By Fleta Aday
My Father loved to tell stories, and most of the stories I know are ones Daddy told. One of my favorite stories concerns his Grandma Powell and two traveling evangelist. In the twenties and thirties in northwest Arkansas there were a number of young people who went around the country collecting money for various religious groups. One day a couple of young men came to Grandma's door collecting for The Lord. Grandma told them she did not have any money.
One of the them looked around the yard and saw several chickens. He asked Grandma "Could you donate a couple of chickens to The Lord?" Grand ma quickly agreed to give them the chickens, but she said, "If you will come back in a couple of hours, I will have them killed and dressed for you."
Grandma fixed the chickens and took them down the road to one of her neighbors. The mother and father had both been sick and they were having a hard time feeding their large family.
When the young men returned, they asked Grandma where the chickens were she promised to give to The Lord. She said "I have already delivered them. I was afraid you wouldn't know the way." Grandma knew the way to The Lord.
When Daddy got tired of telling stories, but we were still begging him to "Tell another one", he would always say, "I'll tell you a story about Jack and Nory, and now my story's begun. I'll tell you another about his brother, and now my story's done." And now my story is done
Betty Cooper was known to be very high strung, she had a temper. Her son Worth Powell fell from a Train at Carrollton AR. and broke his leg and hip. Many operations were done on Worth on Betty's kitchen table over several months.
Grandpa Richard would have to travel by horse and buggy to Springfield Mo. and bring the Doctor to his home Each time.150 mile each way.
Richard and Betty paid all they had to that Doctor and the last trip Richard made he had to give the Doctor his team and the buggy because he had nothing left to pay with.
My sister Fleta commented to me as to how hard it was for Grandpa Richard to make that long trip and then take the Doctor back to Springfield.
I said by what we had heard about Grandma Betty, it probably was easier than staying home with Grandma Betty .
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2 comments:
I was thinking how good it was of the doctor to travel that far by house and buggy to treat a patient. But then when I read that the doctor TOOK the horse and buggy, I realized things haven't changed all that much after all.
Grandpa Richard lost his farm and
cattle because he could nto pay
his mortage. After they moved to
Nowata and Grandma died they redid
the wall paper and she had cut slits and stuck 20 dollar bills into the wallpaper...Betty Cooper's Bank. I guess she was not going broke again. At that time men could mortage all they had without the consent of the spouse.
Also, they said when Betty was a little girl in school. Some of the girls were clicky and would only play with a the little group...they would not let Betty cooper play. She pushed one of them off a cliff. I bet it was just a few feet down, but I think she was a woman when she made up her mind it was set! They said she never went to school anymore.
Richard Powell in Ca. said she could read and write he knew because his family had a letter from her. Oh, I would have loved to see it.
We are talking about my namesake, girls...be careful!
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