Kept out of school to Work in the Cotton Harvest As the cotton harvest season approached in 1938, Dad quit his job with the Batsons and bought a 1929 Dodge Super Six sedan. We took Mother [who was pregnant with Elysse], my sister Queechy, and brother Quindel to Mt Pleasant, Texas to stay with Mother's family. While we were in Mt Pleasant I met my Sackett grandparents and some cousins from Mother's side of the family for the first time that I remember. Dad then took Uncle Glenn, Donal and me out into western Texas, and eastern New Mexico picking cotton. We worked near Vernon, TX., Childress, TX., Lubbock, TX., Roswell, NM., and Artesia, NM. Donal and I were held out of school to go on the trip. Although I didn't know it at the time, the plan was to work our way to Yuma, Arizona, where two of Mother's sisters lived. As we headed west from Mt. Pleasant, the first night out Donal decided that we would sleep in a two wheeled trailer that was parked near the car. We bedded down with our feet toward the tongue (which was down hill) and went to sleep. During the night we were awakened by the whistle of a steam locomotive. When we looked up, the light of the engine seemed to be coming at us. We scrambled up the trailer bed toward the tailgate of the trailer. This overbalanced it to the rear. The rear of the trailer tipped down and threw us head first against the tailgate, as the train went screaming by. For part of the time there were two other men traveling with us and sharing in the travel expenses. Dad also had them along because farmers were more likely to hire a larger group of pickers than they were to hire Dad, a teen ager and his two sons. While the other men were with us Donal and I were assigned the middle position in the front and the back seats. While we were putting gas in the car at one of the gas stations, I asked the attendant where the rest room was. He asked me what I meant. I told him I that I needed to know where the toilet was. He told me where the toilet was and then asked me why I called it a rest room, he'd never thought of a toilet as being a place where anyone would go to rest. At Vernon, TX we worked in a field near Pease River. There were two younger men who had a Model A Ford. One would try to hold the car from moving by bracing himself and leaning against the front fender and headlight and holding the bumper. The other one would put the car in gear and let out the clutch and see if the one holding onto the bumper could hold the car and keep it from moving. Several times I thought the car was going to go over the bank into the river, not to mention the times that I thought the one holding the car was going to get run over. In Childress we worked on a farm that used terracing and contour farming for soil conservation. It seemed odd to me, to have the rows of cotton following the contour of the hills. There was one day that I was the envy of the men who were traveling with us. I was picking cotton with the boss's daughter. I think she was working with me because I was working closer to her speed and I enjoyed working with her because I was lonesome for Mother. While we were there Dad got into a disagreement with the owner of a store in town. In those days many of the stores would buy products in bulk quantities then divide it up into smaller lots. Dad had doubts about one of the bags having a full measure, so he checked it on one of the dial scales and it checked out right. Still not satisfied he took it over to the meat counter and used the certified scale there. The bag weighted light. After the disagreement that followed, Dad was told that he could take his business elsewhere. I don't remember whether it was at Childress or near Lubbock that Dad and the men traveling with us got into a heated argument while Dad was cooking supper. When it was all over and they had decided to part ways and the other men left. Donal mentioned to Dad about how worried he was that they would have been able to whip Dad and Uncle Glenn. Dad said that he was not worried because he was cooking and had a skillet of hot grease in his hand at the time they were arguing. The area around Lubbock was fascinating to me because it was so flat and almost treeless. Lubbock is located on the plains of the Texas panhandle; the area is known as the caprock and it was quite different from the hills where we lived. The cotton plants grow only a foot or so in height and after a killing frost had hit; we were able to strip the stalks by placing our hands on each side of the stalk and by lacing our fingers and pulling up leaving a bare stalk. While we were at Lubbock I experienced my first sand storm which made for some unpleasant work in the fields. It was this sand storm that ultimately led Dad to abandon the plan to go to Yuma, AZ. Sand got into the clutch of the car and caused the clutch to slip when we were climbing a hill.. We went from Lubbock to Roswell, New Mexico. The first place we crossed the border into New Mexico was a surprise. We went from a paved road in Texas to a dirt road in New Mexico. Dad turned around and went back into Texas and found a better road. The farms around Roswell were irritated, so the cotton was much taller. Also, the farmer had us pick the cotton from the bowls instead of pulling the bowls with the cotton in them. Picking paid more but it was harder work and harder on the fingers because of the sharp points on the tips of the bowl. It was here that I saw my first artesian well and my first real mountain. The mountain was 10,000 foot Capitan Peak about 50 miles to the west of Roswell. I think that from that time on I wanted to go to where there were mountains. Donal says that while we were in Roswell someone had talked Dad out of trying to make the trip over the mountains in the "old Dodge" because of the problem of the clutch slipping. So, from Roswell we went to Artesia, NM. We were in Artesia when my younges sister, Elysse, was born October 22, 1938. And when Dad received the news we headed back home. The first night out Dad stopped alongside the road near Hobbs, NM. It was a cold night so Dad used a kerosene lantern to heat the inside of the car. It was so crowded that during the night Donal and Uncle Glenn got out and took the mattresses from the top of the car and slept between them leaving the car to Dad and me. In the morning Dad discovered that Donal and Glenn had put the mattress down in a bed of sand burrs. And they had slept with their heads about six inches from the edge of the pavement. We went to Marietta, OK first to leave Uncle Glenn and then we went on to Mt. Pleasant, TX to get Mother and see my new sister. Thurmon

Hi Thurman, Just writing to tell you what great stories you have. So glad you are putting them in print. I also want to "irrigate" you about the irritated Rosewell farms. Laugh Laugh Patty B ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thurmon E. King" <thurmonking@juno.com> To: <SACKETT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 7:52 PM Subject: [SACKETT-L] Tales from my childhood > Kept out of school to Work in the Cotton Harvest > > As the cotton harvest season approached in 1938, Dad quit his job with > the Batsons and bought a 1929 Dodge Super Six sedan. We took Mother [who > was pregnant with Elysse], my sister Queechy, and brother Quindel to Mt > Pleasant, Texas to stay with Mother's family. While we were in Mt > Pleasant I met my Sackett grandparents and some cousins from Mother's > side of the family for the first time that I remember. > > Dad then took Uncle Glenn, Donal and me out into western Texas, and > eastern New Mexico picking cotton. We worked near Vernon, TX., > Childress, TX., Lubbock, TX., Roswell, NM., and Artesia, NM. Donal and I > were held out of school to go on the trip. Although I didn't know it at > the time, the plan was to work our way to Yuma, Arizona, where two of > Mother's sisters lived. > > As we headed west from Mt. Pleasant, the first night out Donal decided > that we would sleep in a two wheeled trailer that was parked near the > car. We bedded down with our feet toward the tongue (which was down > hill) and went to sleep. During the night we were awakened by the > whistle of a steam locomotive. When we looked up, the light of the > engine seemed to be coming at us. We scrambled up the trailer bed toward > the tailgate of the trailer. This overbalanced it to the rear. The rear > of the trailer tipped down and threw us head first against the tailgate, > as the train went screaming by. > > For part of the time there were two other men traveling with us and > sharing in the travel expenses. Dad also had them along because farmers > were more likely to hire a larger group of pickers than they were to hire > Dad, a teen ager and his two sons. While the other men were with us > Donal and I were assigned the middle position in the front and the back > seats. > > While we were putting gas in the car at one of the gas stations, I asked > the attendant where the rest room was. He asked me what I meant. I told > him I that I needed to know where the toilet was. He told me where the > toilet was and then asked me why I called it a rest room, he'd never > thought of a toilet as being a place where anyone would go to rest. > > At Vernon, TX we worked in a field near Pease River. There were two > younger men who had a Model A Ford. One would try to hold the car from > moving by bracing himself and leaning against the front fender and > headlight and holding the bumper. The other one would put the car in > gear and let out the clutch and see if the one holding onto the bumper > could hold the car and keep it from moving. Several times I thought the > car was going to go over the bank into the river, not to mention the > times that I thought the one holding the car was going to get run over. > > In Childress we worked on a farm that used terracing and contour farming > for soil conservation. It seemed odd to me, to have the rows of cotton > following the contour of the hills. There was one day that I was the > envy of the men who were traveling with us. I was picking cotton with > the boss's daughter. I think she was working with me because I was > working closer to her speed and I enjoyed working with her because I was > lonesome for Mother. > > While we were there Dad got into a disagreement with the owner of a store > in town. In those days many of the stores would buy products in bulk > quantities then divide it up into smaller lots. Dad had doubts about one > of the bags having a full measure, so he checked it on one of the dial > scales and it checked out right. Still not satisfied he took it over to > the meat counter and used the certified scale there. The bag weighted > light. After the disagreement that followed, Dad was told that he could > take his business elsewhere. > > I don't remember whether it was at Childress or near Lubbock that Dad and > the men traveling with us got into a heated argument while Dad was > cooking supper. When it was all over and they had decided to part ways > and the other men left. Donal mentioned to Dad about how worried he was > that they would have been able to whip Dad and Uncle Glenn. Dad said > that he was not worried because he was cooking and had a skillet of hot > grease in his hand at the time they were arguing. > > The area around Lubbock was fascinating to me because it was so flat and > almost treeless. Lubbock is located on the plains of the Texas > panhandle; the area is known as the caprock and it was quite different > from the hills where we lived. The cotton plants grow only a foot or so > in height and after a killing frost had hit; we were able to strip the > stalks by placing our hands on each side of the stalk and by lacing our > fingers and pulling up leaving a bare stalk. > > While we were at Lubbock I experienced my first sand storm which made for > some unpleasant work in the fields. It was this sand storm that > ultimately led Dad to abandon the plan to go to Yuma, AZ. Sand got into > the clutch of the car and caused the clutch to slip when we were climbing > a hill.. > > We went from Lubbock to Roswell, New Mexico. The first place we crossed > the border into New Mexico was a surprise. We went from a paved road in > Texas to a dirt road in New Mexico. Dad turned around and went back into > Texas and found a better road. > > The farms around Roswell were irritated, so the cotton was much taller. > Also, the farmer had us pick the cotton from the bowls instead of pulling > the bowls with the cotton in them. Picking paid more but it was harder > work and harder on the fingers because of the sharp points on the tips of > the bowl. It was here that I saw my first artesian well and my first > real mountain. The mountain was 10,000 foot Capitan Peak about 50 miles > to the west of Roswell. I think that from that time on I wanted to go to > where there were mountains. Donal says that while we were in Roswell > someone had talked Dad out of trying to make the trip over the mountains > in the "old Dodge" because of the problem of the clutch slipping. So, > from Roswell we went to Artesia, NM. > > We were in Artesia when my younges sister, Elysse, was born October 22, > 1938. And when Dad received the news we headed back home. The first > night out Dad stopped alongside the road near Hobbs, NM. It was a cold > night so Dad used a kerosene lantern to heat the inside of the car. It > was so crowded that during the night Donal and Uncle Glenn got out and > took the mattresses from the top of the car and slept between them > leaving the car to Dad and me. In the morning Dad discovered that Donal > and Glenn had put the mattress down in a bed of sand burrs. And they had > slept with their heads about six inches from the edge of the pavement. > > We went to Marietta, OK first to leave Uncle Glenn and then we went on to > Mt. Pleasant, TX to get Mother and see my new sister. > > Thurmon > > > ==== SACKETT Mailing List ==== > RootsWeb blocks HTML formatting in email messages. 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