How many of us can say we remember the Titanic, two World Wars, Prohibition, hobble skirts and seventeen U.S. Presidents? At the age of 98, Florence Agnes Smith Bailey Mitter is one of the few who can. A true all-American in every sense of the term, Florence Mitter witnessed almost the entire 20th century and grew up while her country did. And now, in the 21st century, we are most fortunate to hear her story.
BY ZELPHA WILLIAMS-SMITH
The men always ate at the table first. Women and children came last. This is the way it was in my family. Back then, in the 1930s, it sometimes seemed like no one in Alabama ever had enough to eat. My papa owned lots of land in Eclectic and grew wide rows of white cotton, but he barely scratched out a living. I was the 8th child out of ten. My oldest sister was already 24 when I was born. I remember thinking of her as my other mother.
On January 31, 1936, the Green Hornet radio program aired on WXYZ in Detroit, Michigan. Al Hodge played the part of the Green Hornet from 1936 through January of 1943. The program was created by George W. Trendle, the same man associated with the creation of the Lone Ranger radio show.
Papa and Jim came by as often as they could, but it did not seem like it was very often. Papa did as he had promised, when he came, he would take Haywood and Chester to the General store and buy them both a sack of penny candy. Sometimes he would take them to the Schloss Furnace where he now worked, to pick up his check. He made 3 dollars a week.
Remember this?
The following were some comments made in the year 1955:
"I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, its going to be impossible to buy a weeks groceries for $20.00."
"Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long until $3000 will only buy a used one."
"If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous!!!!!
"Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?"
He knelt in front of me, took my tiny right hand in both of his, and rubbed the two ugly warts that had suddenly appeared on my index finger the previous week. He closed his eyes as he massaged my hand and his lips moved wordlessly to some ancient chant.
While I know much about the men on the maternal side of my family, their history is easily traced. Documents are easily found, birth certificates, their names listed as having fought during the civil war. The men have been traced and places to find their heritage listed by family members.
A Cowboys Guide To Life:
Don't squat with your spurs on.
Don't interfere with something that ain't botherin you none.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
The easiest way to eat crow is while its still warm.
My life was rough. As a little child I worked long hours on the farm, hanging tobacco to dry. My mother had tried to teach me to work with the animals, but after she forced me to kill a chicken, I became incapacitated whenever I went near that part of the farm. Against my struggling, fighting and tears, Momma made me cut that chickens head of with an axe.
The first half a screenwriter would struggle to maintain even an “R” rating. The last half might be to clean and spiritual even for the Wonderful World of Disney that played on Sunday evenings for so many years. However, one common thread ties his entire life story together and leaves a legacy for us all: tenacity. And this tenacious spirit played out whether drinking in the local pub or preaching in a prison.