Walking in Tall Cotton 12/06/2011
Five kids...wow! Never in her wildest dreams did Helen ever think she would be the mother of five. But here she was on a cool end of summer morning with windows up in the kitchen ... cooking breakfast with 4 sets of eyes looking back at her waiting on their pancake and glass of milk and the other set sleeping in her bassinet. She had learned early on in life if you want something, you had to work for it. This morning Helen was going to the cotton field to pull cotton bolls to make some extra money for Christmas. She wanted her children to have a good Christmas and there was no extra money...so she and Willie would just make some extra money! They got the kids up early today so they could get an early start in the cotton field. Helen fed Paula and then gathered up the other kids to take them to Grandma Jane's. The cotton field wasn't very far away, so they could check on the kids often, especially Paula. She was only a little over 6 weeks old and was still eating about every 4-6 hours. Helen didn't want to supplement with formula yet, so they would make sure to come back to Jane's house in time to feed her. There were two ways that folks picked cotton back then. One was to pick the white fluffy stuff out of the boll and put in your long cotton duck sack. The other was to pull the cotton...boll and all and put in your sack. If it was a good crop, then the preferred way was to pick the cotton because it was loose and fluffy and easy to deal with. If the crop yielded tight bolls that were difficult to get out the cotton, then pulling is what had to be done. In the area where Willie and Helen lived, they had to pull the cotton instead of pick it. It could be rough on your hands to pull the bolls, so Helen and Willie made sure they had their gloves on when they put the cotton sack across their shoulder and stepped onto the cotton field. When their sacks were full, they would drag them over to the scales to be weighed by the official "weigher" who would keep track of how much each person pulled. After a few hours of pulling and weighing, Helen could tell by the way she felt that it was time to feed Paula. 2 1/2 bags was all she could do today...she would come back tomorrow and try her hand at it again. It was important to her that their kids get Christmas this year. Helen walked in to Jane's house and she was rocking the not so patient Paula who was waiting to be fed. Helen took her in her arms, sat in the rocker and began to nurse her...just what Paula was wanting. This little blue eyed baby girl was content to be right where she was...with her mommie! Helen was hoping she hadn't overdone it today. After she finished nursing, she went home to lay down for a while. They didn't have much, but this family of seven loved each other and were gonna have a Christmas tree with presents under it and a meal with all the trimmings this year. Helen was sure of that! Commentsbill king 12/06/2011 12:25pm
I remember "Cotton Vacation"...we got out of school for a few weeks to help with the cotton harvest. Am i glad that mechanical pickers came along? YES!!!!! Your comment will be posted after it is approved. Leave a Reply |  Author
Paula Tollison Andrews Maupin I am married to Bobby and live in the Nashville, TN area, working as Executive Assistant to both the Director of Sales and General Manager of FOX17, MyTV30 & CW58 television I have 3 wonderful sons and daughters in
love (Brad & Holly Andrews, Bryan & Stacy Andrews and Brandon
& Ashley Andrews) from Tulsa, St. Louis & Springfield
respectively. They have given me 9 precious grandbabies. (Joseph,
Cooper, Margo, Sloan, Jonas, Nora, Everett, Lawson and Blythe & Gma
loves them so much) I also have 2 great stepsons and daughter in love
(Jonathan & Kathryn Maupin and William Maupin) from Lexington,
Kentucky.
As a lady who's lived through both good & bad circumstances in my life, I've learned and continue to learn a lot of "life lessons". Along the way I have been inspired to be a better me. God is faithful in ALL circumstances and His love covers all. My hope is that you will be inspired to be who you were meant to be. I have been writing this blog about my mom and dad since September of 2011. You can find their story from the beginning by going to the Stories link. Happy Reading!!!   ArchivesMarch 2012 |
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