COMMUNITY NEWS
Glade Community Historical Society, Inc. including Glade, Garfield & Pine Log, Ark.
SARS (2003), MERS (2009) and Ebola (20142016) were deadly viruses, but not as easily transmitted as covid-19, which can be spread by people, even without symptoms. Its easy transmission is why social distancing has become a crucial part of combating the spread from person to person. To remain safe, The Glade Community Historical Society will not gather for our regularly scheduled meeting on the fourth Sunday of April. And, our July meeting date has not been determined at now. Much of the United States has slowed as businesses, churches and schools have closed to save lives.
Though this is our first pandemic since the Spanish flu of 1918-1920, there were many difficult days in Glade, Ark., with White River floods, depression and drought. Cleva Williams Douglas recorded her survival during the Depression and drought of the 1930s and 1940s.
She spent her childhood at Glade and her family lived on the main road from Eureka Springs to Rogers. The following is her story:
During the depression, transient people camped below the Douglas place, and the hungry politely asked for food. A trip to the Glade Post Office/Store was a two-mile walk to collect mail, or to buy & sell their goods.
In those days, they raised crops, canned their food, made sorghum molasses and had fruit orchards. They had hogs, cows to milk, and there was a tester at the Glade store for the cream they sold. Social services did not exist back then, and there was no electricity, nor cars or air conditioning, and believe it or not, no internet services. Cleva’s family “sold Raleigh products and eggs to buy spices, sugar and coffee.”
“A yard of fabric was 8 cents.”
She went barefoot to school until she was 14 or 15. She attended Coal Gap School and the children had chores.
“We planted corn, pulled weeds and picked beans and helped gather corn.”
“Cleva’s father died when her oldest brother was 15, so we all needed to work on the farm.”
“We milked the cows and fed the chickens, gathered the eggs and the washing was a big chore because we did it with a rub-board.”
“We had to carry our water from the well and heat it and then when I had those soapsuds from washing, I’d make use of that water and scrub the kitchen floor.”
“My mother might have done some of the plowing and we all hauled hay.”
“My brothers would throw it up with a pitchfork and I’d scatter it around on the wagon, keep it leveled and balanced on the wagon. Mostly, the men did the heavy chores, like the plowing, and we didn’t have bulldozers.”
“We had sassafras saplings that you had to constantly keep cut off the pasture. There was also land to be mowed and to be cultivated. And, I’d gather poke and dock and lamb’s quarter for greens.”
For eight years, she walked two miles to the Coal Gap School, graduated eighth grade, then married Harry Douglas at age 16 in 1924. Her husband worked for 10 cents an hour. They lived for 10 months with his mother and sister, taking care of his bedridden mother and his little sister.
She recalled the Depression and the drought, “We didn’t raise enough corn to fatten our hogs … the drought was so great and we had to sell cattle down to what we could just carry through, and a team of horses to farm with. We sold cattle, two-year old beef cattle at $14 a head. Milk cows sold for $14. Through a government program many were bought and slaughtered to prevent starvation.
“The longest dry season in the thirties was 1936. There was a total crop failure. The drought was so great that we didn’t have a corn crop, but we did get rain in the fall early enough to plant turnips. And we fattened our hogs that fall on turnips that were cooked in the great big wash kettle.
“It was tough, we purchased our place at Glade in 1925, and one year we had to borrow the interest (10%), but that year we were only able to make an interest payment. Yes, it was tough.”
“Harry fished with a net and my brother caught a 65-pound fish out of White River in his net.”
“We planted and picked whippoorwill peas and Mr. Fawyer’s Feed store in Seligman, Mo., would buy those.”
Cleva’s husband and brothers trapped and sold furs.
“And the Glade Post Office bought rabbits, I think they paid 5 cents apiece for those rabbits in the winter.”
“Yes, it was tough. We finally had the farm paid for in 1941 or 1942.”
Cleva and Harry Douglas raised four children and three grandchildren. He died in 1980 and she died in 2014 at age 106.
Learn from history
How we deal with current challenges is important so that we do not become paralyzed with stress and anxiety. Let’s focus our energy on situations that are within our control. Set and complete goals you set, gain information, learn new skills and remember to do lots of deep breathing and stay connected with others. Be safe!
Your Glade Community Historical Society Board of Directors: Patricia Heck, president; Sam Reynolds, treasurer; Judi Walter, secretary; and board members Ruth Billingsley, Dorothy Williams, Larry Hanner and Don Berndt, communications.