| The Great Depression page 3 |
|
| In the main room of the house (there was a kitchen, main room, and two bedrooms) there was a box four foot square and four inches deep filled with sand. In the middle of that sand box sat a pot bellied stove. The stove's flue pipe came out of the top of the stove, went a couple of feet up, bent 90 degrees, going through the side wall of the house, then bent up again for another four or five feet. Where the stretch of flue went from the stove to the wall it was supported with wire in a couple of places to keep it from sagging. On real cold nights that stove would be kept glowing a dull red from the coal scooped into it from the coal bucket that sat beside the sand box. The men would pull their straight back chairs up to the stove, lean back and talk about where the country was going. All the men either chewed tobacco of dipped snuff. Every so often one of them would spit a stream of spit into the sand box. Occasionally splattering some onto the stove where it would sizzle and give off a foul smell. |
| There were few radios in those days. One evening we were at a neighbor's farmhouse where my father and some other men were crowded around a long black box with several dials across the front. Wires were stretched from two batteries to connections on the back of the black box with all the dials. There were two sets of earphones connected to the front of the box between the dials. Each of the earphones was inside of an empty tin can to amplify the sound. The men were shouting and cheering at a narration of a fight coming from the tin cans. There were a couple of other cans setting on the floor that the men spit their black tobacco or snuff saliva into. Much of the squirt missed the can and splattering on the floor, and the other men's shoes. Some also drooled down their chins. The first broadcast I ever heard was that night, a heavyweight boxing match. Having to strain to listen to the fighting that I didn't understand, I soon looked for other things to do. I found all the women in the kitchen. They were passing along all of the latest gossip. Many of the women had a long stick that they had chewed flat and flared on one end. I watched as one women poked her stick down through the short neck of a square Garret Snuff bottle, rotated the stick around until an ample ball of snuff was packed onto the end of the stick. Taking her fingers she pulled her lower lip out and rolled the ball of snuff between her lip and front teeth. After placing the snuff into her mouth she passed the bottle along to the next lady who filled her lip with snuff. Not being invited to share in the gossip or snuff ritual I soon became bored and must have drifted off to sleep, as I don't remember any more of that evening. |
| During the warmer days the Saturday's bath was taken by jumping into the pond. However, during the cold days wood had to be gathered from outside, brought inside to make a lasting fire in the kitchen stove. Water was pumped from the well outside, brought inside, and put on the cookstove to heat. There would be several large pots filled with water on the stove heating. A washtub was put on the kitchen floor. When the water was warm enough it was poured into the washtub. Then, while the first person took a bath the next in line had to go outside, pump more water, fill the pots on the stove for his bath, or he would have to use the water left by the previous bather. I being number nine in line learned to bathe using very little water. On Saturday afternoon everyone went to town. |
 |
| My Father, Euna, Gene, and Robert taking produce to town |
| The streets of Granite would be lined on both sides with farmers sitting on the curb talking about the crops, the rain, or blowing dust storms. Stories were told and news passed along for everyone's information. Many small farmers took their products to town also. Much was sold wholesale to the local markets and the remainder peddled on the side street. |
 |
| When you bought something in any of the stores you were given tickets representing the amount of your purchase to be used for the Saturday drawing. All the merchants in town would donate something for the drawing to be held in the center of town. Late in the afternoon everyone gathered in the middle of the street opposite Hockaday's farm supply store for the drawing. Someone would be selected from the crowd to draw the lucky ticket. The winner was presented with a large basket of various items from each store in town. |
| From what I overheard from the men around the swimming pond, and the pot bellied stove talk, I knew things were not going well with the farm. The lack of rain, the failed crops, the price of cotton, the dust storms, all came together in the mid 1930's for the Kennedy family. By 1934 only Robert, JT, and I remand at the farm. All the older kids having married and left home. The nation was in a deep depression and we were loosing the farm. |
 |
| During the 1930's the middle of the country suffered from no rain, oppressive heat, failed crops. I remember dust storms where the air was so thick with grit moving down from the north with fierce wind, it formed a solid red wall. The next day a fence line built to keep livestock from roaming into the fields could by walked over. The sand hitting the wire would be held momentarily. More sand would come and soon the fence line would be covered with sand. The sand would come under the doors and in around the windows. Everything in the house would be covered with a fine power of sand. |
 |
 |
| An Oklahoma farmer looks over 1-foot cotton that should be 4 feet high. |
 |
 |