My Turn A New Cotton Sack
D
uring my early could charge a drink and a snack on Daddy’s bill. A chi ld hood, t he Coke or a Pepsi with a Moon Pie was standard fare. cot ton on ou r I’m not sure why I thought a new cotton sack farm as well as would improve my picking skills, but it was like the that of our neighbors was call of the sirens that sailors hear on the ocean. I harvested by hand. I picked asked Uncle Emmett if I could charge it and pay him a l it t le cot ton, but not back when I picked some cotton. He didn’t try to talk enough to pretend the hot to me out of it or tell me I’d have to ask Daddy. He work shaped my outlook on sent me on my way with that new cotton sack and my life. However, It was because own charge account. of cotton that I got my first It didn’t take long for me to figure out that Robert Neil ex perience w it h buy i ng Richardson’s phenomenal weigh-ins had nothing Joiner something on credit. to do with having a bigger or better-looking cotton I often went to the field sack. What I found out was that long sack got heavy with Daddy to weigh up. There might be a dozen or when it was filled, and the highly welcomed breaks so folks there who had picked cotton all day. They from the hot work came less often. It took longer to pulled the fluffy cotton from the burrs and put it into fill up the sack, so it was longer between needing to their sacks, which they emptied onto burlap sheets at empty it on the sheet. It was longer between drinking the end of the rows. water from the mason jar in the shade at the end of Robert Richardson always had more cotton than the field. the others. His mother, Daisy, was part of the Lawson I paid for the sack but was glad to retire it when family. They had a reputation as strong, honest, Daddy bought a one-row tractor-mounted picker. I’d hard-working people had a good lesson about who were also blessed credit, a valuable “That new sack was packed full of easy with jovial dispositions. long-ter m rem i nder I admired Robert for lessons that thankfully linger on.” to use caution when always picking more spending money I don’t cotton than the others. I’m sure there were days he have. But perhaps there was another lesson of even was exhausted, but it didn’t show in his demeanor. more value. There’s an old saying, “All that glitters The cotton was weighed with a scale attached to a isn’t gold.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but Uncle sturdy pole about 6 feet long. A man stood on each Emmett helped me understand that adage. I believed end of the pole, and Daddy hung one of the tied the new sack would transform my picking to legendburlap sheets on the scale’s dangling hook. The men ary status. As I look back, it seems quite foolish to lifted the load off the ground, making sure it cleared. think that way even for a kid. Daddy wrote down the weight beside the name on But the thing that strikes me as even more foolish each person’s sheet. is how easy it is to ignore lessons already learned. It My approach to picking cotton was quite unre- can happen to any of us. We see that new cotton sack markable. Because of that history, I was given a short and are smitten. We like the fresh scent and smooth and well-worn sack for my expeditions to the field. It texture of the material. If we only had that new cotwas more than adequate to accommodate my efforts, ton sack, we’re certain life would be better. But I but that’s not how my young mind worked. didn’t need a new cotton sack to pick like Robert Joiner’s Store was just up the road from us. Uncle Richardson. What I needed was a new attitude and Emmett kept charge tickets for Daddy and most of more effort. That new sack was seldom filled to the the folks in the Third District community. He wrote top with cotton, but it was packed full of lessons that down when something was bought, then people set- thankfully linger on. tled up with him weekly or maybe monthly. I had — Neil Joiner some understanding of the concept of credit at an Vienna, Georgia early age. Twice a day, when we were working, we gneiljoiner@gmail.com Cotton Farming’s back page is devoted to telling unusual “farm tales” or timely stories from across the Cotton Belt. Now it’s your turn. If you’ve got an interesting story to tell, send a short summary to csmith@onegrower.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
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COTTON FARMING | OCTOBER 2021
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