Show Memories of Life In A Small SmallTown SmallTown SmallTown Town Early in the T BY Halbert S. S Greaves The smell and feel of autumn are in the air Ind Indeed ed fall arrived officially about a month ago It is time to think about getting ready for winter What must be done The car must be winterized with snow tires and freeze anti-freeze the hoses must be che checked ked so the expensive freeze anti-freeze wont won't leak out But what about fifty or sixty years ago In Ephraim What needed to be done then to get ready for winter I have thought about this often for I was then a young boy in Ephraim A scar about one inch long at the base of my right thumb gives me an idea a recollection about one thing we needed to do to get ready for winter and an idea for a brief written reminder of one aspect of life in the country when I was a young boy pig- pig killing day Old COld time may recall that my father Peter Greaves Jr lived on the big lot at the corner of second south and main where Bud Erickson and Winona my niece now live On the north part of our back backyard backyard backyard yard and perhaps 75 yards back backof of our house was the pig pen which faced south and was built against Uncle Johns John's backyard East of the pig pen was a bartlett bartlett bartlett bart- bart lett pear tree and south of the pear tree a prune tree tree or or perhaps they were called purple plums About eight or nine feet above the ground In notches of the pear and plum trees and reaching from the one tree to the other my dad had placed placeda a fairly long pole On pig- pig killing day our good neighbor a block to the west of us Eph Hansen came to our yard fairly early on a Saturday morning mornIng morning morn- morn Ing and brought with him a big wooden trough which was pulled by one of his horses a bay as I recall it or it or perhaps a black The trough could hold several buckets of hot water which was heated in a washtub wash washtub washtub tub that rested on an Iron ring supported by three iron legs Appropriately It was called a tripod When Eph arrived the pig or pigs marked for slaughter were killed by having their throats cut I believe although I seem to have a vague memory of sometimes seeing them shot After they were dead they were scalded and strung up on the pole so their coarse hair could be scraped with off-with a currycomb curry currycomb currycomb comb probably and I forget what we did with the offal but my sister Hazel told me the bristles were often used in plaster to help give it additional holding power The pigs were quartered and carried into the house where mother and dad and other adults cut them up cooked some parts of them prepared the hams and bacon for smoking and curing In barrels of brine made finker linker out of ot some ont oHl etc Perhaps some older than I could remind us what went into the finker I will never forget how delicious It was when fried in butter and touched with vinegar Nor will wUl willI I forget my bewilderment asto as asto asto to why the brine much later was carried to the coal shed and thrown over the coal I still dont don't know why and neither did Hazel when I mentioned it to her There were other chores In Involved involved involved in- in in the treatment of the carcasses that provided us with so many good meals during the long winters but there must be a word-limit word to all Nevertheless I should point out the connection between this brief essay and the scar at the base of my thumb When I was at an age when a young boy is meddlesome and short of good sense I stood at the side of the table on which my mother was cutting some pig meat away from the thick tough rind After she removed the rind she would cut the meat Into smaller pieces with strong sure whacks of a big butcher knife Suddenly and for go good reason I reached reach reach- ed out to grab a piece of meat thinking I suppose that I could grab It safely between whacks But I couldn't And mother could not pull back the knife once it had started down So the knife whacked my thumb mother undoubtedly un undoubtedly undoubtedly un- un let out a yell and I no doubt wore a bandage for several days Mother must have checked to some extent the force of the whack or I might well have lost the of thumb thumb- use my but I I have worn the scar for more than fifty years I have no recollection at all of having been scolded for my mistake |