Brown Family History

Chapter 2

Some Early Reccollections

After a normal birth, in the bed room of the little home described in Chapter 1, on June 19, 1884, Mother and son get along nicely.

My first recollection was a few days before my fourth firthday. Mother was busy cutting out some little shirts and knee pants. when they were completed, Mother called me to her sewing machine. She had buttoned the little pants to the shirt and held them up for my inspection. I asked what they were. She explained that tomorrow was my fourth birthday. On that day she was going to try on my first pair of pants. i said, "But I do not want to wear pants".

You see, up to this time I had worn dresses. The oldest child, a girl, was five when I was born. And by the time I was four there was another girl who wore dresses. So I wanted to be a girl, too.

Nothing more was said then. So I went out to play. On June 19th, 1888, after dinner dishes were finished, Mother called me in from play. I came running. Mother began taking off my dress. I protested, saying i did not want to be a boy. Motyher went right on changing my clothing. I began crying like I was broken hearted. Mother tried to reason with me saying she wanted to see how I looked in trousers. She bragged on how nice i looked. After a little, Lorena, my oldest sister, and Ina, then about two, took me out to play.

One of our favorite playing places was in the dirt under the house. You see the ground sloped down slightly from the road eastward. The west end of the house was set on rocks on a level with the ground, but the east end of the house, 24' east, was about two feet above the ground.

You can hardly guess how my white shirt and new pants looked when we emerged from under the house. We were dirt from head from foot.

Mother finally got sight of us. The "the fat was in the fire". "Oral, come here this very minute. You have ruined your new clothing. I will change you back into your old dress." I said, "I do not want to be a girl now. I can crawl better when I wear pants."

When Mother insisted I change, I cried like I was broken hearted. Then Mother said, "Well, we want a boy anyway; we will not make you wear your dress out." I never put them on again.

Another high point in my childhood life was when Mother licked her geese.

You see in that day we had straw ticks instead of springs (Ed: A straw tick is a mattress case filled with straw). Then feather ticks filled with soft goose down went on top of the straw ticks. Mother had to work fast to raise enough geese to keep pace with her rapidly growing family. By the time our family quit increasing we had six double beds. And Mother always had one or two extra feather beds.

How to pick the geese. We would drive them into the wood shed, close the lower doors so they could not get out. Then Mother would get her old hickory bottom shair, tie a cloth over her hair to keep the down the down out of her hair. She would have and old dress with a big apron. Then she was ready to catch her first goose. She tied it's feet together, turned it head down, then all in one movement, she would turn the goose's breast toward her, let it's head down about her knees, push it's breast up near her waist, and push it's feet out at arm's length from her. It's feet then would be right over it's head; Then she was ready to pick. Her right thumb would slide down and away from her grabbing hold firmly of the feathers she wanted to pick, and with a quick jerk toward her. That bunch of feathers is out and ready to put into a small bag. That movement is quickly but firmly repeated hundreds of times. About five minutes is required for a good plicker to finish one goose. Then the goose was turned outside of the shed.

When I was real small I was more trouble than help. But I learned what to do quickly. The real Mother shows up in having patience. Thus we worked till all the geese were picked.

Another thing we children liked to do and frequently did. That was to play in the spring.

Our spring really was several springs coming together 40 or 50 yeards from wherethey cam out of the ground. They never went dry, summer or winder. Someacre or so of ground was marshy. When wading in it one would sink down about six inches into a mixture of sand and ossie mud. It was a lovely place to accidently, on purpose, fall down.

In this swampy soil willow bushes, catstails, calamil with plenty fo speermint, grew in profusion. Of course this was a real haven for dragon flies and beautiful butterfiles. A place where three or four hours would melt away to nothingness.

It goes without saying that we went barefoot from the beginning of nice warm days until frost in the fall.

There was another thing I was extremely fond of and so was my sister two years younger than myself. That was climbing trees, bushes or anything. So it was climbing!

One near fatal experience for myself and one for Ina will suffice.

When any of the neighbor's children would come to play with us, we would trade tricks. That is, we would show them how to do a trick. Then they in turn would show us how to do one.

By this method we soon knew how to do all the tricks, some of then were a bit over small children's head. But we would attempt them anyway.

Just above one of the largest springs was a triple yellow poplars. They were about 5 inches in diameter. Ina attempted to climb them one day. They were slick - no limbs. She started up, got a few feet up and her hold began to play out. She clung to the tree by her legs and herknee bent slipped into the Y of the tree and we could not get her out. Her bent knee was smaller back of the knee than at the knee. So we ran for Mother. She came and bodily lifted Ina up the tree until her leg was free, then walked backward a couple of steps. She was out. That night Mother threatened to make her beticking clothing; Mother said she was a tomboy.

The other story I promised is on myself. It could be headed "When Oral learned to Skin a Cat."

It happened this way. At first I would skin a cat (Ed:climb the tree) and rest a while; then I got so I would skin three or more cats without stopping. Then I climbed to greater heights by skinning a cat forward; then I would skin it backward. that was a thrill. I guess I waas all of five or six years old.

One day we were just on top of the hill, south and west from the spring. At this place there was a big wild cherry tree. It was made for climbing - limbs, the right size, came almost to the ground. I slid up the tree, higher and higher. At about 15 feet up there was a place just made for a venturous boy. A limb about three inches in diameter ran due north. When I stood on this one, there was another limb directly over it, just the right size for my hands.

While standing there a desire struck me to skin a cat. So I did but I could not skin it backwaards. After hanging there in that position for some time I sent for Mother. Soon she came. By that time I was worn out. Mother sized the situation up and told me to let go with my hands, then quickly catch with my feet and hands on the limb below.

I could not hold any longer, so I let go and did manage to do what Mother ordered.

One final memory and experience fill my purpose upon this subject.

In June of 1890 I was six years old. That very fall I was to start to school. I was looking forward to it with pleasure. But it was not to be that way.

A few days before school time I was attached in my left leg with muscular rheumatism. My foot stayed drawed up to my hip until it got warm weather in the spring. By that time school was out. In the fall when I was seven the same thing happened. I was in such pain most of the time I could not study. So I never got to go to school until I was eight years old.

When I did get to go I learned so fast that I finished with the class I would have been in had I got to go at six.

Of course scores of experiences come before my mind for utterance. But this is enough to show that I was a boy.

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