“I can remember
back when I was three-four years old, growin’ up in Dank Holler.
All of us folks had plenty to do in them parts. You got to ’member,
we was still farmin’ and loggin’ with mules, a family’s
most important possession. In the mornin’, kids had chores, most
of ’em enough to purt-near kill a young ’un nowadays. After
the work was done, my friends an’ I would head to the creek or
some special place we all liked to meet. Late afternoon brought more
chores—muckin’ stalls, totin’ wood, an’ helpin’
with the garden, but most important, fetchin’ water for Mama.
We would et supper before it got too dark so we could see what we
was doin’. After eatin’, a family or two would have folks
over. Us young ’uns would be into everthin’. Music on the
porch, someone splittin’ shakes down by the barn.... I think
back on them times an’ realize how great we really had it.
“One winter
they started runnin’ ’lectric into our holler and parts
around the county. Soon a family had a radio. And we would all wander
over and take a listen, see if we might want one too. I slowly watched
as them big radios filled the hollers. We even got one too. Them cool
evenin’s of gettin’ together on the porch seemed to slack
off a little over the next few years.
“When I was
eighteen, I joined the Navy and went away for six years. While in
the Navy I heard tell of picture screens, wonderin’ what this
new contraption would look like. When I come home, purt-near ever’
family in the holler had a TV—includin’ us. The young kids
didn’t play down by the creek no more, and we didn’t see
the neighbors quite as much as we used to. The holler felt different
somehow.
“I sure can
see what them TVs done out in my holler. I think we were better off
without ’em. I don’t let my children watch more’n an
hour or so nowadays. I make sure we all do plenty of the same things
we did when I was a young’un. Sometimes I think it’s what
holds our family together.”
