SERVING HENDRICKS COUNTY SINCE 1847
Page A-6
Exploring Hendricks County
By Jackie Horn
The Republican
Voices
Memories of Past Times Lucille Stamper (1927-1915), did something more of us should do. She took time to write down her memories for her grandchildren and friends. While going through some of the files in The Republican office, we found an envelope with a few of Lucille’s stories. The article following is one of her memory treasures. ______________________________________________
Summer’s Last Hurrah The middle of October, John and I packed up and went to Virginia. We loaded our bikes and the kayaks and prepared for one last summer adventure. As we left, the temperatures were in the high 70s. Summer had held on for three extra weeks, but it wouldn’t last. Our daughter’s family lives in Norfolk, on the coast. It gets cold there but not until November or December. Spring comes sooner. By February her daffodils are blooming. We’ve done more kayaking in Virginia than Indiana this year. We decided to paddle one more time and then store the boats there for the winter. While the weather turned cold and rainy here, we were enjoying sunny, 70/80s days. Our last paddle of 2021 was Lake Drummond in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The Great Dismal Swamp once encompassed over one million acres in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Today only 112,000 acres of wetlands remain. Archaeologists believe native peoples lived in the swamp over 13,000 years ago. In 1763, George Washington with eleven other wealthy Virginians, formed the Dismal Canal Company to drain the land for farming. The endeavor failed but the canals still exist.
Today the area is managed as a state park in North Carolina and by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Virginia. Along with over 22-miles of boating opportunities, the area boasts 18+-miles of biking and hiking trails. Smack in the middle of this wilderness is Lake Drummond. One of only two natural lakes in Virginia, Lake Drummond covers 3,100 acres and is roughly 10 miles in circumference. We were fortunate to have a perfect day for kayaking! The sun was shining. There was a gentle breeze. The lake’s surface was mirror-like. It was a great ending to our paddling season. The day after our Lake Drummond paddling adventure, John and I rode our bikes along the Washington Ditch Trail to the lake. The 4.5-mile mown-grass path parallels the ditch and is edged by woods. While stopping to take a few pictures, we were surprised to see a black bear on the trail behind us. He wasn’t too thrilled with seeing us on his road and lumbered back into the woods. Our plans were altered by a family funeral which required our attendance in Georgia. Luckily, we had packed our “Sunday clothes” and could go right there. From Atlanta, between us and home lay Tennessee and one of our favorite places on Earth, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. John and I have been visiting the Smokies since we honeymooned there over 40 years ago. October is beautiful in the mountains. The leaves are at peak color. Unfortunately, it’s also crowded. We try to avoid the weekends and find the more out-of-the-way hikes. We succeeded this time with a 9-mile hike to a little-known waterfall. The temperature was only in the 40s but since it was a steady uphill climb, we warmed quickly. The next day we walked a more popular trail but started early enough to avoid the crowds. Again, it was a chilly start but as the sun rose, the day warmed and the views were amazing. We’re home now. It’s a bit dreary and a little nippy today. There’s plenty to do around the house. I think today’s big adventure will be how to season a pot of vegetable soup. Bye Summer 2021. It’s been great fun.
Hooverettes were a popular house dress style of the 1930’s. Named for President Herbert Hoover, whose term (1929-1933) marked Great Depression. the simple dresses featured a wrap front that could be reversed and thus laundered less frequently.
House Dresses Photos in old magazines of the women in their house dresses and aprons caused me to start thinking about those articles of clothing worn by my mother. House dresses was the name given to the dresses that my mother and other women wore when I was a little girl. At that time women and girls were not wearing slacks and shorts. The house dresses I remember my mother wearing were ones she made herself. They were colored prints and the style was simple; in fact, as I recall, I think the pattern for them was a basic one with some changes made each time she made a new one, like changes of rick-rack or eyelet trim or buttons. House dresses were for that purpose only - to wear around the house; however if Mother had made a new one, she often wore it to town or to a Ladies’ Aid meeting. I know she had some dresses that were faded and worn that she wore to work in the garden or clean out the chicken house or do any other “dirty work” around the home. When those faded house dresses were no longer wearable, they were washed and then put in the rag bag and maybe used for a dust rag, a cleaning rag, or maybe tom into strips for a rag rug. Women on farms had a ready source for the fabric for their house dresses. Feed purchased for the animals on the farm could be purchased in bags made of cotton prints, so a farmer would try to purchase several bags of feed made of the same colored print if his wife had told him she needed fabric to make a new house dress. A house dress is almost a thing of the past, however I do know some women in their 80s and 90s who still wear them. The dresses are now seen in museums, too, and when I see one, I have warm memories of my mother wearing a cotton print house dress, simple as it was and soft and smelling like the fresh summer breeze. It is such a precious memory. Do you have a memory treasure to share with our readers? Send it to P.O. Box 149, Danville, IN 46122 or by email to betty@TheRepublicanNewsaper.com. Please include your name, address and phone number. Writers names may be withheld on request. ______________________________________________
A Note From Bee Sears, Penney, and Montgomery Ward used to send us Christmas catalogs. Most interesting were the toys. These catalogs usually arrived in October. No books ever got so much attention from our children and grand children. It didn’t take long to lose the covers. The children could never share the catalogs. So there were many a fight that had to be settled and the pages usually got torn off in the fracas. Before they could write, I would write down what they wanted. Actually there was little that they did not want. They advanced to putting their names on items they wanted. Finally they could make their own lists that were written, erased, or even torn up by a sibling. The final copy was left outside on the bushes to be picked up the elves and taken directly to santa. Those same elves peeked in the windows before Christmas to see if the children had been naughty or nice. Bee Jones _____________________________________________
Thursday, November 11, 2021
Hunting Tips & Reflections By Mike E. Neilson Mike Neilson, longtime Danville High School teacher and longtime hunting enthusiast is sharing his hunting experience with our readers. He’s also shared his knowledge in three books, available on Amazon. com.
Ropes There are 4 items that are always in my pack: my license, a knife, a flashlight, and a length of rope. A good strong rope has come in handy for me on so many occasions I’ve lost count. My go-to rope is an olive drab, nylon rope that’s at least 35 feet long and at least 1/4th thick. Why 35 feet? Well, most of my treestands are 17.5 feet tall so I like to double that number. This way, I can raise or lower my weapon of choice and my pack as well. My rope has two lightweight carabiner snap hooks, one on each end. These clips allow me to either clip directly to my pack or other gear as well as looping the rope through the hook. The hook allows for a nice secure and quick release. I have also used my rope as a drag rope when I get fortunate enough to bag a deer. I’ll find a thick stick, wind up the rope a couple of times and then make a loop to go around the stick and the other end will be looped around the deer’s neck and off we go. In emergency situations, I have also used my rope as a make-shift safety belt. Now, I’ll be the first to say you should always have a fall restraint vest on whenever you are hunting in an elevated stand. But in some situations, (like forgetting to put the vest in my pack), the rope works as a poor substitute. Better to have it loped around my waist and the tree than to have nothing at all. On more than one occasion, I’ve shored up and secured a treestand with my drag rope. Rachet straps seem to attract all kinds of chewing critters and I’ve had more than one strap ruined by those beasts. In comes the drag rope to shore up the stand. Safety first! Once, okay maybe more than once, I’ve dropped something out of the stand, or I’ve climbed up and strapped in and realized I left something at the base of my stand. The carabiner can be tied open and then used to as a handy hook. Heck, I’ve even carved out a hook from a handy limb and tied it with my rope to fetch the errant item. Forget a sling for my gun? No problem if I have my handy-dandy rope. Just a few loops, some ingenuity and presto, a serviceable sling that will work in a pinch. Again, safety first, unload the gun! Some odd uses include, tying up brush to make a duck blind. Using the rope as a leash for a certain, hard-headed black Labrador retriever. Pulling a vehicle out of a ditch or mud (long story). And of course, tying down gear in the back of the truck. I’m also sure the rope could be used for all kinds of first aid as well, but I’ve hot had to use it for that yet (knock on wood!). A tourniquet would be a use for the rope. Creating a splint for a twisted ankle or broken limb would be another good use of the rope. Wherever your travels take you to the great outdoors, travel save and take a rope! ______________________________________________
A Squirrel About Town By Archy “We’re quite looking forward to it at the Squirrel Salon,” Archy said, cheerily. “It’s been the hot topic of discourse among the members.” I assumed the squirrel was talking about our upcoming opposing essays on the subject of Critical Race Theory. It always give me pause when I think of being the subject for erudite rodents’ analysis. “Of course, some of our members are skeptical whether humans can argue without resorting to insults, taunts, and name-calling,” Archy said, “But I tell them those are presumptions and they should raise their expectations.” I thanked him for his optimism. “My pleasure,” Archy replied. “Interacting with you has somewhat changed my opinion of humans. Of course, I’m not expecting minds to be changed, but there might be a slight opening of the door.” “What door?” I asked. “The door we close in front of us, of course,” the squirrel explained. “When we close a door behind us, it cuts off the past. When we close a door in front of us, it cuts off the possibilities for understanding. People stay sealed in their silos of information.” Having spent a good deal of time in a silo, I could understand the squirrel’s point. When you’re inside, all you see are walls. But if you climb to the top and look out the window, your perspective changes. “I’m glad you understand,” Archy said. “People shouldn’t keep their information sealed - they should always be ready to expand their opinions by understanding the opinions of others. Comparisons can be used to confuse of to clarify, depending on your goal.” “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest,” I quoted Paul Simon. “Exactly,” Archy said. “The ability to understand is often underestimated. Take the time to really listen before you form an opinion and make sure you don’t shut the door in front of you.”
We offer Voices as a place to share a story, a memory, an idea, a comment, a criticism, or a solution. Contributors must include name, address & phone number. (Please keep submissions under 500 words)
