By the time spring came [1936], the timber cutter had moved on, the big trucks that had hauled the lumber away left the road with twenty inches deep ruts, even the buggy would drag it was almost impossible to travel. Father was again contacted to build another barn, he had the blueprints almost finished and soon would be leaving to work on location. Sister Ruth was still running the boarding house for the Summit Lumber Company. Her hired girl quit, she needed help, Dora volunteered to go help her. That left just Mother and I at home. There is a lot of work on the farm in the spring and summer.
Mother called Albert the one armed man to come help. Albert had only one arm but he did the work of a man with two good arms. Soon the crops were planted and everything was the way it should be. Father had cut some mine post during the winter, but hadn’t hauled them out to the road. Mother and I hitched up the horses to a sled and hauled the posts out. She then made a couple of phone call and the post were sold.
Couple days later a truck stopped at the house, Mother was down at the chicken house as usual. So I answered the door when the truck driver knocked. As I looked at the man in front of me, I couldn’t believe what I saw, this man looked just like he had stepped out of a magazine, he was tall broad shoulders, slim hips, blonde curly hair and the bluest eyes I ever saw. I guessed him to be around twenty five years old. He introduced himself as Woodrow Cupp and then he had come for the mine post. Mother came into the house just then and heard what he said. She went to the cupboard and got a couple sticks of chalk as she handed them to me, “ you go along with Woodrow and count the post.” I was nervous and had a lump in my throat. As I walked out to the truck and climbed in he said, “ I would have been here sooner if I would have known I was going to have such a pretty helper.” I hunged my head and didn’t know what to say, he reached over and raised my head up, as he said, “ Hey I’m not gonna bite you.” I felt better then and soon we were talking like old friends. I learned he was related to our neighbors down the road. I told him of the church picnic and of a square dance a neighbor was having in a few weeks. It was hard work loading the post on the truck, Albert helped the best he could, finally the posts were all loaded. I climbed up on the truck and with the chalk made a mark. Chalk made a white mark on the end of each post as I counted each one. I knew how many there was but wanted to count them again to make sure, I rode with him in the truck back to the house. I knew he was tired and hungry so I invited him in for a piece of apple pie and a glass of butter milk
Mother was working in the kitchen and asked a lot of questions while he ate. As it turned out Mother knew him when he was a kid, he had been born in West Virginia a short distance away, he had been eleven years old when his parents had moved to Uniontown, Pennsylvania where they still lived. As he left he said, “ I’ll be seeing you.” As he started the truck engine he stuck his head out the window and hollered, “ I’ll be back soon.”
As I went in the house Mother was counting the money she had got for her post. She told me to go hitch up Doc to the buggy as we were going to Bruceton to buy wallpaper and curtains before Father got home and spent the money for something else.
Mother and I spent the rest of the week papering and cleaning the living room, she even bought paint and painted the doors and woodwork.
When Father came home that weekend, he looked at the living room and was pleased, he didn’t care that Mother had sold the post to get money to buy paper and paint.
The corn was growing and so were the weeds, Father had to spend Sunday plowing the weeds out of the corn and he was mad as a hornet. I had to stay home from church and hoe corn. I was hoeing in one direction and Father was plowing the other, as the horse approached me he stepped on a stalk of corn, Father jerked on the rein then picked up a rock and threw it at the horse. The rock missed the horse and hit me on the shoulder. I let out a scream and yelled, “ What did you do that for?” Father didn’t say a word just turned and went to the house. Father didn’t come back to the corn field. I saw Uncle Tickey and Aunt Susie go into the house, so I got to the plow, I coaxed the horse along the corn row. I narrowed the plow so I wouldn’t plow out any corn. When I got to the end of the row I unhitched the horse and took him to the barn. I took his harness off and gave him some oats. Then I took off and went down to the creek, I didn’t know what had made Father so mad.
It was getting late and I knew it was about milking time, so I started for home, as I got near the house I could hear Mother and Father arguing; hurriedly I got the milk buckets and went to milk the cows. I had two cows milked when Mother came to help, as she set her stool under the cow she said, “ He’s gone back to that barn.” Tomorrow we’ll finish the corn. I thought sure she would give me heck for running off instead of working in the corn field. Maybe Aunt Susie calmed Father down, she didn’t approve of working on the Sabbath Day; he usually listened to her.
Mother and I worked all next week clearing the weeds out of the corn field. Then I had to help Mother clean the weeds out of her garden. It seemed I had spent all my life pulling or chopping weeds, milking cows, carrying water, coal and fire wood.
Altho school was out for the summer, the people of Brandonville were having a pie social at the school house to raise money for a basketball court for the school yard. Brandonville didn’t have a play ground for the children, they always played in the school yard, so the community got together to buy some play ground equipment.
This social was to be a big event, I wanted to go but Dora and Father both gone I didn’t think I would get to. On Saturday afternoon, Mother was visiting our next door neighbor, they were talking about the social and my wanting to go. Wilber the neighbor said he was going and I would walk along with him.
After the evening chores were done, I got the curling iron and curled my hair, it didn’t look as nice as it did when Dora did it but I thought what the heck. It was getting dark when I knocked on the neighbor’s door, Wilber had been waiting for me, he was eager to get going. Wilber had his oil lantern, and walked up the path in front of me. When we walked to Brandonville we took a short cut across the field and through the woods across a creek and then another field. Down an old road and we were there. This was the way I always went when I went to school. The path was wide and well worn. Wilber and I had crossed the field and started down through the woods. Suddenly he turned around and grabbed my arm as he said, “ We don’t have to hurry, we got lots of time, how about letting me play with you for alittle while,” at first I didn’t understand what he meant. He sat the lantern down and tried to get my dress up. I gave him a big push and yelled, “ you rotten Son of a Bitch!” I gave his lantern a big kick and sent it down over the bank. Then I took off running as fast as I could, I knew that path and didn’t need a light.
When I got to Brandonville, I was a nervous wreck, so I went to Masrene(Massereene) Evans house, she was a girl I went to school with, we were good friend, so I told her what happened. She went with me to the school and stayed with me all evening. Wilber was at the social and kept looking at me, I had the feeling he would be waiting for me on the way home. I expressed my fears to Masrene, she insisted I stay at her house all night. I knew Mother would worry so I said no. Then my problem was solved or so I thought. Donald Moyers [Donald Redburn Moyers 1910-1997], a guy that Dora had always wanted to date, was at the social. All the girls were crazy about him, he was medium height and weight, he wore black framed glasses and had pimples, his Father lived on a big farm. He was an only son. He had a new car and was considered to be a good catch.
Aurella Massareene Evans Coates 1918-2003, Woodrow Wilson Cupp 1912-1936, Donald Redburn Moyers 1910-1997, Dora Guthrie McNair, Ada Bell Guthrie Boyd, James Guthrie, Aunt Tickey and Suzy, and one armed Albert.