A Tip From The Tip Jar!

Here is a correction for the blog post, Merry Christmas .

The caption under the picture of the jello salad should read,

"Lassie Malone Weaver's Strawberry-Nut Salad

Seasoned With Love Cookbook page 68."

Thanks to sister, Rebecca, for catching this. She loves to make the jello salads for our family gatherings. This strawberry salad was delicious. I need to try to make it. Hopefully we can share a picture of the Weaver Christmas salad soon. 

Love,

Mariellan

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you who walk the Family Trails with me. I hope your Christmas was filled with the light and the hope that the Christ Child brings to us. I look at this beautiful Advent wreath in our church and think how fortunate we are in our country to freely display the candles, the creches, the wreaths, and the crosses without fear of persecution. We can sing, "Oh! come let us adore Him!" and "Go Tell It on the Mountain" with loud voices and then act upon those words safely and boldly where we live.  

So in thinking about these freedoms, I thought about this little book we have in our Christmas book collection.

As the title, says, this book tells the how-and-why we sing these favorite Christmas songs.

The story behind the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written for Christians who lived in FEAR! Yes, this favorite Christmas song that is great to sing on a long car ride or act out at a party, actually tells about how Catholics in Great Britain during the 16th century found a way to teach their children the story of the Gospels as they were forced to go underground with their faith or risk being killed.
Each verse was carefully constructed to help children learn the doctrines of their church using a secret code. I won't retype the entire chapter of this book, but it is a good read. Anyone who loves Christmas will enjoy learning more about all of the beautiful songs we are free to sing every Christmas.

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
A partridge in a pear tree. 
This true love is not a love-sick young man. It is Christ.
The partridge is a symbol of courage and devotion when protecting her babies from enemies, even into her own death.
The pear tree symbolizes the cross…."and together, the first gift represented the ultimate gift given by the Babe born on Christmas Day."

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Two turtledoves…
Two turtledoves represent the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
Doves also are symbols of truth and peace.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Three French hens…
French hens were very expensive in the 16th century, "a meal fit for a king."
The three French hens symbolize the three gifts from the wise men.

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Four calling birds….
The four calling birds symbolize the four Gospels.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Five golden rings…
The five rings represent the five Old Testament books-The law of Moses or the Torah.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Six geese a-laying…
representing the story of creation taking place in 6 days-
through the image of eggs-a symbol for new life.

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Seven swans a-swimming…
the seven "gifts of the Holy Spirit" that Paul wrote about in Romans 12.

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Eight maids a-milking…
For a woman who milked the cow, there was no lower, or more demeaning job. This verse taught children that Jesus came to save ALL.
The number "8" helped to teach the 8 Beatitudes.

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Nine ladies dancing…
The nine fruits of the Spirit were taught in this verse; the ladies' dance represented the true joy of serving Christ.

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Ten lords a-leaping…
Yes, you guessed it! The ten commandments.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Eleven pipers piping….
The eleven disciples who "embraced Christ and his message of salvation."

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Twelve drummers drumming…
This final verse represents the twelve different elements professed in
"The Apostles' Creed."

Whew! That is so much for a child to learn, especially if the child is scared and told not to repeat  any of the details in the lessons. As children, we were taught these lessons but over time and in a safe place. This song reminds us how much we have to be thankful for and to remember those children who live in dangerous parts of the world where worshipping freely is not tolerated.

*These pictures of children depicting "The Twelve Days of Christmas"
were drawn by Tony DeLuna and published in 1963. *

I hope your twelve days of Christmas are filled with hope and light and peace.
Love,
Mariellan

Merry Christmas

Busy week…and with the threat of severe weather during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day here in the South, the roads and shops are so crowded with the last minute shoppers, yours truly included. So for our last blog post of Family Trails before Christmas, here are two (or three) thoughts to lift your spirits and help you (and me) to slow down for a short read.

This is me in"Tee's House" in 1961 posing for a Christmas card.

"It is good to be a child sometimes, and never better than at Christmas time."

Charles Dickens

When I found the picture taken in 1961, I had to get another one taken by the same fireplace the year I visited Talladega for Robert Weaver's AIDB dedication in 2014. 

Lassie Weaver Malone's Strawberry-Nut Salad
Seasoned With Love cookbook page 68 

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating."

Luciano Pavarotti

 Last, as I wish you a very happy and special Christmas…

"Somehow, not only for Christmas 

But all the year through,

The joy that you give to others

Is the joy that comes back to you."

John Greenleaf Whittier

Love,

Mariellan

All Things Bright and Beautiful!

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all! 

By Cecil Frances Alexander, 1848

Hi Family Trails readers. As promised, I am keeping things short on our blog during Advent. No research... no long articles to retype for you to read... just short, sweet messages to give you a restful break. 

I hope you have a blessed Advent! 

Love,

Mariellan

An Advent Gift to You

Dear Family Trails readers,

Computer issues are getting better…but not completely fixed yet. I am back and running at half speed, technically speaking! Having one's computer break down this time of year does help to put things in perspective. Obviously, there are many things in life that can knock sense into us when we need to get things back in line, but the computer has definitely had its impact. While I waited out the computer repair, I thought about how I would approach Advent for our Family Trails  blog. I read more "hard copy" print and dug into some of my favorite writings that I have saved and stuffed into every corner of my kitchen and bedroom.
Then

I brought out a blank book in which I periodically"cut and paste" quotes and verses and short articles that I always hope to reread again one day.  It hit me that I cut out these special items and stick them in a book and ...who else can enjoy them? No one! 

So Here is the plan for Family Trails this month:

Let's take an Advent break from family history and get inspired! I will share something short, inspiring, and hopefully helpful…not in my words, but in the words of others that have inspired me. Nothing monumental…just little tidbits of hope, maybe something that will cause you to sigh with relief, or go on to bed without EVERYTHING checked off of your Christmas To-Do List. 

*I will say up-front that over the years when I have saved writings, I didn't always save the whole article, so I may not be able to add the authors' names. * 

So,  Let's begin.
 Here is a "snip-it" from…something. I do not even remember what! But I like it. I hope you do too. 

Distinguish Ritual from the Habitual.

"Traditions help us feel connected to the past and to one another," explains Joan Lang, M.D., former chair of the psychiatry department at St. Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri. "When you sit down to the same dish your mother and grandmother ate every year on the very same same day, it's not just about the candied yams." A habit, on the other hand, is something you do out of routine, whether or not it brings you pleasure. Ask yourself whether you prepare that feast, bedeck every last doorknob or shop until you literally drop because you truly love it. "We get addicted to hearing, 'Wow, she did it again this year,'" says Shepherd. Then we feel like we have a reputation to uphold." Break free from the cycle of repeat performances by creating less stressful rituals. Instead of hosting the big holiday meal by yourself, buy some precooked side dishes or organize a potluck supper. And who appointed you sole card-writer and gift-wrapper? Enlist your husband's and kids' help and turn those tasks into a fun family night.

I like to reread this little excerpt. I will say that over the years, our extended families have worked through some of these stress factors, cutting out the things that rob us of our energy so we can enjoy our large gatherings. I do love to decorate -as the writer above wrote- every doorknob! But one thing I have tried to do in recent years is to change things up a bit….move the nativity set to another room one year, use paper plates for dessert, let others bring whatever they want to bring for the family meal. This list could go on…like learning that it IS OK to use paper napkins for big gatherings instead of the heirloom set of linen napkins.
 I still have lots of ways to improve and edit my expectations, but I am trying to keep what we love to do in tact and let go of the things that we really don't enjoy, but "we always did!" That way, we can slow down some, hopefully not get the flu from being so tired, and take the time to truly live into Advent.

 As we Episcopalians do say, "It isn't Christmas yet..not until Christmas Day." I think that is a great way to prepare our hearts for the birth of the Christ Child in the midst of all this craziness around us.
With love,
Mariellan

Many thanks once again to daughter, Rebecca, for giving me permission to use her photography from RebeccaWisePhotography.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

Good morning,  Family Trails readers. 

It is a beautiful weekend here in The South…sunshine, breezy winds, clear skies, mild temps…exactly what we hope for when we gather for Thanksgiving here in the beautiful state of Alabama.

Once again, your faithful writer is experiencing problems with my computer, so I will not be able to post any pictures to enhance our post today. I thought I'd just wait until I could get some help, but as many of you know…

Today is THE IRON BOWL! 

The biggest game of the year for University of Alabama and Auburn University fans! 

There will be NO  family member who will want to help me with my computer…

not today! They are all "taping their ankles" and putting on the Bama crimson and white colors and a few in this family will be donning their orange and blue! 

So I will just leave this blog picture-less for today, but I thought I would share with you all with this post-Thanksgiving poem:

'Twas the night of Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't sleep,

I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.

The leftovers beckoned, the dark meat and white,

but I fought the temptation with all of my might. 

Tossing and turning with anticipation

The thought of a snack became infatuation.

So I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door

And gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,

Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,

'Til all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.

I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky

With a mouth full of pudding and a handful pie.

But, I managed to say as I soared past the trees

"Happy eating to all-pass the cranberries please. 

May your stuffing be tasty, may your turkey be plump.

May your potatoes and gravy have a nary a lump.

May your yams be delicious, may your pies take the prize.

may your Thanksgiving dinner stay off your thighs."

…author unknown

I found this funny poem a few years ago in a "Senior Living" newspaper in a doctor's waiting room. Glad I saved it. 

Love,

Mariellan

Paris

Family Trails honors and remembers Paris and all the people of France this week. 

With our hearts and minds and prayers focused on Paris this week, I thought I would share this page our of a December issue of "Everyday with Rachel Ray." I have kept it on my refrigerator for several years. This little page is fitting for the times we live in when we ask, "What can one person do?" I hope you enjoy it. 

God bless you all and 

God bless the people of France.

Love,

Mariellan

Last Installment from the Time Capsule

Dear Family Trails readers, 

We have a short paragraph left for our last installment of Tee's article written for the Talladega County Historical Society's time capsule.

During the months after the summer crops were laid by, our father would walk about three miles to teach school and would teach until time to gather the crops in. Later in life he felt that he had been richly rewarded, for one of his pupils would write to him each Christmas, thanking him for the inspiration he had given him as a young boy. This pupil was Allen J. Moon who became Dean of Howard College (now Samford University) in Birmingham, Alabama. He was also Dean of Liberty College in Missouri. 


This was a short entry from the article, but it holds a great deal of information.
First, Grandfather Weaver taught school outside of Lineville, AL, yet he did not have much formal education himself. In something I have read about him, it said that since he had been born a few months before the beginning of The War Between The States, his schooling ended early in grammar school so he could help his father on the farm. C. S. Weaver's obituary states that he memorized poetry and many chapters of the Bible so he must have been a very smart man to have taken on the school in Lineville.

Second, this article mentions correspondence between Grandfather Weaver and one of his students in Lineville. Here are 2 letters from this former student on his stationary from the William Jewel College in Liberty, Missouri.

This next letter is especially interesting. Allen J. Moon is 71 years old. Think about this… a 71 year old man is still expressing his gratitude for the grammar school education he received many years before! He must have truly been so grateful for his education and did not take it for granted that he had a good teacher to help him in life. In the letter he writes, "I shall never forget how hard you toiled at your teaching job to help us poor country boys."

The letter is written in 1944. Allen Moon writes that his son is "somewhere in England as a radio operator mechanic for the 479th Fighter Group for the A. (illegible)  (8th)." Maybe the initials represent the Army Air Corps.

In the time capsule article, Tee wrote that Allen Moon was also the Dean of Howard College. Many of the Weaver family attended Howard College, which later became Samford University.

Howard College, Birmingham, Alabama

Samford Unviersity today

So readers… this ends our few weeks of examining Lora Weaver Ragsdale's time capsule article. In our next "Weaver Wednesday" we can prepare for Thanksgiving. Yum Yum!
Love,
Mariellan 

"Watermelons by the Carload"

Happy November to readers of Family Trails. 

We are still digging deeper into the time capsule article that my great-aunt, Lora Antoinette Weaver Ragsdale wrote for the Talladega Historical Society.
This week let's read how Lora, "Tee," described her father's store .

photo from the book, "Images of America: Talladega, Pathways to the Past"

Working hours were different from today. You could open and close your store any time you chose. No one opened on Sunday. Our father opened his store at 6 o'clock in the morning in order to sell to people who had come from a long distance, like Lineville or Ashland, and who needed to get back home before dark. 

Father's store was a general store, selling dry goods, groceries, hardware, shoes and many other items. When farmers would come in from any distance (like 25-30 miles) and sell their goods, usually bales of cotton, and buy what they needed, it would often be too late for them to go home that night. So, they would spend the night in "Wagon Yards" enclosed by fences. They could feed their horses and mules there, put down a quilt in a large room and spend the night for 25 cents. There were two watering places in town for the animals. One was on the east side of the courthouse and the other at the Big Springs. 

Up to 1912, our father's store was located on the south side of the square. After that, he moved to the north side of the square. He had been renting from Leon G. Jones who needed his site to organize The Bank and Trust Company. This Bank remained there until 1928 when it merged with the Talladega National Bank. The Talladega National Bank (now First Alabama Bank) was organized by John H. Hicks in 1905 and was located on the east side of the square. The Isbell Bank (now First National) was organized in 1848 by James Isbell, and was located on the northeast corner of the square. 

In the store, eggs sold for 10 cents a dozen, and 3 dozen for 25 cents. Lard came in 50 pound tin cans and sold for 10 cents a pound. Compound lard, made of cotton seed oil, was 7 cents a pound. Flour, bought by train carload,
 came from Louisville, Kentucky, in white cotton bags with the name printed on the bags. Syrup was bought in barrels from New Orleans and sold for 50 cents a gallon. Red Salmon was 20 cents a can but Pink Salmon was less.

 Live chickens were kept in wire coops on the sidewalk and bunches of bananas hung on the outside of the store.

There were dozens of woven baskets used for picking cotton. These were made by farmers after they had their farms planted and had some extra time. These sold for $1.00 each. 

Several hundred bushels of whippoorwill peas would be sold in June and July. Farmers would harvest their oats in June and then broadcast the peas to enrich the soil. Some of these peas would be eaten also. 

Watermelons would be bought by the carload (rail car) in June from South Carolina.

In the early part of the 1900's, apples, cabbages and rutabaga turnips were shipped in January and February from Louisville, Ky. Later on, there was a produce house in Talladega. Carloads of hay came from Marion, Alabama. Father bought huckleberries from the surrounding area and shipped them to Chicago where they became blueberries. 

This was started in 1915 and lasted until the 1930's depression. 

Every Thanksgiving a turkey was brought home in a basket filled with hay. 

At Christmas time, our father sold tons of candy from New York and a carload of oranges from Florida. The candy sold for 10 and 15 cents a pound, and fifteen sticks of candy sold for 5 cents. Bread came from Anniston, Alabama, unwrapped and not sliced. Brown and white sugar came in barrels and sold for 6 cents a pound. Green coffee beans and regular coffee came in barrels too; later there was a coffee grinder in the store. The only cheese was hoop, which sold for 10 cents a pound. No cigarettes were sold. There was something like a cigarette called "Cheroots" and some cigars. Tobacco sold by plugs or cut pieces. Piece goods, millinery and umbrellas were displayed in glass showcases.

Tobacco license from 1940 found in C. S. Weaver's scrapbook

Note: All pictures in this post were found on the internet unless noted differently.

Much love to all of you, especially as we all prepare for the special holidays ahead.

Love,
Mariellan

In The Surrey With The Fringe On Top!

What comes to mind when you hear the word, "surrey?"
Having grown up in a home filled with LP albums of 1950's musicals, I immediately think of the song,  The Surrey With The Fringe On Top, by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
What a great show with so many songs that draw you in to sing along! Honestly, that must be how so many children learned to spell 

O K L A H O M A !

O K…(no pun intended!) let's get back to the state of 

A L A B A M A ! 

and to our "time capsule" article written by Lora "Tee" Antoinette Weaver Ragsdale. 

Last week we began with a piece about the store in Lineville, and today we are going to look at what Tee wrote about their home life after her family moved from Lineville to Talladega. You will see how the surrey ties in to our post. 

When the family moved to Talladega in December, 1897, there were five children. We came in a surrey, and I will never forget seeing my first train. I was so frightened, I cried. Our first house faced Coffee Street on the lot where Heritage Hall and the library now stand. 

Picture from the internet

The first Sunday we were in Talladega our Father with Cabot and Kiser went to the First Baptist Church, and the family has been going regularly ever since. We did not know anything else but to get up on Sunday morning and dress for Sunday school and church. Father was the Church Treasurer for many years. 

When we moved to Talladega, it was a town of about five thousand. There were no paved streets or sidewalks in the residential area. The business section was on the square as it is today…

We lived in the house of Coffee Street for three years. then our parents bought a house at 305 Oak Street from Cecil Browne, a lawyer, for $2000. 

How happy we children were to have a house with a bathroom. The toilet had a long chain to flush the water. We had a cistern for drinking water and were not allowed to drink water from the faucet. 

The first day after we had moved into our new home, Father came home for noontime dinner and saw his four oldest children playing on top of the roof. We had gained access to the roof  through the trunk room and had climbed a ladder that was hidden in a small closet which led to the attic. From there, a ladder led to the outside entrance. The flat top had an iron grillwork around it. Our father went into the house and asked Mother if she knew where the children were. "In the yard, I suppose," she said. Papa answered, "No, they are not. They are on top of the house! We'll have to sell the house; the children are going to get killed."Well, they didn't sell the house, and I'm sure we were careful not to get caught on top of the roof again. 

Imagine seeing 4 children on top of this house! 

I hope you have enjoyed the second look into Tee's time capsule article. 

There is more to come in the next few weeks. 

Love,

Mariellan

Time Capsule

Welcome to this week's "Weaver Wednesday" on this beautiful October day!

Our past few posts have been about our family's stores on the square in Talladega, Alabama. This week, let's go a bit farther back in time and rediscover Grandfather Weaver's first store. Our family is so fortunate  that Lora Antoinette Weaver Ragsdale wrote a paper on her family's history in Talladega to be included in a time capsule for the Talladega County Historical Society. She wrote a long and descriptive narrative that we can look at over the course of our year ahead on Family Trails. Today, I will share what Lora wrote about her father when he started his first store in Lineville, Alabama. I will begin after she described her parents' farmhouse: 

After our father managed to get his farm under control, he opened a country store. In order to keep up his stock, he would go about 20 miles to market in Talladega in his wagon with the bow frame cover. 

 A few days before leaving, he would let it be known in the community so his customers could bring in different kinds of produce to be sold:  chickens, eggs, beeswax, sheep skins, potatoes, honey, onions, corn, and many other items. 

He would bring back staple items that could not be grown on the farm, such as sugar, salt, lard, and flour. he would also buy lamps and kerosene oil.

In those days eggs were not graded; an egg was an egg-pullet, hen, guinea, duck, or goose. Father would pack these in a large wooden box. In the bottom of the box he would put a layer of cotton seed, then a layer of eggs and continue layering cotton seed and eggs until he had as many as 500 eggs. Kiser, who would go with him to market, said that not one was ever broken. 

This is all that Lora wrote about the store in Lineville. We will continue in the weeks to come to look into her article that was placed in the time capsule. She described their family's home life, store life, and farm life.

We are the fortunate ones that are able to read this without waiting on the time capsule to be opened. 

Love,

Mariellan