The Life of Me: An AutobiographyJohnson, Clarence Edgar
History
The Life of Me: An Autobiography
Johnson, Clarence Edgar
Fisher County (Tex.) -- Biography; Fisher County (Tex.) -- History; Johnson family; Johnson, Clarence Edgar, 1906-1994
When I was young I heard Mama tell that her brother Hugh was shot
to death one day while out on his horse. I didn't know whether
the Gaddies were living in Kentucky, Texas, or Oklahoma when he
got shot. When I heard how Hugh had died, I was old enough to
know about Kentucky moonshiners, Texas cattle rustlers, and
Oklahoma desperadoes. I wondered if any of them had played a
part in his death, but I didn't ask any questions .
Mama told me later that Hugh was a cowboy, had gotten his pay and
was riding home when a man shot him in the back and took his
money.
I was sorry I had ever wondered.
Mama told me that her brother Henry and the blacks around Duncan
were not very friendly toward each other. At least one time, the
blacks held hands and formed a human chain across the road to
keep Henry from coming by. But Henry whipped up his horses and
drove right through the crowd. After that he carried a long
blacksnake whip to use on them if they ever got close to his
wagon again.
Part of the tradition that was handed down to us from the Gaddies
and the Johnsons was that there were only three things to drink--
water, sweet milk, and buttermilk. You might include clabber if
you like. But then, clabber was more of an "eat" than a drink.
Soda pop was for the wealthy and foolhardy, and coffee was not
permitted for three reasons: it cost money, it was unnecessary
and it was not good for you. Money was for necessities. Any
drinks stronger than these mentioned were strictly forbidden.
Even the sound of the word "whiskey" carried with it an inkling
of sin and dishonor. Whiskey without drunkenness was improbable,
and drunkenness was about as low as a person could go.
Mama grew up to hate whiskey because of its effect on men and
because it tasted bad. However, there was always a jug of it
under her father's bed--for medical use only. Any symptom of
disease was treated immediately with whiskey. Mama hated the
taste of it.
Mama told us about a man--perhaps an uncle--who was sick in bed
and who was fond of whiskey. As he lay in bed, a few friends and
kinfolks stopped by to see him. And one by one he asked them to
mix him a little toddy. They did.
And wouldn't you know it, five or six toddies all in one man at
one time made the man forget he was sick on disease and it made
him fairly sick on whiskey which was what he had planned to be.
After I came into the Johnson family, Mama's people lived so far
away I didn't get to know much about them.
We didn't get around to visiting them much. But I remember we
did go to Duncan one time to visit some of them. It seems that
the trip was made in about the year of 1916. We went in our 1914
model Reo car.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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