Memories of an Oklahoma Farm Boy

You never needed an invitation to come to our home, nor anyone else's for that matter. Visitors were always welcome and whatever activity was engaged in at the time would just have to wait until company left. Socializing between neighbors was usually at night after all the chores were done. We never ate supper until all the work was done outside, and if friends came for the evening, they would often eat the evening meal with us.

There was usually no special preparation of food for them, they simply ate a part of what mom had prepared for the family. Our usual fare for the evening meal was cornbread and milk with onions and radishes and perhaps pinto beans. If there was not enough food, mom might send dad to the general store a few miles away to purchase something special, like canned oysters or brick chili for soup. Family relatives might come anytime and probably would stay overnight or possibly longer.

My dad, Leon Chappell, was a tenant farmer so we lived in five different locations from the time I was five 'til I left home. None of the houses of the area had seen paint for several years and the sand storms had blasted all the original paint from their walls. Churches and school houses had been painted more recently. The only home with paint which I remember was the King ranch home which was a large two story home set in a large grove of trees two or three miles from our house. In spite of lack of upkeep, the houses stood for many years, and of the ones we lived in, one still stands today, another fell about 1990 after probably 85 years of existence.

In most of the homes of rural northwestern Oklahoma the front door of farm homes were never used, except possibly for ventilation. The driveway always led to the back door. There was usually a "smoke house" a few feet outside the back door which was a small building, possibly 10 by 12 feet, where meat, canned goods or other household items could be stored. I never remember my folks smoking meat there. Pork would be salted and beef would be hung on the windmill to dry then stored in the smoke house. Canned goods were not the store bought kind, but garden produce which mom had canned in Mason jars for use in the months ahead. Meat was also canned and preserved in this way.

A machine which was used twice a day every day was the milk separator. It was usually located in a corner of the kitchen, in a sort of pantry or in the smokehouse. It was usually my job to turn the separator-60 revolutions per minute. One place where we lived the separator was in a little room off from the kitchen. The walls were papered with news papers so while I turned and counted, I'd amuse myself reading the old adds and articles over and over. I remember the name "Cornelia Otis Skinner", but I don’t recall what it was about. She was a very popular actress and author of that time.

My Mom.
Usually our wells had a windmill to pump water, but this one did not.

My mom, Merl Chappell, would come to the door and welcome visitors to her home. She always seemed happy to have visitors come. As one entered the back door, you entered the kitchen area. Immediately beside the door is the wash stand with it's bucket of cool water and a dipper placed in it from which everyone drank. No one seemed aware of the possibility of transmitting germs, though some would suggest drinking from an area of the cup where others normally drank, was not good hygiene. These persons would not place their lips where others normally did would turn the cup and drink from the spot opposite the handle. Still, it was the same cup! A wash pan was setting beside the bucket of water where one always washed, especially before a meal. There was a nail on the wall beside the stand where a towel was hung, or perhaps it was draped over a dowel which was on the back side of the washstand. Probably the wash area was beside the back door so, when one finished washing, the dirty water could be thrown out the back door with little inconvenience.

Mom always had a wood burning cook stove, but because wood was scarce, and coal expensive, she also had a coal oil cook stove for her use. The wood stove had a water reservoir on the left side in which water could be placed and when the stove was in use, hot water was available for washing or cooking and cleaning. Otherwise, water was heated in a tea kettle, which was always on the stove, or (once a week) in buckets if more water was needed for bathing.

Until the 1940's mom always baked our bread and it seemed she would be pulling several loaves out of the oven just as we kids were getting home from school. The first bakery to open in Laverne which offered "light" bread was in the early forties and we all made comment it was hardly more than air and certainly not a substantial food! Depending upon the size of the house in which we lived, the kitchen may also be the dinning room, living room and at first, also the bed room.

Mealtime was a special time for us on the farm during the depression years. When the table was set, plates were usually placed upside down on the table to keep dust and dirt off the eating area until the meal was ready. Glasses were stored upside down in the cupboards as well. Breakfast was served after the cows had been milked and fed and the cream separated. We kids would usually have rice, served as a cereal, with milk and sugar and dad usually had oat meal for his breakfast. Sometimes there would be biscuits and gravy, with sausage or bacon or perhaps some wild game which had been killed the day before.

There would often be fried chicken for dinner, the midday meal. This became a ritual as each person had his own piece of the one chicken which had been prepared. Dad and I would have the thigh, my older sister, Joan, would receive the breast, the two younger children, Dessie and L E, got a leg apiece and mom always "liked" the back best. I don't remember who received the "pulley bone", but it was also a favorite piece. Mom would also fry the legs and neck of the chicken and whatever was on them would be eaten. As a young boy, I always envied my older sister, and thought how great it would be to have the breast just once.

Supper was nearly always after dark and a coal oil lamp was placed in the center of the table for light. As I have already said, the fare was usually cornbread and milk, and I still love it today.

Mom always had her Singer sewing machine which she depended upon to keep us all in patched or new clothing. She let me use it on occasion when I would make leather or canvas articles to play with. I'm sure that was not what her machine was made for, but she didn't seem to mind at all. I remember many times going through the four drawers of the machine to see all the interesting things which mom kept there. She usually had quilting frames set up somewhere in the house and spent her "spare" time making quilts to keep us warm in the unheated rooms at night. She also found time to crochet, making doilies, bedspreads or even dresses for the girls.

After the time of the Great Depression, we usually had a divan or couch which also made into a full sized bed. It would be used when company would stay over night and usually we kids would give up our beds to the visitors and either sleep on the divan or on the floor. Dad would often sleep for 30 minutes or so at noon after he had eaten dinner, to let the horses rest, but he didn't lay on the divan, he would always sleep on the floor.

My brother, L.E. and I, about 1937

Another piece of furniture in our home was the Victrola. It was a true Victrola, made by RCA Victor. Some phonographs in other homes were not Victrola but everyone called them by that name. Ours played flat 78 records and there was a crank on the right side to wind up the machine. My uncle Wayne Piersall's phonograph played cylinder records which I thought was real neat. Records were usually scratched up quite a bit and the needles were not sharp so the sound was a long way from Hi Fi. Still we kids liked to play it and listen to the songs. I can't remember the artists except for the Carter Family and the Chuck Wagon Gang. A favorite was the song, "Will the Circle be Unbroken".

Another item in our home was mom's Bible. It was pretty worn, though I don't remember seeing her read it but she must have. The binding was in pretty bad shape, but it was always down where we kids could look at it and remember the stories as we looked at the pictures. My favorite was Daniel in the lion's den and I remember often asking my mother to tell me about the Bible story. I can't remember where my Christian teaching came from but from my earliest memory I seem to have been drawn to things of Jesus and God. Mom or dad must have told me the stories as I would ask them about the pictures found in the Book.

It is probably true that my generation has seen more change take place in family life and social relationships than any other time in history. There are ways in which we may be considered the "lucky" ones. What if, in my lifetime, I would be able to see astronauts land on Mars? I've already gone from the time when a trip of just a few miles to the neighborhood general store was about the limits of travel to seeing men on the moon. But maybe we are not the "lucky" ones after all. The most difficult change to accept has been in the area of social relationships. We have gone from seeing most of the immediate family members at least each month to maybe once a year if that often. Neighbors no longer drop in unannounced if at all. The Church family is no longer brother and sister, but hardly more than a gathering of persons who worship independently of each other and scatter when the last prayer is said.

Perhaps we should join the Carter family as they sing, "Will the Circle be unbroken? By and by, by and by."