Monday, May 28, 2012

Fishing in the Yellow River

FISHING IN THE YELLOW RIVER.
All four of my grandparents died before my birth. However, my maternal grandmother {Elizabeth Ann Mask Dick (1845 - 7-3-1921)} lived into old age and died only a few years before my birth.

My mother told me a few stories about how hard her widowed mother worked to provide for her eight children after their father's untimely death when Mama was only 18 months old and her mother was pregnant with 8th child, a son, Irvin Dick. (Charles Dick, her father had gone hunting on Christmas afternoon. His "bad cold" turned into influenza and death in 1887 ). Elizabeth Mask Dick never remarried. She and her children lived in a house on the large farm land of her father Rev. Bogan Mask (10-27-1821 - 8-28-1898).

My sister Vera told me about Grandma Dick, in her old age, visiting on occasion and how much Grandma loved fishing. Grandma would tell Vera and Mary to be good and help Mama with the housework and kitchen chores and she would take them fishing after dinner.

Vera told how she and Mary would do as Grandma asked and help get all the household chores done. To quote Vera, "As soon as we cleaned up after dinner, Grandma would turn to Mama and say, 'Eula, I believe I will take the girls down to the river. They want to go fishing so bad!'" Vera added, “Grandma sure liked to fish."

Mama sure liked to fish, also! Perhaps she learned the secret of catching fish from her mother. Mama usually came home with a long string of fish. We either cooked the fish she caught or gave them to others to cook.

Many afternoons, when the weather permitted, Mama (Ieula Ann Dick Baird 3-6-1885 - 12-6-1973) would finish up the housework; and she and a neighbor, Mrs. Parnell, would head for the Yellow River with Mamie (Mrs. Parnell's daughter) and me in tow. Mamie and I sometimes fished, but more often, we just explored the woods, picked wild flowers or dug worms. We had learned to talk quietly so as not to " scare away the fish."
There was one problem with me going fishing with Mama, Mrs. Parnell and Mamie in the Yellow River? Poison Oak? Among the lush vegetation near the Yellow River bank where my mother and Mamie's mother fished was an abundance of poison oak. I had long since learned not to touch the "three leaf " poison plant.
Have you heard the lines:
"Leaves of three...Let it be!
.Leaves of five...Let it thrive!"

Although I avoided the plants touching my skin, wore long sleeved shirts and overalls and came home to bathe in Clorox water, I often broke out into a painful, itchy rash from being in the vicinity of the poison plant.


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Real wiggly worms.

Anonymous said...

Real wiggly worms

ewwwww .... that doesn't sound girly at all!!! lol

Actually, it sounds like y'all had a great time :)

Anonymous said...

I am loving the stories you are writing here. I'm going to keep coming back.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love these stories. Please keep telling them.

Carol said...

All I could think was "Wouldn't bathing in Clorox GIVE you an itchy rash?" Yikes!

Ruth said...

Thanks Carol. Actually "bathing " may have been the wrong word to sue. We put some clorox in water to clean the itchy places and/or the rash.

Anonymous said...

The stories of the women fishing while the girls dig for worms reminded me of my grandmother. I would fish with her at the pond behind their house whenever I visited. I never thought it was strange that my grandfather wasn't interested.

Anonymous said...

We use clorox to bath some of the children at the childrens home - when they come in and have particularly bad hygiene problems. Just a little clorox in the water works wonders. You have to be careful not to be too much.

Clorox on poison ivy works wonders too. We use a little on a cotton ball and dab the itchy spots.

I always like fishing with Daddy when I was a kid. I'm surprised you didn't fish Mother, considering the legacy left by your grandmother and g'grandmother.

Ruth said...

I always like fishing with Daddy

Yes you did ...You insisted on him lettin you fish and he fixed you a rod....but when he realed a fish up on his pole ...you shouted to him "Daddy I want a fish on mine too..."

judylaughingbear said...

Ruth - I'm new to this, bear with me. This is Judy Henderson from Rico. I can not tell you how delighted I was when Judy Smith sent me this link to your blog site!! I have enjoyed reading you wonderful stories!! You blogging should be no surprise - you have always had a gift for words, written and spoken - and always a progressive woman! Not many people go back to school and start a new career when most folks would be retiring - you are amazing! Hugs and much love - your friend, Judy

Anonymous said...

Dear Judy, how wonderful to hear from you! You and Ernie as well as your precious children , Trey and Philip and Rebecca (sp) will always be very special to me.

Write more to let me know how everyone is doing.

I do enjoy blogging and keep at it as my chldren want to know about life back in my childhood in the 20's and 30's...

However, writing a Blog can be an ego trip. If you have read much of Ruthlace, you probably have learned more than me than you want to know .

www.jaen-3d.com said...

Thanks so much for this post, quite effective info.