OUR LIFE IN GRAHAM After Grandfather's death we completed arrangements to move and on December 15, 1919, my
fifteenth birthday, we set out with two wagons. Uncle Tom drove his and Pappy one. J. C. drove the car carrying Mama and
me and Jack, our dog, our lunch and a number of little things. For once the car was feeling well. We drove to the appointed
place, built a fire, made coffee and spread lunch for all. It was late when we reached our new home to find that our next door
neighbor, Mr Elledge, was being buried that very day. The Elledges had once lived at Ivan so were known by my parents. It
seemed a rather ominous beginning for our new life. Our house was large - four big rooms and three porches. A white picket
fence surrounded several lots, the house, the barn, and the cowlot as well. There were rose bushes, honeysuckle vines, shrubs
and a few fruit trees, a large garden plot. A big beautiful oak tree, and a place to plant feed for a cow all in our plot. Later two
of the porches were enclosed to accommodate us all. When school opened after the Christmas holidays there were five new
students. All Allens. Fred had never been to school and he was short changed then. There were so many people moving in that
the school was crowded and the beginners attended only a half day. I was greatly disappointed because I was not allowed to
enter the eighth grade since I had come from a country school. So here I was in the 7th grade for the third time! How I hated it!
In the long run, however, I profited from that semester. My grammar teacher was excellent; she made me see the sense of it
and after I took up Latin in High School, I came to enjoy it and majored in i and then taught it for many years. My arithmetic
teacher was a good one, and I now found that solving problems was an interesting and rewarding study. One problem set
before us involved finding how many board feet of lumber would be required to build a chicken coop of such and such
dimensions. No student could do it, and we went on to another problem. That coop haunted me, and I determined to figure it
out. For three weeks I worked and then one day I got it! When I told the teacher I had worked it, she complimented me and
asked me to put my figures on the board, and explain it to the class. I was so large the students had been cruel, laughing at me
and calling me names. That day their faces grew grave and they never laughed at me again. Soon we had an addition to our
family. It happened this way. When Uncle Grady Harris' wife died, he was left with three babies. It was obvious that he
couldn't care for them. My parents agreed to take Leon, oldest of the three, into their home. Aunt Hattie, Mama's sister who
lived in Knox City, took the twins, Ira and Iris, to rear. On his second birthday, January 20, 1920, Leon became our baby.
Uncle Grady worked in the oil field near Bunger for several months so that he could be near us but eventually returned to
Oklahoma where he had been for years. Leon was a sad little fellow, missing his father greatly, but gradually he was won over
by our love. Uncle Grady married again a few years later, his wife did not want Leon. An arragement was made that we should
keep him but that he should retain his name and not be adopted. there were only three grandsons named Harris, Leon being the
oldest, and Mama wanted him to be known by his own family name. He became a brother to us all, but still is Leon Harris.
Grandfather Harris was still living then and was very proud of this grandson. That fall an oil company drilled on our land in
Stephens County. Prospects seemed good that oil would be found. If so a new field would be opened with many possibilities
for us and our former neighbors. Pappy went over hoping to be there when or if the well became a producer. On that October
day we returned home from school to find Mama very ill. The Doctor told me that she needed an operation at once, but he
could not operate without Pappy's consent. Very early the next morning J. C. and one friend, J. D. Phillips, set out to get
Pappy. They found him easily and all huried back, but such were the conditions of the roads at it was night before they reached
home. Meanwhile, the Doctor brought a NURSE to the house. I was very glad to see Uncle Grady come to the house. The
Doctor, the nurse, and we children waited anxiously. The Doctor had two rooms on the second floor of a building uptown
which he called a hospital. He said that Mama must be rushed there but that a car ride would kill her. She was put on a
stretcher and men carried her on their shoulders to the hospital. Operating immediately, the Doctor found she had adhesions
from her previous surgery. In a few days she rallied and was pronounced out of danger. On one Sunday a little later I was
allowed to visit her. As I was sitting by the open window, I could hear what was going on below. Two men drove in and a
bystander said "Where have you been?" Jubilantly one replied, "We've been out seeing an oil well! What a well!" "Where?" was
the question. "On Sam Allen's place." Try to imagine my feelings. I reported what I had heard to Mama and repeated it to
Pappy when he came in a few minutes later. He knew the men and went down to talk, was congratulated heartily, and returned
to say it was true--a big well was throwing oil all over! The company had not expected much oil and had made little
preparations--not nearly enough to care for thousands of barrels of oil a day. We continued our lives quite calmly, gradually
buying such things as a player piano and finding Tommie and me a music teacher. She did well and I learned to read music but
my fingers did not move fast enough. Ina had elocution lessons. Our parents remained calm, and we children weren't greatly
affected. I profited most for when I finished high school a few years later I was able to attend college. In the summer of 1921
Pappy said we should take a trip. Mama said she would like to go to Rusk, Texas, to visit her oldest sister, Josephine Love,
whom she had not seen for twenty years. The Loves had followed her parents to Stephens County but then had gone back to
East Texas. Pappy agreed that this was a fine idea and he wanted to meet the family he had never seen. He bought a second
car as we could travel more comfortably. Grandfather Harris was taken to Aunt Hattie's house for a visit while we were away.
Our first stop was at Greenwood in Wise County where Aunt Mamie now lived. She had married Will Morris and had two
cute little boys. While we were there, she gave birth to a baby girl. I know Mama had arranged to be there at the crucial time.
After a few days we travelled to Greenville and visited a friend of our father and then to Wolfe City to the site of his boyhood
home. His friends here insisted on our staying with them. That night while reading the newspaper, I read that Grandmother
Allen's home in Breckenridge had burned. The event received attention because the house burned without setting fire to the
producing well in the yard. Pappy called Breckenridge and was told that Grandmother, Uncle Oscar and his wife and their
new-born son were safe and well. After a little consideration, Pappy said we should hurry on to Rusk. I never knew what other
plans he had intended. How we did enjoy our visit with our Aunt and her family. The Loves lived in a large house on a small hill
about two miles from Rusk. They had cows and chickens, a large orchard, a garden full of blackeyed peas and tomatoes.
Good food was no problem! They had four daughters--three of them married. One lived in Arkansas so we did not see her.
Their oldest daughter, Willie Harrell, lived in Rusk, Annie Lee, the youngest was my age and still at home; their only son,
Barton, was about 7 years old then. Their other daughter, Sally Pugh, lived in Joaquin, Texas which is on the border of
Louisiana. There had been an estrangement between Uncle Frank and Sally about her marriage, and the breach was still
unhealed. Pappy suggested that the Loves accompany us to Joaquin, Uncle Frank, who I suppose had been hungering for an
opportunity to make up with his daughter, readily agreed. We found Sally and her husband and three sons lived in a good
house in the pine woods. They were so happy to see us all, and Sally bubbled with joy that her father had forgiven her. On the
way to Joaquin, we saw Nacogdoches - a place I had heard much about in Texas History. Our visit proved beyond doubt that
"blood is thicker than water." Aunt Boney (her nickname) was so happy that I shall never forget her shining eyes bright with
tears and her loving smile. Mama never saw her sister again. Willie Harrell wrote us and visited us several times before her
death. When we got home, J. C. and I went to bring Grandfather home. He had become quite impatient and declared we had
forgotten him. But we had not nor have I ever. He faded away gradually and died at our home in March 1922. Leon did not
enter school until I was in my senior year. We children were all busy growing and forming friends in normal fashion.
EPILOGUE During the years between 1917-1920 two upheavals occured in our world. World War I and an oil boom in
Central Texas. The war did not touch us personally, as our uncles were a little too old and our male cousins a little too young to
be called to service but the communities of Pecan and Ivan sent off all the young men with parties and prayers. Not knowing
them very well, I didn't think much about what was meant. As the war continued they seem to loom larger in the thoughts of
everyone. By the greatest good fortune, they all came home again. Of course, we understood that many, many others would
never come from the training camps or the Atlantic or France--wherever they were stationed. People gathered for Victory
rallies where the men tried to determine how they could buy their quota of bonds. It is hard for a farmer to promise so much,
for he had to rely upon the weather, over which he has no control. Somehow they worked this matter out. The women brought
food to spread for all, and after a day of visiting with one another, they felt somewhat comforted and continued to hope and
pray for the end of the war. The ____less days were personal to us. There were wheatless days, meatless days, sugarless
days! Now we had meat and wheat of our own resources, but Mama said we would observe everyone of those days. School
lunches were the worst. It was not good to have no meat or syrup instead of sugar, but those wheatless days were worse.
There is nothing better, in my opinion, than hot corn bread with butter and milk, but cold cornbread! I'm afraid most of us were
forced to be patriotic! Residents of Stephens County were going along in their accustomed routine when word came of huge oil
wells at Ranger! Then we were told of the mud, the crowded streets, the thousands of people flocking their, etc. It was
unbelievable. Soon the oil exploration moved northward. It was found that much of our county was sitting on oil too, and here
came the people-- honest and shyster, from here, there, and everywhere. No longer could one know everyon he met! Land
was leased by Oil companies--sometimes for enormous prices. Almost overnight Breckenridge grew from a small town to a
city teeming with trucks and people and more people trying "to make a buck." Nights were shrill with noises, fires, and
excitement. Land owners were beseiged on every hand by speculators, and the poor men didn't know which way to turn. Wells
were being drilled in town! Grandmother Allen let a rig drill in her back yard. Everyone predicted that it would cause her house
to burn. Not so--the house burned and the rig wasn't even singed. The boom kept coming our way, that is northeastward.
Pappy leased his land for a tidy sum. Everyone wanted his property proved up, that is, a well drilled to be sure whether there
was oil. I have told about our own luck, but many found no oil, their fences were down, their farms worn, and their financial
prospects worse than ever. The road - no pavements then and no railroads - I have mentioned were incredibly bad from the
heavy hauling over them. The rains came and ruts were so deep and car, even a Ford, was likely to be found sitting on the high
center. Teams of horses or mules were used to pull cars and trucks out of holes, etc. Some farmers made good money for this
service. Again, there were people stranded and in need of stopping places. My parents took them in. A couple from
Pennsylvania driving a heavy car, stuck near our house. The rains fell again and those people stayed several days before they
dared to go on. They were intelligent and courteous and were interested in our crops, our way of life, etc, but they were not
snobbish. Not all our wayfarers were like them! We moved to Graham and so did the oil boom! On to Burkburnett and all
around! Homes were scarce, schools were crowded far beyond their real capacity. In Graham the citizens made voluntary
contributions to keep the school going. New towns sprang up and old ones became bloated. Eliasville, South Bend, and
Bunger mushroomed beyond anyone's imagination. New towns grew up between South Bend and Eliasville. Of course, the
most noticeable people were the prospectors, the gamblers, the prostitutes, etc. The staid old towns were changed
altogether--streets paved, business houses erected, shanties thrown up, prices soared, and confusion reigned. People were
afraid to trust one another. Cars were stolen, burglaries were frequent, people were beaten up, or killed, Negroes were
imported! The world went mad! But we were fortunate in our selection of parents - they remained themselves!
 
 

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