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MEMORIES OF OLA? COUNTYSchoolByagner52 Westminster Road, Newton Centre 59, Massachusettsand Church. That afternoon we had callers. They viewed the dead ruts, and un old man remarked to Pa, “Bet-them a wav from thereor the buzzards'll be chasingterRATS!When htgood1888 must have been a corn year in South Clay County, for the summer of 1889brought the worst rat pest 1ever knew anything about. Andthey were huge, grey rats which knew how to take care of themselves, and where to find whatwanted. 1 do not remem-thsame thetheyber that we ever had rats on cur farm on Tenmile prairie, ordid as lie pleasedpleased. He did his job when itwas to be done, and everybodysat at breakfast attime. Often, as we milked rows, fed the horses ami pigs, j Add and I saw huge grev rats'scurrying into darkunder the corn crib, which was floored with rails laid flat on the ground. Each day we husked corn for that day, and by springyou by tomorrow.”•at a*Steed and Evans had fed some b«t*f that winter, and had built rail corn cribs just west of the village some eight or ten feetwide and probably a hundred lu-jesjfeet long, all of them floored| with rails laid fiat on the ground, i Most of the corn had been fedwhen grass had grown, and cattle turned out to pasture, but we knew there were rats under them. They suggested to the boys of the community that__ _ _ , we ran onto corn that the ratsthat wc had them in 1888 at Post-,h;jd husked and eaten, and graoak when we first moved there, more and more of it.MithetearsMiofconsi r v t h iA1liappIgrossMiLate in 1888 my mother died 0ne daykilling. We wertspeeITif rn butofPatheand we moved out to the Bud tj,at Nidiols farm at the edge of the rorn village. Pa sold the mail route With mother gone he had to become mother, as well as father, to six of us; two small girls and four growing boys, and housekeeper as well as provider There were three rooms in the Nichols house, and plenty sheds, cribs and the like, sold most of his horses with mail route, but kept two good tarm teams. He bought corn in the crib when we move, there were straw’ stacks and some hay.We owned several milch lt;ows, and there was plenty of pasturage for them.While Pa got breakfast. Addand 1 did the barn chores, and A If got the smaller children dressed and ready for breakfast.On our place everybody worked, including father, andrats were eating all our and he’d bbtter get some rough on rats” for them. He did. and what an aroma (polite for stink resulted! Rats died under the erib (out of reach), in fence i orners, around haystacks and even under one room of the house! But there seemed to be as many rats as ever.i hopimo ISowhat, who was thorough in he did, said we’d have to move tiic corn and tear downthe corn crib, and rebuild itin a different place. That was an rvent. We began by tearing away the straw’ roof, and thenused top rails from the wallsfor flooring and to start newgame. Some of the boys who crs.. There were probably 40 or came next morning had whisk-50 of us, and all the dogs were there. We began at one end ofthe erib and for awhile felt♦like s«»me ocult news agency had warned the rats and they had gone. We soon found that they had a marvelous communication Jsystem under the cribs, and aswe tore into them they retreated iahead of us under the cribs. Wepiled the rails at one side and went on hunting rats and find-J ing more and more of them Bythe time We had half the cribs I down we had hundreds of dead rats. Boys learned skillful tech-! nujues in rat destruction, and j some dogs learned an art ofW!w*alls. When we had room for t it, we began carrying the corn their own. We soon found thatfrom the old crib and dumping j rats were leaving the areas a-new*. That went alright | head of us and running to the1 — —* - to | rail piles w-e made to new hide-Iit in thenobody until wethe floorwere down nearlyicing upThen rats began boun-untler our feet, and , boys andouts. So was stationed a line ofYOU NAME IT!!WE BUILD IT!ven and cribs railCabinetShopF. C. LA\ft r■i*OwnerBo#cPhone 1there's something about a rat i that makes a fellow hop when one starts up his leg or runs across his bare feet We had adog who hated rats, and as they jbegan coming out he began apicnic. We boys got interested and cut light green clubs about as long as baseball bats, us big as your thumb. Then we began(using a shovel on the corn, with)waiting to get every rat Handsshowed up. If we missed,■nailed him. We piled themfence corner, and when the was done we had halfwagon box of dead rats.Next day was Sunday, bo vs spread the news atdogs between rat hu-the rails. By noon the were all down and the had been reworked.IRats were ricked up in messy piles. Finally we were done, except for dead rats. Then farmers j who had helped agreed to haulthem away Scoop shovels were] used to load them into wagons, and we went home to wash up.had handled too manyrats to lie fit for anything else for a while. Two farmers whowent south of town developed a sense of humor; theybeganhTiiiwe iSumlay irepresent John Hancock Life Insurance Oompany# for lew interest and liberal appraisements on Farmand Ranch loansAlso prepare Abstracts onClay County land and City property.CLAYCOMPANYV. LefevrePhone 108Waythrowing rats out of their wa- igoiis beside the road, a rat aboutevery ten feet, and ncvt day' buzzards were on fence posts and tree limbs along that road for several miles. But most ofH 1 i % § i. — 9 1 Hj ■them, including our contribution, went into draws and canyons j las far as possible from any home. Buzzards seem to be fond | of rats. For weeks rat killings went on at farms and ranches | in our section of the lt;ounty. iSince that year I have neverheard of a Clay County rut pest.
Newspaper Details
Henrietta Clay County Leader
Henrietta, Texas, US
Thu, Apr 29, 1954
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Max B.
USA 10 Apr 2021
Other Publications Near Henrietta, Texas
Henrietta Clay County Leader
