Root Jumper

by Justine Felix Rutherford

  There wasn’t much money, but if you had good crops and livestock, you really didn’t need a lot of money. Transactions were often by barter. We raised most of our food to last from season to season. Usually the money we had was from the sale of our extra animals, and we always raised a tobacco crop. Extra chickens and eggs were traded at the store for additional groceries. We always canned and cured our meat.

  We people of West Virginia were always resourceful. We prided ourselves on this; there was always a blacksmith in the community. Hill people were carpenters, shoemakers, tanners, and hunters. They tapped the maple trees in the spring for the maple sugar. This was a cold, hard job since it was usually done early in the morning. They also made sorghum molasses from the sugar cane. The sausage, buckwheat cakes, and maple syrup made a great meal. We hill people have to work very hard, but we enjoy our lives.

  We were settled almost entirely by people who were descendants of Anglo-Saxon backgrounds. The early settlers were men of character. They wanted to be free and far away from England. They faced the savage and unknown for freedom. The hillbilly has been made fun of because of his peculiar ways. We are a little peculiar; but who wants to be like everyone?

  My young life was centered in the small community of Spurlock Creek, West Virginia, where our church and school provided our social life. I am so grateful that I was raised in the country. Life was simple and free, the way I believe God wanted his people to live.

  Mountain Music

  “Music is the art of prophets, the only art that can calm the agitation of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.”

  Luther

  One form of entertainment that we had when I was growing up was our music. I don’t think I can really describe what it meant to us. Music nourished our souls like food and water nourished our bodies. It seemed as if people sang all of the time. You sang if you were happy, and you sang if you were sad. You could always hear singing echoing through the hills and valleys. Just a few years ago I could sit on my patio and hear the Henrys making music. They lived just across the valley from where I live today. It was such a delightful feeling to hear the music flowing through the air.

  After work was done in the evening, our front porch was full of people making music. Almost everyone had a four- dollar Sears or Montgomery Ward guitar. The tone of these instruments was amazingly good, and they were easy to tune and play. There were also banjos and fiddles that had been handed down from one generation to the next. Usually someone had a mandolin or “juice” harp. The hills rang with our music. People would come from miles around to be a part of it.

  I remember the sound of the instruments being tuned and the last “plink” of a string that said, “We’re ready.” The fiddle player would draw his bow down across the strings—that was usually my brother Elba. Someone would call out, “Play it pretty, Eb!” I can still hear the strains of “Turkey in the Straw,” “Sourwood Mountain,” “Sally Goodun,” “Fire on the Mountain,” and “John Henry.”

  Before long someone would hit the floor with a dance, which was called a “hoe down.” It was later called clogging. If there were enough room or people for a square, later they would have some square dancing. After a while, the musicians would take a break, and everyone had milk or coffee and molasses cookies. I guess there might have been a little “shine” passed around on the outside, but I never saw it. Some of the religious people frowned on the “shine.” After the refreshments, there was usually no more dancing, but the music would go on.

  Some of the most beautiful music came from people who didn’t know how to read music notes at all. They just seemed to have a God-given talent for making music. They could pick up practically any type of musical instrument and soon begin to play it.

  One of my first memories is of being on Uncle Bert Spurlock’s front porch and running up the music scale, “do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do.” Our song books had shaped notes in them, and we learned to read the music by the shape of the note. There was a music teacher from the community who would come to our churches and teach music free of charge. Anyone who was interested in singing was welcome. I remember Bill Spurlock always taught on Spurlock Creek, and Matt Hanna would teach on Barker Ridge. I never did learn a whole lot. I still just sing “up and down.”

  We would arrive at church early so that we could sing outside before Sunday school began. Some of most pleasant memories are of singing with my cousins and friends at Sunrise Church. Our church had what they called “Homecoming Sunday.” People would come from everywhere to be there that day. We got to visit with people that day that we hadn’t seen all year long. The meeting lasted all day long.

  First, the preacher would preach his message, and then we would go outside for dinner. There were tables set up in the church yard beneath the huge elm trees. The tables were loaded with all sorts of home-cooked food. Our eyes bugged out at the sight of all that beautiful food. My cousin Ruth and I stood by the dessert table, ready to make a dash at the chocolate cake. My mother would catch my eye, and although she never said a word, I knew that I had better mind my manners and that I wasn’t going to get to be the first one at the chocolate cake. After everyone had eaten his fill, we went back into the church, and someone would start playing the piano and organ. Usually the instruments were off a note or two here and there. It didn’t matter. We made music and sang the rest of the day. Some of the rural churches here in Appalachia still use the old hymns in their services such as “Standing on the Promises,” ”Blessed Assurance,” and “How Firm a Foundation.”

  My great grandchildren Katie, Levi, and their father Aaron Miller still play the old Appalachian music. I love to hear Levi, who is twelve years old, play the fiddle and sing. Katie plays several instruments and sings as well. We have the greatest time when the family gets together. Our roots run deep!

  Surviving the Hard Times

  Sticking Together

  My family did a lot of things in order to “make it” after the Crash of 1929. The Depression lasted a long time. I was young, but I still have memories of those years. I remember how sad it was to see so many people having to go without the necessities they desperately needed. People back then were very proud; no one wanted others to know just how desperate they really were.

  We were lucky to have lived on a farm. We always had enough food, and we were never hungry. However, we didn’t have too much variety at times. I remember visiting a family who had only biscuits with mustard for their evening meal. One of the girls said that she was glad they were having a cold snack for supper since she didn’t want me to know that was all they had. These were good, hard-working people.

  My parents told us not to eat at certain homes because they didn’t want us to take food that those children needed. We really didn’t understand this, but I learned to look around for food. If I didn’t see any food, I would arrange to have a picnic with the kids. This picnic usually consisted of boiled eggs, tomatoes, biscuits and apple butter.

  My parents paid for their farm during this period. I don’t know how they did it, but I know we worked from daylight to sundown with every one of us having chores to do. We saved every little thing. Nothing was ever thrown away. If there were any food scraps, they were fed to the animals. We always raised a big garden. We grew potatoes and onions that lasted all winter. We also raised corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, cabbage, peppers, and beets. We made pickles from cucumbers, kraut from cabbage, and relishes from various mixtures. Everything was pickled, canned, or dried. This food from the garden was supplemented with meat from wild animals such as rabbits, squirrels grouse, quail, fish, and turtles from the creek.

  I remember the 410 shotgun that stood in the corner of the kitchen. My brothers loved to hunt, but they got only one shell each. My dad would tell them to be sure to bring back something with that shell. Occasionally they didn’t get anything, but the shell cam
e back to be put in the shell box for the next time. My brothers were excellent hunters with the “gun.”

  I remember my mother giving a man a half gallon jar of canned tomatoes to take to his family. He had to cross over our hill to get to his home. Later, when we were out after the cattle, we found the empty jar. My mother said that he must have been very hungry to have eaten a half gallon of tomatoes. I just thought about his family that didn’t get any.

  There was a certain amount of stealing that went on during this time. When people stole from us, my dad would say, “I would probably steal too if my family was hungry.” I remember in later years talking to a man who held it against his mother for stealing a can of lard. I told this man, “You’re sick in the head to hold that against your mother. She was probably just trying to keep you alive!”

  Those were hard times, but there were good times too. We were very close and took care of each other. I remember the pictures of the bread lines and the soup kitchens. We couldn’t afford a newspaper, but my mother’s sister always saved their newspapers for us. We kids especially loved the “funnies” from the newspapers. I very seldom saw a dollar bill. I always thought the dollar looked so magnificent with its special green color. I still love to look at paper money. If I could, I would take all the money I have, put it in “greenbacks,” and store it behind a glass wall so I could look at it.

  One day, coming home from the grocery store, I found a folded up one dollar bill. I ran the rest of the way home, bursting through the kitchen door shouting, “Mom! Mom! Look what I found!” My mother looked it over and said, “Where did you find this?” I explained that I had found it in the road and that I had picked it up. She said that we couldn’t use it until we tried to find out who had dropped it near the grocery store. No one ever did, and I was allowed to keep the money.

  I knew exactly where I was going to spend this money. There was a brown and tan pair of shoes in Lillian Gebhardt’s grocery store. I had been dreaming about those shoes. The only problem was that the shoes cost two dollars. Where was I going to get that extra dollar? I had four chickens that my mother had given me as babies which I had raised. I gathered up the chickens and took them to the store. Lillian said she would trade me the pair of shoes for the chickens and the dollar. However, she tried to discourage me from buying those shoes, but I persisted. Nothing would satisfy me but those brown shoes, and I proudly wore them home. A few weeks later, I wore my brown shoes, and they got wet. The brown color began to fade. Underneath the brown color the shoes were really white. I got so mad that I threw them away and walked home barefooted.

  My mother made most of our clothes. She had an old Singer treadle sewing machine. I remember that almost every evening she sat at that machine sewing something. That old machine was the “King.” We kids didn’t dare touch it. The “King” had a wooden box that covered and protected it. When Mom lifted the box, it was awesome what she could produce from the “King.” She could take it apart and put it back together again. I remember watching her as she adjusted the bobbin with a hairpin. The bobbin looked like a bullet, and that fascinated me. The machine’s belt had been patched numerous times. Over the years, I can’t remember my mother’s ever getting a new belt. When Mom got finished adjusting everything, she gave it a shot of Singer Machine Oil. I don’t know what was in that oil, but it kept our household humming.

  My mother never had a store-bought pattern. I would pick out something I liked from the Sears Catalog, and Mom would cut a pattern from newspapers to make my dress. The dresses were usually made from feed sacks, but sometimes for special occasions I would get a dress made from store-bought material that cost twenty cents a yard. Before I left home, I learned to sew on the “King” and made my own clothes.

  A String of Beads

  One year at Christmas time I got sick, and Mom wouldn’t let me go to the woods to choose a tree. I described my tree to my brothers. It was a beautiful cedar tree. The boys bought a tree and brought it to me. I was sure it wasn’t the tree I had picked out, but it was a tree. I put my tree up and decorated it. I thought it was beautiful! It didn’t matter that most of the bulbs had been used so much there wasn’t much color left on them. Also, the tinsel was so worn that it wouldn’t stay on the tree. We had made some decoration at school, and I put these on the tree. I sort of looked like a peppermint stick of candy. I thought it was grand!

  I waited and counted the days until Christmas. I didn’t see any presents, but I thought my mother was hiding them. The days continued to pass with still no sign of presents. Finally Christmas Eve came. My mother brought out two little sacks. We looked at my brother’s first. He had gotten a car that had headlights on it. He was happy with his present. Then I opened my sack, and there was a little white box. There lay a string of the ugliest brown bead I had ever seen. I threw the box down and started to cry. “Is this all I get for Christmas?” To this day I can still see every little mark on those brown beads. I began to have a real tantrum. My brothers started kicking me under the chair. I didn’t understand why they were kicking me since I didn’t know my behavior was breaking my mother’s heart. My mother said that maybe it would be better next year, and she said to have some candy and fruit. It finally sank into my young mind that she had done the best she could do. Those beads cost ten cents. I was just a child, but I never forgot my hurt—or the hurt I had caused my mother.

  Making “Shine”

  One year we were having a rough time, and I overheard my dad and our neighbor Zack Nicely talking. They were discussing their plight and what to do about it.

  My dad said, “We probably could make a buck by making some moonshine.” Zack said, “Walter, we probably will get caught, but if you’re game, so am I.”

  My dad told my mother about his plans, and she said, “Oh, Walter, you don’t want to do this. What will the neighbors say?”

  My dad replied, “I don’t plan on them knowing.”

  I found out later that many people made shine during this period. I don’t remember how long my dad and the neighbor made shine, but my friends began to tease me about it. I felt very bad and ashamed. I talked to my dad about it, and he said, “Everybody has to live. You tell your friends you haven’t been on the ‘dole’ yet.” I did as he told me. No one ever said anything about making shine after that.

  Roosevelt started several different projects to help people. I remember the signs on people’s windows. These signs were WPA, NRA, and CCC. My dad would work for the WPA, but he wouldn’t take any of the food from the government. He called it “dole” or government hand-outs. Dad was hired on the WPA, and he pounded rock on the roads of Spurlock Creek. He was a strong Republican, and so he didn’t last long. He got fired twice. I remember seeing him come up through the yard and my mother watching him. She said, “Walter, did you get fired again?” He and the Democratic foreman had a fight the last time he got fired. I remember his big black eyes. Politics were associated with strong feelings back then. My dad always told me to stand up for what you believe in. I have always tried to do that.

  Sorghum Making

  Another project that brought in a few bucks for my family was making sorghum molasses. We grew the cane on the farm. In the fall, the cane was cut and the leaves stripped from the cane, leaving a long slender stalk. It was hauled from the fields on sleds and stacked close to the sorghum mill. A fine fellow, Emory Call, owned a sorghum mill, and he brought it around to the different farms and made sorghum molasses from the cane.

  The mill was a large, oblong tray with different compartments in it. The trays were filled with the raw juice from the cane crusher. It was run through a metal pipe and then into the trays. Mr. Call would stand for hours and watch the cooking molasses. A green foam formed on the first trays. Mr. Call had a long-handled strainer that would dip this up with and sling it into what was called the ‘skimming hole.” This was a large hole dug in the ground. The skimming hole was a sticky
mess.

  When it was done, the molasses would turn a deep golden brown. Mr. Call would pull up the plug and out would come the beautiful smelling molasses. I would stand as close as I could to Mr. Call when the molasses was about done for the first run-off. He would whisper to me, “Sis, it is just about ready.” He ran the molasses into a container just for us kids. We grabbed that container and carried it away along with our can stalks which were shredded on the ends. We dipped the stalks into the molasses and licked it off. This was great fun. We spent the rest of the day trying to push each other into the skimming hole.

  When the molasses was cooked, it was run into quart and half-gallon metal containers. Mr. Call took a share for his pay. We kept a portion for ourselves, and the rest was sold. There were people waiting get the golden molasses. We would enjoy cookies and taffy made from our molasses. We had what was called a “taffy pull.” We invited our friends to a party where the molasses would be cooked again, and then butter, soda, and flour would be added to the mixture. When it was just right, the mixture was cooled. Sometimes we added walnuts. We then floured our hands and pulled the taffy into great long strips. Everyone would be laughing and joking. It was the greatest time. After it was pulled, the taffy would be placed on buttered plates where it would become hard. Then you could crack it and eat it.

  Raising Turkeys

  My mother always had her own money-making projects to help out. One of these projects was raising turkeys. Those turkeys were really amazing critters. Mom always saved a gobbler and a few hens from the year before. In the spring when it was time for the turkeys to lay, they always slipped away to lay their eggs. It was my job to follow the turkey hens, find their nests, and get their eggs. Mom didn’t want to take a chance on losing a turkey egg. That would have been like losing money. I remember following those old turkey hens. If they saw you following them, they would not go to their nests. They would lead you off in the opposite direction and then slip back to the nest. It wasn’t often you could out-smart a turkey. Sometime I would get so mad at those hens. It was always a big thrill to find the nest and be able to bring Mom the eggs. But I always had to leave one egg in the nest or the turkey hen wouldn’t lay there anymore.