"I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world."
George Washington
There is no place like home!! And, I'm so very happy to be able to share photos like this one with my dear Grandmother, Mae, whose home it was, also. She planted these azaleas, iris and honeysuckle. The oak was little more than a sapling when they first moved here in 1944. While it is a little inconvenient living in an old house (the front portion you see here was built around 1880)- it offers a setting incomparable to modern housing.
In large part- the reason my family bought this place was because of a family illness. My grandfather, Ernest Still (born in 1909), was brought up by his maternal aunts. His father, Cleve, died when he was but two years old. His mother, Cora Moore Still, died when he was around 12. Aunt Eva, the oldest of the Moore sisters, shows to be the head of the household in the 1920 census- while the married sisters had houses across the street on 14th Street. By 1940, Pa and Mae and my Mama were living in Arkadelphia with Aunt Eva. Pa had bought much of the property on both sides of Martindale Hill (now known as 15th Street) and rented this house from a Mr Murphy who was with the OBU ROTC in 1944 when Aunt Eva's TB was nearing the point that she had to go to Booneville. They drew up plans for a house to be built a little further south and on the west side of the road, but for whatever reason, decided to purchase this house and continue the additions and renovations rather than build their dream home. Over the years, they let go most of the pastureland and kept some of the woodlands.
Mom and Mae's recollections of that first winter they spent here are much like Laura Ingalls Wilder's book "The Long Winter" except they suffered through with a less than capable wood stove and all had a horrible fever. The next year, they got the indoor plumbing finished and the chimney on the fireplace was completed- I wonder if the reason it sways is because they rushed it, but who knows? The old house is still cold, in spite of the central heat and wood stove insert that have been added since we've lived here- but, cold or no- it is home.
And, in the Springtime, I tend to forgive the inconvenience and revel in the comfort of knowing the family that has called this place home. I'm not the granddaughter of an empress- but, I can be a little imp!
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