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This Week's Story

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MOMMA KITTY AND ESTELLE
© 2003 Rebecca P. Pearce

"Elmo," said Cellie, "you see that little old house right there? Well, that's where my friend Lizbeth lived when I was a little girl.

"Lizbeth was almost exactly the same age as I was, and we used to play together all the time. We visited back and forth so much, between our houses and relatives' houses, that sometimes we'd even get our kinfolk crossed up.

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"My Grandmammy lived right around the corner from us, on School Street. Lots of times Lizbeth and I would play in her back yard, around her old barn. The barn was full of these little short logs ~ called 'rollers' ~ that Grandmammy got from the Bottom Mill to use in her fireplace and to cook with on her woodstove. We used to take the rollers and stand them up on their ends, and make rooms for our playhouse.

"Grandmammy made the best tea cakes on that old woodstove. And almost every time Lizbeth and I played in her back yard, she'd bring out two little paper-sacks full of fresh tea cakes ~ one for each of us.

"One day we didn't eat all of our cakes before we had to leave, and we stopped by Lizbeth's place on the way to my house.

" 'Lizbeth,' said Lizbeth's momma Estelle, 'where did you get all those tea cakes?'

" 'Why, Grandmammy gave 'em to us,' said Lizbeth.

" 'Lizbeth, Miz Blannie is not your grandmammy,' said Estelle.

" 'Well,' said Lizbeth, 'she's Cellie's grandmammy, so she can be my grandmammy, too.'

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"Lizbeth's daddy Gollie was not long dead, and so her family was having a kind of a hard time," said Cellie.

"Estelle had a brother named Joe, who lived out on the road toward Conway. Joe was a very nice fellow, plus the fact that he had a regular job. He worked for the NCSH&PWC ~ the North Carolina State Highway and Public Works Commission ~ and was paid off in real cash every week. The Bottom Mill paid off in cash every week, too, but their cash wasn't real USA money. The Bottom Mill owners minted and printed their own private money, so the hired help couldn't spend their pay anyplace except at the mill's company store.

"Joe came around a lot to lend Estelle and her family a hand, and he was always nice to Lizbeth and me. Once when he came around, he gave both of us Dime Banks, and told us to save all our dimes in them until we had five dollars in each. When we had put five dollars worth of dimes in them, they were supposed to magically open, and we, of course, would practically be rich.

"When I went home that day," said Cellie, "my momma asked me where did I get that Dime Bank.

" 'Well, Uncle Joe gave it to me,' I said.

" 'Cellie,' said Momma, 'Joe Johnson is not your uncle.'

" 'Well,' I said, 'he's Lizbeth's uncle, so he can be my uncle, too.'

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"Uncle Joe's job with the NCSH&PWC was to drive a road-grader. Now, you recollect, back then, there weren't any paved roads or streets or sidewalks or anything, and what with snow and rainstorms and T-Model Fords and mules-and-carts, the dirt roads real often would get into pretty bad shape.

"Uncle Joe's job was to keep driving over these messed-up roads with his road-grader, which had two little front wheels, a big old scraper-blade, two huge back wheels and a steering-wheel with a great-long steering rod.

"He was supposed to just keep doing this over and over, doing his best to keep them halfway passable.

"His job brought him up and down our street two or three times a month. And after he gave us those Dime Banks, he would stop every time he came by and give each of us a dime to add to our savings," said Cellie.

"Joe," said Elmo, "surely sounds like he was a right-nice fellow."

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"Oh, he was," said Cellie, "but he also was a little short. Sometimes that made it hard for him to see where he was turning those little wheels that sat way out in front of his big scraper-blade.

"Lizbeth had a pretty cat, who we called 'Momma Kitty.' She'd had several litters of kittens who had found new homes around various parts of town, but she always hung around with Lizbeth and me, trotting back and forth between our houses when we did.

"Well, one day right after Uncle Joe had stopped to reward us with two new dimes, Momma Kitty found something interesting close to one of those front wheels, and she didn't move fast enough when he climbed back into his pilot's seat and put that road-grader in gear.

"Momma Kitty was hurt something bad. Split her stomach right wide open."

"Oh, that's sad," said Elmo.

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"Well, Elmo," said Cellie, "Lizbeth's momma Estelle took in sewing. She was an expert seamstress. Right after Gollie died, Estelle started riding the work-bus over to the WPA Sewing Room in Union to take sewing classes. She already knew a lot about sewing before she went, and after she took those WPA classes, you'd have to say she was an expert.

"She was so good at it that Wynn Bros. Department Store started sending all their alteration work around to her house for her to fix up. And she made dresses and clothes for almost every family in town.

"She was far and away the best sewing-woman around. If you wanted some first-class sewing-work done, you took it to Estelle," said Cellie.

"Well, not to be nosy," said Elmo, "but, Cellie, tell me about that cat."

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"Oh," said Cellie. "The cat.

"Well, when Momma Kitty got hit, Lizbeth just went to pieces. She was just hysterical. I felt pretty bad myself, but I was really afraid that Lizbeth was going to die. She was just screaming and carrying on, which brought Estelle out of her sewing-room to the road.

"Now, Estelle went over and felt of Momma Kitty's forehead.

" 'This cat's not dead,' she said.

"She picked up Momma Kitty, and Lizbeth, Uncle Joe and I followed her back into her sewing-room.

"She plopped down into her favorite sewing-chair, put a towel over her lap, and flopped Momma Kitty over on her back onto that towel.

"And Estelle picked up her needle and sewing-thread and right there in front of our eyes, she stitched that cat's stomach back into one piece."

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"Wow," said Elmo, "that really is some story, Cellie.

"How in heck did she get the cat to lie still for that?"

"I really don't know," said Cellie, "I guess Momma Kitty was still in shock, thinking she was dead anyway. Estelle sewed that cat back together and poured Apinol all over her stomach. Then she tore up a piece of old bed-sheet and bandaged her the best she could from end-to-end, and then she poured some more Apinol all over the bandage."

"Good Lord," said Elmo. "Did the cat ever get over it?"

"Get over it?" said Cellie.

"Momma Kitty not only got over it.

"She wound up having three more litters of kittens."

~

Rebecca, with Kitty in her carriage, c. 1932

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This Week's Verse

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I love little kitty,
her coat is so warm,
and if I don't hurt her,
she'll do me no harm.

So I'll not pull her tail
or drive her away,
and kitty and I
very gently will play.

She will sit by my side
and I'll give her some food,
and she will like me
because I am gentle and good.

(Old English child's rhyme)

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DON UPCHURCH AND HISTORY

News item, Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald

Veteran radio personality Don Upchurch ...... (interviewed) retired Ahoskie businessman Wayne Myers on Tuesday at "No Man's Land" park.   Upchurch, an avid history buff, (was filming) a "day in the life of Ahoskie" ~ recording personal images from citizens who shared their fondest memories of the town, as well as aiming two cameras east and west along Main Street in order to capture unorchestrated movement.   Upchurch plans to release his project in a DVD set, one that includes footage shot in and around town years ago, as well as placing one set in safekeeping to be opened on Ahoskie's 200th birthday ~ Jan. 24, 2093.

Email to Don Upchurch

Don:   I just read on the internet front page of the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald about your commendable effort to preserve a piece of history about the old hometown. Bully for you.

I note that the article says you will be preserving this on DVD (which I don't have yet and probably won't in the future) ~ but I would like to offer one word of advice on this: Considering that as much change may take place between 1993 and 2093 as took place between 1893 and 1993, I hope you will put a DVD player in that safekeeping spot along with the DVD.

I don't know of a single soul who nowadays has a machine that could play one of those old Edison cylinders. Do you? ~   Jim Pearce, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Email response from Don

Jim:   I did consider the playback of the material. Hopefully, all the material will be updated as it moves through the years (format-wise) just as most VHS material is being updated to DVD at this time. Many old 8mm films are a part of the program that I have updated to VHS and now to DVD, which gives you an almost clone of the material rather than a copy.

As you know, technology changes so rapidly now, it would be almost impossible to predict what type of formats will be available by 2093. But I know that there will be people like you and me who will tinker with this stuff (history). I just want to give them something to work with.

I will have to say that The Poor Town News was a major inspiration to me in this project, as I see the old stories you publish coming from throughout the land, and the old photographs that people have sent to you. I rest my hopes on someone (in the future) who will act as a funnel for this material, showing the world that we, the (present-day) people of Ahoskie, were real, too. I see The Poor Town News as one of those format-conversion things. You are taking old stories and photos and converting them today to a usable format that a majority of the U.S. is now getting involved in (the internet).

So I don't think that I will send along a player, because there might not be any television sets to connect it to ...... and I know that they could never find a mule to pull it.

I only wish John White (1587 Colony) had left a digital video camera with his colonists, or had been armed with one himself. It would sure save me a lot of time trying to prove that "Dorothie" and those colonists sleep today in Gates County. But he and the others did the best they could with their written words. They did leave us something to work with.

P.S. ~ There is an old Edison Cylinder player in an old store in Menola, so I am told. ~   Don Upchurch, Ahoskie, North Carolina.

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POOR RICHARD'S ALMANACK

If you would not be forgotten
as soon as you are dead and rotten,
either write things worth reading
or do things worth writing.

(Benjamin Franklin)

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This Week's Mailbox

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...... Thanks for some more fine tales. I especially enjoyed the story about "Uncle Joe" (The Poor Town News No. 58). It was touching and so real (and could be about) so many of the returnees from all the wars ...... The "Wash Day" picture (in No. 59) reminded me that one day when I was researching some 1800s obituaries, (I came across) a woman's death that was recorded with the cause (given as) "scalded by falling into her wash tub." ~ Norma Scott, West Melbourne, Florida.

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...... Just a short note to tell you that I enjoyed the article about my father (The Poor Town News No. 56). My daughter and you did a pretty good job of telling about it, but there is a lot more that could be added ...... I know I have a picture of that old bus somewhere in my house, but I am still in the recovery stage of open-heart surgery and I have not yet (gotten around to looking) for it. ~ Louis Johnson, Raleigh, North Carolina.

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