Hard Time in Ga.

Author: Don Hall

I was seventeen years old in January, and on July 18, 1924 Ernest and I were married. We stayed with Mrs. Hall for a while until we could get some furniture. It wasn't long until one of Ernest's friends separated, so we bought their furniture and moved to the mill village. Our house was on Middle Street and it had three rooms with a hall in between them.

I would sit up until three in the morning making sheets, pillowcases and scarves. I loved it there and had Odell and Ira Lee with me. We had been living there six months, and my dad came in. I didn't feel I could encourage him to stay with me after he had left us twice so he left one day while I was at work.

He took Odell and Ira Lee with him. He went to my granddad's house and told granddad he was going up to Tennessee to live with his father. I wrote my grandmother and asked her if he was there with the two kids. She wrote back and said he came, stayed two weeks, and left Odell but took Ira Lee with him to Nashville. Ernest borrowed a car and we drove to Tennessee to get them both.

When we got home, Odell went back to work in the mill and Ernest got Ira Lee a job making bands. Ira Lee was fifteen years old then. After a few months, I got a letter, which I thought was from Grandfather. He asked me to bring the kids, for my dad was dying.

So Ernest, borrowed a car from his brother, and we all went to grandfather's. My father had actually written the letter and he wasn't even sick. He had a job as an apartment manager and wanted Odell and Ira Lee with him. So we left them, but he lost his job in a few days. He took Odell to get her a job in the mill and left her with my granddad. Then, he took Ira Lee with him to St. Louis.

A little later on Liz and Otis moved to South Carolina, so Ernest and I sold out to follow them. We lived with them in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and worked in a cotton mill. I ran eight sides and Ernest was an oiler. He made $13.50 a week and I made $16.79 a week.

We bought a bed and dresser to go in our room. Later, Lotus and Floyd Rutherford, my aunt and her husband came to Rock Hill, so we supported Liz, George, Mary, and Otis. Otis would not work. We lived there three months and in March we left for Atlanta.

The year we got back to Atlanta it snowed on the 15th of May. I was carrying Snooks at the time. We got some furniture and went to housekeeping in Lowery town where Snooks was born on September 27, 1925. I didn't know too much about babies, but after Snooks was two months old I went to work.

This was in 1925. I took him to the nursery and it only cost 50 cents a week to keep him there. We lived in that house for about a year and a half and then moved up the road near the bridge in a house with Joe Donaldson. This was the old Casey house. Ernest went to work with Joe working on cars there.

We had to carry water to the house from a big spring. At about that time I quit the mill and didn't work anymore until Charlie was born in 1928. We moved from that house over to Carey Park in a house with Uncle Bud McGuire. We stayed there for one winter and moved to Mason Turner. That spring I dug up a large area and raised a nice garden.

Right before Charlie was born, I got hurt in an automobile accident, but I didn't go to a doctor because we really had no money. Later after Charlie was born, my back was starting to draw over badly. The first day I got out of bed I couldn't straighten up.

Ernest eventually quit working for Joe Donaldson and went back to the mill. Unfortunately, work was so short at the mill that he only worked three days a week; the rest of the time he fixed flat tires.

He didn't start working full time in the mill until that fall. After he started working full time, he bought a Model T Ford, so I went back to work to help him pay for it. I knew that if I didn't go back to work, he would lose it because he couldn't save any money.

Ernest was the type of person who would pay you only if you happen to catch him with money in his pocket. I had to get a back brace for my back because it started hurting so bad. I would pad the brace but it still cut big gashes under my arm. I used soft diapers for padding.

Also, my legs and hips hurt badly. I couldn't put one foot lower than the other without screaming in pain. And just a little later I became pregnant with D. L. I was trying to keep working to get Ernest out of debt because debt worried me.

But the more bills I paid, the more debt Ernest would run up. He bought a Singer sewing machine and a bedroom suite. The bedroom suite alone cost $49.50, so he just went to a loan company and borrowed the money to pay off the bedroom suite. Then we had to pay $9.00 per month to the loan company.

In addition he was supposed to pay $1.00 per week on the sewing machine. We were unable to do that so the sewing machine was reposed. Naturally, they couldn't catch Ernest so I had to face them.

I quit work until D. L. was three months old. One day Ernest was working on a car and the jack failed and the car came down on his arm and broke it. He was out of work for nine weeks, so I had to go to work so we could make it.

His sister Marie kept the kids while I worked to pay for groceries, house rent and insurance. After his arm healed, he didn't seem to want to work anymore. He went fishing all day long. My legs for so bad that I had to quit.

Meanwhile, things were going bad at the mill and it shut down a little later. We decided to move to another house with cheaper rent and stayed there through the winter. Ernest got a job at Bushman's selling meat and sausages for $7.00 a week.

He was gone from early in the morning until late at night. Then, he quit bushman and went to work for Roy Dodgins as a mechanic. Mr. Dodgins bought Snooks overalls to go to school and I washed them every evening so that he would be able to stay clean.

He wore one pair of overalls until school was out, but he went clean to school every day. Later we moved back to Mason turner in the same house we lived in before, Ernest worked for Roy for a while but he never made much money at that job.

Also, he ran up a grocery bill at the store that I didn't know about. I had to get out and pick blackberries to help pay for that bill. When the mill started up again, Ernest went back to work to pay off the grocery bill. We worked ten hours a day and when I came home, I did my washing and ironing until late at night.

I tried to make enough money to get Joan's (her name was spelled Joan, however we called her Joanne) baby clothes and the kid's school clothes before I quit work. Joan was born on the 7th of August 1934, and she as a beautiful baby. Ernest was on cloud nine and let her sleep in the bed with him the first night, as it turned out she slept with him until she was five years old. As far as he was concerned, she was the only baby we had.

We moved to another four-room house when Joan was three months old. Marie, Ernest's sister was out of a job so she came to live with us and keep the children for me to work. I then bought a sewing machine and paid for it myself.

During that period of time, I started going to the "rubbing" doctors to see if they could help my back, so most of my money went to the doctor. When Joan was two years old, Mr. Hall died; he had been paralyzed for some time. We moved to Mrs. Hall's basement so she wouldn't have to live alone. I continued working until 1938.

Charlie was in school and he got a whipping everyday by the teacher. One day his girlfriend Ann came to see me and told me that Charles was fighting in school. She said that she was so ashamed of him because Charlie had hit the teacher. He told the teacher that if she hit him hard, he would hit her hard.

I talked to him, gave him a whipping, and he did fine, but Ann wouldn't have him for her boyfriend. Charlie's nickname was "roughneck". If anyone bothered Snooks, Charlie would get into a fight over it because he really looked after Snooks.

When Joan was five years old she got Scarlet Fever and liked to have died. Ernest went to the hospital, rain or shine. He came down sick and never saw another well day until he died.

We stayed with Mrs. Hall until 1939 when Betty was born. The mill shut down in 1937 and there was no money anywhere. Ernest worked for a short period with homer Suddeth and brought home vegetables. But we had no bread, and I had no baby clothes for Betty. Charles and Snooks worked at the bowling alley setting up pins and made a dollar a night.

We used that money to buy milk and bread. I crocheted dresses, scarves and doilies, and one of the teachers bought them. The teacher sent them to London, Germany, Italy and New York to her friends.

Ernest started working with the P.W.A., things were bad everywhere; there was no money. When you worked you got a piece of paper to buy groceries with. There was no sugar, snuff, peaches, coffee or anything but basic foods.

Everyone was starving. One day his pay for working with the P.W.A. was a sack of fruit, but he gave it away cause he was too lazy to bring it home. Things were really bad during those days. One night the boys didn't get to work and we had no breakfast the next morning.

One day Ernest came in and said that he had a job at Brooks Auto Parts for two dollars a day. I was still in the bed with Betty, but I told him to go ahead and take the job. As soon as Betty was a month old we moved to Carey Park. We lived there until Betty was two years old. In early 1940, we moved to Cobb County to a house owned by Mr. Brooks on Maynard Road. Mr. Brooks got us a cow and the boys and I cleaned off some land for a large garden and corn patch.

I was so large I couldn't walk much except with a stick, but I still kept things going around the house. The boys helped clean the house, got water up at night, helped with the ironing, cut wood and did everything they could. They were good children, but it was hard on them. In the meantime, Ernest worked for Brooks Auto Parts, but he began drinking badly.

On May 29, 1940, Duck was born. I had to put him on the bottle, but all the kids loved him and helped look after him. Snooks rocked him until eleven o'clock every night because he had the three-month colic. He started crying at four PM in the evening and cried until eleven o'clock at night.

Ernest's drinking got so bad that our friends started talking to him about it. Finally, he got ashamed about it, quit Brooks Auto Parts and went back to the mill. We moved to a house on Watkins Road and stayed there for a while, and moved again to our present house on Watkins road. We stayed here until Dee Mitchell had to go into the service, and Marie talked Ernest into moving in with her so she wouldn't be by herself.

We lived with her one winter, but her drinking caused Ernest to go back to drinking. By then, I was pregnant with Mary, so I begged him to find another house. When he refused, I left him, took Betty and Duck, and went to Nix McGuire's house. Ernest came by every day to see us and Snooks came by every night. Finally, Snooks quit school, got a job and rented us a house on Riverview road. Finally, Ernest slowed down on the drinking for a while, came to live with us and we raised a nice garden there.

Then, Ernest rented a big house on Oakdale Rd and we moved up there. We lived there until Mary was born. Even though Snooks was working at Westinghouse, he did most of the cooking because I finally got to where I couldn't walk with out help. I crocheted curtains for the whole house while I was waiting for Mary to be born.

On October 29, 1942 Mary Kay was born (her real name is Kay Frances) They named her before I was able to tell them that her name was supposed to be Mary Lucille (named for Mary Cavin) When Mary was two months old, we moved to Watkins road again. By then, World War II was going strong, and Snooks went into the service. With Snooks gone, Charlie quit school and went to work.

We stayed in that house until 1945. During those years, Ernest made his first crop. He, D.L. and Charles raised a garden. Then Charles left for the service. About that time, we moved again to our present house on Watkins Road.

Charles joined the Marines when he was seventeen years old. He really wanted to go in the Marines. When Snooks was gone, I went with him in my dreams. I also knew when he got hurt and when he was coming home. I felt him getting nearer and nearer until I could reach out and touch him.

Ernest would curse at me because he wouldn't believe what I was telling him, but Snooks came in on the very day that I said he would. Ernest called me a witch and couldn't believe Snooks was really there, so he touched him to see if he was real.

I also followed Charles and did my share of crying. When they were gone I got really sick and when Snooks got out of the service. He came and looked after the kids and me. He stayed with me until I got well. He washed, ironed and cooked and kept a clean house for the children. No one knows how much he helped me during those days.

While I was sick, he kept my bed sheets clean, and that alone was a job in the shape I was in. I was in bed from the last of December until the 15th of May, 1946.After I got out of the bed it took a long time for me to get back in shape, but my kids helped me do it.

I guess that is why I love them so, they were always there when the chips were down and did their part to help. I know I enjoyed my children more than any mother because we took the good with the bad together.

We shared things, with each other. For example, one day D. L. lifted the front of a car and held it until his friends put on two new front tires. He hurt his back doing this, but he didn't say anything. Later after he had already married his legs hurt him so bad he couldn't walk or go to work.

I took him to the doctor and paid his bills until he was able to work and made him stay here until his first child was seven months old. I did the washing and Joan did all the ironing. D.L.'s wife, Rose, would help with the housework. Every one of my kids pitched in.

Another example is when D.L.'s little boy died. Charlie paid all the bills for his burial out of his pocket. Another example was when Darcie had Snooks locked up. Charlie cried like he was whipped and paid the fines and court cost by himself. He cried all the way home from the courthouse cause it hurt him when one of his family was hurt. Another example was when we thought Mary was going blind.

My kids stood by me. Charles took her to the Lighthouse of the Blind and they said she would be blind by the time she was eighteen years old. Charlie cried as much as I did but he didn't give up. He took her to other specialist, but they all said the same thing.

We were at our wit's end, but kept praying and kept faith. One day we started home from the doctor, but stopped in at Sim's Dime Store on Marietta Street. We were both still crying, so Mrs. Ida Sims tried to help us. Ida Sims ran this store and was a very good friend. She had helped me out many times and we all loved her.

Charles told her about Mary and she wrote an address and phone number down. She told us to go see a doctor that she knew about. Also she told us about her brother who was born blind. She had taken him everywhere and had spent thousands of dollars trying to find someone who could help her brother gain his sight. Finally she found a doctor in Atlanta who could perform the required operation.

She had it done and her brother could now see. The doctor's name was Louis Burgess. The next morning Charlie and I took Mary to the doctor. He prescribed her glasses and treatment, and we spent the next several years working with her to help her keep her eyesight. No one knows how much they have to be thankful for until they have one of their own in trouble.

We went through our hard times in Georgia, and there's one thing that hard times makes you realize. No matter how poor or rich, everyone is the same if their child is in trouble. When a family is undergoing a crisis, the only thing that really counts is the help of your loved ones. We never know what is ahead for our children, all we can do is guide them and raise them the best we know how.

I have 30 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren, one great grandson and I love each and every one of them the same. I hope that they will never have to endure the hard times that we went through in our lives. I still can remember Joan's scarlet fever. It was during Hoover times and she almost died. They had to put electricity to her bed to bring out the rash.

We couldn't see her for three weeks. When Betty came down with scarlet fever we had to seal her off from the rest of the family. No one could go into her room but me. I had to give her two baths a day and rub her with medicine; she was paralyzed from the hips down. After I fed her I had to put her dishes in Lysol water.

I changed her bed and clothes everyday, washed them in Lysol water for thirty minutes and boiled them on the stove for thirty minutes. She stayed in her room for twenty-one days before she could come out and had to learn how to walk again. Only with the help of God was I able to make it through.

Probably the worst of my hard times occurred when Duck got shot in the arm with a shotgun. We were all scared to death. I held up real well until Duck got home from the hospital; then I almost had a nervous breakdown. He never knew it, but I made Ernest take me for a ride in the car down in the woods so I could cry my heart out.

In fact, Ernest took me several times for that ride before I could hold my tears. Later, when Duck had the operation on his jaw. I had to hold on until I could get time to go outside to do my crying. I cried all night. He couldn't eat for six weeks and we all suffered along with him.

Even thought the times of my life were hard, there were moments that I enjoyed and will never forget. I remember the das when I would take all the kids to help me clear land and carry rocks off the field.

Some days we worked like dogs but still enjoyed it. We raised most everything that we ate. I always wanted my kids to learn how to farm for a living. All the boys learned to plow and I would can our vegetables. We were usually so tired at night that our baths felt especially good. Of course, all we had was just a big tub for a bath. We all wore hand me down clothes, but I did the sewing to make them fit the kids.

For my clothes, I bought feed sacks and made dresses with them. We always kept a clean house, clean bedclothes and clean clothes to wear. In the end, I guess all you really have are your memories. Our family always enjoyed being together; at night the children and I would tell tales and enjoy each other. When you are around a large crowd of kids and they all finally leave home, you miss each and every one of them.

I will always have some sweet memory of each one. Because of the accident that I had years ago, my head gradually drew down so that when I walked my head faces the ground. Eve in this condition, I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to enjoy my children and now my grandchildren and my great grandchildren.

Continue to Chapter 3