What's the rush?

Brown Baker dropped in early in the morning, he got up off his seat and stated he had to go. I asked him what was the rush. He replied that he had to get to the court house before some one got his seat. I thought some important trial was coming up, or a special Judge had been sent in. As he went out the door I noticed a piece of cedar that looked like a two by four sticking from his hip pocket. It dawned on me that there is so few shady spots around the Perry County Court House, realizing that all the hot weather we have been having. Brown didn’t want to do his whittling in the sun. Can’t say I blame him. Whittling on a piece of cedar can become rather tiresome. Course it depends on what you are trying to make from it. I have known persons to became famous for their whittling on cedar and other types of woods, making walking canes, putting marbles in them and other such contraptions.

I remember the days when you didn’t see a suit of clothes. How many of you were in your teens before you ever knew what a pair of pants looked like? Remember, I said pants, not trousers. I have shinned up and down many a tree with the bark cutting into my thighs. Yes during chestnut and hickory nut time. Then the styles changed to knee britchies and Brogan shoes. I guess that is the reason so many of us walk pigeon toed today. You sure didn’t have the freedom in those tight fitting knee britches as we had in those long shirts. It was alright to get your knees barked scaling a tree, but when you had on this knee britches it didn’t take too much scaling a hickory or chestnut tree to wear them out close to the knees. How many times have you fellows pulled them off? Along about that time came along the Brogan shoes with a cap on them to keep you from stubbing them off. Reminds me of a preacher back in my boyhood days that got him a pair of Brogans. They must have been about two sizes too small. He proceeded to use his Barlow knife on them. He cut them every way you could think of to get some comfort to his feet. That night he got up to preach to his faithful group. He started his sermon out, “Good folks, I want to tell you I am more holley than righteous tonight.”