Buddies from a young age. We were possibly 3 years old. The young man on the left is Dr. Paul Kitchen, the young man on the right is his handsome uncle, me. Have you noticed even as a child I was always “right”? In this photo I am three months older that Paul. I have stayed three months older throughout the years.
Let us review this photo. The swing appears to be too high above the ground for youngsters like us. It appears we are about to slip off the swing seat. These shoes were probably all the rage in that day. Paul’s pants seem to be kind of short; mine has one leg rolled up higher than the other. Do you like those white socks?
It does not appear that there was much grass to mow. You can see a building on the left of this photo which may have been an outhouse. We must have been wealthy as there is a wood fence in the back ground. You might notice the items against the building on the right. I assume there were no safety concerns for kids our age.
I can remember mom buying pants for me (when I was a couple years older) that was as much as 4 inches too long. Kids would wear them rolled up and they could grow in to them.
This photo was taken in Smelterville which was in south Cape Girardeau. Where did the name Smelterville came from? I was told there use to be a Smelter in the area, ergo Smelterville.
Smelterville is no longer there. The entire area was in a Flood Plane and anytime the Mississippi would flood Smelterville would be flooded. Many of the houses were built about 4 feet above the ground.
There use to be many houses on both side of the tracks and even a few small grocery stores. The First Pentecostal Church was located there. There was a gas station and a couple bars. The packing house (it was a slaughter house for cattle and hogs) was located there and at times when the wind was out of the south it provided a massive aroma. When the smell was strong from the packing house people would say, “The doors of the packing house are open”. As a kid I believed that the smell came out when they opened the doors. There was a train track that went through community. It was a nice community even though most of the residents were poor.
The cement plant was and is still located just south of Smelterville.
Young’uns; is Missourian speak meaning young one or young kids.
From the young right mind of Don Ford
All rights reserved, any reproduction or distribution without written permission is strictly prohibited.
No comments:
Post a Comment