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*eke Forest Cotton Ail
*eke Forest N. C.
July 27, 19
I. L. 14.
Usio e11 site on her porch between dinner end
supper end rocks in her ohair with r compleoenos that
nothing is able to undermine. Her hatband, Jim, makes
six dollars t week on t pert.time ob in the Aare Forest
cotton mill. un thtt amount he, hie wife, end their four
W-,ildren mast live. On off drys JIn tends his grrden in
which he hos tometoes, cabbages, ber4ls, onions, and oorn.
71sie stys the does not know how to chop in P gerden'end
thrt its too late for her to letrn.
4he is thirtvwtwo end looks fortywfive. The leathery
skin of her face is the color at r frost bitten pumpkin.
The veins rround her paffy ankles etend out in purplish
blue blotches egtinst the peety skin of her legs. She
thinks thrt standing on her fret in the mill mast have
caused the broken veins.
Asia oun ooa cne, the out wor in the mill. The
111.1 no longer needs hr tnd there's not muoh food et
her house to cook, ter bretarst rtrely chanesc. 4h*
knows now thrt r week from tomorrow she will have
bisouit, molvioes, tnd coffee. The young children tire
fn d of oaffe rnd the; do not have milk to drink.
amtAimet the Govan yerr ,a10 eirl will Opi to
other, just give me s. cup of coffee; that's all the
breakfast j went.°
Jt buys the grooeries for the family. It Isn't
that lct doesn't have time to do it. There trot preblems
of thmetio involved in grocery shopping thrt Iasi* is
unable to :ester. ihe stopped whoa just beyond the
sixth 'uAiltipliortion table rfter having worked weeks upon
it. TodEi it lv the only one in which one feels ease.
E.er oldest daughter, Tabby, is finding the sole
difficulties in arithmetic which chocked her „lother's
progress. At twelve she is still in the fourth exude.
Elsie says thet it is surely the teacher's fruit or Tabby
could get along faster than she does. he believes that
the teacher la the kind to neglect children who come from
the will bill. Jcbool bod been out month before tlsie
knew hex child hrd not pnesed her cTade. 04-, her ..ey home
fro school Tebby he'd erased the °note fro not promoted."
ifter r :-aonthle time she told her ther what she'd done.
aide tried to figure out enmr we to send Tabby to the
six weekr. owlmer school to mtke up her arithmetic but
that 9ohool ars not free. There's nothing for Tebby to
do, if ehe goes to school next year, but to repeat the
fourth grade.
Xlsie does not intend to eend her cnildren to sabiol
next year, not even the bright tnd rttructive girls of
seven end ton. The mestions rt sea seem reasonable
enough. How can her children est end hove wprIl clothes
too out of as dollers t 'week? ulcl you be willing to
have tour child with not half enough clothes on his body
stand out on the rOad some cold toy morning und wait for
z bast iold you want your child to go to echool in ouch
rags thet he yea aehamed every time a better dressed child
looked et hie? fte there say child who wtnted to be made
fun of or to be pitied by his clessmates?
Lle hi been told thst there is a law whiob will foroe
her to send her three sohoolupage children to ophool. In
thet case, she thinks the relief had better come out
bringin'T wrrz clothes for tluru
..Zeld like to see her ohildsen get ed clod, but it
doesn't .Actter with -Livr- so much as it does with Jim. Jim
thinks that the children con mtke hotter living if they
go through wheal. Het argument is that her children are
no better then she, snd she bra he- tJ work in tho U.
Jimos MOW*/ to her argument is that their children have
more sense t4sn they, and if h on manage to mend them
through echoOl perhaps they will find something CAN
besides cotton mill work to do. T411, it's Jim's problem.
figure it on six dollrrs week.
doesnt think thrt cotton mil, life offers
many advantages, especielly this particulbr Till village
where the toilets .re outside tnc there pre no lights
unless yaurs ble to wire your om house. he se,
sit's just re bed se living in the country." But on of
the -oorst disedventsges, she sem is to /Irv. whoa
terchere neglect your children becruse they wise from the
mill hill. t taivoher with pny sense should know th&t
panto of the peoplt1 on the mill hill vr. just 68 go ol es
peolle arrher t‘.
To 71rte it 9411e711. eWnge thrt Giu people never
get over feeling of alat-Ae et hering ta move to the mill.
Aer own mother, Acre Bedingfield, still holds h7rd
feelincs e!7vinet her tethers Ohurlie Bedingfield for
bringing her to the mill. der rpther terse' her ,other
by scythe tivt he is goiag to bury her ift the villoge.
A.tre aeys tiv.t if there is ouch r thing s coning bpok
to shrnt" r person she'll heat him eo he'll no nothing
but terr the rest of his life. fill of Atrele children
PVC un;rried Lnd live vt the mill. ker brothers' tnd
misters' children live in rnd rround releigti. mr,ny of
them hrve good positions. If Therlte heO never raoved
her fro krleigh to the cotton mil: dhe thinks her children
woul6 hew, ,:lone! well, too.
-isle thinks that such ttlk fro:. her viother is highly
elnualng. Wayne she herself could hrve done better if her
prrents iui t4ed on in isleigh cod if she could heve
awneced to get r job 1.1-1 which there wusn't tny figuring.
,ow oh,lUet tM cotton m117 fin,. f they eould
ntk r Tivinf, et it, If shf, Nnd J1t1. both could work or
if Ji!a Could mske t living we to tht they could here
light6 thei house, lenity of food to ert, eni good
clothes for their children he wouldn't mind spending
t1i rest of er dev# et the mill. Thr,re f‘re rlenty of
moA eopV, to keep her oolerny. th_ other hen, there
rre sow who wfully ignortnt. tt leret they /wpm
ignorrnt tr., her or theyli newer take up oo much time with
the tolimese religion. 7ier neighbors right orose the
rord .e.islong to thet religion rnd they certeinly do strange
it wrs efts this feehion tht node tel with me
the other duy when I ert with her on her front porch end
lookf,d rose tt onT of her lolineer neiThore. kn elderly
womvi stood in the doorwry en(1 bert off r leszy rhythm to
which rhe suppli 4 t croontv sort of long.
4ale mry get into the unknown tongue by n1 „ht.*
00nr thing I'd hold egetnet lotninl nith sem
erring long sleeved dreuees. t rogular member is
suppose,i to weer long sleeves men in the summer time
Jter ti s renprk anis looked et me with r deVilleh
otle end r merry twinkle in her *ye thrt belied the
yellowed illneer:; of her akin. Lncoumge4 by my response
thrt 1 found long sleeves anoomfOrteble in hot werther
she continued.
"AndI wirer could get up enough faith in (led to
trust to *lain' on bends,* for Malin, the sick. The
Bible sofa send for t physician. vthen my little home
remedies fail I want to send for one that knows mops than
I do. Bevis you got that mush faith?" she muertee un.
expeotedly.
"5411, I guesslike you in thet respects* I
answered. 4hen I Ill I went e dootor." ftax e moment
I raked. o you bolong tJ the doctor's list?*
"Teseu4 tad that's somethin::: else to come out of
them els dollars." The sudden reelisetion of hoe muob
Jim's merger weekly wage hed to do prOvoked her to
laughter. z;he chuckled lightly. I found myself chuckling
too.
You've got no notion ho oll children can went,"
she 'her she pas reedy to telk rgein. "%in* worry
me to JettZ1 about th,. movies but the only tica they get
to go now is when their Orendmt Bedingfield gives Ism
E dime.°
se pictures In there on the :fantelpiecio
son of their favorite stare I cskeds glancing into
the shtdawy interior of the neer.by room.
Them's pictures of the Lord. They've got
totor pictures though. ome on in tn4 Ill: show 'en to
you.°
7 4111,
inside the veepOtebly olopn room flab e brought
forth framed pictures it Helen Twolvotrees, Ginger Rogers,
Jeen Harlow, and Gone Autrey. tt the mention of these
neves the three girls otos rushing out of the dijoining
room end beig,n discussing ewottedly the merits of their
favorite eters. Ginger lips such e good drncer. Jenn wre
beautiful end they hated she bed to die. Gees Autrey wee
just ebout the best one in the movies. They'd like to
me him every 3siurdey.
I looked with interest it the tmeted expressions
of the wevonmend tenmyear.old girls. They reminded me
of young movie stirs themeelvis with their black curly
heir, their bright blue eyes, end their heart-shepod
hoes. Tabby stood bj with an edonoidel expression that
would stay with her even if the adenoids were removed.
The room in which we stood bed only ons bed. Teo
connoting rooms hrd one bed each. Buokete end pens
dotted the floor of the room to the right
"I've just got them reedy in osee it reins,* 771sie
explained. °The roof leeks so bed during a heavy rein
it's like being out doors.°
when we were seated tgein on the porch Tide said,
oo folks use having t hard time on this hill. There',
my einter.iniplre -.3,,reth hell who's got *Ix children ell
crowded in three roosts. I don't woe how she does it.
lier men don't meke much more than mine neither,* she
finished rs she rocked stowly bed, end forth in her chair.
few minutes later ts I was leaving I ventared to
soy "I hope you do find some way to mind your children to
school this pmr..
chould you yrnt t eand a child of yours out on a
bitter ol orning end him not having enough clothes to
keep his body wens?" seksd as. 04hildren hate to look
different from other children. A child's got e sight of
feeling rboat such things.*
Ymil, I know how you feel." I sad, end turned to
lerve. I looked bec;-: end Scrph ens rocking complacently
on her porch. Her thrsf. pretty children and the cdanoidsl
child set in r row on the steps end watched as until I
hcd pied bolo, the hill.