The Old Home Place
The Moatsville String Ticklers
Ida L. Reed
Hillbilly - English Dictionary
New American Economics Experiment
You've already seen a picture of the old home place. Grandpa built cement steps and a walk that led up the hillside to the house. At the bottom of those steps, erosion caused some big cracks. I remember keeping a wary eye out for snakes as I approached those steps and started to climb.
Clear across the front of the house was a porch, complete with porch swing, that proved to be an 'entertainment center' for children who visited. That swing could fly high enough for a kid to touch the toe of a sneaker to the ceiling. This wasn't without risk, though. I remember one time that the old spring, between the chain and ceiling hook, broke. Man, did that hurt when it hit my arm!
The heart of the home was the dining room. Since there was no central heating, the fireplace Grandpa built was extremely popular on cool days. When I was small, I longed for the day when I would be tall enough to see myself in the mirror over the mantel.
Grandpa's big old bent oak rocker and Grandma's straight-back rocker were in the dining room, plus the cherry drop-leaf table and the corner cabinet that Grandpa also built. (Do you begin to see a pattern here?) Behind Grandma's rocker was a large grandfather's clock, with a huge face, that my great-grandfather made. In the central opening to the clock face, he placed a doll's head. I've heard that, when it was working, the doll's eyes would move back and forth with the time of the pendulum.
