Page 59 - barefoot-in-the-sand-remembering-the-waning-days-of-the-hopewell-community-(1998)-bruce-c-gragg

Barefoot In The Sand: Remembering the Waning Days of the Hopewell Community (1998) Bruce C. Gragg 55/123

THERE WAS SUMMER TIME

Most of my memorable events took place away from school with friends
or family. During the summer, Gussie Walker, another of the Mills'
daughters, would spend most of her time out of school at Mrs. Mills.
Mrs. Mills was our closest neighbor, and a very close friend. Her
husband, Mr. James H. died in the thirties, she continued to stay on
her farm for most of her life. They had three daughters. One daughter
Vera, had died in the early thirties and Gussie and Josie lived many
more years. Gussie had four boys and a girl. The boys were Bill,
Jack, Jimmy and Eddy, and Mary Emma her only daughter had to grow up
putting up with all four of them. Mrs. Mills' farm was about a half
mile south of us. Around Mrs. Mill's house were several big oak
trees. There was one special oak, and it still stands today, we
thought of as our very own large Live Oak tree. Even now, other than
being bigger, (the limbs are about ten feet longer), it looks very
much as it did fifty years ago. God must have been looking in the
future for us when he grew it the way it was shaped, perfect for
having fun on. We spent many hours climbing all over it and playing
in the sand near by. We would dig 4, 5, maybe 6 foot deep "fox-holes"
and play for hours, stopping long enough to eat either lunch (dinner)
or watermelon. Such a tough life. With all the problems I had in many
areas of trying to locate a specific spot, here I had no problem
going to the exact spot we played so many, many hours so many years
ago. After all kids had to do something with part of their summer
school break. Vera and I still had to keep up with our household and
farm chores even during the summer break.

Often the Mills, Walker, Scarborough, Burnette and Gragg families
would pack up picnic fixings and go to the Suwannee and fish, swim,
and eat all day. (Josie had by now married Horace Scarborough and
they had one daughter Marion.) There is nothing like having lots of
fresh fried fish with all the trimmings and a big pile of fried
chicken to keep hunger at bay for a while. On the upper river bank at
Wheeler Ferry was a large oak tree with a lot of space to make the
spread. We kids did more playing and swimming than fishing, by late
afternoon we were ready to feast on fresh fish just fried nice and
crisp and served with hush puppies and what was left from the
earlier- feast and always plenty of iced tea. Most of these types of
outing were done after the summer canning season and after the crops
had been layed by for the year. There was a short time to enjoy times
of leisure and relaxation.

In front of Mrs. Mills house was a big area with just a few very big
pine trees, not so many that they would interfere with us playing
ball. At the time I was about 8 or 9 years old, Mary Emma was
pitching, I was batting, I hit the ball and just stood there.

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