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Archiver > ARIZARD > 2008-02 > 1202049159


From: "Vera Reeves" <>
Subject: [ARIZARD] Picking cotton? - Bernie
Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2008 08:32:39 -0600
References: <0a0501c86529$b68875c0$0c00a8c0@D388LL11><013a01c8652d$2a396f80$4f41fc46@GINNY><0a5801c86538$5485adc0$0c00a8c0@D388LL11><019701c86549$3f777330$4f41fc46@GINNY><47A556D1.000007.03504@YOUR-M5D4U9R2UV>


I got my first taste when I was 12. We had just moved to Calif. To think
women would pick a 100 lbs or more with a small child riding on the sack.

=========================================
>I used to hear stories from my dad and mom about picking cotton and how
>hard
> it was. "Big deal" I always thought. Well, one day I made mention that
> it
> couldn't have been as hard as he let on. Heck, I'd seen cotton balls in
> our
> bathroom and in medicine bottles....cotton was soft and didn't weigh
> anything so how hard could it be to walk a straight line and pick it?
>
> Dad took me down to Warner, OK where he was raised. This was back in the
> 60
> s and there still were some cotton farmers in the area (I don't think
> there
> are any now). He stopped at a farm and went to talk to an old man who was
> outside his barn. A few moments later dad came and got me out of the
> truck
> as the old man came back out of his barn lugging a long canvas or heavy
> linen sack. We walked out to the fields and dad told me that before we
> went
> back into Warner for lunch, he wanted me to see what picking cotton was
> like
> I had to pick one row, and pick it right. After I was done we'd go eat
> and I could tell him how easy it was. No problem! Dad showed me how to
> do
> it and I took off while he and the old man worked on the man's combine
> tractor together. I had not gone 20 feet when my cuticles started
> bleeding
> from the cotton bowles ripping the skin back but danged if I was going to
> whine or quit! By the time I was 1/2 way down the row my back and left
> shoulder was killing me. After about 2 hours dad brought me some water
> from
> our ice chest (we were spending the day out "in the country" and always
> took
> an ice chest and water with us). I still had a bit to go in my row but he
> said for me to stop and to head back to the barn with my sack. My gawd I
> was wore out! The old man said he couldn't do too much with the cotton I
> had picked due to the blood that had got on it but would figure something
> out. He got quite a laugh though at my expense. We went into Warner and
> dad bought some alcohol and band-aids and patched up my fingers. We then
> went to a diner that used to be there on the road to Webber Falls (Gulf
> Filling Station) and had lunch.
>
> I am one of the few people my age (52) that has actually picked cotton the
> old way. And I NEVER made fun of picking cotton again!
>
> Rick Lawrence - Tulsa
>
> -------Original Message-------
>
> From: Virginia Lee
> Date: 2/1/2008 9:12:09 PM
> To:
> Subject: Re: [ARIZARD] Picking cotton? - Bernie
>
> Bernie,Sister: Just had to kid you about the term bottoms.........
> The "bottoms" cover different areas and are so called because they are
> rich
> River bottom lands. The areas are Leachville, Monette, Jonesboro, Black
> Rock, Black Oak.
> As a kid,I know people went to the "bottoms" to pick or chop cotton for
> the
> Farmers who would hire them.(until time,usually Sept, to come back to the
> "hills" in time for the children in the families to start a new term of
> School)
> The folks who lived in the "hills" ( Ozark foothills ) called these
> lowland
> Farms the "bottoms". The folks in the bottoms called the areas of Sharp,
> Izard County etc, "the hills".
> So to know where your Frances was buried in the "bottoms" you will have to
> Have a specific location as all these towns mentioned were called "the
> Bottoms". Counties would be Craighead, Mississippi, parts of Lawrence
> would
> Be considered the bottoms.
> Its about time you got yourself back on the list again !
> Ginny
>
>
>
>
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