Mama was left with three small children and a blind mother. With very little, she somehow kept us sheltered and fed.
Someone left a comment on “Mountain Cooking” to the effect that my childhood must have been idyllic but my childhood was about as far from ideal as you can imagine. My daddy first left his family when I was 7 years old. My sister Betty Sue was 4 and Charlotte was a baby. Mama was left with three small children and my grandma who was blind.
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Daddy was working in the cotton mill when he left us. He went back to his parents and he supported us after a fashion. We moved from one old broken down house to the other when mama couldn’t pay the rent. When it rained the rain poured in the house. Buckets had to be placed under the worst drips and the beds had to be shuffled around to keep them dry. We dragged our wood down from the hills to wherever we were living at the time. Sometimes we had no water on the place and carried water from somebody else’s well or a spring far from the house. In the winter there was no warmth in the house. The fireplaces smoked and often our wood was wet from rain. Mama struggled to keep a little fire going so we could huddle around it. Betty Sue and I cut out paper dolls from the Sears Roebuck Catalog and played in front of the fireplace by the fire light.
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Daddy came to see us and gave mama money or we would have starved. I often walked with daddy to where he lived at Birdie and Granddaddy’s house. They lived 5 or 6 miles away which was a long way at that time. Our house and theirs were as different as daylight and dark. They always had a good coal fire going and food cooking on the stove. I liked being with them and daddy, but I couldn’t enjoy it because I thought about mama and the kids at home. I felt guilty for being there and having all the good food and a warm house. Mama encouraged me to go and tried to send Betty Sue along too, because she knew we would be warm and well fed at Birdie’s house. Betty Sue would have none of it.
Mama and I took turns carrying water or wood because one of us had to be at the house with the baby and grandma. Mama was afraid one of them might fall in the fire. Mama couldn’t do anything outside while Betty Sue and I were at school so we spent the weekends dragging down all the wood possible to burn the next week.
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At the first hint of spring we were out looking for any wild food we could find. Poke salet, wild lettuce, branch creases, and wild onions. Dew berries ripened early and we eagerly waited for their first blooms. We had more time now that we didn’t have to spend every spare minute looking for wood. We could build playhouses, fly June bugs, and play with neighbor kids.
Somehow mama had seeds and plants for gardens and most of the time there were apple, peach, and plum trees wherever we lived. She put up all the food possible for the long cold winter. Daddy returned home for short periods of time and mama had two more children, our brother Henry and sister Darlene. She eventually remarried and had our youngest sister Jimmie.
We have all come a long way from our beginnings. Betty Sue, Darlene, and Jimmie have raised families and had substantial careers. My brother Henry has raised a family and is retired from the Air Force. My sister Charlotte has remained a housewife and raised a family. I have worked in factories and retail and raised my family. I am proud of every last one of us. Mama did her job well.
thx for sharing this story. Kids today wouldnt know where to begin. I doubt that if the ipods and pc\’s were ever taken they could survive 
Anyway, heartwarming stroy
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