Another excerpt from Alben Barkley's 1954 autobiography, That Reminds Me:
"To me, however, Lowe's store is memorable as my boyhood source of what we used to call 'crawly sugar.' 'Crawly sugar' was thick brown sugar, and we called it that, not because it was infested with any form of animal life, but because, when you placed a cup of it in a plate, it would seem to move and shift around as if it were alive. This 'crawly sugar' came in huge hogsheads, big enough for a large boy to get into. Mr. Lowe knew the weakness of us youngsters for sweets, and he also knew that we country boys got precious little of such treats. So when a hogshead had been emptied and rolled out behind his store, he would let us climb into it and scoop out with our Barlow knives whatever crumbs of sugar we could find between the cracks. It was a great treat when Old Man Lowe would roll out the sugar barrel." (p. 32)
I Googled the phrase "crawly sugar," but only picked up references to things like "creepy crawly sugar cookies" that you could serve at Hallowe'en. On the other hand, I did find this video.
Showing posts with label Wheel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wheel. Show all posts
Monday, November 30, 2015
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Alben Barkley Remembers
Another excerpt from Barkley's 1954 autobiography:
Most of my early boyhood memories go back to Lowes, a crossroads community settled in 1837 by Levi Lowe and his wife, Mourning Ann Cook Lowe. They were emigrating westward from Virginia, and on the way their second son was born. They stopped at Lowes because they found a good spring there -- in all the 117 years of Lowes's history the spring has never been known to run dry -- and the town has been there ever since.
In its early days Lowes had a flavor all its own. There was not much doing in the way of amusement, so the people used to have fairs on an old fairground located three miles northeast of town on what is now known as the Kansas neighborhood. One of the primitive "amusements" of which I have heard -- this was long before my time -- was the custom known as "goose-pulling." Two long poles were set into the ground, and a goose with a greased neck was strung between them. The men of the community would mount their horses and ride at full speed toward the goose, attempting as they passed under it to pull off its head. The goose, for as long as it survived, loudly and understandably made known its objections to the whole procedure. A price was awarded to the man who finally pulled off the goose's head: the goose, now long beyond caring, was usually the prize. This rather barbarous custom, however, was entirely out of character in Lowes, which was a community of hard-working, churchgoing people, and it has long since been outlawed, along with the betting on horse races and other forms of wagering which used to take place at the old fairground. The fairground has gone too.
Most of my early boyhood memories go back to Lowes, a crossroads community settled in 1837 by Levi Lowe and his wife, Mourning Ann Cook Lowe. They were emigrating westward from Virginia, and on the way their second son was born. They stopped at Lowes because they found a good spring there -- in all the 117 years of Lowes's history the spring has never been known to run dry -- and the town has been there ever since.
In its early days Lowes had a flavor all its own. There was not much doing in the way of amusement, so the people used to have fairs on an old fairground located three miles northeast of town on what is now known as the Kansas neighborhood. One of the primitive "amusements" of which I have heard -- this was long before my time -- was the custom known as "goose-pulling." Two long poles were set into the ground, and a goose with a greased neck was strung between them. The men of the community would mount their horses and ride at full speed toward the goose, attempting as they passed under it to pull off its head. The goose, for as long as it survived, loudly and understandably made known its objections to the whole procedure. A price was awarded to the man who finally pulled off the goose's head: the goose, now long beyond caring, was usually the prize. This rather barbarous custom, however, was entirely out of character in Lowes, which was a community of hard-working, churchgoing people, and it has long since been outlawed, along with the betting on horse races and other forms of wagering which used to take place at the old fairground. The fairground has gone too.
Alben Barkley Remembers
Here is an excerpt from That Reminds Me, the autobiography of Alben W. Barkley, who was Senate Majority Leader during the Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, and who served as Vice President under Harry Truman. This book was published in 1954:
I was born on the farm of my grandfather, Alben Graham Barkley, in Graves County, Kentucky, near a little place now called Wheel, located between the larger communities of Lowes and Fancy Farm . . . .
The community of Wheel was named after an influential farmer of the same name, who founded a semi-secret agricultural organization known as the Wheelers. This society was pledged to work for the interests of farmers, who in those days had no parity programs and little else to aid their economic situation. My father was an active member, and I can recall how he used to talk enthusiastically of plans discussed at the meetings of the Wheelers. Eventually the population of the community dwindled so that Wheel lost even its rural post office. It now is served by the nearby larger and prosperous town of Fancy Farm. The unusual name of the latter community, by the way, was derived from the well-kept country place of an early settler, John Peebles. A post-office inspector had stopped at the Peebles place in 1845, while investigating whether a post office was needed in the growing settlement, and he was so impressed with its trim, neat appearance that he proposed the name of "Fancy Farm" for the new post office.
I was born on the farm of my grandfather, Alben Graham Barkley, in Graves County, Kentucky, near a little place now called Wheel, located between the larger communities of Lowes and Fancy Farm . . . .
The community of Wheel was named after an influential farmer of the same name, who founded a semi-secret agricultural organization known as the Wheelers. This society was pledged to work for the interests of farmers, who in those days had no parity programs and little else to aid their economic situation. My father was an active member, and I can recall how he used to talk enthusiastically of plans discussed at the meetings of the Wheelers. Eventually the population of the community dwindled so that Wheel lost even its rural post office. It now is served by the nearby larger and prosperous town of Fancy Farm. The unusual name of the latter community, by the way, was derived from the well-kept country place of an early settler, John Peebles. A post-office inspector had stopped at the Peebles place in 1845, while investigating whether a post office was needed in the growing settlement, and he was so impressed with its trim, neat appearance that he proposed the name of "Fancy Farm" for the new post office.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Oh, Kentucky
"NuLu."
The fifth generation of Gaineses take over at The Daily News in Bowling Green.
I will not be entering this writing contest for children, but, if I did, I'd probably try to come up with something that echoes either Vice President Johnson's sing-songy and violent slogan or Vice President Barkley's plain and peaceful one.
I love local steakhouses, and now I have a great new reason to get to one in Goody.
Meanwhile, the soup and cheeseburgers from this new Southfork restaurant receive rave reviews.
Our big Paducah bro, Russ Cochran, will be rocking the PGA Tour's Sony Open, which tees off today.
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