Ola Lee

Partial Recording -- The first part of the cassette tape did not record properly.

[Inaudible]

OL: At that time Bristow didn't have a fire department. Somebody was running and rang all the church bells. And then the men would have the bucket ready and they'd go and get the water and [inaudible] dad heard the church bells ringing. Well, he thought it was a fire, so he got up and ran down and grabbed his bucket 00:01:00and ran down to the street yelling, "Fire! Fire! Fire!"

[Inaudible]

OL: When dad had the store down here on main street, every year he sold [inaudible]. And he would come down here and stay at the hotel and [indecipherable] every night. All the town would turn out to see what [indecipherable]. Our [indecipherable] when they came to town [indecipherable]. It was right on main street, and dad let them have groceries, and at the end of 00:02:00the time they would stay, they would always pay dad, and then they would go on to some place else. One time, when the circus came in here, and they didn't have any money, so they asked dad if he would lend them some money to buy their groceries with. And he did. At the end of the circus [indecipherable], they couldn't pay their bill. They had an old horse that pulled the merry-go-round [inaudible]. That old horse went round and round and round. Well, there was nothing dad wanted except that old horse. He took that. They never did come back for their horse. But dad let us children have that horse. And everybody in town, 00:03:00the children would ride horses after school. And they let one of us have that old horse. I don't know which one it was, but anyway, when anyone got on him, he would start going round and round and round. We'd have to get off and pull him every little distance to get him started the right way. [Inaudible]

DC: Now at that time the street wasn't paved, was it?

OL: Oh no, you just walked in mud up to your ankles.

CF: Do you recall that first block that was paved on main street?

OL: Well, it was brick, wasn't it? I do not recall that.

CF: It was between sixth and seventh.

OL: Was it?

DC: Well, now you're a reader. Where did you get your books to read when you were growing up and there was no library was there?

OL: No. There was no library, but we always managed to have books. Mother was a 00:04:00great reader herself.

DC: And then you borrowed books?

OL: Yes, we borrowed books, and then dad bought us a great big encyclopedia and a dictionary, and unabridged dictionary. And at night after mother passed away, he would get his children around the table, which was five, and we had the old dictionary and the encyclopedia. We never went to bed until dad knew his children had their lessons.

DC: How old were you when your mother died?

OL: I was, let me think about it. She died in 1911. I guess I was about 13.

DC: And you were the oldest?

OL: No, I wasn't the oldest but dad wanted me to take the responsibility.

DC: But anyway, there were still young children in the home.

OL: Oh yes. Mother had taken three of the youngest ones, which was the [indecipherable] to New Mexico [indecipherable] and kept the baby out there, oh for about a year, because mother got so sick, she couldn't feed the baby. And they called dad to come out and get the baby. We went out on a train, and we came back, why he gave the baby to me. He said I could take responsibility for that year. I cooked all the meals. Made the clothes. Made my little brothers some pants and shirts.

DC: Now how many were there in the family?

OL: There were five children.

DC: Five.

OL: A boy and four girls. Well, it wasn't very long for dad to get more money, 00:06:00and he could hire someone to do the cooking. Negro woman by the name of Laura. I don't recall her last name. I had the responsibility of looking after the children and give them their clothes. Those days you couldn't got to town and buy clothes or [indecipherable]. You had to make the clothes.

DC: You had close neighbors that could help and advise.

OL: Yes. We had a great aunt that taught out here at [indecipherable] school and in the summer time she would come down and stay with us [inaudible].

CF: Did any of you work in the store?

OL: Oh, yes, at times, I'd work in there. Ms. Nellie Smallwood (ph) was one of the leaders in the store. She would show us how to do. In daddy's store back in 00:07:00the back where the groceries were, we always had a great big lot of cheese in that lower round roll and beside that would be the pickle barrel and a cracker barrel. And when the people would come in the store, they would go down towards the cheese and a nickle's worth of crackers and maybe a dill pickle and they would stand around and eat their lunch. Also, right there by the pickle barrel was a great big coffee bin. People didn't buy coffee ground then. It was all by the bean, and most of the time, we would roast the beans and then have it ground.

DC: Was there a restaurant in town at the time where people could buy food or if they were in town and had to eat they would have to go to a store?

OL: Well, I don't recall a store.

DC: A restaurant.

OL: I just didn't recall that.

CF: What other stores were there in town then?

OL: Oh, there was Mr. Stone had the hardware.

DC: Was it the same big building there?

OL: Mm-hmm. And there was a bait shop right close to the store. Where Fords are now, that was the school house. It was a tin school house painted like brick.

DC: Well, was it a public school?

OL: Yes, that was a public school.

DC: It was a public school right there on main street. Well, I had never known that. Was it a grade school or?

OL: Yes, it was a grade school. And I don't know whether we had any more schools or not. Might have but--

DC: I think there was one over on, where Washington School is now, wasn't here?

OL: Well, there was a two-story house over there with a basement. That burned down.

DC: Yes.

OL: Because I started teaching in the basement of the Methodist Church. Oh, there was a bank there. We had a bank or two. We had a drug store. [Indecipherable] and we were something. I bought one one time and paid $25 for it.

[Inaudible]

DC: That'd be like $150 now. Well, I bet it was beautiful.

OL: It was.

CF: Now did you have photographers here at that time?

OL: I don't know whether we did or not.

DC: That was before Annabelle.

CF: People didn't have their picture made, did they?

OL: No. Everybody did their own washing which was the old iron pot out in the yard.

DC: Was it easy to get hired help if you could, if you needed it?

OL: Well, dad got Laura for us, that negro. And he built a little two-story, two-room house on the back of the lot and that's where she--

DC: Was this up on ninth?

OL: Up on ninth street.

DC: Which house or which block on ninth? Do you remember whereabouts on ninth your house was?

OL: End of the fourth block.

DC: End of the fourth block.

OL: There's a house up there now and--

DC: It's kind of two-story. Is that the one?

OL: Yes. Darrel Stiles bought that house and was fixing it up, then he passed away.

DC: I think there's been a beauty parlor in it some of the time. I used to leave down on the other corner of the block.

CF: And it had chickens and a cow.

OL: Oh yes, we had chickens and a cow.

CF: Where did you take the cow to pasture?

OL: Way up on Standpipe Hill.

DC: Now Standpipe Hill is where it is now on 11th?

CF: All the way across town.

OL: And a little boy would go around and gather the cows up and take them up there. And we paid him so much a month to do that. In the evening then he'd go and get them and bring them back home. That's where we always had our Fourth of 00:12:00July picnics up there. And that was for everybody. We all had our [indecipherable] with our baskets and bottles of pop and fried chicken and cakes and everything. Each, two or three families would go off together and eat their--

DC: Now were there trees then, and it was more like a park?

OL: Yeah. Well, they planted trees up there.

DC: And the grass was down where you wouldn't--

OL: Yes, mm-hmm.

DC: Where you wouldn't get swallowed in it.

OL: And after dinner, the children would run races, sack races and play ball, some of them. The men and women always had a band stand up there, and of course, we always had the band there and somebody to speak, and he'd speak all afternoon.

DC: On a patriotic subject or just--

OL: Yeah.

DC: Now how far, this spot on Standpipe Hill, would that be from where the new high school is now? Now the new high school is over on the other side--

OL: Yes it would be back this way

DC: Back this way.

OL: Yeah.

DC: There's homes in there now.

CF: Now, wasn't there a gate at the end of 10th street, going up the hill right about there?

OL: I don't recall that.

DC: Who are some of the families that you remember that were here during your early years?

OL: I thought of some of those the other day. I guess Ms. Freeland will tell you 00:14:00that. I think that's about all I can tell you now.

DC: Thank you very much, Ola.

OL: Yes.

DC: That was real enjoyable.