Momzi's Life Story

Some events in the life of Rose Lee Bell Kay, daugther of William M. And Lula Callaham Bell.

Momzi’s “Life Story” (which she wrote for me May 21, 1988 two years before her death)

Page 1 Baby Girl

I was born August 31, 1902 on a farm about four or five miles south of Honea Path, South Carolina. My mama and Papa named me Rose Lee. They say I had lots of black hair, and was so long my sisters would tie it up with ribbon. I was the eighth child of eleven. My oldest sister was about sixteen when I was born, and she cared for me when my mother was cooking etc.

When I was about a year old, and beginning to learn to walk, I took whooping cough and double pneumonia. I was very sick, the doctor told my mother he had done everything he knew to do and there was no use for him to make any more house calls. It was in the Lord’s hands. My mother prayed continually for the Lord to heal me. I lost weight and was a skinny little baby. I wouldn’t smile at anyone or take an interest in anything, but still my mother kept praying, she wouldn’t give up. At last I began to get better, but I wouldn’t smile or notice anyone. One day my mother put some pillows in a rocking chair and put me on the pillow and my sister was rocking me. Mother was in the kitchen cooking dinner. My sister got behind the chair and would peep around at me and say “boo”. She kept doing this and at last I laughed. She was shocked and happy. She ran into the kitchen and said, “mama the baby laughed”, then she did that again to show mama, and I laughed again. Sure enough I laughed again. (and I’ve been laughing ever since). When I got stronger I had forgotten how to walk, but the family soon had me walking as well as ever. They say I was a funny looking thing, big head of black hair, and skinny little body. But I began to gain weight and was soon a healthy chubby little girl. I know the Lord brought me through for my mother didn’t stop praying and had faith in the Lord.

Page 2 Starting to School

As the years went by I was a healthy child, but I was nervous. I was afraid of thunderclouds and I was SO afraid of a worm, although I was a Tom-Boy. I loved to climb trees, ride horses and do any thing my brothers did. When I was about two years old my brother Elmer was born. I loved him very much and we grew up together and enjoyed playing with each other. My brother Gene was three years older than I was. He loved me but enjoyed playing tricks on me. When I was seven years old we had a big closet in one of the bedrooms, mama gave it to me to play in with my dolls and toys. I spent lots of time playing in there. It didn't have a window or a light but I kept the door open and that gave me plenty of light, but Gene would creep in quietly and close the door suddenly. That scared me, I would scream and bang on the door, then mama would come and Gene would get a whipping. But that didn't bother him.

We went to school at Honea Path High School. By the time I was six years old and had to start school we had moved to the north of Honea Path two miles from school. We walked to and from school, except on rainy days. Papa then carried us in the buggy. We enjoyed walking to school everyday. All along the way other children joined us, and by the time we arrived at school there was a big group of us. We carried our lunch everyday. Everybody had a lunchbox. Mama fixed the nicest lunches. She made tiny biscuits, with country ham on them, made cookies cut in shapes of stars, etc., with different colored icing on them, and the best sugar pies. Most of my friends lived in town. They would bring candy apples or bought cookies but they thought my lunch was something to be proud of and would want to trade their lunch for mine, and of course I was glad to trade some of mine.

One fall there were army worms on everybody's cotton. These worms would cover the cotton plants, and eat all the leaves off, then go to the next field and do the same thing. There were cotton fields on each side of the road, on the way to school. One day as we were walking home from school, we came to these cotton fields. The worms had eaten all the leaves from the cotton on one side of the road and were crossing to the other side. The road was covered in worms. When I saw them I stopped and started crying. I said I wasn't going to walk through those worms. My sister Mary broke a limb from a bush and said she would sweep a path through the worms for me to walk, but that didn't help. There were so many of them they kept crawling back. I wouldn't walk through them so Mary picked me up and carried me till we were clear of those worms. After that Papa carried us every morning and came for us in the afternoon till all the worms were gone.

Page 3 Girl About Town

I was in the advanced first grade that year. The first grade went in at 8 o'clock and got out at 11 o'clock, then the advanced grade went in and stayed till 2:30, when all the school got out. I had to go to school each morning with my sisters and brothers, as it was too far for me to go alone. Each morning I would go up to my Aunt Rose's home and stay till time to go to school. Aunt Rose's daughter Elsie was in my grade so we enjoyed being together. Aunt Rose just lived about two blocks from school. One morning when we got to school (I was walking up to my aunt's), there was a patch of cotton on one side of the street. I was walking along not looking down and the sidewalk was covered with those army worms. That scared me almost to death. I started running and ran like a turkey till I was clear of the worms. When Elsie and I were ready to go to school I told Elsie I wasn't going the way I came, so we had to go around several blocks further, but safe from the worms.

There was a little girl in my grade named Emma Ruth Moore. She also lived out in the country. She came to school every morning with her big brother. She stayed around the school till time to go in at 11 o'clock. One day she asked me to stay with her instead of going to my aunt's, so I did. After school had taken in she and I played hop-scotch and bouncing our balls and jump rope till we were tired of that. Then we decided to go up town which was about two blocks from school. I had a nickle, I told her we would buy some candy. Miss Rosa Cox had a candy store there in town. You could get a big bag of candy for a nickle. When we got to the store and got the candy I asked Miss Rosa to give me an extra bag, then I divided the candy and gave Emma Ruth half of it. We walked along the street looking in the windows at the pretty things. Misses Ella and Ida Brock ran a dry goods store and sold hats, caps, and lots of things. When we looked in their window I saw a pretty tam. I said, "Oh I like that tam, I'm going in and ask Miss Brock to let me try it on." When I looked at myself in the mirror I wanted it. Emma Ruth tried it on also. She liked it too. The price of it was fifty cents. Emma Ruth said she was going to buy it the next week (this was Friday). I said I saw it first and I was going to get it. Neither of us had fifty cents right then. Miss Brock said, "Well girls, both of you want it. the first one that comes in for it will get it." We almost got into an argument after we got out of the store over that tam.

When I got home from school that day I told mama about the tam, and how I wanted it, and so did Emma Ruth. I also told her Miss Brock said the frst one that came in for it would get it. Mama said, "Well, in the morning you and Elmer can go into town and get it." The next morning Elmer and I hitched Prince, our horse, to the buggy and were there when Miss Brock opened her door. When Miss Brock saw me, she said, "You said you were going to get it." I put it on my head and then we went home. I was so happy. I was anxious to go to school Monday and show it to Emma Ruth. When she saw it, she said she didn't want it any way (SOUR GRAPES). I knew she wouldn't get it for her mother wasn't sweet and good as my mama was. I spent the night with her one night before that and her mother wasn't too friendly and made us wash the dishes and make our bed the next morning before we went to school. When I had company (and that was quite often) we didn't have to do anything but play.

Page 4 Mischief Rising

My Aunt Rose was a widow, her husband, my Uncle Sam, was killed by a run-away horse. He was going into town one day (they lived on a farm near my home). The horse got frightened by an oil tank on the side track of the railroad in Honea Path. The horse was running, and one of the buggy lines broke, and my Uncle couldn't control the horse with one line. He was thrown out of the buggy and his head struck a tree. Later Aunt Rose moved into town, and rented her farm out. She kept a cow and a hog. she had a nice place in town with a barn, an orchard with peaches and apples. Besides Elsie, which I've mentioned before, she had three sons older than Elsie. In the fall of the year her children had to work after school. A farmer who lived near them had a cotton field. That's where my cousins worked. They picked cotton when I went home with them from school. I worked with them (I didn't have to do that at home although we were farmers). One afternoon when I picked cotton with them I made twelve cents. The next morning I told Elsie I was going to go up town and buy candy with my money, so I did, and she and I had a feast, Ha.

Sometimes we had to pull grass and tie into bundles for the cow, and sometimes we had to go over into the woods and pick up acorns for the hog, but we had fun doing all that. I ddn't do all the visiting, Elsie went home with me from school too. My mother was a good mother, and she never "spared the rod" when it was needed. She never allowed us to run from her when she was going to punish us. But one day Gene did something wrong, she was going to whip him. She went out and cut a switch, I was in the dining room with Gene. When I heard her coming I said to Gene, "SHE'S COMING, RUN!!" Mama heard me, and Gene did run. He jumped out the window. Mama picked me up, put me across her knee and spanked me HARD. I was laughing. She said, "I'll change your tune", and she did. That was the worst spanking I ever got. I never told Gene to run anymore.

At the front of our house on the right, our house stood a few feet higher from the ground than the rest of the house. It was high enough for a child to play under. On rainy days Elmer and I played there. When I was growing up we were taught to not do anything on Sundays, like cutting out paper dolls, or using the scissors in any way. We couldn't sew, the boys weren't alllowed to cut wood on Sunday. We cooked on a wood burning stove, so the boys had to cut enough wood on Saturday to do till Monday. Nobody was allowed to dig with a hoe or anything like that. Well, one Sunday it was raining. It rained all day. In the afternoon Elmer and I went out under the house to play. After we had played awhile, I saw a hoe lying there, I picked it up and stood at the edge of the house and reached the hoe out in the rain and started digging a hole. I was enjoying seeing the water splash and run back into the holes, but suddenly there was a gurgling sound coming from the hole and water ran down into it fast and kept making that noise. I stopped digging, threw the hoe down, started running into the house crying and saying "'cuse me God, 'cuse me God." I thought that was the Devil coming up to get me because I was digging on Sunday. I kept looking back. I knew the devil was after me. When I got into the house mama said, "What's wrong? Are you sick? You are so pale." I told her what happened and she said, "That wasn't the devil, that was a water vein or maybe you dug into a mole tunnel and the water ran in fast and made the noise. After that I never used a hoe on Sunday.

Page 5 Daredevil Emerges

On our way to and from school we had to cross the railroad at the edge of town. One day, as we were on our way from school, a freight train was in town shifting the boxes around. When we came to our crossing a string of car boxes were across the crossing. We stood there a long time waiting for them to move. I got tired of waiting. I told them I was going to crawl under that train. My sister Mary told me I had better not, but I didn't pay any attention to her. I crawled under. When I got to the other side I wasved at them and started walking. There were houses all along the road, till I was out of town. I was afraid to go further alone so I sat down under a big oak tree and waited for the rest to come along. Mary said, "you know mama is going to hear about this don't you?" I said, "Of course, TELL TIT!" (that's what we called anyone that was always telling on you). Sure enough she told and I got a spanking.

Broadmouth Creek ran through our farm. Below the house it crossed the road and there was a bridge across it. The bridge was several feet long and on each side of it were thick timbers bolted down with big bolts. The timbers were about twelve inches wide. One day we all were playing on the creek and by the bridge. My nephew was with us. They lived near us. While we were on the bridge he said to me, "You're not game to walk from one end to the other on those timbers." Telling me I wasn't GAME to do anything was like waving something red before a bull. So I said, "Okay, if you walk one I'll walk the other." Mary was with us, she told me I'd better not do it. I knew better, but I just had to do it, so I started and so did Claude. We went across without any trouble. The creek wasn't deep under the bridge, but there were big rocks. If we had fallen we wouldn't have gotten drowned but some of our bones could have been broken on the rocks. Well you know what happened, Mary told ("Tell Tit") and I got a spanking. So did Claude. I don't know what made me do "dare devilish" things like that. I was twelve years old at that time and knew better. Mary was a sweet sister and I loved her. She was just trying to keep me safe, but I couldn't see that then.