My parents, both born and raised in Bell County, were married in 1933. My father, born in 1895, served in the U.S. Army in World War I and was in France for two years. After returning to Central Texas, he did farming. Work in the Central Texas area was scarce. He was given an opportunity to work as a farm laborer in the Rio Grande Valley early in his married life. My mother, born in 1909, initially joined him. However, she had suffered with severe asthma all of her life, and the climate in South Texas was detrimental to that problem. She moved back to Bell County and lived with her parents while Dad stayed near San Juan, Texas, to earn some money.
They wrote letters to each other as often as they could afford to buy a stamp. In one of the letters from Mother to Daddy, she asked him to mail her a dime so she could buy some stamps without having to ask her father for the money.
In a letter dated Christmas night 1934, Dad tells Mom how lonesome he is but feels the need to stay there and work. He said Santa had passed him by but hoped he had been good to her. He talked about hoping the carrots he was harvesting would bring 75 cents per bushel basket and concern for how he was going to feed the cow and mules. He mentioned a newspaper clipping Mom had sent to him, telling her it looked good, and commenting that it would not be long until Congress meets. In a letter back to him on March 5, 1935, Mom tells him, “The Bonus Bill goes to the House this week.”
Early in 1935, he writes that he is OK, but he does not have very much to eat and no money to buy anything. He was going into town to get some lard and syrup, but only had 30 cents to spend. The landlord where he was working had not paid him the money he owed him. He was afraid he was going to be cheated out of what was due him. He had not bought shoes or overalls that he needed and was concerned because he could not send Mom any money. The landlord had ignored Dad’s requests for money to buy feed for the animals. The price for the carrots had gone down to 40 to 50 cents a bushel.
Mom writes back and tells him how badly she wants to see him; however, she knows it is best for him to stay there and buy himself some overalls and shoes with the money that it would take for him to come home for a visit. She writes, “Try not to be blue for God will see us through somehow. We have to think of eats and clothes because we both need them. Jobs are scarce as hen’s teeth.”
My parents taught me to be frugal and not waste anything. I remember when aluminum foil was first used and how my mother would wash it and reuse it. I suppose without realizing it, she was going “green” and recycling. Even though we lived in the Temple city limits, we had a cow and chickens. Most of the feed purchased for the animals came in colorful feed sacks, which Mom used to make most of my dresses. Many of the vegetables we ate were raised in the backyard garden. I would have to agree with a lot of people that those were the good old days!
