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ground. By this time Ma was holding me back because I wanted to go out there to help Pa.
Little did I know he didn’t need any help. By that time Pa was straddle of Uncle Ollie,

holding his arms and pinning him to the ground. Uncle Ollie couldn’t move or get up.
Ollie asked Pa, “Let me up!”
Pa said, “Are you satisfied now or do you want to get up and fight some more?”

Ollie agreed Pa had whipped him. Pa let his brother up. Ollie went home, packed his
bag, and left home.
Grandma begged him not to leave, but he left anyway. During the time Uncle Ollie

was gone, the Great War broke out. The “Great War” was known later as “World War I.”
Ollie was drafted. Of course, he didn’t know he was drafted, so he didn’t show up for his
draft call. The draft board had the lawmen investigate. The lawmen thought he was dodging

his draft. They opened every letter Grandma and Grandpa got to see if Ollie was writing to
them. Ollie joined the service in Canada. He never did write to anyone back home. He
returned home after the war two weeks before Grandma passed away.

I don’t remember moving from the old house to the new house, but I can recall
Grandpa Tyre and Uncle Jess building the new 'house. They made the weatherboard (clap­

board) with planks. The lumber was green, and over time the weather made the lumber
shrink where the boards met. As they shrunk, pretty big cracks appeared, and in the winter
the cold air came right through those cracks. Ma hung a quilt on the wall beside my bed.

Even then I’d get pretty cold so I’d sleep between the two mattresses. I don’t think Ma ever
knew I did this.
Our mattresses were filled with Spanish moss which Ma (fried and stuffed into a case

made of bed ticking. Some people used shredded com shucks (comhusks) to fill their mat­
tresses, but they rattled so bad Ma preferred the moss. Feather mattresses were placed on
top of the moss mattresses. We picked down from our geese to make the feather beds. The

down feathers grow from the back of their legs up to the bottom of their tails.
Our new house was scantily furnished—no clothes closets, cabinets, or bathroom. We

hung our clothes on nails on the back of the doors. Then we drove nails on each side of a
comer and tied a string across the comer to hang more clothes. No hangers back then, but
then we had very few clothes. The shoes were stored under the bed. We didn’t even have

bedspreads then. Ma made one after I got old enough. I embroidered a big basket of flowers
in the center of the yellow homespun spread.

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