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?ebrtzry 27, 1,3f.
David ::nelson (white)
111%i. .tho t4lls
Leleaster, X. 0.
Dairy Farmers
Anne ainn Weans, writer
MVtl:3 F,
Leietogtor
rvtdsleleon
Bennie Anelson
ML Otho 14ells
Mit nelson
Oey .nelson
Niltoh Plimmons
utho wells
Riehmond
Grandfather Roberts
New round Oreisk
Frank wells
Anh,6114110, No 0,
Canada
Alberta
Mr4o Una
arre3 AT LE T
ties49
Woreestor
Brad
Louise
Margarot willis
;oak
Andrew
Andrew Awry
Burton Allis
Unchanged
loft Itiohards
Graham arook
?red tllta
ackland
Unehanged
Unchanged
Ure. Lowe
1:4111 FAv X. AT
7Ltrmers in the veroestor section see that if anyone
in tb*t mountain re.lin 'nowt farming Is Brad ftittles;
but Bred to modest, and, when quostloaed, grins end says„
*The first prinstpla of farming is to learn how to fast."
Bred, 52, *tout, goodemaatured, and rudilywfatiod, seems to
have fasted little, however, ttis graying hair is slotsely
clipped, and when he laughs, which is often, be shows lower
teeth conspicuously built up at gold. the fern ha veers
dmrt blue dents work suits, but in to be dresses like the
*vertigo basins** man. ,Inca the (loch of his wife Louise,
his clothes h-ve been mended and kept in good trim by Margaret
willia, his widowed sisterminwlow. Like 110-A farmers "in
theari parts", Bred kespe oa his felt hat in the house,
"There are two farms under Brad's management" explains
Ramona, who ;mope house for Brad and his two children;
ac:od 17 641 Andrew, 14. "Hs mansges this farm on which
we live. The neighbors sell it the 13uttlos farm, but it boom
lonztid to ly father, Andrew Perry, the children's grandfather'
At his death the children and I inherited it. The othor farm
ams own Jil by v hualennd Burton tUt., who left me a lire
interest ta este At my 1oitb, a to Brad's chili'
dren ot whom my hQIb*flLi was very fond. t;c1 Brad and I are
partner* in a way. Brad is the iegel guardian of his abil.
drone and sots in their behelf• Periodleally he ift required
to make detailed reports to the cUperior Court mi his ad.
ministration of the entiro estetes" The ferns are obviously
prosperous. and Drat' and Margaret are generally suppose* to
be well.tc.40# But **eh of then *eye modestly. owe wake a
living at it, that's about alle
lhon 3rad Is asked *bout his eduoation, he says ughingly.
"After you talk to as awhile you'll know I taut had mucks"
"Brad knows more than be lets on." interrupts Margerets
"He bar right mueb Laflusnoe in looal p MUM, ne likes
to Asko speeohne, and he hes a good ems* of humor as well
80 00=04 6011$0.
"gene admitted Brody *I do co up to te tote t;epitol
whea any bills thct effeet us loeally for coming up in the
legislature. •Josetimes I nest with the oonnittees and try
to take them see us poor farmers, point of view. BA. mostly
I lusters** around the hotels end the streets and talk to
the lealers Nit the quiet. Mut lolitioa is a side.lins with
Mies rtM too busy farming to be an officeholder. ream in
nr line. nohow* I 'Pus a deputy sheriff JUM141 But twus only
for 0 'short time.,
Brad llkes to talk of his early days, re he
says. *wee with Lee's army, An4 wee wounded in the SOVVIO
Dayet Battle eround Richmond. After Lee's surren4014 Mr
father ammo beak to the mountelans, :serried, end settled
down to farming his own land. When I ems two peers old*
he wee killed in an see dont at his sawmill. There were
ten Waldron, in the totally, the youngest born atter q
fatherts death.
**my mother aerried oa wit the farm," Brad says, "there
wes two ntgeere living the place who helped with the
work during my fntherts lire but after he died they soon
left, or my aother hed no help exoe;It us ohildren, ciork
an th ftrn in thos, days was continuous. We got up at
f)ur otoloek in the morning and workod all day. in harvest
tine, after a hnr4 day's work to the fields, strippine
fodder* cutting (torn tops, and gatherinc porn, we would
nhuok the corn by the light of u lantern until 10 &Polack
at night. MAAthtr kept cows, hogs, end sheep. :,Ite washed
wool rrom her own sheep, carded Ito equAn it, and wove °loth,
my first suit was esde ror no by my nother out of ()loth *Ash
she had woven herself.
:Iahooling wIlta Mosul Mere wee a Presbyterian lady
from :Ihiladolphia," Brad says, Afto taht In a onewAroom
anhool in the neighborhood, The term :an from three to four
months, but many of the ehildres oou1dn't be os,nred slunk
from thvo term end got very little sohooling. But as the
'Mich*r boarded with my mothor, she wood to tea* me at
night. I learned mostothough, from ar oldest brothsres
young wits, who lived with us, end taught as orithmetio
and spelling.
°Toms pimple today aro not like when I wee growing up,'
says Mired. 'Tbey don't hove to work liko we did. Imagine
a boy working 14 hours a day now 0, every MO They don't
think ah*ed any tor, oithQr, and it don't even seem like
they car* anything about on A.46 their own haws. They don't
think *bout anything but their pleasures, like rushing oft
to town to see show. Now they mon go more than 100 silos
in the tail* it laa4 to take us country poo2lo to go 10 mass,
when I woo e boy. We never wont anywhere, anyhow, but you
ought to moo tom go nowt" In his own youth, Brad contends,
*Thor* wasn't on ørawe*nts, The only roc-Jration was Christ•
mac end oomp meetIng.
Mother," he asintoins, "had a remarkable memory. be
would sometimes cavirtain us until 11 o'clock at night with
storiaa of her young mire, 6ho was e g,o4 amvorsotionalist•
The trAiblo with moPt boople today a eonvorsotioaelists is
they ted.1 yau so mush th4t didn't happen."
The 72.nec VAittlea 4111, wLiab htr belanced to direct
4eacentianta of the pionuer settler, Jahn Aiehards. uvar
VIL40 altered and 4eveloped the tract, to almost ell
tiatt tn4 end very fertile,' fl la remarkably level for
u mountain Cara indeed, it ie quite not. On the north
awl east te a nbeltering rouge af law, w;o4cd Ni'les whieh
Itrotooto tLe val4v lie e huge arn$ curved defeneivelY•
oula of the apur ri4gea ;lure treeless, grapey elopes, where
the furotz her4 of luarnsey cattle may 'f ten be poen vasitig,
At the Lama of ono ,af thwle eloped are three wactheriebleaehe4
tanant eabins* A 'lived hiAbway forms thtst urn btfundary
or thc flirno ?ran the h5,3hway, (h./than *kit a ()leers OW..
low roans noctindere *areas the tarn to return o the high..
w47 at the aa4 •f the fialde. Maar the h4use the strews Ls
shaded by. huge eyeamores, au4 beyond the gyeamoroe in an
apple orehard*
The ,n-esiont f built keno nivr the
bridge
h Orionty/wnwr
reek, im tvamatory etructure of the
onlal type seln rten la law Sn414n4. Toeing 9.3uth
toward tha 3yeamore 4Ael the 4,,laelin creek, it hAa a tall
ohlmnoy at t.aoh and, 0 lo freeed ea protected a hill
on 11, north Thar* la one temonde borwcod near the small
front porahs Notween the ht›ueo end the e5etern ridges are
thu barns. silo, fields tartleti green, mn4 land
plowed for oorn rlui peal* "When corn is 501 a bushel."
says Bred. *the inly nay to ate it pay 11 to faed it to
cows*"
The day visited the Du*, wet 1ii1t invitsit le
int,) a lar3 high-ceilinged mym with windows on three
silos* Thor. WOS 43 321,4 4, and throuc:h the windows
W3.0 plaasant views =If t.he wooded hill, gray with gnarled
bouh or itcalm) on the beck window could be seen
a low ell, 130i 4" a tthmn, with the adjoining ground
neatly flaz3ed with slabs of lo3a1 stone*
,e room eiakar
furninhed, is papered inconspicuously in a ilesian hex...6431ms
with the itnoloan sluare oa the floor* Plains freshly lause
dared ourtains. A few 0°4 lents ,n the walls, a comfortable
davenpert WIA, the room -mite cosy*
Margaret. a 'lender figure in noat b:Lut ,aotte% %owe
'roes mad snail apron, murmured am apology before finimhing
a table Int th, t 'ha h -A haen irening*
of the noat pitee A' freshly ironed art
c,
111ced it on one
qn.the couch,
saapped orr t%0 alectric irin, pleated nor wood 411 the fire,
anl s.:at611 :ersclf in a rocirer neer the fir021:lae, aer heath,
quiet 43.4 relnied tn her lap*
bm is en alert, i,:rseeful women of ablut fifty, with soft
ed beak on her forehead like w
pleasant.t and
"I was bore in this 21.Am-se she told e, /and spent my
dhood here* John Riehard*, grandfather, who settled
farm, lived in a smell house by the ereek* But '4
eso my ether built this house WI it is today.
is
titan *laced about her husband, Margaret said Burton was
born on a farm on the o 4:1 sift of seceater* His father.,
Fred Allia. wis a wellwto..do farmer end deputy sheriff* But
Norton always thoueht farming LA the mountains ems too slew*
Hie father, though well off, had e big fanny to provide for.
So while Burton we little more than a boy he want ',oat end
worked on s cattle ranch* Fie emoted to get on fester than
he could at home**
*Thirty to forty years agovm expliAINO4
listening quietly, °When they would still
the Oast, lets or young non. went out there from thea momap•
tains They meted to own lead where *auditions were not so
harda they could make a hu fir themselves and maybe
build t a fortune* Burton wan one of the
"After herding cattle 16 years on the plains," continued
thrgrr.t, mhos same home on visit. Be was oldo than I.
5 mere chili when. he went sway* um his return we met
end fell ta love with eae other. U.
iest with bins but I didn't ilk& the thought of the West and
told hinI couldn't bring myself to go tro. o!Writ.=
gale up th4 wet for Margaret.
or sovers1 years after we
vied in Oakland, the cosnt7 eist. t3ertoA became
deputy sheriff, like his tether. ;.v on e quiet
street, and were all the time m4viag fr tota to house:
like tho oity and it eta ta livL in differentAMMWO and
mooting new poodlloo But Burton ooulanot aet over his love
for the ',test The :mly or he wen really Interested in wee
raisiag cattle rInally Ae talked me into migrating to Oemades
ober* there was still free load. we staked out a elite of
la0 scree of prairie load la Alberta: MY people Prolftes1414
wed never stay loan enough to ova the land: But we lived
there six years: e loved it We raised euerneeys end
planted wheat and oats: All we had to do; said Margaret
"was to Ast the sopa ta the ground and watch it g"mt. ve
made as much moan: there In me ?bar as we did in six years
of farming hers. The big horses and the bigh-gradeo
data machinery helped to sake the work lighter: ta the
summov the cattle sera ventured on the prairie, and is the
winter they did not swot mlni th L4, os loc..ts they
said Iftrigartot
had comfortable burns to sassy in. I hnve often seen the
cattle come home in the att.r*uo 4th snow to or three,
Inches deep on their bookie.
°Ye were quite prosperous until the itbrok of the
World -4ar, rolumed to an unusually severe winter. Then
Burton developed rheumatism". The tlehedieh rendemes
unteered or were drafted for over -sees service and were
sent to Yranoe. 'oo4 for the cattle could no longer be
bought. verything seemed to go wrong. Lto we were forced
to gel. out. :told the *AMU* at a profit; bqt the land
only brought ;.000. t:hen we came beck to the mountains
aurton bought an 84 acre fern near ay old hoes. Mal bought,
oleos Cfaeruseye and toot up stockoferming. Le lived on his
farm in a little whit* oottege. He died about 10 years ego*
ty litter Louise, lred's wife he died the year before,
Iesva two children aged three and sin. My mother cared
for them until her death..ter she died, I put a tenant
family into my co.tago and toot over housekeeping for aired
and the children. tith the help of 4re. Lowe who has been
with the fanny as a helper for ,9 years. Icouldn't love
the children more if ti...ey were my own, abil Burton was de•
voted to them4
The white oottage where Burton and Nargeret lived up to
the tine of his deaths stands on e knoll and is r4aed4 by
greet oaks* In the front yard is a big cherry tree, and
boxwood, and °the': shrubs outline the conerete step lead.
lug down the sodded terraeee to the winding road* Neat barns,
a-Inc:rote stalls for the cattle, and two silos built of cos*
crate blocks are compactly marised behind the how* and the
alopue and bottom lend are plantvd in corns taboo** and
vegetables.
*The press
very efficient. They keep the 1aøe
stalls ere washed daily* They olen
clean nnA shininz, an rind time to
Besides releinn settle for sales
says Margaret are
utifullY* TbsAmttla
be cottage windows
e gross.*
and Viargaret told
nes *we keep from 21 to 2, milch *ow* on each farm. The
tenant famillass one on each fare soya Margaret °look
after the cattle and do the milking for which eeeh
t td DO, a month.
or ftay work beyond that, each person
is 2ttd $I The men vho fill the silos at the end of the
summer are peid 7,1,50 a dey and ere furnished their dinners*
The tenants raise not t the feed for the wattles and all
or the vegetabls for our household*
Mawaret adds, "I own, lso n tract of mountain pasture,
which is used 'or *Amer zre2Ing, tit', treat hae on it a
Urge apple orchard, wttc te ultivated by another tenant
amily. This really, La r -turn for proteetinc the Gattie
durlaz the summer and for gathering the fruit, is given
ths use of the cabin, the land neer the oebin to cultivate
for food, and halt of the spples gathered.
dairy berme and all oluipsont ax's tme?,toted roralarly
by th health 0410Oacttlises and are kept imp to standard. The
herd is tested three tiles a year for disease. All milk Proob
ducat must met the vequirensate of the *tat* Ism before it
oan t); sold. Milking begins at six o sleek in the morning
The milk is eollected by the trucks et about nine. 1:11, sell
all the milk to a Greenery at the *meaty e%mt. 14* are very
proud of the quality of our milk, which has 3 1 rge oontent
of butterfat.°
Margaret *act meas. "The reason we dlovt nuke naah sore
than 4 living out of our ncrms is th-t so =rah has tu be ione
to the *Ill Anti In three years es lost 27 amis with Menge
disease. Tamale are heavy toe; partly because both our ferns
border the mein bighlmal•
I !me; a nook of purembred,white l2ns for h
dealers* Margaret. This A7ril she has NO baby chicks kept
in an upfttoftdate brooder. Meeh sumer, I oan all the fruits
and vegetables needed thr' siOt the winter. Mrs Lowe, the
elderly mien et o has been with the fanny 9 years helps as.
Lest simmer, I hired a tri as
'always venting to f!el ple
done over; so me get along
we'll without her, Aft.r
all. this I* titj e fern house. I try to reel it simply
furnlahed• That lakes the housework lighter.
V* have eleotrieity tor liahts and household oonvenienemee
and our water Is pumped trom an approved well. %ham se get
in better oiroumetentee we are goin5 to repaint the house
and put in bothroom4