Hide Article Text (OCR)
A Monster? Silly, She Says 'Tho Braxton county momt^r? “Pure ftllllnew/' say* Aunt Becky Frame, 00, native of that county, who *ay» the people who «aw It must bare mlitihra m snake for a monster. She says snake* grow hi* op there.Roving the Valley★ ★ ★Witli Friends and NeighborsNOW that the hubbub and fuss has died down, what about that Braxlon county monster? Was It myth or reality? Imagination or a creature from some other world? What was it, anyway?Pure silliness/9 snaps Aunt Rebecca Frame, who saw the first light of day in Braxton county 90 years ago. Never heard tell of such silliness. There are snakes in Braxton county, big snakes, but no monsters. Maybe it was a snake they saw.”Aunt Becky Is well acquainted * with Braxton county snakes. She fought them while hoeing com barefooted when a girt there.“W© had to drive them off the. hillside* so we could find room.•to plant corn/* she recalls. “In.*ibo»e days, though, we*d set the,.hillside* on fire every now and. then and drive them out. They, preach against Getting firra to-,day In the woods, but X tell you,, young man, the snakes are going .to take the country unless we let. the fire* out*9Aunt Becky, whose husband. Elliot, was the first postmaster of Frametown (his father, Thomas, settled the Elk river community) left her home In Gassnwuy five years ago to come to South Charleston to keep her son and daughter company. He’s O. P. Frame, assistant commissioner for the workmen** compensation commission, and she Is Mrs. J. L. Barker of 4827 Ohio Av. S. W.“And I’ve been homesick ever alnce,” she says. “The hills here aren't high enough for me, I guess, and city folks aren't as respectable as Braxton county people. I declare, the way they©moke, drink and swear down here —the women more than the men, too-I don’t know* what this country’s coming to.AND THE young girls. Why, the way they court the boys is scandalous. They’re not bashful e-nough nowadays. I was never too bashlul to talk to people, but I never talked to a man unless he *eld something lo me first.•And she says the same thing applies to so-called monsters. Unless they apeak to you first, pay no attention to them. They’re not there, anyway.4tl grew up in a day when * girl had to work flax and wvmt, make maple eugar, quill, »cwand crochet, milk the cows and chop wood/1 she said. “We didn't have lime go gallivanting around the country seeing things. •“And later on. I helped my husband make caskets, still I didn’t see any monsters, although people were awful superstitious about ghosts then. I rode horseback alone through the woods, too, and no monster* bothered me. Only the snakes were troublesome. It’s my opinion, young man, that those modem folks In Braxton county saw an old rattler or copperhead, Well, now. Aunt Beckley has had her say. She celebrated her flOth birthday Oct. 1 and deserved a comment on the Braxton county monster.She still maintains a home at Gassaway, too, and says no monster is going to frighten hci from going back to Brnxton county when »he gets good and ready, “Looks like they need me. too. seeing monsters and such/’ she said. “Why, I never heard tell the like/*
Newspaper Details
Charleston Daily Mail
Charleston, West Virginia, US
Thu, Oct 09, 1952
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Jeff H.
NA, 07 Jul 2023
Other Publications Near Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston Mail
Charleston Gazette Mail
Charleston Gazette
Gazette Mail
Charleston Daily Mail
