Ma Melton
Ma Melton would have been an interesting case study. She was as near a
female counterpart of Pop as anyone at home. She and her entire family were
large people, who were not fully accepted by the rest of the community.
They were a little different. (good Lord, who wasn't) The girls wore their
hair long and coiled around their head.
Ma Melton like Pop never blushed in her life or felt they had a reason to.
I remember the time that she brought several pairs of brogan shoes (Ltl'
Abner/high top) from Joe Hefner's store into our fifth grade class and
completely disrupted our studies; while she tried the shoes on her son,
Franklin.
On another occasion, when she passed the tavern she yelled (which sounded
like a beached whale with a head-cold) at me, that Mr. Patterson was
looking for a few good cotton hoer's (choppers), which sounded like cotton
whores, loud enough for half of the town to hear. She never talked in a
normal tone, always yelled every single word and did everything at a lope
(double time).
As I reflect back I feel sure that we all sold her short. She was really a
unique person who was either partially deaf or thought that the rest of the
world was. They were a nice family that unfortunately most of us didn't get
to know. I regret that I didn't pay more attention to all of the
interesting people and activities while growing up in a small town.
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MA Scott
Ma Scott, her daughter Zelpha and grandsons, Jackie (Leland Ray) and Dewey
Piatt lived in the house across the street from us. The boys mother died
early in life and their father of TB a few years later. The boys were
raised by Ma Scott. Claudie and I visited them quite often and enjoyed
eating her biscuits and gravy, especially her chocolate gravy. Claudie ate
there more than I did. He was never bashful when it came to food or any
other time for that matter. She enjoyed going barefoot as much as any kid
in town
Ma Scott and most adults saucered their coffee by pouring a little coffee
from their cup into their saucer, so that they could blow on it to cool it
before they slurped it from the saucer. You can imagine just how noisy it
was in a dining room of a cafe with a bunch of adults slurping coffee at
the same time. It was a common practice then. As kids, we wanted to drink
coffee, but our parents would never let us. They told us that it would turn
our feet black and goodness knows it was bad enough that we had to worry
about them being rusty most of the time. Some of the adults drank a cup of
hot water and a teaspoon full of sugar in it as a laxative the first thing
each morning.
Ma always had a quilting frame suspended from her living-room ceiling.
Often ladies were there sewing the fine uniform stitches, required in
quilting. There were a lot of signature/history/farewell quilts sewn during
this time.
When Ma Scott was on her death bed at the Lucy Lee Hospital her last words
were that Claudie had been born in March rather than April. She and Pop had
an ongoing argument about his birth date with neither giving an inch.
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Zelpha
All of us boys were fascinated with Zelpha, Ma's daughter, because she was
older and had a endnote5crank type Victrola
which she loved to play her records on and always seemed to be looking for
a needle that still had a little life left in it. They had to be replaced
quite often. Zelpha was also an avid jigsaw puzzle worker. Frequently
working until the late hours at night. (about 10 PM) All of the sidewalks
were rolled up at 8 o'clock
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Jackie Piatt
Jackie Piatt was a very serious boy, who quite often serenaded the
neighborhood with western songs from their front porch swing, in the
evening. He had a very mellow voice. (May 3, 1929 - Nov 14, 2003)
My Dog Bobby
We only had one dog by the name of Bobby, who followed me everywhere. I can
recall vividly Pop cutting off his tail and placing it under our front door
step (for good luck to anyone who entered our house). Which was a short
section of a railroad tie at that time. He then poured some kerosene on the
stump and the dog didn't appreciate it. Bobby and Bruce, (Boogers dog)
followed us to the ditch south of town once too often and Bobby was struck
by the Moose, the train that passed through our town.
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Granny Mc Kay
Like most small towns, we had more than a few colorful and slightly
tarnished characters. Granny Mc Kay was one of our favorites. When there
was a shortage of men during the WW-I, she and a group of ladies formed a
work (gandy dancers) gang to maintain the roadbeds of the railroad tracks.
She was their foreman. Granny was also the town constable at one time,
which surprises me. She was a small, (90 pounds, if a nickel) frail, humped
lady, who seemed to have a corncob pipe growing out of her mouth. She
taught a bunch of us ham-bones (Tom Sawyer types) Sunday School and Bible
study at our Baptist Church. Granny gave me my first New Testament at the
age of nine (and she was on the south side of seventy-six at the time) for
perfect attendance for the year. The testament and my third grade report
card are the only items that I've retained over the past fifty years. She
always baked a cake and made lemonade once a month for her pupils with a
birthday during the month. Of course we all received an equal share so all
of us knot-heads looked forward to this special day. Everyone loved Granny,
who was a little jewel with her own style and grace. With her we were as
comfortable as the family dog
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Treatis Glass
Good ole Treatis Glass was our town drunk, but in his own way was as
beloved as Mother Mc Kay. He didn't do any social/community service work
but just having him around made life a little more bearable. He was left
with three boys after he lost his wife. Bobby Gene was adopted by the Fuch
family after his mother died. His brothers, Glendell and Red (Irving)
stayed with their father. I went home with Glendell one evening (any time
after noon was called evening by most people at home while growing up) at
supper time to their small shack between the sawdust pile and the water
tower for the trains. Treatis was in the process of cooking a cast-iron
skillet level full of dough on top of the stove. Which as we all know would
be enough dough for several pans of biscuits in the oven. Needless to say,
I didn't stay for supper. When a friend asked Red how far he went in school
he answered, "About a half mile. I live between the sawdust pile and the
water tower." He also said that Glendell went one day in his place. It was
a cold day and Glendell came home before lunch (dinner) with an extra coat
and two dinner buckets. Red was a hoot.
Treatis had a bad habit of taking a leak next to our house, instead of
using our outhouse. On the morning after Jamie and Glenn's honeymoon, which
they spent in the bedroom that we boys had slept in while growing up. Jamie
looked out the window and told Glenn there was a man urinating next to the
house. After looking out, Glenn told her that it was only Treatis and that
she shouldn't worry about it because he's well lubricated, about half blind
and that's his p----n' place. On another occasion Granny Van Gilder was
visiting from Rector, when Treatis stuck his nose up to the bathroom window
while she was on the pot and said, "Is that you, Lillie?" Granny screamed
and ran out of the bathroom pulling up her panties and told Aunt Lillie
that there was a man peeking in the bathroom window. Aunt Lillie went to
the bathroom window to discover Treatis moving away from the building,
shakin his head. He wasn't used to such a noisy greeting so early in the
morning and besides his head was about splitting. "Hell, I was just being
friendly he probably said to himself." Aunt Lillie told Granny it was only
Treatis and she shouldn't worry about because he is suffering from a
hangover and is half blind. He probably enjoyed more peep shows than any
man, woman or dog in the county. Treatis didn't have a vision problem which
I'll prove a little later.
He went with a bunch of us knuckleheads to Reese, Michigan to work in a pea
vinery. A plant where pea pods were stripped from the vines, shelled and
sorted to size. The machine that sorted the peas had several screens of
various sizes. We called this machine the pinball machine and we all wanted
to work on it. It was easier than tossing the vines on the conveyer belt
with a pitchfork. Our immediate supervisor was a tall drink of water, that
we called "High Pockets or Daddy Long Legs." He immediately took a shine to
lovable Treatis and even let him keep track of his own hours (always seemed
to be on the verge of saluting, would have whistled "Michigan, My
Michigan," if Treatis hadn't been from Missouri) and would have waved a
flag if he'd had one handy! This was a mistake because superman couldn't
have worked the hours that Treatis claimed to have worked.
We lived in small shacks with corn shuck mattresses, that kept us awake
about half of the night. You can imagine how noisy they were when one of us
turned over. We took turns cooking. Regardless how bad the meals were, we
made a point never to let the cook hear us complain or we would have to
take his place. Dewey almost slipped one day when he said the beans sure
are salty. He quickly redeemed himself by adding, "But this is just the way
that I like them."
The screen on the bottom of our pump had evidently rusted away because the
water contained an awful lot of sand. None of us were crazy about this
sandy water but Booger flatly refused to drink it. Even though the sand
settled to the bottom of the glass in a short period of time. Each evening
we would all go to the drugstore in town for fountain cokes and cigarettes
for Treatis. We would have stepped on a couple of young lovers while
crossing the lot next to the drug store if it hadn't been for ole "Eagle
Eye" Treatis. Each time I saw him after this trip he would ask me if I
remembered the young lovers. Whenever I asked him how he was doing he would
always reply that he was dog tared, hongry, and out of cigarettes.
Treatis had a good sense of humor. A friend told him he had been drunk for
the last forty years. Treatis said, "Well, maybe it ain't helped my looks
but hell, it shore ain't hurt my career any!" He said he wasn't afraid of
work because he could lay down right beside it and go to sleep. He was a
typical alcoholic with nicotine stained fingers, whiskers that were always
two days behind his razor, hair looking for a comb, eroded cheeks, cistern
eyes, liver lips, elongated ears, fleshy nose, forehead like an old
wrinkled boot, furry eyebrows, a deep throated laugh, rundown shoes that
were rarely ever tied and he looked like the a-- end of hard times. Treatis
could never live to be as old as he looked. A person might say that he was
long in the tooth at this time, in his case. Other than this, he looked
great! I'm not poking fun at Treatis he was a neat man, a joy to behold and
everyone enjoyed his company. Today he would be called a real p----r. Come
to think of it, we did too.
Bobby Gene was killed in an auto accident. He and Treatis are buried next
to each other in the Brosley Cemetery. Treatis is in an unmarked grave. As
his name suggests he was a "TREAT" to all of "US" that he touched. I was
informed Red and Glendell died in Chicago. Details unknown so I had a brick
made for Treatis and his three sons at the pavilion in Qulin.
Return to TOC
Bill M.
Bill M. had an interesting nasal sound and claimed to be the unluckiest man
in the world. He said that if he arrived at home at five minutes to five,
supper wouldn't be ready yet, there wouldn't even be a fire in the cook
stove. But if he came home at five minutes after five all of the darn food
would be eaten and the dishes done-up. Bill said that when you've been to
one party, you've been to them all and before he had a chance to look the
place over, they would turn out the lights and say that the party is over!
His whiskey was Hill & Hill when he wanted to get likkered up or tried to
kill the hairy dog that bit him. He would tell Pop it was Hill & Hill now
but it will be Hell & Hell when he got home. When he needed a bottle of
booze he would tell his wife that he had to see a man about a dog. Also his
biggest challenge was walking down that long long aisle to be fitted for a
double harness. You would have to know many of these people to fully
appreciate their humor. It would really floor you!
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Pete Cook
The Cook brothers were an interesting pair. Pete was a dapper little man
with a cute little jelly belly. He was our barber when we were young and
haircuts were only a quarter. Pete only charged the boys twenty cents, but
if they came with only that amount, he would send them back home for the
other five cents. Then he would give the boy the nickel for an ice cream
cone after he had cut his hair. Pete gave me my first shave, to the head
that is! Mother and I cried for days after this and if you saw the shape of
my head, you would know why. I really got fed up with everyone blessing my
little pointed head. Pop wouldn't allow me to come into the joint for a
couple of months. Glenn refused to walk to school with me and when asked,
disavowed any relationship and told everyone that I was a rinky-dink from
Little Rock. I never knew why Pop had my head shaved. It must have had
something with Pete demanding that extra nickel. I didn't return for
another cut until my hair was so long that it looked as if I was wearing
ear muffs.
Ed Cook
Ed sold second hand junk of every description and color and dabbled at
preaching at the Pentecostal Church. He was a "Jackleg Preacher" there
until he realized that Crip and about half of the other men in town were
making more money selling moonshine than he was at preaching. Ed preached a
lot of fire and brimstone. So he started dabbling in a new direction. Ed
was one of those individuals that always had three or four hound dogs
lazing at his feet that would follow him wherever he went. They were both
very independent.
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Lollypop Doyle
became our barber after Pete Cook took down his shingle. His son, Bubble
told a group of us at the American Legion in the Bluff a couple of years
ago that his dad was passing through Qulin and heard that there wasn't a
barber in town. So he said, "Well, why not," and became our barber. Without
an ounce of training he acquired the necessary tools and with hands-on
experience as student/teacher became our barber for many years to come.
Well anyway, this revelation by Bubble came as quite a surprise to us. We
just thought that his specialty was "bad hair-cuts"!
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"Humpy Yeley"
(he said that his surname was as good backwards as it was forward) deserves
a few lines due to the well-known fact that he was such a lovable old hound
dog! As I'm sure that you have guessed he was terribly humped. He could
have just as well been called the "tambourine man", because he never went
to any social function without his musical instrument. We would see him
pass our place quite often in the evening heading to a social gathering
with his brown felt hat, white dress shirt and his ever present sleeve
garters bloused above the elbows and of course his well used tambourine. He
was a very popular person and was invited to most of the to-do's in town.
He attended the Pentecostal Church religiously and with a few shakes of his
tambourine and a hallelujah, amen brother, love you, sweet Jesus or bless
you Lord, at the high points of the sermon and always sat in the amen
corner.
Humpy was nine days older than dirt and frequently said that you can't keep
a good hillbilly down. He also said that if he didn't have silver in his
hair, gold in his teeth, and lead in his ass, he wouldn't be worth feeding
to the dogs! He thought about $1.25.
Humpy like most people would promise to dance at your wedding, if you would
do a favor for them, but with him a person knew that he wasn't just blowing
smoke. Humpy would say that a person was just camping out if they didn't
live in Missouri. He was not a happy camper. He never missed a square dance
because he loved to make that old rusty tack hit the floor and do that old
back-step. He said that square dancing was a pleasure and a half. Humpy
enjoyed any activity that encouraged a lot of hand clapping and foot
stomping. He would say, "If you can whistle the tune I will do the dance."
He enjoyed dancing more than eating an ice cream cone. He was always there
till-the-last-dog. Humpy had a happy heart.
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Flora Reese
One of the most unfortunate individuals was Flora Reese. Her nose had been
severed from her face in an automobile accident. People were not as
concerned with disfigurement then and cosmetic surgery wasn't nearly as
advanced as it is today. She spent countless hours and consumed large
quantities of beer in Pop's tavern. It fascinated us all at just how long
that she could go without using the throne in the back house considering
how fast beer goes through most people. She evidently had one of those five
gallon bladders. When I consider how it looked and smelled, after the
drunks had hosed it down, it wasn't surprising at all that we all held it
longer than we cared to.
Flora always seemed to find someone who was willing to buy the beer for
her. She knocked on our screen door one cold winter night told Aunt Lillie
and Pop that she was freezing to death and didn't have any place to go. The
folks took heart and allowed her to sleep with my step-sister, Poodle.
Flora was an attractive lady (except for her missing nose) who was perhaps
a little on the big bone side. She was a very sweet person, a great
conversationalist, who was liked by everyone.
Flora eventually moved to Chicago where her condition came to the attention
of a plastic surgeon who envisioned the possibilities and the tremendous
challenge in reconstructing her face. After many appointments and surgical
procedures, he made her a nose from other body parts that were compatible
that not only made her nose look fairly normal, but also created a
beautiful face. When she went to the doctor's office for her final
appointment to have the dressing and sutures removed. She was euphoric
about the final results of the surgery, but was depressed when her doctor
invited her into his private office for the final instructions. She had
fallen deeply in love with the man who had made her feel wonderfully whole
again and she was afraid that she would never see him again. So we can only
guess at how astonished and filled with love she must have been when her
doctor told her that he didn't want to lose his most beautiful creation and
had hopes that she would prevent this by becoming his wife.
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F.G.
F.G. frequently drank to excess. She was once arrested for walking through
town without clothes. Beetle-bomb and some of the local jerks had gotten
her drunk and taken off all of her clothes and threw them in a trash barrel
that still had some live coals in it so you can guess the rest. Yes, they
burned. So, she strolled over to Ma Loshes cafa and juke joint. Who did she
meet as she entered the front door? None other than Jackie Piatt, like
myself, was so bashful that he wouldn't say boo to a turtle until he was
about eighteen. Her first words were, "Do you have a cigarette?" Just as if
she was fully clothed. Jackie, having never seen anything like this turned
as red as a beet and almost bowled her over as he charged out of the cafe.
If this had been brother Dewey he would have given her a cigarette and
invited her to one of the booths for a little conversation and a bowl of
chili.
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Booger
Booger got an early morning scare one Sunday when he delivered the
newspaper to a service station/restaurant. Some girls had been drinking all
night and had a snoot full, and were higher'n a kite. They both had eyes
(bloodshot) for his young tender body so he quickly dropped the paper and
scooted out the door. Booger made just enough each day to buy sodas for his
Pepsi habit which he consumed at each place of business that he stopped at
the better part of a dozen.
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Guy Scott
Guy Scott was an interesting man, like ol' shade tree (Oney) Scott he could
do many things well. Guy was the only person at home that had his own
icehouse. It was about 5 or 6 feet square. The walls, roof and door were
double boarded with about six inches of sawdust in between for insulation.
He and Bo would cut ice from the #1 ditch north of town and store it in the
icehouse for refrigeration of the food for most of the year. Guy did some
logging with Bo north of Qulin. He did some carpentry and he and Margaret
always had a big garden. He spent a lot of time at Pop's place shooting
pool and playing cards. It was surprising that he did everything so well
because his hands were gnarled from a dynamite explosion.
Some of the ladies at home worked at the shoe and shirt factory at the
Bluff. But I don't believe any of the men did. There was a bus to and
from the Bluff each day.
I regret that I didn't pay more attention to all of the interesting people
and activities while growing up in a small town.
Return to TOC
General Mac Arthur (our very own)
I would be remiss if I didn't include a short blurb on our General Mac
Arthur. He was a family man of great dignity and sterling character who
would have been a general if our country had a bicycle corps. General Mac
Arthur rode his bicycle with a ram-rod stiff back and military bearing.
With his Ike jacket, (he wasn't able to locate a Mac Arthur jacket),
chauffeurs cap' (most men wore hats and a lesser number wore hunting caps,
mackinaw cap, Scottish plaid with earflaps or chauffeurs caps during my
youth. and his six cell flashlight. Our General Mac Arthur was not quite up
to par with his namesake, because he had a little slow but he could sure
ride that two-wheeler and make those babies!
Ma Losh
Ma Losh (Loshes Cafe) was a petite lady (wasn't big as a minute) who seemed
to disappear when she was driving her "big black Buick". The only part of
her that a person following could see were a pair of white knuckles on
either side of the steering wheel. It was sort of spooky, like following a
phantom, who was so short that she had to sight through the steering wheel.
Her husband died from ingesting minute slivers of glass in a sandwich. I
don't recall the details of his death.
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I would be remiss if I didn't add a few lines about Rod and Julie Watson,
one of the sweetest couples at home. they enjoyed every aspect of life.
Even chopping and picking that white stuff. (cotton)
They were a part of a group that went to the Blue Moon at Poplar Bluff in
the early fifties, where they did the old fashioned dances. there were
always a few singles, so the broom dance was popular. A single could tap a
dancer on the shoulder and pass the broom on to them and take their place.
There was a live band and when there was a square dance tip one of the
dancers would make the calls. Today records are used and professional
callers.
On one outing Pop, Aunt Lillie, Rod and Julie, Merle and Donna Jean (Cruse)
Chaney, Billy Dale McGee and Barbara and I took a trip to Reel foot Lake,
Tennessee. This was when vehicles were ferried across the Mississippi
River.
We cooked out on the open fire. One such meal was fish cooked in one iron
skillet, while potatoes and hush puppies in other. With bermuda onion, it
made for a feast.
We stopped at the first picnic table available after leaving the ferry on
the way home to eat a 90 some pound water melon that had been bought at
Broseley. Due to the sandy soil in Broseley some of the melons were in the
excess of 100 pounds. After we had eaten the heart of the melon, it seemed
a waste to throw away so much of the remaining melon. So, we did the only
thing civilized people do; we had a royal watermelon fight.
After leaving the messy picnic area, we stopped at the first large body of
water that we came to and jumped in with our clothes on to wash off some of
the watermelon stains. Some of us felt that we had a few scores to settle,
so a water fight quickly ensues. this was probably one of our most unusual
trips and one of the most fun ones. A person could always count on having a
good time with Rod and Julie. Rod and Julie lived in the Gentzen school
house after it was moved to Qulin and they were janitors for the Qulin
schools. I'm sure that life wasn't always easy for them, but they always
had a positive attitude.
US statistics for 1903....
Only 14 Percent of the homes in the US had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
Charles McClure in Owasso, Oklahoma
(c) Taken from: "My Memories," written to my children, nieces & nephews.
Charles McClure in Owasso, Oklahoma
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(c) and Contributed by: Charles McClure
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