Hmmm... sounds like your life was about like mine! I remember working in the fields of cotton...hoeing to keep the weeds out of it...I remember chopping down some of the plants and sticking it back down in the ground so Daddy wouldn't know... next came the poisoning...I don't know what that stuff was but it smelled awful, I think that it had molasses in it to make it stick to the cotton boles. Daddy gave us a piece of wood with a piece of burlap attached and that was dipped into a bucket of that stinkin stuff...that we carried. Then came time to pick!!! If you've ever seen cotton ready to pick you know that the boles are very dry and you have to pull that cotton out of there...and you'd better not leave any in it!!! If you cut your finger on it, you'd better not get any blood on the cotton. But the fun time came when all that cotton was piled up in the barn before taking it to the cotton gin to take out the seeds and pack it in bales. We would climb up on the cotton and slide down. I think I was about 8 or 9 years old at that time. I don't remember anybody coming around to show us how to make mattresses though. But then, there's probably a lot that I've forgotten. We say "those were the good old days"... and when you think about it *they were*. We didn't get in trouble... we were so tired that we went to bed early AND went right to sleep. We always stopped work and came in to listen to "The Lone Ranger" and the news on the radio... OK, this is enough for now. I believe I kinda got carried away!!! Memories... MaryClyde ----- Original Message ----- From: <askgranny@juno.com> To: <SOUTHERN-CHAT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2010 2:41 AM Subject: [SOUTHERN-CHAT] Home made mattresses > > Remember when the government sent folks around to schools ,etc. to teach > folks how to make mattresses ? There was a lot of surplus cotton after a > bumper crop and no place to sell it, so the government ...is a rare case > of sensable-itis, got together teams of people and sent them out to > schools, etc. When they came to our area they had the meeting at the 1 > room country school .. we all went and Mama made a mattress out in the > front yard. . The Gov. supplied the ticking and all and the neighbors > each made a mattress...It was sewn through the cotton with long > needles...We were cautioned about playing on the ground under the > 'tables' but Sister Joyce 'didn't mind,' and got a needle stuck in her > cheek...I can just barely remember it...It was about 1940... > > Seems like we had enough mattresses, because we had few beds, except the > large baby bed had a straw mattress...I can remember making up a new > mattress for it...The 2 oldest boys slept across the dog trot hall in a > big unheated room, and the rest of us slept in the big front room which > was warmed by a fire place. ...Mom and Dad and a baby or two in one bed > , and the next four of us girls in another full sized bed. Two at the > head and two at the foot .Feather beds and pretty quilts Mom had made > helped keep us warm in the winter time. Wonder how far under the jail > they would put you now for raising us the way they did....Working in the > fields starting about age 5 , etc.....Jeannie T > > > ____________________________________________________________ > Get Free Email with Video Mail & Video Chat! > http://www.juno.com/freeemail?refcd=JUTAGOUT1FREM0210 > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SOUTHERN-CHAT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >