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Truth About That Old House
11-12-98
"Sis, get a pan, there's a leak. I'd hear my mother say.
So I'd get a pan and head her way.
With a pan under the leak to catch every drop.
We would worry about it until the rain would stop.
That old house was not much, but it was home.
Daddy would patch the roof before the next rain would come along.
The inside was unfinished, you could see the rafters up above.
To get closest to the heater, we would push and shove.
That ole, house had four rooms that we lived in.
It's not something, I'd want to do over again.
But it had its good points, under that leaky roof.
Behind those doors we were taught to tell the truth.
The truth about that house has partially been told.
That its roof leaked and it let in the cold.
In front of a roaring heater in one room, we laughed a lot.
"Turn the damper down, it's getting too hot.
The walls just kinda cuddled us like little chicks are cuddled
by an ole hen,
Until windows and doors would be opened, when it was Spring again.
That ole house was home, tho poorly it did look.
And it carried the odors of a really good cook.
The floors were tongue and groove planks with cracks in between.
Mother would make me get the broom and sweep them clean.
The outer walls were unpainted and had a green top.
It seemed Daddy just couldn't get those leaks to stop.
We were rich while we lived in that ole house that way.
Not with money and fine things like rich is today.
We were rich with family, friends, and togetherness there.
We are, rich, today with memories we share.
But that ole house doesn't stand any more.
A brick one is standing where it stood before.
I still remember those rafters, cracks, and leaky roof.
But it was home with love and learning, and that's the truth.
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A New Screen Door
11-29-98
In the country a screen door is used for what it was meant to
do.
It will let in cool breezes and keep the flies out too.
When a hole was torn into the screen as it began to get old,
I would try to patch or sew it up just as I was told.
"How did that hole get torn in that door?"
"Oh, I dropped a stick of wood and it hit it on the way
to the floor."
"Well you get a needle and thread and a piece of screen,
And patch it like I did the last time, you know what I mean?"
Mother would be unhappy to get a hole in the screen of the door.
A new one cost money and we didn't have any more.
So Daddy would buy just new screen and replace the old in the
frame.
And we would be reminded that there was "not plenty more,
from where that came."
"Close that door right, don,' let it slam like you do."
Mother would call as the next one out would let it slam too.
So that new screen would hang there in a frame of old wood.
It would keep out the flies and let the breeze in real good.
When the wood got too old to hold new screen anymore,
Daddy would manage to get a completely new door.
We would all be so happy that we would open and close it to see
how it fit.
Mother would tell us to leave it alone, to "just get away
and quit."
So that new screen door would start to do its job then,
And hang there until it got a hole and we would start over again.
"Now I told you to be careful with that new screen door,
You had better listen, I don't want to tell you any more."
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Out House
12-3-98
By Mattie Ruth Cole
Out behind the hen house, across the patch,
Stood a little out house, with a wooden latch.
It stood there away from everything, all alone.
When Mother missed me, that is most likely where I had gone.
It was our restroom, and our tissue, was old newspaper or a catalog.
And the nearest thing to it was the pen for the hog.
But it was a place to be alone for more reasons than one.
And everyone felt better as soon as they were done.
"Sis, go make sure that the toilet is clean and everything
is straight.
We have company coming and I sure would hate
For someone to have to use it the way that it looks.
So straighten all the papers and stack the books."
"Take with you some of that white powder that we use from
time to time.
You know what I am talking about, it is called lime.
Just sprinkle a little down through each hole and when you are
through,
You will find that it helps it to smell better, in a minute or
two."
So I would go to that out house and do what I could.
No matter how I tried, I couldn't make it look or smell good.
But it was our restroom, the only one that we had.
And if you needed it, you used it even if it did look and smell
bad.
The seat was ok, kinda shinny where you would sit.
But be careful little ones, it might not be a good fit.
All had to use it if a restroom you needed.
"Hurry up and get out, many times were pleaded."
I remember the first toilet tissue that was ever put inside,
It was bought with a few pennies and much pride.
It was put there just before a "very special guest would
come for a stay,"
And after she left, it was put back away.
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