THE BUNGALOW

The Bungalow is filled with hay. I can't believe this bungalow is now a barn because at one time it was home for myself, my parents and brother. As I look at the bungalow, I am not seeing a barn but I am seeing a home where happiness abounded. I hear laughter,and see my parents as we sat around the coal oil lamps at night time, talking and laughing at my Dad's jokes.My brother and I had to get our school homework around these coal oil lamps and I wonder now, how in the world we could see well enough to do the work, but we did.In this bungalow,we had a living room where a coal stove set to furnish us heat in the winter time.It was the only place in the house we had any heat,so we stayed covered up in bed until Daddy built a fire in the stove each morning.There were two bedrooms,and a large kitchen.At night time we would bring in a washtub and fix warm water for the tub so we could take a bath.It was better in the summer time cause we would set the tub filled with water forthe sun to warm for our bath that night.We had a small porch on the back of the house which we mainly used to do laundry. At first we washed on the rubboard. Daddy would build a fire aroundthe wash pot and fill the pots with water, he drew up from the well.My mother would start out with putting thre sheets and pillow slips in the hot water and crumble up lye soap.We would have two tubs waiting for us on the porch and Mama would use a special stick and takethe boiled sheets from the wash pot and ut them in the tub. She would wash them o nthe rub board andthen put them in the other tub that was filled with rinse water. I woujld rinse them and put them in a basket and hang them on the clothes line. We would do all our clothes the same way so it took us all morning to wash and hang out clothes.. At evening time, it was my job to "bring in the clothes". I did not mind bringing the ones from the clothes line but there were always some that had to be hanged on our barbed wire fence and I did not like having to get the clothes from the barbed wire. I took them in and sprinkled the clothes that wrere starched, rolled them up in a sheet and ironed them the next day.I had to iron with irons we put on the stove to heat hot enough to iron the clothes. It took me all day to iron the clothes, but I did not mind ironing. I especially remember meal time in that bungalow I called home. My mother just seemed to cook all lthe time and we loved to sit down at the big table all filled with delicious food. I remember my Dad would say"Old Sweet, that sure was a good meal." None of us were overweight and I think of alll that food I ate and never gained weight and now I eat so much less and get fat!!!It was the exercise.Our family in that bungalow worked hard on the farm. We hoed and picked cotton,gathered corn, picked up peanuts, cut sugar cane, and worked in the garden that ;provided us with alll those wonderful vegetables.My brother and I had so much fun in that bungalow.We just talked about our friends,played games, laughed a lot but never did we fight. I remember thinking it was wierd cause my cousins would fuss and fight and my brother and I did not do that.My mother told me later that she thought we were the strangest brother and sister cause we never fought. Gee, I never wantedto fight with my brother. If those bungalow walls could talk, even today, they would say," we never heard any quarreling or disagreements when the Oglesbee family lived here." The bungalow had a long front porch, and it really was not that stable, but we did not seem to realize the porch needed repair. I rememer when Daddy bought me a piano. It was a very old, heavy piano. To get the piano into the house, it hadto be unloaded onto the front porch.I remember how the men that unloaded it were afraid they were going to ruin the porch, but wonder of wonders, it survived.This bungalow always had our kin folks for Sunday dinners or just during the week to visit eachb other. My Aunt Dora and Uncle Loy Highfill and all 6 Highfill cousins were there almost every day. My Uncle Fredand Aunt Alvis Copeland were there a lot too. This bungalow was truly a happy place for all of us.My mother planted beautiful flowers around the bungalow and all three children inherited her love of flowers. Into this bungalow, in April of 1949, my little sister was brought to bless our lives.She was so beautiful and Bob and I treated her just like a toy!! My cousin ,Billy Euel Highfill lived with us for a year when his parents moved to Oklahoma. Heand Bob were juniors in high school andthey teased Kathy unmercifully,since she was only about 2 years old by now. I was away in college so I did not get to join in the fun except some week ends.At that bungalow, I spent the happiest days of my life--so I hope the person that uses that bjuilding as a barn will be gentle with her and please do not twar this bungalow down because it was once a happy home. By--Glenna Goodson