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February 7, 2000 |
| WH Housden in Dyche's Meat Market |
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The 1910's and 1920's were about ten or fifteen years before my recollections, but I want the Talk From Under The Tipi for this week to be about this period in Aubrey’s past. Picture in your mind the vacant lot just to the north of J.R. Hampton’s house on the east side of Main Street, which is just across the street in front of the old Powell House (now Wilson Brown’s two-story restorative work of art). Many can recall when this vacant lot housed the Old Tom Powledge Home, a beautiful two story Victorian frame house that was at the northeast corner of the plot of land. To the south of the Powledge house stood the railroad section foreman’s house and on the east side of Main Street was a small frame building that was in existence during the 1940's when Johnny Ransomburger had a store (what is now called a convenience store), where he sold gas, oil, groceries, ice and different livestock feed. The small ice house on the north side of his store existed until the 1960's when it became O.D. (Wacker) Milton’s Cabinet Shop. I was about fourteen years old during World War II when cars and gas were a rarity, but I found that bringing ice from Denton in my Daddy’s one horse wagon was a way for me to make two or three dollars. The trip meant that I would travel the same old road to Aubrey that I discussed in past weeks’ articles. I would harness old Myrt (our only horse) and hook her up to the little green John Deere wagon loaded down with about ten quilts that my Mother prized as pretty and a necessary part of our large family household. I would take Myrt and the wagon down to the Denton Ice House and load up with about 500 pounds of ice blocks. I would wrap the blankets tightly around the ice blocks so that I could make it to Aubrey with a good bit of my frozen possessions. I would take the ice to the John Ransomburger Ice House on Main Street; he would pay me, and then off I would go to my Uncle Joe and Aunt Mattie Lee’s farm at the Friendship community where I would help my cousins Martha Jo and Billie chop cotton. It seemed that Uncle Joe didn’t work much, because Aunt Mattie Lee had a good job teaching school at the Rock Hill School. Uncle Joe helped Aunt Mattie Lee control the boys that were creating juvenile problems for the teacher. My Daddy always cautioned me with a belt, a broom and a horse quirt with a brass handle that I was not to run old Myrt and get her hot because she was very old and the heat exhaustion could kill her. I was really careful not to run the old mare with a load of ice, because I never knew when I might run upon some of my Daddy’s friends (and he had many) who would stooge on me. Sometimes he did find out just how fast I was making the deliveries to Aubrey, and when he caught me, slipped his old long belt off and out of his pants’ belt loops and popped me like some people pop the snakes’ heads off. I always knew that I needed to start crying loudly so he would have sympathy and would be lenient, but if I was a bully and didn’t cry with the belt, then he used the big warehouse broom; if I didn’t cry after that he would bring out the horse quirt with the brass handle. After a couple of licks across my hinny, then I was real quick and ready to start my performance of a bellowing cry. I discovered that the louder I would cry, the softer the licks with the horse quirt were. I became a professional with my crying and with a little practice, I discovered that it was necessary if I was going to get the ice up to Johnny Ransomburger’s Grocery Store before too much of it melted through the ten quilts. I got so talented with my crying that my Daddy could just pull the belt out of his pant loops and on a minute’s notice I could put on my fake bellar so fast that he would just hit me only once or twice. But I couldn’t let up on my program just because I could perform. I wonder now as I think of my Daddy (Jim Goin), how he must have known all the time about how fast I could get into the plea of innocence. I don’t have a photo of Johnny’s Ice House, but this week I will show you the ice house inside the Dyche’s Meat Market where W.H. (Peg) Housden is shown. He was the local butcher during the 1920's and 1920's. Nest week Uncle Joe at Rock Hill School with Aunt Mattie Lee as the teacher. |
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