Okay, in another post, it migrated to how far up hill your parents (or you for that matter) had to walk to school.
Here's my story:
Father was youngest boy of 14, had one younger sister, ages spanned 21 years. Heard the story how they ALL had to ride the mule to school nine miles up hill (both ways) through deep snow (measured in feet not inches) and treacherous rain (that washed away small villages) and having to share the lone baked potato and small loaf of bread for lunch. Remember, I said there was a 21 year span. I asked him ' which one was incredibly stupid and which one was incredibly smart?' To which I got the dumb look. He tells this to my auntie who also went on about the mule, the snow, etc. To which I counter - if Uncle Dan was 21 when you were born, why was he and Aunties Bess, Tess and Flo and Uncles Jim, John, Will, Ed, etc. still in school when you started? And "that must have been one big butt mule to carry all 14 at once!" . The conversation was dropped like that seemingly lukewarm potato they all shared. I did however find one gem of truth. My dad had outhouse duty. In backwoods NC at that time, they had an outhouse for the school. A hole was dug and the two seater was placed over it. When the hole was full, the two seater, with handles on the outside I might add, was moved and the hole covered up. Since my dad and Uncle Jessie were the biggest kids, they got the privelege of moving the privy. Which I think was appropriate since this story he told, like the depth of the snow in the Piedmont Sandhills of NC , was so full of crap we couldn't stand it anymore.
Now, how far did your folks walk and did they share a crumb of bread with 20+ siblings, cousins, immigrants or migrants? -ginny
