An Old Home Place Of Mine

This picture was graciously taken and sent to me by Bennie Brown. This is part of a house where I used to live. It stands on Hwy. 330, or Morgan-Cordova Road near Morgan, Kentucky. I lived here (I am not certain of the exact time) from age 6 to about the age of 8. Many things happened while I lived here. Some of my memories are these:

The house used to be much larger. The house extended in the back in an "L" shape toward the right of the picture toward a small underground cellar on the right.

There was a barn out to the left of the house at a distance. The part of the house showing in the picture has only two rooms. The room on the right front was occupied by my grandfather, Francis Blackburn, until his death in February of 1952. The outhouse was down a small hill in the back of the house.

Dog In Ice Box

The part of the house that extended to the right in an "L" shape was the kitchen. In that kitchen at one time we had an ice box. We never used ice much, but we stored items in this ice box. Once I put our little dog inside one of the bins in the ice box and closed the door. When the dog finally began to cry, I had forgotten that I had put him in there. We looked everywhere for that little dog until I finally remembered what I had done and went and got him out. I don't remember getting a spanking for that, but I certainly deserved one.

Manure In The Face

Once my cousin, a girl a little younger than myself, had come out from town to stay a few days with us . We country children were always playing tricks on the "city children." My brothers took her into the cow pasture in the back of the house, and they pretended to be eating cow manure. She knew they were only pretending, so she got down and pretended that she was eating it, also. When she did this, my brother (not telling which one) pushed her face down into the freshly made pile of manure. Boy, you talk about causing problems, that was one confusing bunch of people for a while.

My Precious 50-Cent Piece

I do not remember where I would ever get a 50-cent piece, but I did (probably from my father). I was lying on the floor in the warm weather and noticed a small knothole in the floor near the front door of this house. I played with that knothole for a few minutes with my 50-cent piece. It seemed that the hole was too small to swallow up my 50-cent piece, but I was very wrong. All at a sudden the coin disappeared and has not been recovered (to my knowledge) to this day.

Nearly Broken Nose

My father worked in Covington, Kentucky, at this time; and he stayed in town all week and came home on the weekends. Once when he came home, he went straight to the barn. I wanted to see him, so I was hurrying to the barn to see him. I tripped on the front porch of this house and fell face first down upon a large rock beside the front porch. I nearly broke my nose. I so remember my father's running to the house and picking me up while I cried for several minutes. We did not go to the doctor, because Mom and Dad could tell my nose was not broken. We did not go the doctor in those days unless death was near.

Falling From Bicycle Basket

My brother, Eddie, was going to Earl Wallace's house, our landlord, to do some work for him. He wanted me to go with him, so he put me in his bicycle basket and pumped the bicycle up the small grade toward the next-door house. When we got to the house, Eddie said, "How am I going to get you out of this basket?" Of course, I did not know how he would do that. Then, without any explanation or warning, he ran the bicycle into the fence and threw me from the basket. I fell onto some very soft, green grass, and everything was just fine. However, I really don't ever want to do that again.

My Body Cast

Doctors decided they wanted to do some very extensive surgery on my legs due to my having Polio when I was two years old, so that was scheduled while we lived in this house. As a result of the two surgeries, I had on a body cast that extended from my toes on my right leg all the way up under my arms. I could not sit up but had to lie down all the time. I remember my father's carrying me into church and laying me down on the front seat of the church. I spent nearly the whole summer in this cast, and I was often taken outside at home. I have a picture of my lying down on a blanket in the front yard of this place.


Chewing Tobacco

I remember once walking along the front porch and seeing my grandfather's plug tobacco lying in the open window. I knew that he and my father used this tobacco to chew, so I decided to steal a little taste of it. I picked up the small plug and took a small bite, as I had seen my elders do, and I began to chew this little bite of plug tobacco. At first it tasted sweet, and I enjoyed it; but about three second later, I received my first shock of nicotine flowing through my body. I almost immediately got dizzy and sick. I have never tried chewing tobacco since that time, and I was only about seven years old.

Many More Memories Could

I could continue to cite many more memories from my living in this place, including the eating of green apples in the apple orchard that was behind the house, the old man and woman (Maggie and George) who used to ride in a horse a buggy up and down the road, etc.

I hope you enjoy these memories.