The elderly,
maimed, halt and blind were sheltered beside the hearth of their
blood kin.
The Negroes I knew-Shoogie, Doanie, Sun Boy, Ned, Little
Stray, and all the rest-lived out in the country close by us. I
couldn't have managed without Shoogie, for she was my main
playmate, even though my sister Mierd and my brother Wiley were
still living at home. Why, if it hadn't been for Shoogie, I never
would have learned to build a good frog house in the sand. I'd
love to see Shoogie again. After she married Doanie's oldest boy,
they went off to the West Coast. I'd like to be with her,
climbing pine saplings, wading in the branch, and jumping deep
gullies!
We were all eating our white bread then and didn't know it.
There were no alcoholics. A heavy drinking man was a sot, a
sinner. Women didn't drink-or if they did, they didn't tell it.
And as for mental health, it was an unheard-of term. Any persons
slightly off were said to be "curious," or at worst, "touched in
the head." They were tolerated by family and friends, while those
considered dangerous were sent off to be locked up in the state
asylum.
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