THE WOODSTOVE 1960

The Gathering Place

  We lived behind the Church of Christ and McDonalds Funeral home in Perry Co.Tenn

  We sure was proud of our big brown wood stove seems like it even had a name Ashley and there was an art to know how to stand around the stove to close and your pant legs would be to hot to bend your legs and we would walk around stiff legged .. Johnny ,Dickys and my job was to get the wood in daily…. . Johnny was the loader and Dicky and I were the carriers we didnt really like this job and we would want to get it done fast .. We would be so loaded down that we couldnt hardly walk and what a mess we would make trying to carry to much when it was real cold or rainy or both ,we would drop it then having to reload it . ….. Mom would keep the home fires burning and she didn’t have any trouble getting us out of that cold bed in the mornings. It was our gathering place ,talking place , loving place ,laughing place and mad place we would head to it every chance we got . . It was used to warm the quilts that Mama put on us when we got in bed.. warm our clothes before we put them on esp if they had been hung up outside to freeze dry. I would make a playhouse with the wood although it was just the floor plan it had a bunch of big rooms in it laid out all over the yard and you could go from room to room . My Sunday school teacher Mrs Dot Kirk told us that we could talk to Jesus.So as I was laying out the floor plan sitting on a piece of wood I decided I would try to talk to Jesus..I can remember hollering his name Jesus.. .Although I didn’t hear HIM say anything back to me at that time and I listened real good I do believe he heard me… and he’s been working in my life ever since..It was also a myth at our house about being took out behind the woodpile mom took care of business where ever she needed too. Belinda Gail