Fine Art America

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Ask Grandma Polly


Polly's eight year old granddaughter had lots of questions. Below are just a few of them.

Did you ever run away or hide?
Yes. One time I ran away and hid in the woods for four days with my aunt who was the same age as me. All our folks were so worried. We got so hungry and dirty and had insect bites all over us.

Did you have ice cream?
We made ice cream in the summer. A man cut ice blocks at Tolliver Hole in the winter and kept them buried in sawdust until summer.

Did you have your own bedroom?
No, I never did. It was pleasant beyond words to sleep with two or three little brothers and sisters. Once when I was about two years old and yet sleeping with my mom and dad, I remember a rat bit me on the knee!

How did you keep your soda cold?
We didn’t have sodas. We hung the milk down in the well in a jar in the well bucket. We got out first refrigerator in 1953.

Did you have chores you had to do?
I took care of little sisters and brothers, sewed their clothes, carried water, washed on a rub-board, but mostly I helped at the sawmill. I helped grind corn and wheat at our grist-mill and even made railroad ties with a broad axe.

Did you go to the fair?
The Fourth of July picnic at Grandin was like a carnival. The merry-go-round was owned by the Tolliver family. There was square dancing. If I stopped dancing, my boyfriend Clarence Willhite would quit playing the violin so everyone had to stop dancing!

Who was your favorite boyfriend?
Outside of the two I married it is yet a BIG SECRET.

No comments: