Page 30 - memories-of-golde-dicks-markham-(1996)-golde-dicks-markham

Memories of Golde Dicks Markham (1996) Golde Markham Dicks 15/125

The half-croppers were plowing the new ground in the next field. Pa dropped his mule
when he heard me yelling. By then I had lost the snake. I was totally exhausted. I had drained
every ounce of energy getting away from that snake. Even the neighbors heard me hollering.
Pa tried to calm me down and then told me to go into the house.

He later said, “That snake was probably so aggressive because it had baby snakes in
the holes that you saw. This is a kind of black snake that will chase you.”
A few years ago in Jupiter, rencountered another black snake.

e VUkite

When I was young, girls and grown women wore homemade bonnets when they went
outdoors. A ruffle on the back of the neck kept the sun off the face and neck in the summer
and the cold off in the winter. The bonnets tied on with strings under the chin. My mother

made a white bonnet to wear when 'I went visiting. She starched and ironed the bonnet along
with other pieces of clothing. I felt proud of my bonnet—very few girls had white ones.

One day we visited Grandma Tyre and so I wore my white bonnet. When we arrived,
all of Ma’s sisters were in the field, so Ma let me go out to the field to see them. Ma’s
sisters, who were still living at home, were, in order of age: Kate, Clara (“Babe”), Hilda,

Essie, and Myrtle. Myrtle was too young to be in the field. My mother, Pearl, plus Frances,
Gordon, and Jess had already moved away from home. Ma had three brothers who had died.
When I walked to the field, Kate grabbed my bonnet off my head and wouldn’t give it

back to me. I started to take it away from her but she ran. She saw that I was catching up to
her, so she threw my bonnet just as far as she could. It landed in the dirt.
After I picked it up from the dirt, I said, “If you ever bother to take my bonnet again,

I’ll tear you up!”
Kate answered, “Oh yeah-h-h-h!”
But Kate couldn’t take me at my word. As soon as she caught me looking the other

way, she grabbed my bonnet again. By this time I was as mad as an old setting hen. I flew
into her, wrestled her to the ground, and straddled her. I wouldn’t let her up. I reminded her
of my warning that if she grabbed my bonnet again, I’d beat her up.

Kate didn’t realise I was a strong little lion, even though she was at least seven years
older than I was. But I was very strong because I was brought up with six boys. I did just

about everything they did. Kate’s sisters just laughed at her because she, being the oldest,
picked on them all of the-time. They were glad to see someone who could equal or out-
strongarm her. She never bothered me again, and, in fact, she was nicer to me.

15

www.LakeCityHistory.com LCH-UUID: C15F5985-B57F-498C-9C99-F425FA07E049