Volume 2, Number 1 - Fall 1964
Customs of the Past
by Anna Lou Griffith
By the flickering light of an old grease lamp
She worked the shuttle to and fro'
As she watched the babe in the trundle bed
And hummed a lullaby soft and low.
With the bullet mould upon the floor
Thoughts of the old rail fence were gone.
He gently reached for the resined bow
And shook the peppers with the fiddle tone.
She set her yeast and baked her bread,
Picked the geese for the feather bed.
She milked the cow and fed the pig,
Smoked the meat and spun the thread.
He cleared the land and hewed the logs,
Broadcast seed in virgin soil...
Cradled the grain and shucked the corn
And hunted game in endless toil.
She made a slat bonnet for summer sun;
He carved the gourds for the little ones.
They read McGuffey's and the almanac
Studied "Holy Writ" when their work was done.
A brush arbor meeting, a quilting bee,
Old brass wagon and hickory tea...
Subscription schools for ABC
Now sacred customs for you and me.
Here's a tuning fork and a soap receet,
An old black kettle and a locket sweet...
They did not pass with the winding sheet
But live today, when the folks all meet.
Anna Lou Griffith
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