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I usually got up of a morning , got dressed and went down and ate breakfast.  Daddy used to fix the breakfast and he would have  grits, country ham, eggs, fried sweet potatoes, and sliced tomatoes in season.  Then I would feed the chickens and go out and open the store up.  That and the Post office were the only things  on the place locked; the house and barns were never  locked.  The back door had a key but the front door and all the  windows had iron bars that went across them. Next I would sweep out the entire store and post office and the front steps and in front of the store.  Mamma would usually be milking the cows while I did this.  Then she would have the milk all strained and ready to be put away.  I would take a couple quarts up to our preacher at that  time.

— “The Way It Was,” Chapter Twelve: “THE STORE,” 1999

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When I returned it all depended what was going in the store. I may have been waiting on someone or just watching. The mail arrived and when ever there was a break, I would have lessons.

— “The Way It Was,” Chapter Twelve: “THE STORE,” 1999

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Not going to school, I grew up in an adult world. It was rare that I ever played with anyone. My sister Jessie who I called “J’Mae” played with me some but I remember we were always working.

— “The Way It Was,” Chapter 3: “My Elementary Schooling,” 1999

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I can remember playing many times on the roof of the house upstairs until Mamma would come and make me come down. I used to slide down the banister from up stairs all the time. Since the other children boarded away from home for high school years and I stayed home through high school, I was there for a long time by myself as an only child and I remember doing things by myself . I used to sing and dance on the back porch alone imagining that I had a great audience and I was a great star.

— “The Way It Was,” Chapter 1: “THE HOUSE,” 1999

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My sister Floy  boarded in St. Matthews with Aunt Bess and J’Mae boarded with Aunt Jess during their High   School years and both finished at St. Matthews High School.  So you can see that this made me an only child at home for extra years since I went to high school there..

— “The Way It Was,” Chapter Seven: “My BRother HOward,” 1999

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My brother Howard was 12 years older than I and always my ideal.  He boarded with a great aunt Lizzie in Walterboro to go to High school.  He won a Scholarship to the Citadel by making the highest grade on a Competition Exam for the whole County.  I can remember how happy we all were that he had won this and could go.  I must have been 5  when he left.

— “The Way It Was,” Chapter Seven: “My BRother HOward,” 1999

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I used to work every problem in the Math book , all evens and odds. I remember I wished I were in public school so I could have a report card and desk.  Mamma got the report cards made them out monthly and Daddy signed them.  I still have them. Also I still have my high school reports I can remember sitting in the double swing on the front porch studying my spelling.

— “The Way It Was,” Chapter 3: “My Elementary Schooling,” 1999

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My parents had had some problems with local schools so Mamma decided to teach me herself.  She had previously been a teacher of a one-teacher school  teaching anything from the 1st through the 11th grades in those days.  She had stopped teaching when her children were born and started running the country store.  Daddy continued to teach in Grover or St. George.

Mamma  got my school books which were the same as being taught in the public schools. W e had our classes each and every day.  Some times we were through by 10 AM and sometimes 10 PM depending on the activity of the day.  I had to answer every question perfectly  or I would be sent back to study; or anything I had written must be perfect so I had to keep copying it over until it was.  Sometimes we were too busy in the store or we would have company but we always had those lessons before going to bed.

— “The Way It Was,” Chapter 3: “My Elementary Schooling,” 1999

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Off from the left of the store, there  were two large two story barns where grain , hay , cotton , etc. were stored..  One contained stables for the horses and mule and a shed for cows.  We would have 12 to 20 cows all the time.  They as well as the horses had names. Occasionally Daddy would give each one of us a calf that would be ours and we would raise that calf and when we sold it the money was ours.  We usually saved it back for college.  I guess this was like the 4-h club but we never heard of one of those .

— “The Way It Was,” Chapter One: “The House,” 1999

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.I always had horses to ride if they weren’t working  and of course, they were working except Saturday afternoon and Sundays.  If I were to ride I had to bridle and saddle the horse myself.  I did some bare back riding too. If there were cousins to ride with me, I always saddled the horses for  them. There was Maude who  was a very gentle horse that Floy or Jessie would ride and another horse that I don’t remember her name. Floy made a comment one day in Boyd’s presence that we never rode Dot  because she was too wild.  Dot was the one that I always rode., a young and very spirited horse.   If you are going to ride a horse like this you have to take time to love that horse which I did and Dot loved me . .She was my friend.  A horse knows who is riding on  her back and Dot was very good to me.  Of course , Dot was getting. older when I was coming along.  She definitely  had a mind of her own.  When I went horseback riding with her , she rode very nicely when  you were going away form home.  When you turned around and started home, she wanted to run faster and faster all the way home.. I would bend way over  and stick right on her back.  When she got to the stable door, she would stop very abruptly.  If she had gone through the door she would have knocked me off and she knew that.  She was a beautiful buff colored horse and she died about the time I finished college  and I was very sad. Some black hired hands must have been  mean to Dot at some time.  She would not do anything for a black person.  If one would hitch her  to a plow she would lie down in the field and kick . Daddy or Howard could get her  to do anything that they wanted done.  You have to  feed a horse what  they are supposed to eat.  If they have any extra, they will eat until they are sick.  We used to have a mule also and a mule will only eat what he needs.  I always  begged for a pony of my own which I never had one but God has enriched my life by knowing Dot.

— “The Way It Was,” Chapter 3: “My Elementary Schooling,” 1999