasn't a very
good movie. But after the show, we went to the grocery store and bought two
pints of ice cream in cups, complete with wooden spoons. Ice cream was ten
cents a pint and the spoons were free. We drove out south of town and stopped
and ate it, and got better acquainted. Attending
Grandma’s birthday picnic and eventually finding Ella was the best move I
ever made. I dropped the |