The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, July 1968 - April, 1969 Page: 494
498 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
a galvanized bucket, adjusted knee pads, and knelt again to the sea
of whiteness.
By the time sacks were filled for the second time, the day had drawn
sharply to its close. A light south wind penetrated our wet shirts and
cooled our tingling skin. The west had grown hazy, and familiar
sounds returned: the rhythmical grating of heavy sacks drawn through
the middles, the chuck-chuck of a Model-T on Laro's Hill, cows lowing
in the pasture, crickets chirruping and larks singing on the fence-
rows.
Late cotton picking is associated with chilly Saturday mornings
under leaden skies. With the big season at an end, the corn harvested,
and the school term under way, fall plowing of corn and cane land
began. But rows of leafless stalks and dried burrs still held tags of
stained cotton and newly opened bolls. This cotton was picked and
sold in sacks as remnants. Late picking, called scrapping, done after
the school day and on Saturday mornings, continued even after the
first cold snaps.
When cold rains, sleet, and bitter winds halted most activity on the
farm, we kept long hours at the fireplace, reading and playing domi-
noes. Besides the regular chores, however, there were still the hog-
killing days and afternoons of cutting wood in the mesquite pasture
and burning prickly pears for cows.
The winter of 1919-192o was a critical one for Adalia; an influenza
epidemic put whole families to bed, and the prairie had never been
a more lonely place. Before the long siege, families had already begun
to leave the community. When my sister and I returned to school
after an absence of almost four weeks with the flu, we missed old
friends. During the next several years a few new students came and
went, and finally Adalia was but a ghost of its former self.394
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, July 1968 - April, 1969, periodical, 1969; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117146/m1/448/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.