Precious Memories - Legacy of Bygone Days

Over the years the family had come into possession of a curiosity that to their knowledge was never explained. One day while John Henry was digging irrigation ditches in a field of bottom land, he dug up what appeared to be a jagged flint rock that weighed about two pounds. On the top of the rock was what looked to be a square window of mica, and under this window inside the rock, colored pictures would appear. Most often these pictures were of Indians, some sitting on rocks, some sitting on the ground with their legs crossed, and once there appeared an Indian woman holding a baby in her arms. Also three lengths of chain would sometimes appear. A picture would remain for a period of  time lasting from several seconds up to one or two minutes before disappearing,  and then some other picture would appear. Frances Rosetta, Opal Palestine, and Viola all swore to the authenticity of this strange rock, and all three said that on many occasions they saw pictures inside it.

People from all over the country came to the Honea house to see the rock. John Henryhad a magnifying glass that was used to enlarge the pictures so they could be seen more clearly. No one had ever seen anything to quite match this oddity, and on several occasions John Henry took the rock to Atlanta and showed it for money. Many people tried  to buy the rock, but John Henry would not sell it. Eventually someone who knew he could not get the rock by any other means stole it from John Henry, and its whereabouts was never heard of again.

Candace owned a sort of kaleidoscope that showed a view of what was said to be the Old Kimble House and of  Marietta Street in Atlanta.  This view was of  wagons loaded with chickens and produce and of women, who had their bonnets on their heads, walking down the street.

worn out tire tube, to each of the upper prongs of a V-shaped tree branch called a flip staff, and attaching the other end of the rubber strips to a basket made from a worn out tongue of an old discarded brogan shoe. The basket held the projectile that would be shot. To shoot the flip a person held the bottom prong of the flip staff in one hand, and with his other hand held the basket containing a rock. When the rubber was stretched and the basket released, a rock could be shot two hundred feet through the air, and practice had made both Fred and Doyle expert marksmen. In order to be able to hunt on Sunday without causing a commotion, they would walk through the woods with one boy carrying the Sams’ little white feist dog, Rouster, in his arms. When a squirrel was spotted, the other boy used his flip to shoot the squirrel out of the tree, and the boy who was carrying Rouster sat the dog down on the ground so he could chase the squirrel. After each chase,  Rouster would continue his ride in the boy’s arms until the next squirrel was located. It was hard to determine who enjoyed themselves more, the boys or Rouster.

On moonlit nights Fred, Franklin, and Doyle would sometimes call their dogs, light a kerosene lantern,  and go on a “possum” hunt. On one such hunt they had only been in the woods for about thirty minutes when the dogs treed. Doyle thought there had never been a tree that he couldn’t climb so he volunteered to go up and shake the possum out. Franklin held the lantern up, resting it on his head to give light, and Doyle inched his way up the tree and out the limb where the animal sat. He said, “I see it, but it doesn’t look exactly like a possum.” Franklin said, “Well, shake it out anyway.” Doyle shook the limb, and the animal fell onto the ground and was immediately mobbed by the dogs. The boys then found out why the animal hadn’t looked like a possum. It wasn’t a possum; it was a polecat. The animal sprayed the dogs, and they immediately started to wallow on the ground and vomit. Franklin and Fred realized what was going on and ran a distance