Part 8 (1/2)

I never learned where Papa got the idea of shooting the cohether it was his own idea or whether a neighbor had prescribed the reh Papa was sment when he shot the cow He only h to ed his distance from the cow or he misread the size of shot in the shell he used

When he shot the cow, she just stood there, I guess wondering what hit her Papa doubted that he had hit her at all So he moved up closer and fired a second shot, which really hurt the old cow much more than Papa had meant to hurt her

When Mr Whatley took a look at his cow, he was hurt even e told Papa to pay Mr Whatley for his wounded cow

Papa argued that the cow had daed the cow-in fact, ht well be true, but it didn't give Papa the right to go around shooting his neighbor's cow Besides, in this case, the corn would get well much sooner than the coould

Papa paid Mr Whatley for his cow, and went home a little poorer and a lot wiser I don't think Papa ever shot another cow If he did, he didn't tell us about it

CHAPTER 5

BOOKS, FOLKLORE, MEDICINE AND DREAMS

As I said earlier, I got along okay in school But throughout school I was a slow reader And this reading slowness has plagued me all e As a sht otten some kind of a toy, especially one heels that would roll

We kids learned early in life how to do things, purely a s often ca and I was the slowest of readers Even in high school I read very slowly, but I got what I read tolerably thorough

I never read hout the course The sae I only read my history once And I didn't even review for the final test and came out with a ”C”

There were a few books on the shelves in our house when I was a boy Some had pictures, so I looked at them Some didn't have, so I didn't look at them And I certainly didn't read them

There were two books which stood out in our home, always available and close at hand They were the Bible and the Sears, Roebuck Catalog There were times when these two rivaled each other in i and dying and the catalog for ”What ye shall put on” And then the catalog, after a new one took its place each year, became the forerunner ofknow as bathroom tissue

Each autumn after the first bale or two of cotton had been sold, Papa and Ma down and make up an order that would fill a wooden box half the size of a coffin Then ould wait two or three weeks for the shi+pment to come from Dallas Finally a postcard would co that the shi+pon, he would go by and pick it up

That night after supper ould all gather around for the grand opening There was so in the box for one and all

There was a pair of work shoes for each, and that pair would have to last until the fall of next year Last year's would do to wear to school awhile yet The new ones would do to wear for Sundays until they began to look worn, then we could wear the tiot in fro chores We could still wear our school shoes for Sunday by shi+ning them up a bit And of course, coo barefooted most of the tiht that is We didn't wear any in summer-just overalls and a shi+rt, that's all-well, sometimes a straw hat And naturally ore a cap in winter, with ear flaps Each of us would get two suits of the underwear, unless some of the smaller kids could wear some hand-me-downs, and unless the hand-me-downs had already been handed down too one

The winter caps ca box too, and two pairs of pants for each boy, caps and pants all corduroy Needless to say, the pants were the knee length kind, known as knickers, gathered with elastic above the knees There were long pants for boys in their late teens, and those came down to their shoe tops There were socks too Socks were short and worn only by ot stockings which arters of black elastic The elastic also caarters were made to individual sizes by our ht have been shi+rts in the big box, though I think Mama made most all our shi+rts

The corduroy knickers stood out full above the knees due to the gathering by the elastic That caused the legs of the breeches to rub together alked, and that rubbing caused a swishi+ng noise each time we took a step As alked to school, , but we Johnsons went swish, swish, swishi+ng along And everyone could hear that earing our new corduroy breeches

There were things for the girls in the shi+pot, except maybe a bundle of cloth or two or three, to be made into dresses I suppose they also made what they wore under the dresses But that was top secret as far as we boys were concerned However, that didn't botherabout like I was by Santa Claus-not very inquisitive My field of research didn't include girls' clothing

As I grew older, of course, ed I becairls and their surroundings And so, with a feeling of guilt, and in strictest privacy, I turned to the wo for research and knowledge of the inner box from Sears, Roebuck there would be blue denim for homemade overalls There would be pots and pans for the kitchen, and gingham and calico and elastic and needles and thread And there'd be a side or two of black harness leather forthe old ones Papa also used the same leather for shoe soles and heels

There'd be shoe tacks and harness thread; bolts, nuts, and copper rivets; leather lace for saddles, beeselding flux and axle grease; ropes for handling cows and horses, carpenter tools and horse shoes

And one year, for Frank and Susie, there was a phonograph and soraph came in a separate shi+pment later in the fall-perhaps for Christmas