On the Porch with Dirk

Sports

July 3, 2012

On the Porch with Dirk

Simpler Times

By Dirk Thayer The Star Herald The Star Herald Tue Jul 03, 2012, 10:32 AM CDT

KOSCIUSKO — All this hot weather has got me reminiscing about the days gone by from my youth.

I have been thinking of the many old men that took me fishing.

I reckon it could be called mentoring.

Back then we were just glad someone would take up time with us.

What really gets me pondering is that I’m now one of those old men.

One of these old men was Elbert Land who lived on the Attala-Winston County line.

He drove an old black pickup.

I can't remember if it was a Ford or Chevrolet.

He lived three or four miles from the great aunt and uncle that my brother and I would spend many summer days with.

He had a pack of coonhounds that would either ride in or chase that old pickup for miles.

Some today would say he was eccentric, but I liked him.

He wore an old felt hat that had lost all its shape and had many years worth of stains around the brim.

Mr. Elbert dipped powdered snuff and would spit between his legs unto the floorboard of his truck. When it dried in the summer heat he would simply sweep it out.

Now remember these are childhood memories and may not be totally accurate but they are the way that I remember them.

Mr. Elbert picked me up one afternoon and we went fishing on Coldwater's Hole, which was a hole of water that ran out of the spillway of a pond and ran into Bear Creek.

There was a great argument among the old men of the area that said the fish came out of the pond after a torrential rain but some said they swam upstream from Bear Creek, I don't really know, all I know is that after a big rain I would see as many as a dozen cane poles around that hole.

Folks would catch big bull bream, red bellies, bass, grinnels and catfish.

This particular time Mr. Elbert and I had the hole to ourselves.

We weren't catching any big fish, but Mr. Elbert wouldn’t waste anything.

He would wet a burlap sack and every fish we caught went into that sack from two-finger size to hand size and nothing got discarded.

We were fishing with wasp larva and I leaned back on the bank and apparently put my hand on a fresh-hatched red wasp and it stung the fire out of me.

Mr. Elbert said, "Let me put some snuff on that son.”

I was hurting and needed relief anyway I could get it, because my hand felt like it was on fire.

In those days it was common to put tobacco products on stings and minor wounds.

I thought he was going to put it on dry straight from the can, but he rubbed the sting area and then all of a sudden, he spit a wad of snuff on my hand large enough to drown a full-grown cricket.

Needless to say, I was not expecting that.

Believe it or not, the throbbing and pain immediately subsided and the swelling went down.

This probably wasn't too sanitary but it worked.

I could go on and on about many of these old men that made an impression on my life like Sam Steed, William Simpson and many others, but I will save them for another day.

I guess what I am trying to say is that we live in such a fast paced world, it wouldn't hurt to return to some simpler times like cane poles and a good hole of water.

It has been said that 'God made dirt and dirt don't hurt' because if it did, I would have been dead a long time ago.

On the Porch with Dirk is a recurring article written by Dirk Thayer, an avid outdoorsman and storyteller.

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