Marshall McClung
George Gershwin composed “Summertime” in 1934 for the opera Porgy and Bess.
It contains the phrase “summertime when the living is easy,” which causes me to wonder if George ever used a hoe or pitchfork.
In our younger days, we were out of school – and out in the tobacco fields and hayfields more than we were inside.
Days started early with a barefoot trip in the morning dew to pick up fallen apples before the chickens pecked them.
Chickens get up early, you know.
Then it was off to the garden, the tobacco field or cornfield for a day of work in the hot sun.
If we were not performing free labor at home, the local farmers wanted us to help put up hay or get the tobacco crop into the barn. When we worked for them, we were paid the going rate for “child labor” – which was 50 cents per hour and an all-you-could-eat homecooked meal.
I might add that we ate plenty, as anyone who raised boys can attest to.
Woodcutting was not just a winter chore, as cooking was done on a woodburning stove. Even though this was done in the shady woods, it was still a hot job. Regardless of the outside chore you were doing, you had to keep a lookout for snakes and nests. Those
yellow jackets could put a hurt on you in a hurry.
Another hot summertime job was picking blackberries, which was in the hot sun of course. But the worst part was that we had to put our shoes on – as we went barefoot in the summer otherwise.
But all was not work. We rode bicycles to the Snowbird picnic area to go swimming in Snowbird Creek, which had cold water any time of year. We built wooden wagons out of whatever scrap material we could find, usually pieces of lumber from some barn or crib repair. The wheels were made from a black gum tree that we cut with a crosscut saw. Axle grease was used for lubrication.
If it was not available, fresh cow manure would work for a little while.
When we could come up with 50 cents between about three of us, we would rent a boat from John Carver and go fishing on the Snowbird prong of Santeetlah Lake. He had boat motors for rent, to but we couldn’t afford them. I doubt if he would have rented one to a “bunch of young punks” any way.
Late-August brought the arrival of the carnival with its rides and other attractions. This usually got some of the “summer wages” we had earned from the farmers and led us at an early age to use the phrase about wondering what happened to our summer wages.
This was usually our last blast of summer fun, as school started soon thereafter.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, mcclungs@email.com.