Show t Ii f r q t f HOMER HOM ER 1 1 lt l df r f. f LI 1 Cu ve WN U SERVICE f TilE THE STORY THUS FAR FAll Am Amos Croy y i former sergeant In the Civil ChU War left IcU Ohio and made his home near Marys Marys- r yule Missouri Ho married Susan Sewell Sew Sew- ell daughter of another covered wagon wajon I pioneer The They Y built buill n up p a farm that later laterI t I developed Into one of the best In to the state It was not Ion long before Homer was wasi i t. t born to the the the year ur the Brooklyn f Bridge was wu built lie He received his name I i. i from a township In Ohio not Dot after the blind poet Ills His first memory was of a cyclone which blew the barn bun down and aDd wrecked half the orchard As neighbors were far apart be he had few friends In his earlier euller days It Il was always hard for Homer to make friends he was naturally reserved and backward CHAPTER m mIn mIn mIn In the center of the table would be a high dish with a single stem and on this dish would be a cake covered with white icing On a low flat dish close dose beside the tall one one- legged dish would be a black chocolate chocolate choco choco- late cake This cake always showed the marks made by my mothers mother's knife when she spread the chocolate over the cake But the knife marks didn't show on the white cake I always looked at the cakes first i even u il if they were the last things to tobe tobe tobe be ea eaten ten Fried chicken No Sunday dinner In to the summertime would make sense without fried tried chicken and gravy gravy gravy gra gra- vy with the gizzards on a little dish by themselves so no one by mistake would get a gizzard But the necks stayed on the big plate Why this was I 1 dont don't know but they were always with the good pieces just as i if the scrawny things belonged there Toward the foot of the table where my ny mother sat would be two kinds o of pies If U anybody asked company to Sunday dinner and didn't have two kinds of pies it was pretty close to to an insult In this little cluster of off I. I f vs and jams would be the fine white pI coffee sugar as ai we called aUed it Weekdays we used brown sugar or coarse granulated white sugar but not on Sunday 1 I In this group would be the spiced peaches which my mother had put t I up p. p But spiced peaches presented a problem The best kind was the bellow ellow clingstones but the meat lYras was as hard to get off so we had to decide whether to try to cut It off oft 1 jr r to put the whole thing in our You had to know people pretty well before you could do that Ua Ma would make a trip or two back nd forth to the kitchen then say 1 i on Amos and Pa jJ say Well folks since youre you're you rou might just as well stay and So 51 at t with us J lere In a moment wed we'd all aU be standing is i round d the table me pretty close e nd d the sight of the food just about r t- t riving me crazy de Newt dei-Newt would look at the table and andS andr S Z y Y I guess you haven't sold any any- el r ing lately Amos and every- every laugh sri When we were seated there'd be bell beu ll u different air a little awkward awkward- 1 ss ss no now J. J ap pI t oa on au WW you ask the blessing Newt say because it was manIt manto manto man- man It to let the company do that I cn n Newt would lean forward and tear its r his throat I There would be a silence when he ate fished then everybody would bedo beo beto be- be do o to laugh and talk The sound C uld rise and fall CaU then there would 1 a serious n note te Somebody had hador AI d or mastitis was In the next so Se A long pause here Then Then- i if to make up for the serious te to the talk pendulum would ring ing up again and pretty soon ev ev- would be laughing Ma IMa la would pick up the peacock fan fand d swish it with its lovely rustling i Let me do that Susan Mrs d would say when it was alit ain time and Ma ills would say ank you Minnie but I can do But Mrs Kennedy would pick the fan and swish the flies any- any y You had to be pretty well for Cor that e filling food as we called 0 1 would disappear and chicken ties res hes would pile up Suddenly Ma L jump up and dash out to tot Pd kitchen then in a few moments eo t e a hopping back Gracious I Ir r fa of ost forgot the roasting ears I s here ere they'd be the long Grimes' Grimes OO den we had got out of our own OW t ld d. d Wed We'd butter and salt em em and andem t 4 into em because there Isn't thing better than yellow field roasting ears cars ed work our way down to the hey cy the vittles the pies and cakes rcy preserves By this time every every- ly Iy y would be ea eating more slowly at first and talking a great I 1 now Mrs Kennedy would say san how long do you cook your j G preserves and Ma MaId Uj Id tell tel her and Id I'd get hungry all again agam t J I push back in his chair t sigh and say For a while I 1 It t I t think the food was going to il Ii out but thank goodness it iti i who always Joked at the table xa NG Newt to make the li h would say because SeH family held back 4 Q er wed we'd eaten everything we rune I Phebe would get up in her herway way and go to the pantry I ring back a Mason jar with a atop atop atop top and say Maybe laybe some some- d rd like ike to have a molasses cook cook- body would except me Some I way or other I could always manage a few After dinner wed we'd go out and sit under the water maple and Newt would open his vest and say it wasn't manners but it was comfort and Pad say what counts It wouldn't be long till the men were sleepy hardly talking at all their heads now and then jerking for for- ward The women never seemed to get sleepy A team would top the hill and we would all try to be first to tell who It was The company would say It looks like and So Pa would say Its not his team It must be a stranger Then Newt would say A mover passed my house yesterday and Pa would say Theres a lot of changes taking place The men would continue to come closer by this time the women would be in the door Then Pa would say Jim Vert Hes He's breaking In a new horse That's the reason we didn't know him Pa was good at spotting peo peo- Then Pad go out to the road and call Do you want to come in Jim I cant can't Amos Im I'm breaking a filly better stop Jim Were We're going to weigh Jim would be tempted Id sure like to but I better not You know i Y 4 1 w f fY Y 1 I Wed We'd pick out three three or four steers and head them for the scale lot how a filly is the first time you drive her Pa understood After gone Ma would sayI say I dont don't think he be ought to break on the Sabbath A bit later Pa would say Do you want to guess on the stock Newt Of course the company did and so the men and me would start to the pasture As they walked along Pa would say Are you having any trouble with Russian thistles and Newt would say Im having one hell of ofa a time There would be a silence because that had slipped And I would think of him not two hours ago addressing God Life LUe was hard to understand Pa would say Is your jack serving serving ing ng many mares and Newt would say Two yesterday Real man I talk now I Do you guarantee to stand and suck Pa would ask I Then TIlen Newt would say I wouldn't 1 do business on any other platform right Pa would say Pa was always for Cor the square deal Have you got any Bangs' Bangs disease Yes I have Newt would ad mit mitt You want wont to be careful Its It's hard to handle once it gets start start- I ed cd 1 I sure know It It If U you have both Bangs' Bangs disease and mastitis youre you're In a bad way Ive got em both Newt would say then Ulen Pa would give him advice And nine times out of ot ten Pad be right He was a good farmer Your pasture looks short dont don't it Amos Newt would askIm ask Im getting a lot of dog fennel Pa would say The only thing that'll eat it is sheep Newt would say And it dont don't do them any good Pa would answer Wed We'd pick out three or four tour steers and head them for tor the scale lot Stock weighing was a neighborhood neighbor hood party everybody knew wed we'd have a stock weighing and they knew they'd be welcome too and so they'd drive over about the right time Ume When we got the steers up there'd be an extra wagon In the drive lot and a buggy or two maybe maybe may may- be some of the neighbors would have come across the fields on foot They'd be coming cornIng toward the scale lot laughing and talking the women a little behind Everybody would crowd up to the I fence and look at the tho steers with the white clover saliva falling out of their mouths A steer would toss his head to get a fly off or stomp a foot Suddenly one of the steers would make a dash and bump up against another the way penned cattie cattle cattle cat cat- tle tie do Then hed he'd stand still again the saliva running a little faster taster What do you say Newt Pa would ask You saw their pasture you ought to come pretty close That was a sly dig because Newt was not much of a steer guesser But he was a natural born mule man No one could beat him when it came to mules Even If U he couldn't guess good Newt always made a ceremony of it He would turn his head hend from side to side and pull his chin and squint sometimes hed he'd get over the fence and try to run his fingers along the backbone to see sec how firm the fat was Write that whiteface down for Ma would put It down One by one the men would guess Pa last There'd be a little silence because he was the best guesser and knew the cattle I can see pounds Then the women would guess Lotsof Lotsof Lots Lotsof of laughing because nobody expected expect expect- ed much from them One of ot the men would open the scale gate and the steer would make a dash thinking he was getting away then see the other gate and have to pull up short More white clover drippings Pa would run the marker up and down till the beam was steady then put on his glasses and announce I the weight What a shout would go up More codding than ever What a disgrace to be low law man Hed He'd have to make all sor sorts s of excuses like he could of guessed closer only he wanted to give somebody else a chance Then they'd read the women's guesses More laughing now Guesses would be placed on another another another an an- other steer and hed he'd make a dash thinking too that he was free tree Finally all the steers would be through and Ma would announce who was winner Usually it was Pa I He had to appear modest so hed he'd say I got them up and md weighed I Isay them yesterday Then a moment of seriousness got some blackleg In Hughes Township one of ot the men would say A silence When everybody was feeling it it Pa would say at just the right moment mo me ment mente Ill go co out to the patch and see if U I 1 cant can't locate a melon This would make them laugh lauch and the silence that had vibrated for a moment moment moment mo mo- ment would be gone They'd all walk to the house themen the themen themen men in one bunch and the women In another mother and Pa and I would go to the cave and bring up the melons Ma would put on her apron and pass around plates and knives and forks Corks and saltcellars Pa would take lake the butcher knife and stand its point pointon on a melon with everybody watching watch watch- ing lag and knowing a big moment had come Down would go the knife knUe crack Why Its It's full of seeds Pa would say with pretended disgust It wouldn't be long till tiU be eating cating the women sitting on chairs and the men planted along the porch edge Id I'd have to collect the rinds and carry them to the chicken yard and put them down good side up Then I would skip back so as not to miss any of the talk The porch and yard became a sort of Grange as we exchanged ideas and caught up on the news Mr was going to have a public sale the fourteenth Lawson Scott was going to witch for a stock stockwell stockwell well and and So-and So and So had applied for job as Knabb teacher About choring time they'd leave and as they drove away lonesomeness lonesome- lonesome ness hung In the air Then we would change our clothes feed the stock get the milk buckets and start down across the corncobs After the chores were finished Ma would get supper and wed we'd draw up our chairs to the kitchen table But no blessing because it was only cold mush and milk and oilcloth We would go into the sitting room and Ma would take the paper bag bat bagoR off oR the chimney and light the lamp and we would talk over every everything thine that had happened and exchange news because Ma had got some lorn from the women and Pa some from the men and Phebe who lived JIved with us ua had got cot some Pa would get tet out Wallaces' Wallaces Farmer and take off his shoes with the brass eyelets and andset andset andset set them neatly beside his chair so sono sono sono no one would break their neck Ma would look through the church papers pa pa- pers wed we'd brought home then get out the Bible and begin to read Now and then she would stop and ask Pa something and he would put down the Farmer and say hod heard it explained d this way Then she would begin to read again Along in th the autumn Pa would say I think wed we'd better dehorn Ill I'll see If U I can see Jim Vert in town Saturday When he cam cams home he would say I saw Jim and he promised to come corne Tuesday How many you got Ma would ask and Pa Pol would say On BI a B rough estimate sixty I ITO TO BE E CONTINUED |