GOLDEN CREAM

Across the Fence 

From The Hamilton Herald-News

By Arvord Abernethy 

As I sit here before a roaring fireplace fire this New Year’s Eve, my thoughts go back to the good things that have come our way over the past year and then take a few glances as to what we hope will happen in the coming year. It’s kinda like when you are out driving in the country on a beautiful afternoon and come to a bend in the road right at the top of a hill, you can get a better view of the scenery where you have been and then look ahead to the views you will be seeing. 

As I glance backward, I see that very enjoyable trip Mary and I had up in the mountains back in the fall. But I want to tell you of a side experience we had on that trip. 

We stopped in Albuquerque to visit with W. T. and Delia Newsom, a fine family I met when I began working at a store in Allison in 1929. The Newsoms, with their children, lived on a farm a few miles out of town. Just far enough out to make a nice drive out for a visit. And the welcome was so warm, you were doubly rewarded. They made you feel so at home, you didn’t mind throwing your hat in the corner or going to the cabinet and slipping a bite to eat. You were just part of the family. 

My memory went back to one day when we drove out there late one afternoon for a visit. Delia told me that W. T. was down at the barn, so I headed that way. As I neared the barn I saw W. T. down on his knees and all stooped over as though he was praying. W. T. was a very faithful deacon in the church. And remember these were not only the Depression years, but also the Dust Bowl days there in the Panhandle, so it was not hard to find something to ask the Lord for. 

I quietly inched my way on down toward him, trying not to disturb his conversion with the Lord. Pretty soon I saw him tilt his hat back and then his right elbow moving, so decided that he had something else going. 

As I got nearer, I called his name and found that he had found a cross word puzzle that had not been worked, and he was a fiend at working cross word puzzles. He had found a five gallon grease bucket for a desk and was proceeding to get that one worked. 

Another memory came to me while there at Albuquerque. W. T. is now 90 years old, but very alert and active. He took me out in the backyard to show me his gardening and other work. He pointed to an iron stand there in the yard and asked me if I knew what it was. I recognized the DeLaval cream separator that he had there at Allison. He told me that he was keeping that old separator as it was the only thing that he had ever bought on credit in his life, and that it had meant so much to them during the depression years. 

Since we were running a store there at Allison during those terrible years, we knew the anxiety of people as they would bring in a few dozen eggs to trade for groceries at 10 cents per dozen and then look at their cream check and make their purchases fit that amount. The Newsoms, children and all, were hard working, thrifty people so were able to weather the depression better than many. 

I have been out there when the boys would bring in the fresh milk from the cow pen and get ready to run it through the separator I would volunteer to run the separator. Now if you have never turned the handle on one, don’t think it was as easy as that smiling young lady on the DeLaval as showed it to be. Since it has to be geared up so highly in order to make those separating discs turn at an enormous speed, it takes some effort to get it going. Then it takes more effort to keep it going at the right speed, as the bell on the handle will indicate. 

Pretty soon the skimmed milk would start coming out one spout and the golden cream out the other. And when I say golden cream, I mean golden cream. This cream was as gold to many people in that section, as it was their main buying power. The fuller the pail of cream, the more the people would get to enjoy. 

As we look down the road to a new year, may you find your cup of golden cream overflowing with joy, good health and peace.

Shared by Roy Ables