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got into a buggy and were driven to Chamberino by a Mexican with a large som-
brero that tickled us to giggles. At Chamberino we lived in a large red brick
house, built by the -,orleys, a well to do family from the east. It was the
most modern house in the valley.
Father found farming to be a bigger job than he expected it to be. For
he had been a mining san for years and knew very little about agriculture.
The first year he worked hard but ran short of making a living to the extent
of eight hundred dollars.
ri the old days land was cheap anywhere from three to ten dollars an
acre, but it tooks lots of time and hard work to clear it as most of the valley
was bosque or woodland. de used to attend the Methodist church at Berino,
the only church, with the exception of the Catholic church, between fl Paso
and Las Cruces.
One of our chief amusements at the church gatherings were candy pulls.
The boys never failed to come because they delighted to stick the warm taffy
into the girls' long hair. And the only way to remove the candy was to cut
off some of the hair.
The first school I attended was a one room affair at Chamberino. Miss
Helen Morley was the teacher and she taught several grades in one room. The
floor was packed dirt and the benches were crude hard seats without a back
rest of any -ini. le used slates and pencils, too. There was a big tin pail
of water with a tin dipper floating in it. The pail set on a box in a corner
and when it was ampty one of the larger boys took it out to the hand pump and
refilled it.
Je had lots of picnics, dances, barbecues and horseback riding in the
old days.
de didn't have a variety of diversions like the young folks have
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to -day, but I am quite sure we enjoyed ourselves just as much. We didn't know
very much about such things as dates, for the young men called at the homes
of tle eligible young ladies. Taking long rides with a young man without a
chaperon just wasn't done. Hay rides well chaperoned were included in our
amusements, too. Sometimes it took several wagons piled high with hay to
accomodate the crowd. Each wagon had two or three older women for chaperons.
le had lots of fun jogging along in th.emamlf.7ht with our legs swing-
ing over the sides of the wagon with everybody singing the popular songs of
t'ne day; some in tune but most of them out of tune. As a rule the largest
and invariably the fattest boy in the party would have a high squeaky tenor,
and some little scrawny fellow would have a deep baritone or bass. The boys
would always bring their guitars, mandolins, harmonicas and banjos along.
There is one thing I was always ashamed of; it was the stolen watermelons.
But boys will be boys.
de were always permitted to go with the boy we liked best and sit
next to him on a hay ride, but the nearest we ever got to making love or
necking as they do now was when some boy, under cover of hay, squeezed a
girl's hand. Some of the bolder ones did steal an occasional hug or a kiss
but only when the chaperon had gone star gazing. This rarely ever happened,
however, for the old time chaperon made it her special duty to watch her
charges with an augus eye.
Girls used to take a great deal of pleasure in showing off their
cooking to their boy friend, especially their homemade candies, and cakes.
Many a boy and prospective husband was entertained in the kitchen while
mother and dad and the rest of the family occupied themselves in the parlor.
On winter evenings the boy usually helped to pull the.candy, and whip the
eggs for a cake. And when we made ice cream they always chopped the ice
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and turned the handle of the ice cream freezer.
The old-fashioned Sunday dinner was wonderful. Sometimes two or three
families would drive in on Sunday and remain for dinner. There would be
several vehicles outside the house. If that happened now days the neighbors
would think there was going to be a funeral and want to know tho had died.
le were always prepared for company on Sunday, for all of the bread,
pies, cakes doughnuts and cookies were baked on Saturday. And if we were going
to have a Virgina baked ham that was usually baked the day before, too. we
had a long table and on Sunday every seat was occupied. Sometimes we would have
baked chicken with dressing and gravy.
4e raised our own vegetables and when dinner was served we had a variety
of summer squash, mashed potatoes, yellow snap beans, green Kentucky wonders,
lettuce with homemade it'rench dressing, Indian relish, fresh tomatoes, sliced
cucumbers and candied sweet potatoes. we always had two kinds of pie, white
layer 'cake, yellow loaf cake, cookies and doughnuts. Out country butter, eggs,
milk and cream were always fresh.
After dinner the men would go out on the porch to smoke, the children
would go outside to play and the women would clear the table, and enjoy a
good gossip whilS they aashed and dried the dishes. Ihen we left Chamberino
we went to La Mesa to live --in the same house my brother Volney Potter occupies
at the present time. My father, Darwin Potter, was a brother to Pearl Bailey's
mother, and Pearl Bailey is a son of Jr. Bailey who used to practice at Cham-
berino.
I have lived in the valley since I was ten years old, consequently I
have seen many changes. Some people think that the building of the Elephant
Butte dam was the greatest event in the history of the Mesilla Valley. But
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there is something that meant a great deal more to me," Lrs. avis said. "It
was the time they built a bridge strong enough to resist the 1 -do Grande and to
really stay put"
Mrs. Anna Potter Davis was born at jeir Kansas; June 7, 1886. Her father
was Darwin Potter and her mother was Annetta Cochran Potter. She attended
scLool at Chamberino and continued her education in the public shools of
Jona Ana County, and then attended the New Mexico State College at Mesilla
Park, ew Lexico. She is the wife of Charles 2ields Davis, prominent business
man of Anthony, New Mexico. mr. Davis is the owner and minager of the Valley
Implement 6ompany of Anthony.