Depression
was
depressing,
except
brother's
paddling
by
W. T. Block
Reprinted
from the
Beaumont
Enterprise,
October 17,
1998
NEDERLAND
- I'll never
forget the
Great
Depression,
notwithstanding
that many
others
probably fared
much worse
than we did.
In 1933, my
mother was
widowed with
three children
under 12, and
the living we
earned, such
as it was came
from five milk
cows and a big
flock of
chickens.
I
remember in
1934 when the
WPA dug a
large drainage
ditch across
our land, and
500 unemployed
men -
teachers,
engineers and
others -
earned $1
daily, manning
a shovel. I
remember the
day in 1932
when Dad and I
hauled 30
sacks of
potatoes to
Beaumont and
there was no
selling them,
even at 25
cents per
hundred
pounds. There
was also no
welfare,
unemployment
compensation,
food stamps,
or anything
else during
the 1930s.
But
one incident
that I
remember with
fondness,
though, was
the date that
my brother
Broomtail got
a paddling at
school, and it
stopped the
entire
learning
process in its
tracks.
In
1935, we moved
to Nederland
but we
continued to
rise at 5 a.m.
to milk the
cows. After
milking, we
bottled it in
one-quart
bottles and
delivered milk
on bicycles
all over
town. And
after
delivery, we
went on to
school at 8
a.m. wearing
the same
overalls we
had worn in
the cow pen.
One
of Broomtail's
chores twice
weekly was to
mix the sacks
of cow feed.
That included
mixing sacks
of cottonseed
meal with
sacks of rice
bran and other
ingredients.
And cottonseed
meal, which is
ground finer
than flour,
has an
unbelievable
tendency to
creep into
every pocket.
One
day Broomtail
was in music
class when
Miss P.
caught him
throwing
spitballs.
Miss P. was
quite small, a
little less
than five feet
tall and
weighed
perhaps 90
pounds soaking
wet, but she
whipped
students with
a paddle that
resembled a
boat oar. I
remember that
the boy who
made the
paddle in shop
class was the
first one to
get whipped
with it.
Miss
P. called
Broomtail up
to her desk to
get a
paddling. And
as he spread
his hands out
over her desk,
she hammered
his caboose
with that boat
oar with all
the stamina
her 90 pounds
could muster.
And just as
quickly, the
cottonseed
meal began to
rise in a
cloud from
Broomtail's
back pockets.
At
first Miss P.
began to cough
then she began
to choke, and
finally she
sat down at
her desk and
began to bawl
like a baby.
In the mean
time, the bell
rang, and
Broomtail and
the other
students left
for the
hallway.
So
far as I can
recollect,
Broomtail
never did get
the rest of
that paddling.
- W. T.
Block of
Nederland is a
historian and
author. His
web site is
http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/. This database is very large (150
articles) and
is intended as
an area
history source
for students.
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