Carl’s uncle, S.W., and Alene Amick took Carl to his first movie at the Chapin movie theatre to see a Bing Crosby movie.
Our “modern” culture has most people isolated in their homes on Sunday, visiting the TV, and computer screens. However, Sunday afternoons were reserved for visiting family and friends. Carl went to his granddad and grandma Amick’s house to play with his cousins and enjoy family.
His uncle, Richard Amick, was a talented carpenter, and he could make his fiddle sing! How did he get into music? Carl told me that after the fall of a hay wagon and subsequent shoulder surgery, he used the recuperation time to teach himself to play the fiddle. Carl said that Uncle Richard, Heyward Wessinger and W.E Derrick would have jam sessions on the front porch. In the summer, fresh homegrown watermelon and cantaloupe, fresh bread from the kitchen, swinging on the swing and playing with cousins were the only agenda. Visiting on Sunday was part of the foundation of creating the real “small town” feeling and closeness of a family community.
Since the three friends, John Caroll Swygert and Glen Huffstetler, and Carl, all grew up near each other down Amick’s Ferry Road, they can definitely tell some tales! The three friends went fishing and swimming at the lake after chores were finished. Carl was given his own 22 single-shot rifle at age 10, and he was able to use his dad’s single-shot 12-gauge shotgun. He and Glenn hunted squirrels and rabbits, this was not just boyhood fun, it was food! The dogs, Butch and Pat, were the assistants when Carl went hunting around 14 years of age with his trusty double-barreled shotgun and brought around 13 quail on one hunting trip. Kids could even ride bikes on the dirt roads, without the danger of fast-moving cars! When Amick’s Ferry Road got paved around 1951, they could still ride bikes down the road safely.
Carl and his dad’s car, a ’49 Ford’, didn’t hit a deer; it hit a large hog! Bud Stoudemire’s hog escaped and was in the road, where the old wooden bridge crossed Amick’s Ferry Rd. Their car about took a dive into the lake!
They laughed about how fertilizer purchased at Goza’s store came in 200-pound bags and was made from “guano.” What is guano? It is bat or seabird poo. Bunk Shealy would deliver it in a wagon. They mentioned David Long, a neighbor, who could carry a bag of fertilizer under each arm into his field. Who needs weight training when you live on a farm! Mr. Swygert asked me if I knew what a “monkey pill” was, of course I had no clue! When his dad was working in the fields and needed an “energy pick me up”, a bit of a sandwich, cake or drink was taken to him. The family called it a “monkey pill!”
As I sat and listened to these three men talk, I couldn’t type fast enough between laughing. However, right now, I’m going to stop and make my own “monkey pill” and I’ll see you next week!
Photo from the Bing Crosby Archive
