MY EARLY YEARS

Irvin 1924

MY EARLY YEARS

Johnny and Irvin 1925

Billy Schmid and Irvin about 1931 

PICTURES FROM CHILDHOOD

 

Trees played and important part in my early years.  Papa and Mama planted many trees on their large home place including several peach trees, a plum tree, and various other trees. There were about 14 pecan trees planted throughout the property so we enjoyed all kinds of goodies made with pecans.  Nut bread, pecan pie, pecan candy, pralines, and toasted pecans and every imaginable combination were a steady part of our diet.  Several pecan trees were planted in our cow pasture. To protect them from the cows wooden enclosures were built around them. These enclosures became forts for us as we played "cowboys and Indians". We fought many battles using home made rubber guns made of scrap lumber from which rubber bands cut from old inner tubes were shot.

During the Great Depression the pecan trees contributed to our survival. Mama sold  enough pecans at 15 cents per pound to pay the annual taxes on the property.  After the children were grown and scattered throughout the country, Mama faithfully sent each family a large bag of pecans though the mail.  Most of the pecans were in their shells but those sent to my brother Stainton in Arizona had to be shelled since that state's regulations protected their home grown nuts from being contaminated by the possibility of worms in out of state nuts.  I understood that regulation since many of our Mississippi pecans housed some kind of larva.

THE OLD WATER OAK

This is the site of our favorite playground: the old water oak tree at the rear of our home. From its limbs hung more than one swing over its lifetime of years. Within its branches my brother Johnny constructed a rough tree house, which served as a great place to play when all was well and a place to hide when all was not well. I remember slipping up there to pout when I felt that I had been wrongly scolded by Papa.

The shade of this spreading tree made an  ideal place to let our imaginations roam as we played with our toy trucks and other toys.  The tree had rough roots bulging out of the sandy soil which gave us a specially challenging place to play.  During the hot summers we went barefooted and stubbed our toes on the roots more than once.

The tree was also a favorite home for ants. From time to time an exterminator would tack up little cups of ant poison in several places throughout the tree.  Another hazard for children to avoid!

  I had a little red cast iron truck which was one of my favorites.  One day a dump truck delivering a load of coal ran over  my little truck and broke its top off .  I was devastated! But all was not lost and I played with that truck for months, sans a top, but with wheels still attached !

Ginny and Irvin Skating

I was a lover of trains and created trains from little blocks of wood with nails at each end and tied together with string that I could pull around. Papa thoughtfully provided us with  a large sand box where we could stretch our imaginations in making sand castles. Unfortunately, we always had cats that liked the sand box for other activities than play. It made a convenient outhouse for them!

In the front of our home was a long sidewalk where we enjoyed roller skating. Another tree played and important part of my early life, too. It actually started out as three little china berry seedlings that Papa twisted together and planted. By the time I came along one of the trees had died back to a stump and the two remaining had grown into one large tree,  It was a good tree to climb, but we had to watch out for rotten limbs that seemed to be a constant hazard.  One day when I was very young I climbed the tree and much to my Grandmama Stainton's displeasure,  who was watching me from the front yard, I stepped on a rotten limb and fell out of the tree.  She must have thought the fall was my end of me for I was told that she just turned around and returned to the house. The fact was I could have either fallen on a picket fence which then lined the sidewalk or the sidewalk itself. I think I came down on the sidewalk and somehow escaped serious injury.  Except for the loving care of God I would not have made it.