Written by Edna Liggin – April 5, 1990

Grandfathers With Hot Mouths:

Milas Tabor was on the scene when both of his grandfathers suddenly had hot mouths! He was at the home of William Reeves (living east of Shiloh) and with the other children were waiting until the grownups finished dinner. A potato pie came out of the oven, piping hot. Grandfather Reeves had to have a piece at once. The result was a violent expulsion of hot potato pie that put little balls of pie in his beard and mustache. The children did not laugh.

At another time, John Tabor, the other grandfather, was eating dinner with the Bob Tabor family, and requested hot pepper to eat with his peas. He took a big bite, and called at once for water. His mouth was on fire.

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A Needle In A Foot For Thirty Years:

The late Cumi Youngblood Moncrief once recalled that Mary Tabor Lee once stuck a needle in her foot, and it took thirty years for the needle to work itself out. There was such a close friendship here that Cumi named a daughter Mary Lee.

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Forgotten Burial Places:

The late Leon Austin could remember tombstones on a family burying place on land that later became the John Burl Tabor place. It seems that although Catherine Austin (Leon’s grandmother) lied at Austin Springs, she went further up the Farmerville/Homer road, to bury her husband on the old Buce place, besides a road that went to Corney Creek.

James Madison Austin died from wounds received in the Civil War shortly after he returned in 1865. His widow lived a while longer at Austin Springs where the Austins settled in the 1840s. She had five children to care for. This place is now called Scott’s Hideaway, on Lake D’Arbonne. Catherine Austin died at Lowery’s Ferry.

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Query:

Does anyone have any Bible Records of who is buried in the grave of the unknown Confederate soldier, in a grave on this side of the Alabama Landing, in Union Parish??

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A Cow In Cans:

Why was a cow needed in cans? How did the cow get into cans?

The Union Gin school had begun a hot lunch of soup, served daily by the teachers to students. To add beef to the diet, parents bought the cow, Seth Tanner, teacher, furnished the cans. Just across the road from the school, in the woods, had recently been built a canning kitchen, a little building with a long furnace. Other teachers were Gladys Tanner and Edna Tabor.

Families in the community brought beef and cans, and stoking hot the furnace with wood, let pressure cookers hiss away as the meat was canned. Thus, a cow got into cans for the school menu.

Years later, a magazine salesman from other parts, inquired about a liquor club in the vicinity, named the Union Gin Club. He forgot the words “Home Demonstration” that went with his name.

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Muleskinner Blues:

It’s a song from Muleskinner, Texas. Once a genuine muleskinner managed the Salley place. His name was Robert (Bud) Smitherman. He descended from a long line of muleskinners. His grandfather came home a defeated Vicksburg, battered and wounded, to resume work as a muleskinner in Alabama. Bud Smitherman declared a muleskinner always went to work with a jug, a cant hook, and a two gallon jug of water.

Though we are bit uncertain as to their classifications as muleskinners, three cousins, Milas and Victor Tabor, and John Matthews made history in the 1970’s with a show of mules in an open field. It was a day of showing mule driving and plowing skill.

With the passing of mules from the scene, even our country language has lost some of its savor. “As stubborn as a mule” was often a fit  description to use.

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