|
Beginning
in the early 1930s, annual memorial services are held at the Old
Saltillo Methodist Church in Hopkins County. Until the early ‘60s
the program was scheduled for the third Thursday of July. By that
time the cotton crops had been “laid by.” It was a time of waiting
through the Dog Days of summer until the cotton bolls began to open.
Since 1960, the services are held on the second Sunday in July.
In the ‘40s
and ‘50s prior to the day of the service a member of the Cemetery
Committee contacted citizens of the community to inform them of
the day set aside for hoeing the weeds in the cemetery. Before 1950
the cemetery was kept free of grass. One year in the late 1940s
each worker was paid for hoeing. The money came from donations and
from the profits of the concession stand that operated on the day
of the picnic.
The service memorializing those who had been buried in the cemetery
the year before was and still is conducted at 11 A.M. The speakers
were usually ministers who had formerly served as pastors for the
Saltillo circuit. During the ‘40s and ‘50s many men and some teenagers
did not attend the services, though they were on the grounds. The
teenagers who did not attend sat in cars parked in the shade of
the numerous oak trees or strolled through the cemetery reading
the quaint inscriptions on the tombstones.
For two or three decades in the middle of the century Tom Briley’s
quartet often sang two or three “special numbers.” Virginia Grace
Briley, Tom’s wife, accompanied the group on the piano and sang
the alto part; Tom sang bass. Gospel songs like “Just a Rose Will
Do” and “Just a Closer Walk With Thee” were popular. After the noon
meal several gathered in the un-air-conditioned church to sing hymns.
Early each morning on the day of the Memorial service two or three
men took their shotguns to the woods to hunt for squirrels. After
they shot the squirrels, the men cleaned them. North of the church
building they built a fire under a large pot already containing
water. Into the pot they put the squirrel carcasses, stewed tomatoes,
canned corn, potatoes, salt and pepper. By noon time the stew was
ready to be eaten.
The women of
the community prepared a variety of food for the noon meal. The
food was spread on wooden tables under the oak trees behind the
church. Certain items appeared year after year: fried chicken, field
peas boiled with okra and a slab of pork, corn bread, mashed potatoes
with a half of a boiled egg in the center of the dish, deviled eggs,
boiled ham, canned beans with mayonnaise for a sauce, fried okra,
stewed beets, cucumber pickles, peach halves pickled in sugar and
cloves. The desserts were numerous: chess pie, chocolate pie, pineapple
cake, German chocolate cake, butterscotch pie, banana pudding, blackberry
cobbler.
In order to
raise money for the upkeep of the cemetery at Old Saltillo, men
of the community sold concessions during the noon hour and all through
the afternoon. They sold soft drinks, cooled in tubs of ice; candy
bars; and even ice cream from canisters stacked in wash tubs filled
with ice. In the afternoon children stood near the concession stand,
located under the oak trees north of the church building, hoping
that a generous adult would ply them with sodas and ice cream. After
all, the money went for a good cause, even if a kid who drank his
fill of soda and ate several candy bars had no appetite that evening
for supper.
Until 1960
the Democratic primary in Texas was held on the fourth Saturday
in July. Since Memorial Day at Old Saltillo came before that date,
a number of candidates for county offices often came to the picnic.
Each had cards with the name of the candidate and the office he
was running for. Some children competed with each other to see who
could collect the largest number of cards.
In those days all the candidates for county offices were men. They
wore white shirts, once stiff with starch, but they soon wilted
in the intense heat and humidity. The men also wore Panama hats.
As I grew older, I learned that in some county offices female clerks
actually took care of the business, knew the accounts thoroughly,
and foresaw problems the county faced, but technically the elected
official was a man. Those male candidates with various physical
handicaps had an edge over able-bodied men who opposed them. They
came to the Memorial Day observance with obvious signs of their
disabilities: wooden crutches, braces, etc. Many voters would ask
about an able-bodied man: “Why should we elect him to a county office?
He kin git out and work jus’ like I do ever’ day.”
In the 1940s
and the 1950s the annual observances were an all-day event, but
in more recent years the celebration ends with the noon meal.
|
