World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
The cabin was on the edge of a deep gully and the creek ran down the
gully in back of the cabin. It went on to Honeoye Lake. We used to set
traps in the creek for muskrats. Sometimes we would hear wildcats
scream in the middle of the night down in the gully. The stove we used
for heat had a big ornate top that slid to one side to expose the
cooking top. we took this off and had it hanging on a nail in the
pantry. One night Clarence and I were there alone and the wildcats
were down in the gully. Just about midnight we were awakened by a
terrible crash somewhere in the cabin. Between that and the wildcats
it made our hair stand on end and the chills go up and down our
spines. We finally got up enough nerve to get out of bed, get a
flashlight and investigate. The heavy iron stove top had come off the
nail and knocked down all the pots and pans. After a couple of hours
we got back to sleep again. Down the road, not far from the cabin, a
church had burned down at midnight under mysterious circumstances. All
these happenings made the place very spooky to someone only ten years
old.
During these years I used to tag along behind Clarence while he was
hunting and taking care of his trap line for fox and muskrat. Fox
pelts were worth about $20 then, which was a lot of money. In all the
years that we hunted them, I can not remember getting one. It was fun
setting and baiting the traps and finding where the fox had gotten the
bait without springing the trap.
One winter Leon stayed at the camp and worked for Tony Miller on his
farm down the road. This is where he met Louise as she was the school
teacher at the school the other way from the cabin. At that time
teachers would board near the school and she stayed at the Miller's.
Leon said he worked very hard there, from sunrise to sunset, cutting
wood and doing chores for small wages and one meal a day.
For a change sometimes in the summer, we would go down about two miles
toward Honeoye and there was a place you could drive a car along the
creek away from the road to where the banks got steep. There was a
nice point by the creek where the ground was level and there were lots
of tall pines. Clarence had a panel truck and there was a mattress in
the back to sleep on. We would set up a canvas cover to cook and eat
under. It was a beautiful spot where we could stay for the weekend.
Sometimes I would take Ray Smith or Chuck Spears with me. There were
places where the creek was a couple of feet deep and we would go
skinny dipping. I often think of all that I would have missed doing if
it had not been for Clarence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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