Among The Hills by Oscar Taylor

These storys are copyed right from the newpaper clippings I have not changed a thing so the spelling is not a typeO.

Among The Hills

By Oscar Taylor

Printed in the Valiant Times Thurs Mar.16 1967 Valiant,Ok

It was a warm, humid day the 29th day of August 1889. The family was just getting around to the crop of wheat grown by my father. Only a few acres of it which he had grown just across the fence from his home on the edge of the glade that came down from old Barker Hill about four miles west of Oxford in Izard County,Arkansas. My father told me of this in my later years.

The type of thrasher used was the old Groundhog and the thrashing machine it-self was setting on low wheels. The power used four mule teams and the driver stood on a platform in the center with a long whip in his hand. The connection between the power and the machine was made up of tumbling rods bolted to-gether with bolts. A fan stood on the ground and was operated by manpower. Some wagor sheets were fastened to poles set up nearby and the grain was thrown by hand to a wall on one side and the weight of the grain fell straight down while the chaff was shoveled up and placed in sacks after it hand been poured into the hand fan and the remaining chaff blown out. It was now ready to be milled.

About eleven o'clock on this morning, dad was summoned to the log cabin where they lived and he was soon on his way to Wideman or near there for Dr. Jones. When he returned he had the doctor himself and the daughter of the doctor. Soon a greeting to rkansas and the United States by Mollie, Cooing and running around the house. This was to give the benefit of inheriting her good qualities for which a thank-ful heart has inherited them. In later years she was loved a lot and she was a fine young woman.

After this I grew from more than five pounds weight to my heaviest weight of 189 pounds when I was agent for Railway Express.

But back to my story. The wheat of this day was finished and I grew to a runnung, jumping, hopping barefoot boy and attended singing at old Thorn Hill sometimes known as Mt. Pleasant. Today I love to turn back the pages of history and review, again, the good times we had on both old Barker Hill and Mt. Pleasent.

At present I will tell you of a school play they had at Old Mt. Pleasant. I can remember my dad acting in that play. He would come out and recite his portion of that little play. He was finally driven off the stage by other, understanding players. The ending of the play was fun, especially for the little folks.

Next week: More about Thorn Hill, or Mt. Pleasant.

Printed in the Valiant Times Thurs, Mar 23 1967

Back in the old days the economical setup was a lot different to what it is today. Then nearlt everything one used had to be grown, then processed and then used. Today must everyone looks for the product in a package, purchases it then uses it. In the good old days a farmer was one who diversified his crops, put away what he needed for a year then lived on it through the year.

I was four to six years of age when my papa allowed me to go with him to the watermill on Piney. Mama didn't go. But two or three neighbors were with us. The roads then were little more than trails and three notches cut into trees that stood by the roadway was the sign used to mark the state roads. If a stranger came along and asked how to get to a certain town, he was told to just follow the three notched road until he found another road leading to his right or left, for him to take the right road and follow that three or four miles and the town where he came to was the place. The roads then were kept up by free labor know as a poll tax. you paid your poll tax or didn't vote. Or was allowed $1.00 per day credit for your labor.

The trails, at first were rocky, muddy or stumpy. Our wagon has been so deep in the mud and leaning up against the tree or stump so hard we had to get a long pole and pry it loose from the stump or tree so the team of mules could pull the wagon out of the mudhole.

There were no bridges then and we had to ford Piney and other creeks and in many cases drive the teams up steep banks. When the creeks were up we had to wait until the creeks ran down.

When we got to the watermill which was a few miles east of Calico Rock, it was nearly sundown. But we unloaded and tied the teams to the feed boxes in the rear of the wagon box, then put up a pole between too saplings then threw some wagon sheet over the end, tied the back side to some saplings or stumps and made our beds down on the ground. If it was raining we made room in the wagon for beds and also for snows, then we builded a big fire out frount of the make tent, and swapped stories until it was late.

Our cooking was done on the fire in front of the makeshift tent and the eating began. At this time a woman was hired to cook biscuits for breakfast. When we were ready to go home, our flour and meal was sacked and sewed and we were ready to go when loaded. Then the long road home, ten or fifteen miles. We arrived and found allwas well at home.

Living in the old days was a lot different then it is today. Then any one couldn't buy about everything in a sack.

Printed in The Valiant Times Thursday March 30, 1967 Valiant, OK

In a few years I was old enough to go to church and Sunday School. Of course we went to Mount Pleasant, as we still lived in this neighborhood; Uncle Miles Langston was the preacher and we could look for him each Sunday. He had a son who married a great aunt of ours and of course we liked him very much. And the singings we had there were good, too, we thought and they were.

Once I remember they had an all day singing and they fixed up a banner that was among the prettiest, I had ever seen. Against a background of white silk I believe it was. They had drawn on the banner, The Mount Pleasant Singing Class. I could climb upon a seat and let my feet hang off and my father and mother got me a badge and let me wear it and I was a member of the Mount Pleasant Singing Class. He and Steve Jones my well loved cousin, led the singing. Steve was the leader most of the time. From this I went on and even today I love to have a part in the singing but because of the miles I have in years, my voice is not what it used to be when I was younger. But I must say the marching and parading was something not seen every day.

Once there was a funeral on old Thorn Hill. A young lady of the neighborhood had passd away and at Thorn Hill is where they had the funeral. It was a sad funeral, and we thought they had a wonderful crowd there that day and nearly all the people cried. But I have seen this happen at a lot of funerals since I was in the quartets that sang at a number of them.

Let me tell a little more about Thorn Hill. A little ways down the hill, north I think it was, was a spring of clear pure water. It came out of some rocks and across them and ran off down the hillside. But it ran over some rocks up near where the water came out of the hillside. Just below the place where the water came out was a hewed outplace in the rocks where one could dip water from it. And this little basin was usually wahed out clean and nice and on a hot, summer day, one could drink the refreshing water from this spring and it would make one feel at at home to drink it. I wonder, sometimes, why one wants to pull up and move to other climes to make a home when one has all the attributes around which could be built a home.

In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth. And He did it for mankind and all the inhabitants of the earth and we must give everything that uses water a chance at it. He did this with love in His heart and soul. He knows the love of enjoyment we get out of His Creation. And many a happy heart have gone away from this place happy - - - and singing a joyful song in his soul.

Back to my home Page

Go to page two to see more

E-mail me and tell me what you think

Go to page 3

page created with Easy Designer