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Barefoot In The Sand: Remembering the Waning Days of the Hopewell Community (1998) Bruce C. Gragg 92/123

JESSE-MRS. MILLS FARM HELPER

There was an old fellow that lived in a little house in back of Mrs.
Mills house. His name was Jesse Ogburn, he had a bad case of palsy,
and he had very little if any formal education. In today's terms he
would also be classed as mentally retarded, but he had some smarts.
By now Mrs. Mills had quit farming and only did a little gardening
and Jesse did what he could around the farmstead. About the last time
she killed hogs, Jesse got too close to the fire and his overalls
caught fire and he received some severe burns on his legs. His only
source of income was a little check from the state, Mrs. Mills was
his guardian. When someone was going to "Town" after he got his
check, he would want them to bring him a pound of ’’Winnies"
(wieners) and a loaf of white bread. Gussie’s children and I never
mistreated him but we would tease and aggravate him. He knew none of
us would harm him in any way. At church he had a certain pew where he
always sat. When ever the congregation was asked for a hymn, he would
call out "Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus." After our preacher got to
know him a bit he would call for that hymn without Jesse asking, it
made him happy. He was related to one of the Christie boys’ wives
(L.D.), and his children were always kind and gentle to him and did
all they could for him. He did various chores for Mrs. Mills in
return for a place to stay, I’m sure she had to take money out of her
pocket to help support him. Physically he was not able to do very
hard work but the light chores around there he could handle, without
too much difficulty.

We always got a laugh with his calling the cows home. It was some
kind of a yodel sound. Gussie’s children, Vera and I tried to copy
it, no luck, we just couldn't match his tone or the undulation of
tone. Kid like all our voices were pitched too high to get the sound
just right. He always laughed at us trying. He would call a jeep a
"GEECH." About once a week for two or three years he would come over
to our house and I would take time to give him a good, professional
shave, not the easiest thing to do. He came over one day and he had a
big splinter of wood in his finger and it was very infected, I tried
to remove it but it hurt him too much. That’s when Burnette brought
the jar of SALLY SALVE to dress it with. She told him to come back
the next day and we would get it out. Sure enough when I removed the
bandage the next day, there it lay on the surface of the wound. After
a couple more days of care it was healing very well. I would like to
find the recipe for this salve. It was used to draw out infectious
poisons, it really worked. (It had come to us from papa’s sister
Sally, hence the name. I think it had tallow, alum, maybe a little
pine resin. If anyone reads this and happens to know of the recipe I
would like to get it.) Burnette knew a lot of cures for a lot of
illnesses, using various

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