Show t HOMER art r r f NU SERVICE SERA THE TIlE STORY ST THUS FAR Amos Croy former sergeant In the Civil War left Ohio and made his home near l Marys Marys- s vIII villa 6 Missouri Ho lie married Susan Sew ell cil ell daughter of another covered wagon pioneer They built up a farm that later developed Into one of the best In the state It was not long before Homer was born to the Crof the Cross the s-the the year earthe the Brooklyn Bridge was built He lie received his name from a township in Ohio not after the blind poet Ills His first memory was of a cyclone which blew the barn down and wrecked half halt the tho orchard As neighbors were far tar apart he had few friends In his earlier days It was always hard hud for Homer to make friends he was naturally reserved and backward CHAPTER HI DI 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 beside the tall taU one- one legged dish would be a black chocolate 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 even if they were the last things tobe to tobe tobe be eaten I Fried chicken No Sunday dinner in the summertime would make sense without fried 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 dont don't know but they were always with the good pieces just as if the scrawny things belonged there Toward the foot of the table where my mother sat would be two be-two two kinds of pies If anybody asked company to Sunday dinner and didn't have two kinds of pies it was pretty close to an insult In this little cluster of pies and jams would be the fine white creamy-white coffee sugar as we called it Weekdays we used brown sugar or coarse granulated white sugar but not on Sunday I In this group would be the spiced peaches which my mother had put up But spiced peaches presented a problem The best kind was the yellow clingstones but the meat was hard to get off so we had to decide whether to try to cut it off oft or to put the whole thing in our mouths You had to know people pretty well before you could do that Ma would make a trip or two back and forth to the kitchen then say on Amos and Pa would say Well Vell folks since youre you're here you might just as well stay and eat with us In a moment wed we'd all be standing around the table me pretty close and the sight of the food just about driving me crazy Newt would look at the table and say I guess you haven't sold anything anything anything any any- thing lately Amos and every- every laugh When we were seated there'd be bea a different air a little awkwardness awkward awkward- ness now Will you ask the blessing Newt Pa would say because it was manners manners manners man man- ners to let the company do that Then Newt would lean forward and clear his throat There would be a silence when he finished then everybody would begin begin begin be be- gin to laugh and talk The sound would rise and fall then there would be a serious not note Somebody had died or mastitis was in the next county A long pause here Then Then- as if to make up for the serious note the talk pendulum would swing up again and pretty soon everybody everybody everybody ev ev- ev- ev would be laughing Ma would pick up the peacock fan and swish it with its lovely rustling Let me do that Susan Mrs Kennedy would say when it was again time and Ma would say Thank you Minnie but I can do it But Mrs Kennedy would pick pickup pickup pickup up the fan and swish the flies any any- way You had to be pretty well acquainted for tha that t. t The filling food as we called it would disappear and chicken bones would pile up Suddenly Ma would jump up and dash out to the kitchen then in a few moments come hopping back Gracious I almost forgot the roasting ears There they'd be the long Grimes' Grimes Golden we had got out of our own field Wed We'd butter and salt saIt em cm and fly into em because there isn't anything better than yellow field corn roasting ears Wed We'd work our way down to the fancy vittles vittles the the pies and cakes and preserves By this time everybody everybody every every- body would be eating more slowly than at first and talking a great deal now Mrs Kennedy would say Susan how long do you cook your watermelon preserves and Ma would tell her and Id I'd get hungry allover all allover allover over again push back in his chair and sigh and say For a while I didn't think the food was going to hold out but thank goodness it did Pa who always joked at the table with Newt to make the laugh would say because my family held back After wed we'd eaten everything we could Phebe would get up in her quiet way and go to the pantry and bring back a Mason jar with a screw top and say Maybe some- some like to have a molasses cook cook- ie le Nobody would except me Some J J 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- I 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 I was The company would say It looks like So and Pa would say Its not his team It must be a stranger I Then Newt would say sayA A mover passed my house yesterday and Pa would say Theres a lot of changes taking place The men would d 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 a 1 f y r p I j w L tM nl t Wed We'd pick out three or four steers and head them for the tho scale lot how a filly is the first time you drive her Pa understood After gone Ma would say I dont don't think he 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 ofa a time There would be a silence because that had slipped And I would think of him not two hours ago addressing God L Life e was hard to understand Pa would say Is your jack serving serving serving ing many mares and Newt would say Two yesterday Real man talk now Do you guarantee to stand and suck Pa would ask Then Newt would say I wouldn't do business on any other platform right Pa would say Pa was always for the square deal Have you got any Bangs' Bangs disease Yes I have Newt would admit ad ad- mit You want to be careful Its It's hard to handle once it gets start start- ed I III sure know it If you have both Bangs' Bangs disease and mastitis youre you're in a bad way Ive got em both Newt would say then Pa would give him advice And nine times out of ten Pad be right He was a good farmer Your pasture looks short dont don't it Amos Newt would askIm askIm ask askIm Im getting a lot of dog fennel Pa would say The liThe 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 steers and head them for the scale lot Stock weighing was a neighborhood party everybody knew wed we'd have havea a stock weighing and they knew they'd be welcome too and so they'd drive over about the right time 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 toward the scale lot laughing and talking the women a little behind Everybody would crowd up to the fence and look at A the steers with withA the white clover saliva falling ou our 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 cattle cattle cattle cat cat- tle do hed he'd stand still again the saliva running a little faster 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 natural mule man No one could beat him when it came to mules Even if he couldn't guess good N Newt vt e always made a ceremony of it He would turn his head from side to sid 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 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 Lots Lotsof Lotsof Lotsof of laughing because nobody expected expect expect- ed much from them One of 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 ana announce the weight What a shout would go up More codding than ever What a disgrace to be low man Hed He'd have to make all sorts 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 Finally all the steers would be through and Ma would announce who was winner Usually it was Pa He had to appear modest so hed he'd say I got them up and weighed them yesterday Then a moment of seriousness got some blackleg in Hughes Township one of the men would say A silence When everybody was feeling it Pa would say at just the right moment moment moment mo mo- ment Ill go out to the patch and see if I cant can't locate a melon This would make them laugh and the silence that had vibrated for a moment moment mo mo- ment would be cone one They'd all walk to the house the themen themen themen men in one bunch and the women in in another 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 and saltcellars Pa would take the the butcher butcher knife and stand its point pointon on a melon with everybody watching watching watching watch watch- ing and knowing a big moment had come Down would go the knife crack Why II its it's full of seeds Pa would say with pretended disgust It wouldn't be long till be eating 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 stockwell well and So-and-So 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 off oft the chimney and light the lamp and we would talk over everything that had happened and exchange news because Ma had got some from the women and Pa some from the men and Phebe who lived with us had got some Pa would get 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 no one would break their neck Ma would look through the church papers papers 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 I ask Pa something and he would put down the Farmer and say hed he'd heard it explained this way Then I she would begin to read again Along in the autumn Pa would I say I III think wed we'd better dehorn Ill I'll see if I can see Jim Vert in I town Saturday When he came home he would say I saw Jim and he promised to come Tuesday How many have you got Ma would ask and Pa would say On a rough estimate sixty TO BE CONTINUED |