Page 36 - Firehouse Pond

Stave Mill, Charleston, Missouri
Circa 1960s
Photograph purchased at The Rocking Chair Antiques and Collectibles,
Charleston, Missouri
June 23, 2015
DH

I grew up loathing my father, but I respected him just the same. When sober,
he was a remarkable man. He had talents. He could do just about anything
around cars and machinery. But, one little sip turned him into a totally

different person. It was that person I disliked.

I hated his actions, his beatings and his mistreatment of my mother and

siblings. Looking back on all that happened I believe my mother loved the
man she married but despised the man he became.

My father worked in the cotton fields when it came time to pick. He also

worked in a factory, so to speak. It was a mill, a stave mill. A stave is a strip
of wood used to form the sides of a wooden barrel.