Part 2 (2/2)

Yes, Old Keno was a fence jumper We often found him in the corn patch or maize patch, what time he wasn't in the stack lot That's probably the reason I always reot oodies to eat

Anyway, one ti Old Keno in the stack lot ere co home from church or from Uncle Andrew's We drove up from the west and as we came over the rise west of the barn, there he was, in the stack lot again

I really believe ere co home from church because ere all dressed up and were in our new hack

We had an old buggy and I think we had an old hack I think I sort of reh for everyday use, and so was the old buggy But for really stepping out in style, that shi+ning black new hack was so to toe used the new one It had two seats, rubber tires, and a beautiful glossy black finish-with tiny little yellow pinstripes at just the right places When Papa hitched his two trotting horses to it, it was truly a carriage to be proud of

We also went socializing in the new hack And Papa never fooled around with a walking team, they always trotted Even e drove 18 miles to Anson to visit the Hood family on Sundays, our team trotted practically all the way And then they trotted back the sa rain fro a lot also

I was in the front seat with Papa and some of the other kids I was probably in Papa's lap, I don't remember Mama was in the back seat with some of the others In fact, Mama always rode in the back seat There is no picture inin the front seat of our hack I don't really knohy she chose the back seat Fact is, it never occurred to me until now that she may not have chosen the back seat; she may not have had a choice While she ith us, it never entered s, I wish I had If she were sitting here in the rooh to look up and ask, ”Mama, why did you always sit in the back seat of our hack?”

And I haven't the slightest doubt that she would answer, ”Why, Willie and you children always rode in the front seat There wasn't room for me”

Anyway, I was less than five years old, probably less than four And I don't re, but I'll bet a dollar she was holding Albert in her lap And I'll bet another dollar I can guess what Albert was doing Since baby bottles were almost unheard of in those days, and were not needed in our fa his milk from some other source, as mother natureat the feed stack and he seemed to be much happier than Papa was to see hi, but I do remember that Mama expressed her disapproval of Old Keno's bad ave to troublesome animals and mean people

There was plenty of work to be done on the farm, and we kids learned to work early in life Joel was just 16to go to school, Papa had hi in the field with a t planter In the afternoons, when Earl got hoo hoot a foot hurt and couldn't run the planter So I had to take his place on the planter for a few days Planting had to go on I don't remember how old I was at that ti at the Flint place And we moved from that place in January-the same January in which I beca when I was a little over four years old or when I was just past three, I'm not sure which I am sure, however, I was older than two, because, when I was only two, Earl was too young to go to school

If it were not for skeptics, I could go ahead with myor two, or so One man has already questioned ht they hadn't made a t planter as early as 1910 This one happened to be a special type planter I have never seen but two of them in my lifetime

But you could be sure, if Williaht could be used to do a better job on the faret it, if at all possible And if it wouldn't do to suit him, he would make it do whatever he wanted it to do

I re seen Papa, as early as the Flint place,a co feed or cotton and, at the sa had not coood stand

He built the ienuity He was my father

This special t planter that I used was pulled by two big, gentle horses They kne to follow the furrows and stay on the rows And they knew that ”whoa” meant stop, even when a three-year-old said it What'sbeside me, just a feay, and he worked the lever and turned my team around at both ends of the rows

Now, that doesn't sound so far out, does it?

I'll bet the people around the little town of McCaulley would believe me without an explanation They had afor him It's true And the man didn't have to be there to work the levers for him and turn the team around at the end of the rows

There were no rows He was flatbreaking his ground, going round and round Hisand theThen he got the idea of tying his lines up and slipping off to the house without his one

This worked well except when the o start the on the plow seat The dog liked to ride so well that, when the tea

People could hardly believe their eyes-the very idea-a dog plohile his master sat on his porch in the shade

Now, Papa didn't have a dog, so he used me

We Texans have to be careful e say and to e say it When I start talking with aI want to know is, where is he from?