a dozen children of her own she was ready and eager to help a
neighbor in time of sickness. Doctors were scarce, so she of necessity
turned midwife to help another through childbirth. She shared the tasks
of her husband in the field and home. She was as busy at butchering time
as the menfolk. Once the hog was killed and cleaned, she helped chop the
meat into sausage and helped to case it. She boiled the blood for
pudding and looked to the seasoning, with sage and pepper, of the head
cheese and liverwurst. Hers was the task of rendering the lard in the
great iron kettle near the dooryard. And once the meat was cut into
slabs she helped salt it down in the meat log. But only the man felt
capable of properly preparing and smoking the ham for the family's use.
She frugally set aside the cracklins, after rendering the lard, for use
in soap-making at the hopper.

At sorghum-making time mother and daughter worked as busily as father
and son. The men cut the cane and fed it to the mill, while the
womenfolk took turns tending the pans in which the syrup boiled,
skimming off the greenish foam and scum that gathered on the top. They
urged the young boys, who hung around on such occasions, to bring on
more wood to keep the fire going under the pans. The owner of the
portable sorghum mill sometimes took his pay for its use in sorghum, if
there was no money to be had. He was paid too for the use of his team in
hauling the mill to the cane patch of the neighbor who had engaged it,
and he himself sometimes tarried to help set it up. A small boy was
sometimes pressed into service to urge the patient mule on its
monotonous course around and around pulling the beam that turned the
mill.

Sorghum-making had its lighter side. The young folks especially found
fun in seeing a guileless fellow step into the skimming hole concealed
by cane stalks. The sport was complete when the bewildered fellow
struggled to free himself from the sticky mess. But the woman was quick
to help him out of his plight by providing a change of raiment and soap
and water and clean towels, "yonder in the kitchen-house." She knew what
to expect at sorghum-making time.

Each season of the year brought its communal activity: corn shucking in
the fall, that was ever followed by a frolic. Bean stringing when the
womenfolk pitched in to help each other out stringing beans with a long
darning needle on long strands of thread. These were hung up to dry and
supplied a tasty