Grant City was the biggest town near the farm. Parnell, Ravenwood—not so far away. When I started second grade I attended Star Of The West School about one and three-fourth miles around the road and quite a lot shorter when cutting thru the pasture. My brother Chauncey and sister Janice were attending there. When I was in first grade my brother Howard was going to high school so I recall him walking with me and the Rickabaugh kids, usually thru the pasture.
I started school before my sixth birthday. Howard had to stay out of school to help shuck corn as was common back then. He didn't go back to high school but later went to Columbia, Missouri, to take a short course in agriculture and ended up being a preacher having gotten his B.S. or whatever in Maryville and another town I can't recall the name of.
I had a hard time trying to keep up with the big kids but for some reason I wasn’t afraid unless a dog came out and barked at me. My brother Raymond who was about 3 years younger than me was not afraid of the devil himself. For a time I could get the best of him, but that didn't last. He and I used to ride our little Shetland pony, Daisy. She was feisty and stubborn, and when she thought she could "buffalo" someone (and that someone was usually me). Raymond, on the other hand, liked her disposition.
Mom had liked to ride horses when she was growing up, so she would encourage me to get on that pony and show her who was boss! Well, about two hills or so down the road and out of mom’s sight, I'd get off that pony and tell Raymond not to tell on me. I think he was secretly glad that I was afraid of that little cut-up so he could run her on to school. This did not happen every time, but often.
As long as Daisy behaved, I liked to ride her. She lived to be almost 30 I believe. She was tough; had some nice colts. My little brother's all got hurt at various times through the years by that pony.
When I was about five, my mom and two of her sisters decided to visit another sister who lived in Kansas. The trip was by train. Raymond, our little sister LaVeda, myself, and two little cousins made the trip. When we boarded the train, the Porter was a very nice black man, but Raymond and me had never met a black person before so Raymond raised cane and wouldn't let him lift him up on the train.
That trip will stick in my mind always as it was so exciting. We and some other people also had packed lunches, and I remember what fun that was and how good the cold fried chicken and cookies tasted. I don't remember much about getting off at our destination, but I do remember having to change trains and the wait and the black smoke and the clicketyclack down the railroad track! And my aunt and uncle and my three cousins whom I had never seen. Their house had grass growing on the roof as it must have been a sort of dug-out, and the bed-room where we slept was down stairs not up. I thought that was very strange.
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