July Fourth of Old

,Independence Day has been a day for celebration since 1776, but for the Sand Mountain farmer of the 1930’s and 1940’s it was pretty much just another day.  Of course, families celebrated in different ways.  We usually had lemonade, or something special to eat on that day.  We were lucky if we had ice from the ice house and had saved enough to cool whatever drink we had – be  it tea or lemonade.

My mother was born in 1885 and she used to tell about her large family (she was one of 12 siblings) and what they did to celebrate.  Of course, being farmers there were many chores that had to be done, but on the Fourth of July they were allowed to leave undone what chores they could and everybody went blackberry picking.  Apparently, that was a big time to be had by all.  Needless to say, on their return to the house canning took place.

Speaking of black berries, wouldn’t a cobbler taste good at this point?  John says he went blackberry picking on July 4, too, and afterwards they went skinny dipping in Clayton Wash Hole (I guess they went swimming to get the chiggers off).

One time in the late 1930’s when Daddy worked for the road commissioner and had to work that day – my mother and I were here alone on July 4.  As she said, we had no conveyance (vehicle) to go somewhere, we had no ice cream or lemonade and were lonesome.  I remember her tears.

In the Geraldine area there was a July 4 picnic.  Mr. Charlie Nichols had this on his farm every year.  I never got to go – that must have been three or four miles from the Windy Knoll and without transportation I couldn’t make it.  Daddy went sometimes, as I remember it.  In talking to a Nichols granddaughter, she tells me they ordered 90 lbs. of fish from a market in Pensacola, her daddy cooked the fish, put a piece between two pieces of bread and sold it  They had lemonade in wash tubs.  It was a drawing card for politicians of the day and they even had loudspeakers.  Politicians making large promises they knew up front they couldn’t keep.  She remembers one year they had a flying ginny — it had a gasoline motor in the middle of a circle of seats fastened to chains  When the motor revved up the seats went flying out through the air as they moved in a circle.  She said she was not allowed to attend – her mother didn’t approve of germs.

There was an even larger picnic at Sylvania, but going there was like going or a foreign country — it must be 20 miles away.  In a two horse wagon it took a while to travel 20 miles.  Sylvania had stands with lots of food and rides of various kinds –or so I’ve heard.  Communication back then was not what it is today and these gatherings gave politicians a place to speak to a crowd of voters — they could have been called political rallies.  This also gave farm families a chance to visit with others in the area.  After all spring, summer and fall were busy times with the farmng style of country living.