SPEAKER:
SUBJECT:
PLACE:
DATE:
INTRODUCTORY:
THE INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
Frances Grobe
Hannah Mahony
Community Center , Menard, Texas
June 2, 1984
Mayan Neel.
THE LIFE OF HANNAH MAHONY, GIVEN BY FRANCES GROBE , OF MENARD
COUNTY.
N: Are you ready?
G: I guess , I don't know.
N: OK , to start this off, I'd like to ask Frances Grobe,
Alberta Wooten Nelson and Bertha Kothmann and Willie Lee
Everett and Mrs. Hazel Spinks to come up here and join me.
(laughter)
You all wanted a little something different ; we 're
going to have something different.
Now you all get right over here. OK, as far as I know,
these are all ex-pupils of Miss Hannah. Now are there any
others here that went to school to her? We should have
Alice Ellison, 'cause she had a daughter that went to
school.
Okay, now we're going to do something real special for
you; we're going to sing you a song . It's going to be
"School Days." I'm sure all of us know that, so let's get
started.
MAHONY
N: several voices, singing:
G:
School days, school days,
dear old golden rule days,
readin' and 'riting and 'rithmetic,
taught to the tune of a hickory stick,
you were my queen in calico,
I was your bashful barefoot beau,
you wrote on my slate, "I love you, Joe."
when we were a couple of kids.
Now, wasn't that nice? (applause, and several
comments)
2
Now this is going to be a "Once upon a time" story,
about a very special lady. Her name was Hannah Mahony, and
as long as I can remember she was an old woman. I don't
think she was ever young. She was born in 1882 in Ireland.
And she carne to the United States with her mother, Nellie
Mahony, her father, Torn Mahony, two sisters, Mary Nell and
Agnes, and a brother, Tommy. I don't know when they carne to
the United States, but in 1893, Mr. Mahony was already in
Puerto Cortes, Honduras, and he was working in the gravel
pit, and he made $2.50 a day, which was real good wages,
because a lot of the natives over there were making 25 or 50
cents a day, which was pretty good money, I guess, back
then.
MAHONY 3
G: But he wanted the family , they had settled near
Katemcy, Mrs. Mahony and t he four children, and Mr. Mahony
wrote them a letter in 1893, wanting them to come to Puerto
Cortes, to join him down there. Because, he said, there
was plenty of work down there, and they could make a good
living. Out of the $2.50 that he made, he sent most of it
home to the family. Mrs. Mahony, I have a picture of her
and I want t o s how it to you right now. How many of you can
see this? This is Miss Hannah's mother. Now , isn't she a
cantankerous-lookin' old woman? But she refused to go to
Puerto Cortes to join her husband.
She had a few mortgaged cattle, and at that time , beef
ca ttle was selling for three cents a pound, and wheat was 40
cents a bushel, and flour was about $10 a barrel. And
anyway, Mr. Mahony told his wife that he did not think that
her trying to keep that few mortgaged cattle was a paying
proposition , and wanted them to move down there with him.
But he said , "I know you would not even consider moving down
here." and she was , I guess , a determined woman.
And anyway , she never went and if she ever made up her
mind to go or not to go , she never got the chance, because
in about 1904 or 1 905, she and Miss Agnes and Tommy, there
was a tuberculosis epidemic, and they died during that
time.
Now, Mary Nell I don ' t know if she was older than Miss
Hannah , or just younger, but she married Louis Decker. I
imagine most of you all here know Mr. Decker. And they had
a boy that died when he was just a young child, and three
MAHONY 4
G: daughters. And after she died, he married the mother
of Denis and Paul and Francis and who else? Weren't t here
four of those boys? Oh, Steve.
But, anyway, Miss Hannah went to live with Mr. and Mrs.
Decker, and while she was living there, a Mr. Ben Hext from
Schleicher County, came and wanted her to teach his three
children, provided she would not teach religion; would not
influence the childrens' religious beliefs. She was a very
devout Catholic. But, anyway, she did go t o teach out on
the Hext ranch.
And before I get started with all her teachin'
experiences, I'm going to read you all s omething here that
I've kinda cut it down, from her book. These are all her
teaching experiences. Now, if anybody says she taught ther e
in certain dates and she didn't, this is her own words:
In 1908, she went to teach at Mr. Bob Hext's ranch, and
she was paid $15.00 a month.
In 1909, she went to Mrs. Fred Speck's ranch, 6 months
for $20.00.
I want you to notice something in here - - Miss Hannah
was a man hater. I'm sure most of these households had
their Mr. and Mrs. but she never once mentioned a Mr.
They're all Mrs. and in fact, in school, of all the kids I
went to school with, I think I can remember every boy
getting a whipping, but I don't ever remember a girl getting
whipped. Or a spanking, I guess you'd call it.
Now, she taught at two other private schools, and in
MAHONY 5
G: 1912, she prepared herself for public school teaching.
In 1912-1913, she taught at the Vockman ranch, f orty
dollars a month and boarded with Mrs. Leo Decker. "For
plenty of warmed-over biscuits", she says.
In January 1913, she taught at the Runge or the Low
school for five months, and boarded with Mrs. Jack Doran for
ten dollars a month.
In 1913 to 1914, she went to the Palmer school, seven
and a half months for forty dollars a month, and boarded
with Mrs. J.A. Spoon. She had "trouble aplenty" at this
school "and to me, I believe it will never be forgotten." I
don't believe she liked Palmer shchoolhouse. And poor
little ole Willie Lee , I think, later went there , but it had
kind of changed by that time.
audience) (laughter)
(unintelligible comments in
1914-1915, she t aught a t Bear Creek in Kimble County,
after (''finishing") there. And she had that " fin i shing" in
parentheses and underlined) at Palmer for $55 a month and
boarded at Mrs. Fred Hall for $12.50.
1915-1917, she was at Cedar Hill school in Sutton
County for $55 a month and boarded with Mrs. Wesley Smith
for $12.50 a month f o r two months. The rest of school, she
boarded with Mrs. Dock Joy. The second term she boarded
with Mrs.Otis Smith and then went to Mrs. Quincy Adams. I
don't know where all these men were.
1917-1918, she went back to Palmer school house for $60
a month and boarded with Mrs. Frank Wal s ton for $18 a month.
~1AHONY 6
G: I read a little account of her expenditures, and her
Christmas gifts. And every Christmas, she got a real pretty
slip from Willie Lee's mother, and I think she appreciated
that slip more than anything she ever got.
In 1918-19, she went to Cedar Hill school for $75 a
month and boarded with Mrs. Willie Adams for $18 a month.
In 1919-20, she went to the Hill school in Concho
County for $75 a month and boarded with Mrs. Henry Jacoby
for $20 a month. While she was teaching there, my two
older sisters went to school with her and I was born. My
brother was at one of the neighbor's houses, (he couldn't
dare be at home while a child was being born), but anyway,
the next day after school, Miss Hannah brought my sisters
by, and she was one of the first people outside my family to
see me. So I g uess that's why I always kinda had a special
feeling for Miss Hannah .
that. (laughter)
' Course I don't even remember
1920-21, she went to Cedar Hill for $100 a month and
boarded with Mrs. Willie Adams for $18 a month.
1921-25, she was in Kimble County, and they paid her
$125 and she boarded with Mrs. Sam Ivy for $20 a month.
Now , I do belive that this is where Bertha and Alberta got
some of their schooling during this time. Four years, from
'21 to '25. Anyway, when she stayed with Mrs. Sam Ivy, she
had "bi scuts, gravy, and lots of wild plum jelly ."(laughter)
And, at that time, Ann , who was a niece of hers, came over
there and studied for her permanent teaching certificate.
MAHONY 7
G: In 1925-28, she came to Clear Creek in Menard County,
for $107 a month for the first year and $115 for the second
year. Boarded with Mrs. Marion Whitley. 20 to 25 pupils in
grades first to tenth. I was six years old one day, and I
started to school the very next day at Clear Creek with Miss
Hannah teaching and of course she was my very first school
teacher.
In 1928-30, she went t o the Murr schoo l in Kimble
County for $130 a month, stayed two weeks at the teacherage,
and was terribly l onely there. Then she went and boarded
with Mrs. Adam Murr for $15.00 a month. She drove Mrs.
Murr's car to school. I did not know that Miss Hannah could
even drive. I never saw her in a car in my life, I mean,
driving. Anyway, they went five miles to school.
In 1930-32, she came back to Clear Creek. They paid
her $130 a month, and she boarded with Mrs. Marion Whitley.
She said, "I like this school and everything connected with
it. The Whitleys are a jolly gang to dwell with, and we
have good times at school and at the Whitley's also."
1932-37, back to Palmer after an absence of 20 years .
Boarded with Mrs. Ben Dechert and the second tern with a Miss
Lois Goodwin. Miss Goodwin was hired as an assistant
teacher out there . She got $90 a month and Lois got $70 .
She put in there in parentheses , "Life for me is not so
pleasant ." I 'm sure Miss Hannah had arthritis quite badly
in her hands and fingers and in her feet, and a t that time
MAHONY 8
G: it was beginning to bother her. You can tell by
looking at some of her records here. She wrote a beautiful
hand, but some of it you can read and some of it you can't.
1937-39, after an absence of a quarter of a century,
back at the Runge or the Low school. "Torn Low, who was a
beginner in 1912, is now one of my trustees, and his
daughter is now a beginner." She boarded with Mrs. Torn Low
for $14 a month.
1939-40, she went to Cedar Hi ll, boarded with Mrs. Earl
Adams, where she had stayed 20 years before.
1940-41, Dry Creek in Menard County , for $60 a month,
"quite a come down." She stayed with Mrs. James Harper for
$12 a month. "In all respects, an ideal horne."
1941-42, Dry Creek, $70 a month, and she wrote , "Thank
God. How fortunate I am to have this good school and its
fine patrons." And o n June 8 , 1942, whe wrote in her diary ,
"I am , so I believe now, to teach Dry Creek once more. Do
not know any particualrs as to the salary, lengths of term ,
or anything else connected with this school ."
In '42-'43. she taught at Dry Creek for $75 a mo nth.
She had nine pupils and nine grades.
1943 to 44, she was back at Dry Creek. They had raised
her salary to $100 a month. Boarded with Mrs. Harper. She
said, "I have arthritis of the feet and hands, which malady
makes movement somewhat slow and awkward."
1944 to 45, she went to the Ellis school, thirteen
MAHONY 9
G: miles southwest in Menard County; $100 salary; lived in
one room of the schoolhouse, and at noon ate meals with Mrs .
James Peavy, who lived in the teacherage* (*residence
provided for teachers. (Wilestin)) "Had bronchitis", and
she has that "bronchitis" in parentheses. Someone told me
that since her mother, brother and sister had died of TB,
she kind of lived in a fear that she one day would have
that. So I'm wondering if she was thinking that the
bronchitis might be a starting of the TB. Anyway, they had
to close the school for two weeks.
1945 and 46, the Ellis school, $100 a month. She lived
in one room and kept house alone. Said, "This was a quiet,
lonely life. I was and ever shall be grateful to God for
the ability to earn a livelihood apd to be useful."
In 1946 and 47, she taught at the Ellis school again
for $100 a month. She retired from teaching in June 1947
"after 37 years of continuous teaching in the public
schools ." And she said, "I shall try to pass the rest of my
life doing some useful activity."
Now , I'm going to skip from all that t o Clear Creek,
because that's the only school I knew. As I said, I was six
years old one day and I went to school the next day, and she
was my teacher. Clear Creek is a little one-room
schoolho use located out here about eight and o ne-half miles,
and at that time it was just about 300 yards from the banks
of Clear Creek.
Well, of course, we didn't have running water, and we
MAHONY 10
G: had two big old buckets. The big boys , they got the
honor. Now, carrying water during school hours, they didn't
have to do that during recess , and that was really an honor
and a privilege to get to carry water in those buckets.
Now there were just a few desks in the school, wooden
desks with iron legs, the kind that have the inkwell, and a
little groove up there for the pencil, and a place
underneath for your books, lunches , and whatever you wanted
to put in there. But a lot of these children weren't that
fortunate, they had apple crates and orange crates and a big
old bench sitting up there. And about once a day, that
bench, with about three or four of these big kids on it,
would turn over. Well , of course, it was always a big
accident , and Miss Hannah always knew who the culprit was
that caused the bench to turn over, and of course they
always had to stay in at recess. Somebody was always
staying in at recess at Miss Hannah's school.
Now , you talk about getting down to your basics. Miss
Hannah was a "down to basics" teacher. We had reading,
writing, and arithmetic, plus history, geography , health
science, algebra , English, Spanish , and I'm sure there were
other subjects that she taught. Now , there was a long bench
up in front of the classroom , and whenever a class was in
session, Miss Hannah sat up on that bench with us. There
was maybe three students in one class and maybe one in
another. One particular reading class up there, John A.
Powell and Fritzi Beyer, I don't know if any of you all know
MAHONY 11
G: Fritz i Beyer, but I think you all know John A. Powell,
they were in the same grade and they had a Baby Ray primer.
Anyway, Miss Hannah would always read a sentence, and point
every word out, and the child was supposed to read after
her, and read the sentence. And she got to John A. and she
said , "Baby Ray has four kittens." John A., boy , he's smart
as a tack, says, "Baby Ray has four kittens." Next come
little Fritzi. Now Fritzi was a very unusual student. We
called him a dreamer. He'd sit there, and he'd look around,
he didn't pay much attention. Now they'd probably say that
he was slow or immature, but then he was a little dreamer.
But Miss Hannah came to him and she said, "Baby Ray has five
chicks." Fritzi, he's just sittin ' there. So, Miss Hannah
said "Baby Ray has five chicks ." And Fritzi just sat there.
And she punched him with her elbow and said , "Fritzi , Baby
Ray has five chicks." And he looked up at her and he said,
"Well, I know it." (laughter)
Now Miss Hannah couldn't carry a tune. She was
probably like this bunch up here a while ago. But we had
singing the first thing every morning. Now we sang songs
like "America the Beautiful", "Old Black Joe", "Star
Spangled Banner", "Yankee Doodle Dandy", "Massa's in the
Cold, Cold Ground", all those old songs, some of which
you ' re not even allowed to say now , let alone sing. And
writing, now that was the first class of the day. Every
student in the school room participated. We did those
scratches , we did the "s' s", we did the " o's", and we did
the alphabet. Everybody did that.
MAHONY 12
G: We had a 15 minute recess about ten o ' clock in the
morning, an hour at noon for lunch and recess , and a 15
minute recess at 2:30 in the afternoon. And, like I said a
while ago, there was always someone who had to stay in at
recess, usually boys. But those that got to go out and
play, we'd play such games as "Anti Over*", (*see last
page of this interview) "Dare base", "Wolf over the River",
"Red Rover", ""Hide 'n Seek", "Piggy wants a Signal", "Kick
the Can", Softball, "Pop the Whip", Marbles, and my very
favorite, which was "Coon". I don't know how many of you
here know anything about "Coon". But we had some big old
mesquite trees out there, and as soon as Miss Hannah's bell
rang to denote recess , the kids would all run and the last
one up the tree would have to be the dog, and the others
were coons. (laughter) Of course, then, the girls wore
those big old bloomers that hit your knees, probably made
out of old salt sacks, so you didn't really expose anything,
but I'm surprised that Miss Hannah let us play those games.
But I ' ve got scars on my elbows and on my shins, because you
know how a mesquite tree is, they've got pretty rough bark
on them.
Now, let's see , I've skipped arvund so much here, and I
don't have it written down in order .
Everyone had to take lunches to school. We didn't know
what a cafeteria was, and some of us had little ole tin
buckets, and really the most fortunate kids in the school
got to bring a paper sack to school , with their lunch in it ,
MAHONY 13
G: so when they got through with their lunch, they could
throw it away. But now, like us, shucks, we never bouqht
anything out of a store, and we never had any paper bags, so
I had a little ole molasses bucket, about that big and that
big around and that had one of these little old
tight-fitting lids on it. At that time I broke my
fingernails off and I'd have to get a limb or something to
kinda "prize" that lid off of that bucket. But it did keep
out those little, well, some people call them "step-ants";
we didn't always call them that. (laughter)
Miss Hannah had a silver-plated bell. It had a long
black handle, and that was her law and o rder. It was the
same to her as these law officers' guns. That bell, she
would ring it t o d e note the beginning and ending of school,
the starting of recess, or some kind of emergency - for
instance if the big boys, when they went after the water, if
they didn't come back when they sho uld, boy, she would r ing
that bell . Oh, I'll tell you another little thing while I'm
o n the bell. One time she had a progr am, I think it was
a round Christmas time, and a bunch of the boys, and Santa
Claus was coming, and the sleigh bells were ringing, of
course, and they had to take her bell down on the creek.
And Fred Ellis, Jr. and my brother and the Decker boys and
two o r three other boys that I have fo r gotten, they all got
t o go d own on the c r eek, so they can ring the bell. No
bell. And the bell didn't r ing. So Miss Hannah g o t out
there and started calling, and they started coming, and here
MAHONY 14
G: come ole Francis Decker with his head bleeding. He and
Fred Ellis, Jr. had had a fight over who was going to ring
that bell. Of course, we don't know to this day, I'm sure
Fred could tell you, but we don't know to this day how
Francis got hit in the head with that bell . But he
acc idently got hit in the head with the bell.
Now we had two outdoor toilets out there. One for the
boys, and one for the girls. Now the girls' had two big ole
2 holes ••• one was a big hole for the big girls, and
one was a little hole for the little girls. (laughter) And
of course now, we had some of that not-so-soft toilet tissue
up there, and it was a Montgomery Ward catalog or a Sears
catalog. I think it was before Penney's ever came out with
one . Maybe it was a National Belles Hess. I kind of
remember a National Belles Hess, (laughter) way back then.
But anyway, those were the potties. Miss Hannah, she just
c o uldn't s tand the thought of kids going in there to hide
for games , like "Hide 'n Seek" or "Piggy wants a Signal"
But that was a favorite place to hide. And of course we
used that for the games as well as its real purpose.
Now, on every holiday Miss Hannah put on a program.
Lee's birthday, Lincoln's birthday , Hallowe'en, Christmas ,
Thanksgiving, Valentine, any day she could make up an excuse
to have some kind of program! And they were usually
successful. Every kid in school participated, and all the
parents, and the neighbors, for that matter. They all would
come to Miss Hannah's programs.
MAHONY 15
G: Now s ince Anys and Hazel are not here , I'll t e l l you
this little story about them. In a play that they were in,
Hazel was the man, and he'd come acourting , and Anys was the
woman. And they had a little t able out there , and we had
some old rawhide bottom chairs. And my daddy had made
Hazel a moustache out of some angora goat hair and had dyed
it black and pasted it, it had two little pieces, and pasted
it on her upper lip. Well , my mother, bless her heart, had
made s ome custard for them to eat , which was to be their ice
cream. This, I'm sure, my mothe r on purpose had left t he
sugar out of it. She didn' t want to be putting out t hat
sugar for just a play. But , anyway , Hazel and Anys didn't
know t hat, so they sit down there. I know all of you know
Anys. Well, you can't af f ord to get her too tickled or too
excited. But, anyway, they were sitting there at the table,
o ne across from the other , a nd Hazel was tell i ng h e r , "Oh,
what good ice cream." And she stuck some in here mouth, and
when she did, it wasn 't sweet a nd it gagged her a l ittle
bit. And when she did, she caught a littl e piece of that
goat hair in her mouth. Well, if any of you have ever had
any goat hair in your mouth , you know how hard it is to spit
it out. (laughter) Well , she kinda got choked on it ; she
gagged. Of course , t he a udience out there , they could n' t
hear , but poor old Anys, sitting over there, she could hear
it and they could see her blowing out the side of her mouth
trying to g e t tha t moustache o ut. And anyway , all o f a
sudden , Anys looked over there at Hazel and one side of her
MAHONY 16
G: moustache was coming off in her mouth, (laughter) and
she couldn't spit the darn thing out and she nearly choked
to death. Anyway, that ended the play right then and there.
J.T. Powell and Mordecia Chapman were big ole boys then, and
they didn't have a curtain, but they just come to get the
chairs and take them off the little platform, and when they
did, here was this little stream of water that come out of
Anys's chair. Miss Hannah, I'm sure, she just felt like
killing both those ole gals. But that was probably Miss
Hannah's most embarrassing moment. (laughter)
Now, Miss Hannah stayed with us when she taught at
Clear Creek, and all four of us Whitley kids went to school
to her. We lived in this big two-story house that had three
big ole bedrooms upstairs. The east bedroom was Miss
Hannah's, and that was off limits to any of us kids, summer
or winter, because that was always Miss Hannah's room. We
had an ole outdoor toilet there, and Miss Hannah was always
the fir s t one up every morning, and you could see her
high-tailing it out there to that ole toilet. I'm sure she
didn't want my daddy to see her, and she was the last one
there every night. You know, I don't ever remember Miss
Hannah going to a toilet at school. (laughte r) Sure ly she
did. But she must have went to the toilet before all the
kids got to school. But she was kinda like a camel and its
water, I guess. (laughter)
I'm going to try to describe Miss Hannah to you. She
was a tall woman, she was about five foot ten or ten and a
half, blue-green eyes, l ong brown hair that s he pulled back
MAHONY 17
G: in a knot on the back of her neck. Maybe it was kinda
reddish? Well, I'll tell you, when I started to school to
Miss Hannah, she was just 33 years old, and I thought she
was the oldest woman I ever saw in my life! And she was
younger than my mother, and I didn't think Mama was young.
But anyway, she was a very proud woman, very graceful,
and she walked with a brisk pace and her head held high,
stomach in and shoulders back. She wore dark-rimmed glasses
and a slant bonnet and black laced-up shoes. Now they
weren't high shoes, they just carne to a little below her
ankle. I don't know what you call them, (high quarters?)
but they were black laced-up shoes. Lynell Wheeles told me,
"She didn't have any legs. All she was was a long dress and
shoes!" But you could see just about that much of her leg.
You couldn't see any skin. Her dress didn't come all the
way to her shoes, but she had long legs and wore dark
stockings.
She was very strict and stern. There was no foolishness
about her, and I can't ever remember hearin' her laugh. She
might have laughed every once in a while, but I sure never
heard her. She was a devout Catholic. She gave ten percent
of her earnings to the church or to some charitable
organization. In a book that I read about her donations,
she might give ten cents to one organization, fifty cents to
one, a dollar to one, but she doled it all out. And the
only thing that she spent on herself was ten cents worth of
a little powder that she got maybe once or twice a month.
MAHONY 18
G: Of course, she was real freckle-faced, and I think she
thought, I'm sure the powder was white, did they make it in
colors those days? But anyway, I guess she thought she was
covering up some of those freckles with that powder. But
that's the only thing that I could find that she spent on
herself was that ten cents about every two weeks for some
powder. In other words, she was a typical freckle-faced
old-maid school teacher.
Now, she owned a home in north Menard. She owned two
rent houses in Menard, and one in Eden. But when she
retired from teachin', when was that, in '47 or '46 ? , she
lived over here at Menard, in north Menard in her house, and
she had an apartment in the front of it. She usually rented
it out, and she lived in the back apartment. And in 1941
this Ann, who was her niece, died, leaving two small
children. And Miss Hannah took those children in and raised
those children. She suffered from arthritis, and she spent
several years in the Town Nursing Home before passing away
at age 78, in 1960. She is buried in the Rest Haven
Cemetery.
I think I've talked long enough. I could go on and on
here. Y'all want to hear a little bit more? Or are you
? ....
Audience says "yes."
I was going to tell you a little gossip here. Now back
then, we didn't have boy friends or girl friends or
live-ins, or what have you. But we were "stuck on"
MAHONY 19
G: somebody, or we "claimed" somebody. And I want to give
you a few of the romances.
My sister Hazel, she was stuck on Austin Chapman and
Benny Bradford. (laughter) Anys, she had a little crush on
J.T. Powell and Mordecia Chapman. Now, Peggy Ellis, I think
most of you all know some of these people, Peggy Ellis and
Carmen Cox, they were stuck on Edgar Erwin. Now, Alda
Powell and Anna Marie Beyer were either stuck on ••• now, we
called people then "little so-and-so", like "little Fred
Ellis" or "little Fritzie Beyer" or "little John A. Powell."
But it was little Fred Ellis that Anna Marie and Alda were
stuck on, "little Fred", or sometime we called him
"Gilhouley" or visa versa. I don't know whether they were
stuck on him or he was stuck on them. Now, Lorene Logan
Flooch and Lola May Durnal, they were stuck on Steve Decker.
Lorene Logan, I guess that was about the hottest romance
goin', because when we'd have programs up there, well,
Lorene and Steve would sneak out and get in the car, and I'm
sure they'd hold hands. (laughter) Almost a disgrace.
And Woodrow Wilkinson, he and Lola May, I really don't
think there was any thing goin' on there, but everybody
teased the boys about Lola May and all the girls about
Fritzie Beyer. But, one day Woodrow Wilkinson, Ex-Lax was
real new, it had just come on the market, and Woodrow
brought some Ex-Lax to school. (laughter) And of course,
Lola May was crazy about chocolate! So, he was tying to get
people to taste it, and Lola May was the only gullible one.
MAHONY 20
Voice from audience: "What was her last name?"
Narrator (I think this is Frances Grobe): Lola May Durnal.
Voice: "Is she kin to you?"
Narrator: Well, she's kin to my sisters. (laughter)
Anyway , he gave her some of that chocolate, and she wanted
more. So he gave her more. And I think she ate one of
those whole little ole packages. Anyway, she didn't come to
school for about a week. (laughter)
Ila Mae Bradford, now, I think she must have been kinda
stuck on w.T. Cox. And Dick McTaggert, I couldn't think of
anybody but Maxine Cox for him. But now, the fightin' and
the feudin' went on over Francis Decker, and that was Lynell
and myself. Boy, I 'll tell you, we'd just ••. go on these
scavenger hunts and things, and she 'd get on one side of him
and me the other , and she and I were talking about it not
too long ago, and decided that ' s why he went int o the
priesthood. He couldn't decide on which one of us to take.
(laughter )
Oh, that's about all I've got on Miss Hannah.
Voice from audience: ••• no t intelligible .
G: Do I have time to tell you about a dream Miss Hannah
had? This is in 1944, and this is her dream: "On the
morning of May 22 , 1944, I had a very vivid dream. I
dreamed I was riding the swiftest of steeds bareback across
a circular bridge. The bridge had no sides to it. The
horse, in his racing, got closer and closer to the edge of
the bridge. Soon I knew we ' d fall into the ocean , for it
MAHONY 21
G: seemed to me that the body of water seemed to be
limitless and expand. I closed my eyes. When I opened
them, my horse was flying over the ocean. Again I closed my
eyes, for I knew the horse could not fly much further before
becoming exhausted. When I opened by eyes for the second
time, we were flying through a forest. Soon, we reached a
lovely cottage. I entered. A gentle-looking woman met me
at the door and motioned me to follow her. As I did so I
saw an old man with a long gray beard sitting in one corner
of the room. Nearby was a small child, apparently about
five. I said aloud, 'Oh, the Holy Family'. Then I awoke
and found I was alone in my cabin home. I don't know what
became of my swift steed."
She had written that in t his little book that she had.
(some unintelligible conversation) •. "Cheyenne" was
the name of Miss Hannah's horse that she rode to school in
her early teaching years.
G: I remember seeing her sidesaddle, but I don't remember
Now I have some pictures here if anybody would like to
look at them. There's seven of them, and ••• You can get a
good look at her mother.
(much applause and bits of conversation.)
END OF TAPE I, SIDE 1, AND END OF SPEECH. ABOUT 37 MINUTES.
MAHONY 22
* "ANTI-OVER"
This game was heartily enjoyed by children who attended
school in the one-room shack. Children were divided into
two groups and lined up outdoors, one group o n each side of
the house and some distance from the eaves. A rubber ball
was used. The thrower o f the ball called out first, "Anti."
The group on the other side answered "Over." Then the ball
was thrown over the house. If any one of the group on the
other side of the house caught the ball, the catcher, with
his group slipped stealthily around to the opposite side and
tried to throw the ball between the whole group and the
house. If he succeeded, it meant the opposing side was
whipped. Since, of course, each group of children was
always on the watch, the catcher sometimes failed to throw
the ball between the whole group and the house because all
the children on that side would be running around to the
oposite side. However, he often managed to cut a few
children away from the house with the ball, and those cut
out had to go with the enemy's side. If no one caught the
ball when it was thrown over the house, the side to which it
was thrown recovered it, called ''Anti," and, when answered
by "Over," threw it as in the beginning. It was a foul to
call "Anti" when the ball had not been caught. Thus, if a
side did not hear this signal within a reasonable time they
knew to expect to other side around the corner of the house
MAHONY 23
house with the ball. But they did not know which corner;
hence intense suspense and excitement.
TEXIAN •.• STOMPING GROUNDS. Texas Folk-Lore Society,
Austin, 1941 P. 148
Texas Folk-Lore Society Publications Number XVII