Page 199 - some-stuff-i-wrote-and-some-stuff-i-didn't-(2011)-h-morris-williams

Some Stuff I Wrote and Some Stuff I Didn't (2011) H. Morris Williams

We had a cowboy and Indian show and rodeo. The Indian chief rode in
his big open touring car. The Indians had just come into the big oil

money in Oklahoma.

Once we had a big free dinner for several hundred people.

During the depression a number of men would just walk from city to city
looking for work.

They would walk up in our yard, take off their hat and ask for something
to eat. My father told them to go around to the back and ask my mother
for a plate of food.

Usually they would stick their hands under the water faucet and wash up
and there was a towel to dry with.

My father talked with one man who said that he was a shop worker. We
gave him a place to stay and he worked in the wood shop making

furniture.

He made some cedar chests and “what nots,” and tables. When he had a

little money he went to town and bought toilet articles and a new shirt
but no liquor. He worked for several months and was an excellent

craftsman.

He earned some money and went on his way. After he left, we also made

wooden boats for the Forest Service.

We also operated a machine shop, metal lathes, drill presses, grinders,

forge and black smith shop, and wood turning lathes and band saws.

Big Lake was to be seen past the Veterans Hospital, which was not

fenced at that time. The V. A. recreation building, with a swimming pool
in the basement, was directly across Marion Street.

Later a fence was put up around the property, and a security guard (Mr.
Griffin) was on the gate, located on Baya Avenue.

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