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Barter, trade, swap and pawn Gene and Conrad made rabbit traps to catch rabbits they would sell to a man to eat. One day Gene caught one in his trap, took it out and put it in a pen in the shade. While working in field he saw a hawk fly down and get his rabbit. A salesman came by the house selling the Progressive Farmer magazine. Most people were too poor. Gene’s mom said no, but he said the boys would catch a chicken and trade it for the magazine. Soon they received the book in the mail. Mom took Step-Grandma Carrie to see her Dad out from Statesville. She said he made a living raising truck gardens. Took them to town, parked, sold from a one-horse cart. Dad and people around would go buy sugar, salt, dry beans, Karo syrup, butter, paper, etc. Some bought, traded, bought on time, swapped and bartered. A man asked my Dad if he had butter to sell. He took several, paid next time. He told Dad he would buy all he had and bring what money he could. Gene’s Grandpa Cook raised milk cows, milked by hand, had his own bottles. He washed and scalded the bottles, poured milk into them and had his own milk route in the 1940s. In early 1950s, a boy moved about a mile from us and came to our house. He asked my brother to ask his sister (me) if I would I go to the movie in Mooresville with him. He said he would pawn his class ring to get money for a ticket, gas. He told my brother to hold it until he got paid. He said he never liked going alone anywhere. Mae Lee Cook | Moravian Falls |
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