Friday, August 26, 2022

Opening of School


 A one-roomed schoolhouse where many mountain children learned the 3 R's.

The Full Sturgeon Moon
rose like a washtub
over the Brasstown Bald,
Mama's treadle sewing machine whizzed.

When she imagined the scent of chalk,
Mama raced to make
her children school clothes.
I longed for the penny loafers

in Cutworm Phillips' country store,
but Daddy bought brogans
to last me all year long.
The town girls laughed

at my ugly boy shoes.
Prissy Linda flouted the kids
wearing flour-sack dresses:
golden years settled the score!
                   --Brenda Kay Ledford

I hope all my blogger friends who have children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews; will have a wonderful new school year.  My prayers are with our kids and teachers.


Mama made dresses for me from flour sacks and the fabric was pretty.  I loved those clothes!  Wish I had some flour-sack dresses today.  I would wear them with gratitude!


9 comments:

lil red hen said...

Loved this post, Brenda!! And yes, I do have two of my little school dresses and also a band uniform. I remembering taking a scrap of the white (for the pants of the uniform) sack fabric to ask the teacher if it would be good enough. It was, and still holding up good today! I have a box of feed sack quilt squares and remember many of them being from sacks used for my clothes. I don't know how to use them and not take away from their precious memories.

Ruth Hiebert said...

I never had a flour sack dress, but all my clothes were made by my Mom. I also always wanted Penny Loafers, but because of foot problems I could not wear them.

Hill Top Post said...

This summer I could have used a couple of dresses made from flour sacking; certainly would have been much cooler than our modern-day fabric dresses. Some of the most darling little dresses and quilts, down through the years, were made from those old flour sacks. I have a half-dozen or so of those pretty old sacks but haven't yet allowed myself to cut into them. As usual a great post!

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Your mother was a handy and clever seamstress, Brenda. But, many of today's school children prefer more current fashions. The good ole days were much simpler times in many ways, including dress.

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

My mother's mother was scandalized that Mama had my studio photo taken with me in a feed sack dress my dad's mother had made for me. I was a baby still, but from the vantage point of years - it looks pretty good to me!

Donna said...

My mom made me a flour sack dress...thanks for the memory...
hugs
Donna

Donna said...

Sweet post... My mother made all our school cloths...I had one from a flower sack, flowers!
hughugs
Donna

Eggs In My Pocket said...

I love the photo of the little girls in the flower sack dresses....are one of the little girls you? My grandmother and aunts used to talk about their flower sack dresses. I love your poem...you are so talented.....the school house photo is so sweet.

Glenda Beall said...

My memory of flour sack clothes is little sunsuits Mother made from flour sack material. They were so cute and since I was under four years old I wore them every day at home. In later years, Mother made most of my clothes on her treadle Singer sewing machine. I still remember late in the night hearing that machine whirring away while all the family slept. Thanks for the poem and the memories, Brenda.