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COTTONSEED
KID
Childhood Memories of a Texas Life
by Hariett Dublin
Publisher: Friday's Child Press
January 31, 2005
Reviewed by John Troesser
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The
tongue-in-cheek title sounds a bit like a paperback that might've
been sold on one of those revolving wire racks at the drugstore -
but this isn't a ripping yarn about a gunslinger or the biography
of a movie sidekick. It's a charming lilt book that takes the reader
back in time to a Texas (and Kansas) that no longer exists.
The author can claim the absolute best pedigree for a Panhandle Texan
(her parents being from Kansas). Her father, Willis Price, got a taste
for adventure during his boyhood when he had the opportunity to ride
with famed Texas scout and buffalo hunter Billy Dixon. After his time
spent with Dixon, things were just too tame back in home, so Willis
married in Admire, Kansas and he and his new bride Margaret returned
to Texas (via Washington State and California) arriving on a railroad
car - with their "bag and baggage" including a wagon and a team of
mules. Settling on family lands near White Deer, the Prices had three
girls; the author being the last born.
Due to her tender age, the author's insights on Pampa
and tiny White
Deer, Texas come mostly from family members, but her accounts
of adventures enjoyed and mishaps endured on trips taken "up there"
to Kansas are all firsthand. The dusty unpaved roads took the family
to rented houses in Cottonwood Falls, Salina and Emporia. Houses that
were rented to them by people (the author supposed) who had gone to
Colorado to cool off for the summer.
Properly
named Harriet (one T) after a favorite aunt, the author relates the
chores and pleasures of farm life from cleaning algae from the stock
tanks, to nursing orphan lambs, and gathering salad watercress from
the creek. The book's cast of characters includes a hard-of-hearing
maiden English aunt (complete with an ear trumpet) who (when she does
manage to hear what her American relatives say) writes back home to
complain about the family's unusual speech. This sentiment is shared
by tiny Harriet who states: that "all we knew was her name was Aunt
Lizzie, she was from England, and we could hardly understand a word
she said."
While remembering her walks past the courthouse and imaging all the
"presidents, kings and dignitaries" that worked there, Harriet reminds
us in simple imagery how we all once all saw the adult world. Putting
on a "circus" of home-dyed creatures and opening a museum of borrowed
relics and curiosities are highlights of the Kansas years. Interspersed
among the stories are recipes for fried mush, chopped apple cake,
and as a bonus - the author reveals a once-closely-guarded recipe
for Throckmorton, Texas Orange Cake.
The
volume's old-fashioned quality binding (sewn in signatures) matches
the value of the stories within. It does end too soon, but during
the journey you'll learn the story of the scandalous hitchhiking sisters,
how Harriet became Harriett, how a little girl in the Texas
Panhandle wrote the most popular slogan of the of the 20th century
and how to locate children with the help of lightning bugs.
Besides the enjoyable visit to familiar places we've never been, we
feel it also serves as an excellent model for those readers who have
considered writing their own memoirs. Try to be born into an interesting
family, cut to the chase, don't get bogged down in detail, and above
all else - just sit down and write it. It probably won't be a bestseller,
it might not be appreciated for sometime - but someday on some quiet
winter night when all the dignitaries and kings have left the courthouse,
your grandchildren might read words like Harriett wrote to her heirs:
"All of my children and grandchildren love the land, animals and being
a part of the natural resources that God has provided for our use
and protection while in our care. It's a serious matter - proper care
of the world around us."
© John Troesser |
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