On tThe DixieA Humorous Account of Growing Up in Kemp’s Bay, South Andros,

Bahamas

Mina E. Miller-Dawes

To the memory of my parents, Thomas William Miller and Eva Augusta Forbes-Miller.

Acknowledgments

I sincerely thank my brother Charles, who encouraged me to put in writing the stories we seem so much to enjoy telling over and over again. It seemed that we never got tired of repeating them because each time we did, there was true laughter and enjoyment.

I thank my sister Hazel, who reminded me of many of the residents of Kemp’s Bay that I had long forgotten and who kept asking me when was I going to write the book. Even when I seemed to stall, she would voice how anxious she was to read the book while she still had a “enough sight” to do so. She currently is experiencing challenges with her sight.

Special thanks also to my husband, Byron, who challenged me to complete the book. He did not mind me sitting up at night with the lights on at the computer, in the bedroom, while he tried to sleep.

Last but not least, I thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave me the memory and the fortitude to put in writing things that happened in some instances over sixty years ago. Thank Yyou, Lord.

Mina Elizabeth Miller-Dawes

Introduction

Most times you can choose your friends. You can even choose your life’s partner. However, you definitely have no power of choice when it comes to who will be your father, mother, or siblings. This statement bodes true for all mankind—, rich, poor, black, white, brown, or yellow.

Sometimes as life goes on, we may wish we had the opportunity to choose, but God in his infinite knowledge and wisdom, even though he gave us the power of choice, did not allow us to choose into which families we were to be born.

More times than not, God provides one special sibling on whose shoulder he places the burden of carrying on the family legacy in times of diversity. In the Miller family, when our father passed away, the torch of responsibility seemed to naturally pass to Charles, the brother who was fourth in line.

He was not the most educated, but he exhibited wisdom in making decisions way beyond his age and educational status. He seemed to be the glue that held the family together—. Ffrom making sure that our mother was taken care of to seeing to it that his two younger siblings were doing their part in the process.

God has blessed us all, and we know that, as our father quoted many times, “I was young, and now I am old but I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread.” (Psalm 37:25Holy Bible).

And now, on the Dixie !!!

On The Dixie A Humorous Account of Growing up in Kemp’s Bay, South Andros, Bahamas

Doom! Doom! Doom!! Boom! Boom! Boom!! Can you hear it? Can you see it in your mind’s eyes? I can!! Why can’t you?

Can’t anyone else hear it? If you grew up in Kemp’s Bay, you surely can!! I know you can!

These are the sounds of feet running on the Dixie—. Ssounds of the feet of little children, sounds of the feet of adolescents, and sounds of the feet of adults;, male and female with bare feet! Hard feet! Dusty feet! Feet that wore shoes only on Saturday or Sunday, depending on which day was the chosen day of worship. These are the feet that I saw and heard growing up in Kemp’s Bay, South Andros, Bahamas.

My father, Thomas William Miller, was an industrious but humble man. So much so that he even named his fishing boat “The Industrious.” As a young man, my dad traveled far and wide seeking employment. He believed in supporting his family and taking care of his children. One such journey landed him and his wife in Key West, Florida, where his second child, Puritan Elizabeth, was born. He worked on the railroad and had experience with the South Dixie Highway in South Florida. Thus, when he returned home to Kemp’s Bay, he decided to name the trail that connected the community, “Tthe Dixie.”

The Bay Road stretched from Johnson Bay to the post office that was run by ‘Bulla Phillip,’ the postmaster. It connected to Tthe Dixie, which stretched from the post office, to ‘Ung Joe’ and ‘Ccousin Krish’ in the north and continued into the next settlement, Smith’s Hill. Other than the Bay Road and the Dixie, the inhabitants of the South Andros communities used the beach to get from one area to another. These were all sandy trails that connected the community from one end to the other. The beach and the Bay Road both contained fine, white sand. Sometimes the walk on the beach would be dry and sometimes completely wet, depending on the rise and fall of the tide. The walk on the Bay Road would be hard in some areas and soft and boggy in others. The Dixie, on the other hand, was mostly sand packed and hard, but the sand was graeyish in color and very dusty. Most people walked on the Dixie.

Everyone knew everyone in the settlement of Kemp’s Bay. The older people could see a footprint on the beach and know who had walked there. People would say that if they did not want anyone to know they had walked by the beach, they would walk in the water.

1

In this section, I will attempt to enumerate the families as best I can, starting from the southern end, where Bulla Phillip and his wife, Ms. Madlyn, resided. Next door was Ung Johnny Deveaux and his wife, Cousin Blossom, and family. The next group was Cousin Ronald Deveaux and Auntie Mae and their family, Auntiey Gretel, Cousin Lilly and Hasting and their family. The families that lived next to them were the Miller families. This area was called Miller Coppit. There was dDaddy’s old homestead, Uncle T. and Miss. Maliann.., Uncle Dick, whom we all called Dada, and Auntie Marrie and their children lived next door. The patriarch and matriarch of the Miller family were Andrew and Augusta Miller. Auntiey Ellen lived next to Dada, and as I recall, she had a son who was called

dumb James. Then there was Auntiey Missie, the midwife that delivered most of the children and thus was called their grannie. The next family was Uncle Gerald and Florceta, and next to them was Uncle Ervin and Auntie Norah and their family, who lived next to Mama Gusta and Auntie Gwennie. Auntiey Martha also lived in the area.

I will make a list of the other families as I remember them coming in this order: Goddie Mildred and her family;, Cousin Kate and her husband, Ccousin Dennis;, Uncle Austin and family;, Uncle Dudley and Auntiey Sybil and family;, Uncle Melvin and Nettie and their family;, Ung Melvin and Aun Rattus;, and Cousin Cephas and Auntiey Etta, their daughter Roslyn and grand daughter Lean. The grave yard separated them from Cousin Marcus and his family. Then there was Jack and Merl Miller and family;, Dumb Jim and Dellie and their family;, Uncle Tom Monroe and Auntiey Merl and their family;, Cousin Nell and family;, Cousin Drimmie and her family;, Uncle Joe and Aunt Eulease and family;, Cousin Ernest and Cousin Nolda and family;, Walbon and his family;, Uncle Mannie and Auntie Macie and family;, Uncle Alleck and Auntiey Teisha and fFamily;, Ung Toddie and Aun Stella and family;, Cousin Lou Miller;, Berneice and her family;, “‘Big”’ Donald and Elsie and their family;, Uncle Pad and Ccousin Mynedell and family;, Bulla Sim, his wife, Ccousin Esther, and family;, Mr. Richie and Annie and family;, Ellis and Johnnie Mae and their family;, Cousin Leon and Cousin Milda and family;, Cousin Winkie and my sister Mutalyn and family;, Cousin Lovely and family;, Ung Tussa;, my parents, Thomas and Eva Miller, and family; next to us, Cousin Hilton, Cousin Sally, and their family;, and last but not least, Ung Joe and Cousin Krish, with their daughter Ccousin Vera and family. The area where they lived was called Ash Town as their last name was Ash.

There were also two men that stood out in the settlement just by being there. They were Mr. Arnold Carr and Milton.

You may also wonder why I took time to give all of these names. Well, some of the stories revolve around these persons, and having seen the names beforehand would make the stories more real to you. Some names have been changed to protect the innocent, or the guilty as the case may be. You decide.

2You may notice that there are names prefaced with ‘Uung’ or ‘AaunUN.’

These colloquial words stood for uncle and aunt. These were not natural relatives, but as children in our culture, we were not allowed to address an adult by their first name, so these were respectful titles for adults even though they were not related to us. Some who were addressed as cousins were not cousins either, but the same rule applied.

At any rate, no one bothered Mr. Arnold Carr. Behind his back, everyone called him Onnie, but to his face, he was addressed as Mr. Carr. He had a way all his own. There were days when he would come by my parents’ little grocery store and hold a conversation with whomever was there, and then there were days when he did not want to be bothered with anyone. He would stand in the middle of the Dixie and rattle off curses at any and every one.

One day, we were doing our chores, which consisted of cleaning the weeds from around the pigeon peas trees, corn plants, and any other vegetables in the ‘sand’ (our large sandy garden). Mr. Carr happened to come home to the shack,

which was near by, that he occupied as his home, and saw us working. The shack was formerly the home of Ung Tussa, but it was now burnt out and dilapidated, with just a corner where one could keep dry from the dew and the rain.

Mama usually acted like she was not afraid of Mr. Carr. However, that day, his anger seemed directed solely toward her. As usual, my siblings and I were afraid because he came home ‘cussin’. Suddenly he looked at Mmama and declared, “I’m goin’ to give Eva Miller one lick, and all she gon’ could say is ‘“O God in heab’n.’”

Mama immediately gathered her garden tools and said, “Y‘yinna, come, let’s go.”’

We quickly departed from that scene. To be sure, Mr. Carr was not really a menace. H, he was just an icon who could become belligerent and sometimes scary for us. Mr. Carr had saved the day for us. No more chores in the “sand” that day!!

Milton, on the other hand, reminded me of the Bible characters who waited on the side of the road for Jesus to come by. Some days, he too was quiet and subdued. On other days, however, Milton would rise up from his sitting position and chase any child that dare to pass in close proximity to him. It was probably a good thing that he was unable to walk or run properly. We were all so afraid of Milton because he could not speak, and he was what we called a cripple. He would usually sit by the road leading up to the church, and one did not know when he would be inclined to chase you. He loved to sit on the ground with his knee up and hit his chin on his knee while he attempted to sing. Interesting character he was!

Contrasting Mr. Carr and Milton,: Mr. Carr was never seen without a pair of long pants and a jacket, usually black. He walked from one end of the community to another. He was loud and verbally abusive and knew how to intimidate a person. Milton, on the other hand, never wore pants but instead was dressed in a long beige robe that extended down to his ankle. He was unable to speak and usually sat on the sand in approximately the same area of the community.

School Days

As a young child, I loved going to school. My first recollection of school was the Mr. Toote’s” school, which was taught by Mr. Urban B. Toote. I vividly recall Mr. Toote sitting at the window of the building, which seemed to be where he lived, teaching the entire group of children gathered out front. He was a jovial man, and his mannerism drew the attention of his students. Sometimes he would toss handfuls of pennies and three penny pieces for the children to scramble for. Whatever you could gather was yours. I can still remember how he would take the entire school on a march down Tthe Dixie, and the parents would come out to watch. The older boys would beat the drums, and the younger children would hit the tambourines and shake the cowbells. Mr. Toote himself would blow the bugle or whatever brass instruments he owned. Along with the bugle and the drums and other instruments, the children would sing to the top of their lungs. One of the songs we sang was “We’ll Never Let Tthe Old Flag Fall.” The chorus states:

“We will never let the old flag fall For we love it the best of all

We don’t want to fight to show our might But when we start we will fight, fight, fight

In peace or war you’ll hear us say God save the flag, God save the Queen At the end of the world, the flag unfurl

We’ll never let the old flag fall.”Those were fun days! Even though most of us had on no shoes, we loved the

sound of our feet on Tthe Dixie!!Later on, I recall the building that was erected in the pond near the Dixie. Oh

wow! We now had a school building!! I can still hear the roaring sound of the rain on the tin roof and thinking, “Oh, great we get to take a nap!” You see, when it rained we were unable to hear the teacher, and thus we were allowed to put our heads down and go to sleep if it happened to rain for any length of time. It was in this building that we first experienced someone sent from the mMission Ooffice in Nassau, specifically to teach us. It was also our first experience with having an assigned pastor in our home town. By that time, the last four children in our family were riding bikes to school. The school was approximately a mile from our house. My brother Charles carried me on the back of his bike and my sister, Hazel, carried my younger brother Cliff on her bike. 4

This was the school that most of the Seventh-dDay- Adventist children attended. We sat in long rows of benches with the tables attached. The younger children sat together and were taught together. These were grades one 1 through three3. There was no kindergarten classes. The older children in grades four 4 through six 6 sat on the other side of the building. Since it was a one- room school, we could not help hearing what was being taught to everyone, s. So we were too exposed to knowledge far beyond our years.

Children came from the surrounding settlements. The Rahmings, Rolles, McPhees, and others came from Black Point. The Roberts came from Pure Gold. The Careys came from Little Creek. The Higgs and others came from Deep Creek. The Bains, Taylors, Johnsons, and others came from Smith’s Hill, and the Millers, Forbes, Rolles, and others came from Kemp’s Bay. The students coming

from Black Point had to come over five hills on a rugged path to get to school, but they came anyway. The students from Little Creek, Pure Gold, and Deep Creek all came by ferry boat. They had to stand on one side of the creek and pull a rope to ring the bell for the ferrymen to pick them up. There were serious obstacles, but their parents were determined to send them to the ‘church’ school for a Cchristian education.

By the time the facility was erected, the older teenagers had moved on, some to further education at Bahamas Academy in Nassau and others to trade school. Many of these were my cousins, and some were even siblings of mine. I recall Rodney and Hazel, my siblings, moving on to Bahamas Academy and cousins Clarence Bain, Willie Minnis, Alpheaus Forbes, and others going on to trade school and to the United States to work on the “contract,” doing seasonal work offered to migrants in the United States. They would pick oranges in Fort Pierce, pick peas in Fort Pierce, cut sugar cane in Louisiana, and pick apples in New York. Many of the men in our community engaged in these seasonal jobs in order to make ends meet.

My parents believed in Cchristian education, so after becoming Seventh-d Day Adventists, they sent all of us to the church school. At first it was free, being run by Mr. Toote and later by Mrs. Sylvia Barnes, assisted by her husband, Mr. Clarence Barnes, and afterward by Mrs. Ruth McKinney and her husband, Pastor Silas McKinney. We, the students, kept the school and its surroundings clean. We planted and tended the garden that served as fresh vegetables for the teachers and their families. Science lessons were incorporated in the tending of the garden.

I cannot recall how or when Mr. Toote left, but I do remember Mrs. Barnes coming in one morning and mispronouncing my name as she called ‘the register’. She called me Minna Miller, which really and truly upset me and caused laughter among the other students. The horrible part about it is that she continued to do so even after being corrected,. sSo I guess I learned to live with the mispronunciation of my name. 5

I grew to love Mrs. Barnes because she was an excellent teacher from whom I learned many things.

Mr. Barnes was also a great asset to the school, and even though he was assigned as pastor of the entire district, he found time during the day to teach along-side his wife. He taught math and was adamant about us learning time tables. In those days, it was permissible to use corporal punishment on students. Corporal punishment was used for misbehavior, as well as failure to complete an assignment to the teacher’s satisfaction.

My cousin Walton Bain and my brother Charles were very close friends. In the autumn of the year, there was a time known as ‘pigeon’ season.’ Hunters came from the United States and Nassau to hunt pigeons. Guns could be heard blazing early each morning and late in the evening. The teenage boys were hired to gather the pigeons that were shot. Charles and Walton were not inclined to study at all, and they believed that if they put the text book under their pillows while they slept, they would gain knowledge by osmosis. Nice try!! They would go to gather pigeons and collect the money from doing so, but studying was, to them, a big joke.

Well, Mr. Barnes assigned times tables and measurement that week. Charles and Walton did not study. They tried the “‘osmosis”’ thing. Upon our arrival at school that morning, we were drilled on the tables and questioned individually on the measurements.. Charles was asked, “How many inches are there in a yard?” Of course, he did not know. Mr. Barnes gave him the answer, “Thirty- six inches in a yard, ya hear!” and proceeded to use the ‘strap’ while repeating, “Study those tables! Study those tables.” Walton fared no better. They were partners, each doing as the other:, making money, but defiant when it came to studying their math homework. Charles says that to this day, if he were awakened at three o’clock in the morning and asked how many inches are in a yard, he probably would be able to respond correctly.

Mr. Barnes, however, did not get off free after that episode. As mentioned earlier, he was the pastor of all of the Seventh-d Day Adventist churches in the southern section of Andros. Well, that Wednesday night, he was scheduled to preach at prayer meeting at the Smith’s Hill church. Charles and Walton tell the story of hiding in the bushes between Ash Town and Smith’s Hill in the area called ‘Corner tThe Bay.’ As they heard Mr. Barnes approaching on his motor cycle, they ‘catapulted’ huge rocks at him. Luckily, they all fell short. The boys, however, were satisfied by their so-called revenge.

Not only was school a lot of fun, neighborhood living was also hilarious. My aunt Gwennie enjoyed telling how her older brother Melvin liked to play tricks on her. There

6 were lots of children in the Forbes household. Our grandmother, Mamma

Gusta (Augusta) and Pappa Saddie (Thaddeaus) truly had what the Bible calls a “‘quiver full.”’

One day after Auntiey Gwennie finished cooking, she served supper to everyone who was present, including one of her sisters and brother-in-law . Uncle Melvin, who was unmarried and still lived at home, was not present at the time. He arrived home just as Aauntiey Gwennie was about to take her food out of the pot. He knew Mama Gusta’s rule or routine was that if he were not at home, he did not get any supper because he stayed out too much.

He walked up to Auntiey Gwennie in the kitchen and asked, “Mamma and Papa finish eating?”

Auntiey Gwennie brazenly answered, “Yeeees.” “Did Ruth and Byron eat?” Another brazen “Yeeees.” “Then whose food is that in the pot?” Auntiey Gwennie answered assuredly, “Mines!” Uncle Melvin bent down and cupped both hands full of sand from the kitchen

floor (the kitchen was a separate building outside the house) and threw it into the pot and ran out. All my aunt could do was scream. She was so happy to enforce the rule for him not getting any supper but did not know that he would turn the tables on her. That was the type of prankster Uuncle Melvin was.

Many people on the island were known to be afraid of ghosts, and when someone died, they kept close to the homestead or moved around in groups, especially after dark. My uUncle Alexander was one such person, and almost everyone knew it.

The story is told about Uncle Alleck, as we called him, going to court his fianceée one night soon after a funeral was held in the community. The graveyard (cemetery) was near the Dixie and about midway in the community. If anyone was going to either end of the settlement, they had to pass the graveyard. There were three churches on Kemp’s Bay:, the Seventh- Dday Adventist Cchurch, tThe Baptist Cchurch, which was on the Dixie northwest from Mama Gusta’s house, and the Catholic Cchurch, which was on the Dixie southwest from Mama Gusta’s house. Well, Uuncle Alleck was on his way home from his night out.

Unbeknownst to him, some of his friends had decided to play a trick on him. They got a white sheet, stepped up in front of a cross on a grave facing the entrance to the Dixie, and stretched out their arms under the sheet.. Uncle Alleck glanced toward the graveyard as he was walking by. He saw the sheets fluttering and took off at a high rate of speed. He was about a quarter of a mile from the turn off from the Dixie to Mama Gusta’s house. Legend has it that he was running so fast that he could not make the turn by the Baptist cChurch as he should. So he continued to the next turn off, which was by the Catholic Cchurch, but he was still going so fast that he had to turn with his hands on

7 the ground to keep his balance. He was the brunt of jokes for many moons

and the laughing stock of the community. Uncle Alleck did not care that anyone knew he was afraid of ghosts. When my daddy died many years later, Uuncle Alleck made sure to cut the bushes that were in front of his house on the opposite side of the Dixie. He said, “You don’t think I’m going to have Bulla Tom peeping at me late at night from under those bushes?”

We Are Family

My uncles were a talented bunch, and my aunts were very kind and generous. Some of my uncles played the guitar and taught their sons to do the same. As pPreviously noted, my grandparents had a “‘quiver full.”’ There were Eva, my mother;, John, Elisha;, Thaddeaus;, Harry;, Alexander;, Joseph;, Estella;, Dudley;, Ruth;, Madelina (Macie);, Melvin, Hazel (Pleasant);, Lucille; and, Gwendolyn (Gwennie). There was also Austin and Eugene.

My paternal grandparents also had several children. There were Thomas, my father;, Uncle Leonard, (Bulla Bossy); Theophilous (Bulla T);, Richard (Dadda);, Uncle Wilfred; and Auntiey Norah (Lenora), who was my dad’s only sister.

Church and Other Performances

Church was a joy. My father was almost what one would call the curator of our church. He kept the church in good repair. H, he painted, cleaned, and served the church in various ways. When there was no pastor, my father, along with Uncle Ervin, his brother-in-law, Cousin Leon, and Uncle Mannie took turns preaching and preserving the premises.

The church was not just used for worship. Sometimes we had what were labeled as ‘Cconcerts.’ These were not the concerts of today, with bands and orchestra and the like. We had solos, duets, trios, quartets, and large groups like choirs and recitation (poetry). The songs we sang were a little different from the ones we sang in church service even though they still had a spiritual flavor and spiritual words.

When performing in the large groups, (dDrill), we lined up at the back of the church, and one by one we moved up the aisle to the rhythm of the music, singing and ‘quarming,’ a rhythmic movement to the music, p. Probably what one could call “‘a holy dance.”’ These were the times when the guitarists were at the height of their glory. The concerts were usually sponsored by one church, but the members of all the other churches participated. Large groups from the other settlements came to enjoy the festivities. Easter, harvest time, and Christmas were the usual times set for the concerts.

8People came from what we considered far and wide. If the event was taking

place in Kemp’s Bay, the surrounding settlements of Smith’s Hill, Black Point, Deep Creek, Little Creek, Mars Bay, and sometimes even Driggs Hill and Long Bay Cays were represented.

Participants and audience alike were in for an enjoyable time. I recall that at one such concerts, Goddie Mildred and Annie were singing a duet. Everyone was enjoying the performance. Goddie Mildred had a habit of closing her eyes when she sang. The song being sung was “I Know tThe Lord Will Make aA Way Somehow.”

Suddenly Annie stopped singing, looked at Goddie Mildred, and said, “You stay there sleeping., I gone!” The whole church erupted into laughter as she strolled down from the stage.

That was the type of outrageous thing that added fun to the occasion. My sister Hazel and I and my brothers, were always involved in the concerts, especially if they were sponsored by the Adventist Church. One of the comments about our performance was that Hazel knew how to ‘quarm’ but was shy; while I didn’t know how but didn’t care, I did it anyway. One of the big things about the concert was the refreshment. There was sodas, cake, tarts, coconut cake, and a myriad of sweets. These were sold in shacks that were built outside in the church yard, and the proceeds were the used to supplement whatever was collected on the inside.

Sometimes families competed in actually pinning money on their relatives to see who could outdo the other. When I was a young child, I always repeated my recitation loud and clear and received loud applause. My recitation was:

“Roses on my shouldersSlippers on my feet

I am mama’s black-eyed babyDon’t you think I’m sweet?”

My brother Charles always teased me about my recitation. He was just a big tease, and he knew that if he teased me, I would cry. He was known for his smart mouth.

One day, Mmama asked him to complete a chore in a hurry. She said to him, “Make haste!” This command came across as “mikkaas” in the Bahamian dialect.

Of course, Charles had an answer. “Ma’am, ah makin’ Ks now.” Another time Mmama said something to him that he said had not gone the

way she said it did. He said, “No, Mmama.” So Mmama said, “Well, I lying then!!” To which Charles replied, “No, ma’am, but that ain’ true.” Was he bold or what?

As I grew older, I began to sing in the choir at church, and soon I was singing solos at the concerts. My sister Mutalyn was always so proud of us, and when I sang my solo, she would always pin money on me. Usually, if someone pinned money on you at the concert, the money belonged to you. This time, however, Mutalyn didn’t have any more money to spare so as she pinned the money (one pound) on me, she whispered, “Don’t spend my money now.” Of course, I headed for the refreshment booth, but she was too quick for me and met me at the door. Smart woman!

There was also a story told about a certain old man who came prepared to get as many sweets as he could. He was not satisfied with the small brown paper bags they were served in, so he brought a pillowcase!

We really enjoyed having ‘concerts’ not only because we had a good time but also because we knew that we would be getting new outfits. Some of the ladies made dresses for their girls or had them made. Others were fortunate enough to get dresses from the stores in Nassau. Our sSister, who lived in Key West, Florida, would send outfits for us because although we were not her children, we were her pride and joy, and she always wanted the best for us. We would eagerly look forward to the arrival of our ‘parcel’ from Key West.

This was also a time when the girls and women had their hair specially done. Almost everyone was ‘straightening’ their hair. Our dad did not think we should put the hot comb in our hair because he felt that it would burn our hair out. Our mother, however, did not want us to have natural hair while everyone else had their hair straightened, s. So, days before the occasion, she would mix saw soap and lye and place it on top of the chicken coop. I guess she put it on top of the chicken coop to keep the animals out of it. The day of the concert, she would take that concoction and comb it through our hair until our hair was straight. She rinsed it thoroughly so that no residue was left in our hair. The other girls would talk about having their hair straightened while we bragged about our hair being lyed. Lye was, in my thinking, a forerunner of the perm because our hair remained straight for quite some time.

At our church, we were always expected to bring our tithes and offering. We also were given a goal to raise funds for what was called ‘Hharvest iIngathering.’ The money went to humanitarian purposes. Each church was given a goal based on its membership. Even though we were not employed, our parents saw to it that we met our individual goals. At that time of the year, we were harvesting pigeon peas. Our parents would allow us to go back into the fields after

harvesting to pick the peas that remained on the trees. This reminded me of Ruth gleaning in the fields of Boaz in Bible days. Not only did we glean in our parents’ field, but they bought the peas from us so that we had the money to turn in at the specified time. What a blessing!

Tales That Were Told

The story is told of an old man who ate about three quarters of the food cooked at his house. One time his wife cooked peas soup and dumpling. She made eleven dumplings to serve for her husband, her daughter, her grand daughter, the dogs, and herself. She gave her husband his dinner.

Being the person he was, he counted his dumplings and exclaimed, “Out of eleven dumplings, only seven?”

She responded, “Well, I gave the daughter one, I gave the granddaughter one, I took one, and I gave the dogs one.” To whichHe exploded, “Well, take it from the dogs and wash it and bring it here!” Of course, this was just a tale that was repeated in the community.

2. Another tale that circulated was about another old man who used to go into other people’s fields and steal their crops. He would even take his young son with him. One day they were reaping in one particular field when the boy was hit by a stone thrown by the owner. He turned to his father and said, “Papa, they hitting me!” His father replied, “Come, son, they hitting me, too!” The young man, when asked about the above story, acknowledged that the story was true. He thought it was an enormous joke and would laugh hilariously as the story was told and/or retold.

3. This same man and his son were caught one day in another person’s field and was taken to the ‘Commissioner’s court.’ The cCommissioner asked,: “Mr. Man, did you go into this man’s field?”

“No, sir, I did not.” The Ccommissioner decided to ask the little boy. “Son, did you and

your daddy go into Mr. So and So’s field?” “Yes, sir.” To this the father decided he would ask his son himself. “Little boy,

did we go into Mr. So and So’s field?” to which the boy replied, “Yes sSir, Papa, we bin there.”

The father replied, “Am gonna kill you when we get home!”4. Can a tobacco pipe be broken by just trying to smoke from it? It does not

seem possible to me, but then again, one does not know what a smoker may do to a pipe that does not belong to him. Well, let’s listen to a story about a pipe. This old lady and her friend were in the field pulling and chopping weeds from around their plants. The old lady was smoking, and when the old man asked for a ‘draw’, she handed him the pipe, and he attempted to smoke from it with little or no result. He became increasingly frustrated with not being able to enjoy the smoke. Finally in a quandary, he said to his friend, “I can’t get nothin’ from this!” To which she replied , “That’s ’ ‘cause you done ramshackle it up!”

Truth be told, the children telling the story could not let it be known to the adults that they had personally overheard this conversation, because they were not supposed to be anywhere near the particular field at that time.

Stories like these made for great jokes in the evening around a fire when the chores were done, especially during the summer time when we did not have to get up so early to complete chores before going to school.

5. Mr. Biggoty and his wife often had public run-ins. Everyone knew that his wife would get the better of him whenever they had a fight, but he had the louder mouth. She didn’t say very much. She just whopped his behind!! Well, one day they were out in the neighborhood, and a quarrel ensued. Being intimidated and embarrassed to let it be known that he usually lost the fights, he said to his wife, “Mrs. Biggoty, get your hold, get your hold.” In other words, “take your pick on how you are going to hold on to me to fight. “Because,” he continued, “if you don’t fall when I hit you, I will have to walk round and round you to see what’s holding you up.” Everyone knew he was bluffing because he was the weaker of the two and would usually lose the fights. (Names are changed to protect the innocent)

6. I introduced you to my brother Charles earlier, but that was only a tip of the iceberg when it came to how mischievous he could be. One day he was walking along the beach with a young lady that he probably was at that time calling his girlfriend. One of the elderly ladies from the community happened to be walking along the beach at the same time. Charles and his friend passed her by, but they did not greet her with the customary “good afternoon” or “good evening.”. The adult turned to Charles and said, “Oh, so because you are walking with this little gal, you can’t speak to me, aye?” “ I’m goin’ to tell Tom!” (Tom was our daddy). Charles was so impertinent and ‘mannish’ that he responded, “Tell Tom, then, tell Tom!!” Boy, was he in for trouble! That old lady could hardly wait to get to our shop to make her report to daddy. Of course, Charles received the thrashing of his life because Ddaddy felt that he was being disrespectful and ill-mannered.

[7.] It seemed that Charles had a knack for getting into trouble with that same old lady. He and our cousins Walton and Lennis decided one day that they were going to pick up some sea grapes from under the woman’s grape tree. You see, each sea grape season, she would clean under the tree meticulously because she sold the grapes. That’s how she made her little money each year. However, my brother and cousins decided that they were just going to help themselves to the grapes. The old lady was sitting by the north window watching her grapes. She saw the three boys walk up under the tree and begin to collect grapes. She did not come out. However, she let them know in no uncertain term that she had seen them. Charles had had a hernia in his belly button when he was a little child and consequently had surgery to remove it. She bellowed at them, “I know who you are. Eva boy,; with your no navel, Stella boy with your ‘sheep shank,’ and Sybil boy with your ‘rake teeth.’” Of course, they ran away when she called to them. Mischievous, unruly, and mannish, that’s what they were called.

7.[8.] Remember me telling about the fact that we seldom wore shoes? Well, one day one of the old men was walking along the road. He accidentally hit his toe against a rock. “Oh my,” he exclaimed, “it’s a good thing I didn’t have on my shoes.”

[9.] .Uncle Pad was another man that was so humble. He was soft-spoken and did not bother anyone. He was always smoking his tobacco pipe. One day, Uncle Pad came by the little grocery store that we ran. He was next to tears. He went over to Ddaddy and started talking. “Cousin Tom,” he said,. “Yyou know I don’t bother nobody. Why would somebody put pepper in my

pipe?” Uncle Pad looked so sad, that we all felt sorry for him.

If Charles was mad at my younger brother Cliff and me, he could be really mean. Sometimes when we got home from school in the evening, our parents were not there, and we might be hungry. One such day happened, and Charles decided to pick jelly coconuts. We asked him for one, but he was not having it. He took the machete up into the coconut tree, picked coconuts for himself, cut them open, ate them, and came down without bringing us any. We were so upset. You know we told it, and again he was punished.

Charles was constantly, even as a little boy, getting himself or someone else in trouble. He was even bold enough to tell me that I was not Mmama and Ddaddy’s natural child. This is the story that he weaved:.

One day Mmama went up to ‘Miller Coppit’ to get some dry coconuts. At that time, ‘Big Donald and his wife, Elsie, were living in our old house. They were having an argument. I was crawling around crying on the floor and got in the way. Big Donald, in his anger, grabbed me by the arm and threw me into the corner, which made me cry even louder. Seeing all of this , Mmama became sorry for me and said, “Oh, Lord, if you all don’t want that child, give her to me.” And according to Charles, that’s how I came to be a part of the Miller family. What a story!!

As mischievous and mannish as he and his friends/cousins were, even they did not go into the pond to bother the fruits of Uncle Alleck’s neighbor. I don’t know if even his children or grandchildren picked any of them. There were always bottles hanging in his trees. The bottles seemed to contain mildew and a beard- looking substance. The children were all afraid to touch anything on those trees. The guavas would ripen and fall to the ground. We could smell the aroma of the sapodillas, and the tamarind trees would be laden with fruit, but no one dared to touch them!

13We were told that if we ate them, our bellies would swell and we would

probably die. As children, we all believed the hype. Children who came from Smith’s Hill would sometimes pick up coconuts and other fruit on the way home from school, but they wouldn’t touch anything, fruit or otherwise, on this property. Most of the residents who did not have a lot of fruit trees on their property had relatives who had large amount of fruit trees.

Another place that we were afraid to frequent too often was the bushes around the society hall. This was the building where materials were kept to build coffins when someone died. The coffins were built there, too. There were many coco plum trees on the property, and it seemed that there were always an abundance of sweet plums. When the plums ripened, if they were not picked right away during the summer, they would crack open and become extremely sweet. These were the prized coco- plum. Sometimes when we were passing by on the Bay Road, we would get a sweet aroma from the plum trees. However, if we smelled roasted corn, we ran away because it was said that if you smell roasted corn coming from the plum bushes, the “‘sperrits”’ were cooking in the bushes. Oh, what tales were told!

There was a tamarind tree on the Dixie between cousin Drimmie and Cousin Lou. This tree resembled a cave if you look under its branches. At night, this was

a scary sight to see. When passing by at night, we would line up just before getting to the tree and then run as fast as we could to pass by it. Thinking back, this was silly because if anything was under the branches, it could hear and wait to pounce on us,; but, as children, we did not think that clearly.

The entire island of Andros was known for its abundance of coconut, crab, and crawfish. Kemp’s Bay and South Andros had many coconut groves. I remember grating coconuts for cooking as well as for making coconut oil. Coconut milk gave the dried fish a special flavor and put an “ummmm” in the peas and rice or peas soup and dumpling. Mama would make coconut oil and fill soda bottles for subsequent sale in Nassau. We also used the oil from the coconut to grease our hair. Mama would pour Florida water into the oil to give it a pleasant smell. It really kept our hair nice and shiny. Even today, in 2016, the use of coconut oil has found a huge niche in society, from the use of the oil in hair products to the use of cooking oil. It even been touted as a supplement for certain illnesses.

Fruits were always in season. Some that were plentiful were guavas, mangoes, sugar apple, sapodillas, custard apples, scarlet plums, hog plums, cherries, and tamarinds. Sea grapes and black and white coco plums grew wild on government property, and anyone could gather them.

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If we wanted scarlet plums and pomegranates, we would go to Smith’s Hill to our auntiey Stella and auntiey Ruth. Sapodillas seemed to be a year- round fruit. Making a ‘dillie’ nest was a favorite past time of ours. We would pick the sapodilla when they were almost ready to ripen, chose a hole in the rocks, line it with leaves, put in the sapodillas, cover them with more leaves, then top it off with rocks to keep out the animals. We would check the ‘dillie’ hole periodically to see if any had ripened until they were all gone.

On Friday evenings, we would be sent to collect fruits for Sabbath. As Sseventh- dDay Adventists, we did not go out to pick the fruits on Sabbath. I recall having a conversation at school, with our friends from another community. It was really funny because their parents had them do the same thing on Friday evenings. One of the boys said that one Friday evening, he was hungry, so he started eating one of the sapodillas. He was quickly admonished that the ‘dillies’ was for Sabbath. His response? “Sabbath can’t eat.”’ Off course, he was reprimanded for being ill mannered. However, he was just voicing what many of us were thinking!

“Sabbath is a Happy dayHappy day, Happy day

Sabbath is a Happy DayI love every Sabbath!

First we go to Sabbath SchoolSabbath School, Sabbath SchoolFirst we go to Sabbath School

I love every Sabbath!

Then we like to stay for church

Stay for church, stay for churchThen we like to stay for church

I love every sabbath

Then we go to see a friendSee a friend, a sick friendThen we go to see a friend

I love every Sabbath!”

On Sabbath morning, we would get up early, eat breakfast, and get ready for church. Our breakfast on Sabbath morning usually consisted of ‘stewed fish’ and bread and a cup of ‘tea.’ Let me clarify the stew, fish, and the tea.

The stew was really a brown gravy, and the tea could be made of Oovaltine, cocoa, or a combination of healthy bushes picked from the yard. Some of these bushes included ‘strong back’, gamalamie, dillie leaves, fever grass, five-finger, and love vine, to name a few.

We were almost always really early for church because Ddaddy did not believe in being late. The entire church started out inside the church building for song service. We then separated for our Sabbath sSchool lesson. The adults gathered close together in small groups, and the children were divided by age and, if weather permitted, we met outside under the trees. The children delighted in memorizing the verses selected for the quarter and reciting them on ‘Thirteenth Sabbath.’ Many of those verses are still with me today.

After Sabbath sSchool, we all worshiped together in what we call ‘Divine Service.’ This was the preaching service. Daddy, Uncle Ervin, or Uncle Mannie usually preached. I loved it when Uncle Ervin preached, because he never preached for a long time, so we got to go home early.

Following the Divine Service, we returned home for lunch. Mama made several types of bread for Sabbath dinner, and we had a variety of fruits. There were times when we had plain flour bread, corn bread, and potato bread. We did not cook on Sabbath, but we did not lack food. On most Sabbaths after lunch, we would go to visit our maternal grandmother, Mama Gusta. She lived approximately one mile from our house, and we cheerfully walked to her house. Several of our aunts and uncles would also visit, and we as children would go out to the beach to play while the adults visited in the house. Most days would be warm and sunny, and we had a good time visiting with our cousins, especially those who did not attend school with us. Auntiey Lou, Auntiey Ruth, and Auntiey Stella, who lived in Smith’s Hill, would come to church in Kemp’s Bay most of the time although there was a church in their community. I guess it was because most of our relatives lived in Kemp’s Bay.

As children, we were responsible for helping with chores. There were jobs that we did to assist in bringing money into the house. One thing we did on a Sunday morning was ‘pick up shells.’ There were tiny, little shells that washed up on the beach, and when the tide went out, we collected them, set them out to dry, separated them from the sand, and bottled them to be sold in Nassau. They were used in the straw market to decorate baskets etc. We also collected cockle shells and sun shells. These had to be dug out of the sand, soaked in fresh water to get out the fleshy bodies on the inside, and dried to be sold. I remember that

the process for the cockle and sun shells was not a pleasant one. When these shells were placed in the fresh water, they opened up and died, creating an awful stench. We had to wash out the foul-smelling insides to prepare them for drying.

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Then there was the hauling of fish. We always had a fish net. During the summer, we hauled shads, and during the winter, we hauled bone fish. The fish were split open, salted, strung in twos, and placed across a line to dry. At night, we would have to take them into the shop and place them back on the line each morning. This guaranteed that we had fish when the schools of fish were no longer running along the seashore. We had fish most of the time because since we owned the net, people would borrow it, and we received a share of their catch.

At certain times of the year, we would go out to the woods to ‘pull’ top. These were used to make plaits for the crab baskets, to make plaits to sell in the straw market for baskets and hats etc that the tourists would purchase and to make ‘fanners’ for use in the household. There were two types of tops that we harvested—, bo top and silver top. The silver tops were beige and stronger than the bo top used for the crab baskets. I didn’t get to do a lot of this because I was not strong enough or tall enough to pull the tops out. I did do quite a bit of plaiting, though.

Sometimes, we would be given what we called tasks. We hasd to plait a certain number of fathoms or shell a certain amount of peas or corn before we could go to bed. We would tell stories and sit around and talk as we worked. This helped to keep us awake and made the tasks more manageable.

Another job that was allotted to us was the picking of ‘bird pepper.’ We would go out into the woods in the cultivated fields and pick these little red peppers by hand. We were aware that they were really hot, but sometimes when the sun was hot and we were sweating, we forgot and wiped the sweat from our eyes with our hands. What a mistake!! Many a day was I crying from making this mistake. Well, not only did we pick the pepper, but we had to put the pepper out to dry each day. After they were dry, we placed them in a mortar, took a pestle, and beat the peppers into a ground state. We sometimes separated the seed from the pepper and bottled it to send to Nassau for sale.

Then, there was crab catching. Not with a net from the water. We caught crabs by hand. There were crabs of different hues—, red, purple, orange, yellow, any mixture you can imagine. These were all called black crabs. The larger tan- colored crabs were called white crabs. The black crabs swarmed in the bushes, some times on the Dixie and sometimes on the beach. When they swarmed on the beach, we didn’t catch very many because that was when they spawned. Our main place for catching crabs was out in the woods or on the road going toward Smith’s Hill or Black Point. We usually went in groups because we wanted company. Did I mention this was at night? This is when the crabs come out.

17Sometimes we became disoriented and got lost in the woods. As children, we

thought there were ghosts in the woods, so if we got lost, we would turn our clothes inside out (to ward off evil spirits) and would eventually find our way out

of the woods. Catching crabs was a tricky operation. We needed tools. Each person’s tools were: a natural torch – (made by igniting the end of a very oily tree branch), a cutlass or machete, and a bag or basket in which to put the crabs. Sometimes instead of a torch, one would carry a kerosene lantern or a flashlight and may also have someone to carry their basket or bag. The worst job was carrying the bag. If you swung the bag across your back, the crabs would, more times than not, bite you on the back. Just as there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is more than one way to catch a crab. You can catch them by the back or by the fins. You can hold them down with a cutlass or a stick, or you could just scoop them up! Just remember, they do bite!!

Some of the adults would go into what was called the crab pond during the day to catch white crabs. This would usually happen at the end of the crabbing season. The crab pond was far away, and this was done only during the day. This reminds me of a tale that was told about one of the old men on the island. He would come back from the crab pond with more white crabs than anyone. You see, a person would have to coax the crabs out of the holes in order to catch them. Well, as legend had it, this old man’s hands were so hard that he would stick his hand in the hole and wait for the crab to bite his finger, then he would pull it out. How amazing that he could stand the pain!

People would have crab pens where the crabs were kept in preparation for shipping to Nassau. The black crabs would be shipped in baskets, and the white crabs would be ‘clipped’ (all fins and biters removed) and packed separately. I can still recall the baskets being labeled with the owners’ initials. Ours were labeled “EAM.” I was so excited when Ddaddy decided that catching crabs was not something we should be doing since we did not eat them. No more nights out in the bushes! No more crabs biting in the back! No more turning our clothes on the wrong side to stave off ghosts! No more gathering shepherd’s needle bushes to feed the crabs!!!

Earlier, I told of having to tend to the farm. Well, in the farm, there were many kinds of chores to take care of. Not only did we plant, we also reaped and kept the weeds from choking the food. As it says in the Bible, we scattered, and we gathered. There were peas, beans, corn, okra, cassava, sweet potato, bananas, eddoes, yams, melons, and many more. Our family was self-sufficient when it came to food, except for flour, sugar, and rice.

From the corn, we got grits, as well as corn meal, which we called corn flour. Did I tell you that we had our own corn mill? We ground the corn, ground it, and sifted it to separate the husks from the grits and the grits from the corn meal. I heard my eldest sister recount many times how she would put corn in the ‘hopper’ and wait for our cousins to come by to grind their corn. They would have to grind out the corn they met there before they could grind theirs. This is a trick she often played, so that she did not have to do it. After all, our parents owned the corn mill. Chores indeed!

When we picked the pigeon peas, we either had to thresh it by the bag or shell it by hand. In order to thresh it, we had to spread it out in the sun on an old sheet or other large piece of fabric. When it became hot, we placed it in a bag and beat it with a stick similar to a baseball bat. This would separate the shell from the actual peas. We would then sift off the shell and gather the clean peas in the ‘fanner’.

I actually enjoyed harvesting sweet potatoes. We would look for bumps in the ground, and as we dug just below the earth, there were the potatoes. Digging the cassava was a little more difficult. They were usually planted in holes and grew deep into the ground. We had to retrieve the tubers without breaking them. There were two kinds of cassava, sweet and bitter. We ate the sweet cassava either raw or boiled. The bitter cassava we used for making bread or making starch;, it could not be eaten raw because it was poisonous. So we had to know the differences between the two plants. The bitter cassava usually had broad leaves, and the sweet cassava had long skinny leaves. We could not mix the two for obvious reasons.

Not only did we farm, our parents also had what we called a ‘petty shop’. We sold food items that were not grown in the fields. There was rice, sugar, salt, flour, salted beef, shortening, grits, baking powder, baking soda, yeast, botttled soda, candy, and a variety of canned foods such as corned beef and evaporated and condensed milk. We also sold kerosene oil from a huge drum with a pump on top. This oil was used for lamps and lanterns, which were used as household light. There was no electricity or running water on the south side of Andros at this time.

We were poor, but we didn’t even know it because it seemed like we had a lot more than many other families around us. We had wood shingles on our roof while others still had thatched roofs. Our house was a little bit away from the shop but within shouting distance. I recall having to run from the house to the shop to serve a ‘penny ’ baking powder of two penny flieschman’s yeast because someone was yelling, “Come to the shop!”

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Oh, what a day when we got a refrigerator! Now we did not have to put our sodas in the well to cool anymore!! Mama made popsicles, and we could now sell cold cuts. She even made homemade ice cream! We were so proud to have the first refrigerator. People came from all around to buy cold sodas. As I mentioned earlier, there was no electricity, so our fridge was gas operated and was lit as one would light a gas furnace for a heater.

Daddy: Thomas William MillerDaddy was a man of many talents who excelled in various ways. It seemed like there was nothing that Ddaddy could not do. The Bible tells about the rich man giving talents to various servants and going on a journey. The servants were to use the talents to make gains for the rich man. Some were given a few, and others were given many. Well, it seems to me that our Lord gave many talents to dDaddy, and, in my estimation, Ddaddy used them to reap rich rewards for God’s kingdom.

Daddy sang bass, but he knew how to teach the songs from the Cchurch Hhymnal by using his knowledge of the musical scale. We would sometimes hear him picking out the note of a new song, not on the piano but just by singing the scale: doh, reay, mie, fah, soh, lah, tiee, doh. We learned many songs in that way. Apart from singing in the church, he was also one of the local elders and had the responsibility of preaching. I can recall many Sunday nights when Ddaddy would arrive at church early so that the lamps would be lit when the congregation arrived. He was so proud when he purchased from Nassau gas lanterns for the church. He would pump them up and make sure the mantles were trimmed just as he would trim the wicks and clean the shades for the kerosene lamps before.

Our oldest sister said that when they were teenagers, she was sometimes responsible for laying out Ddaddy’s socks and ironing his white shirt for church. There could be no creases or, as Mmama called them, “‘cats’ faces”’ in daddy’s shirts. Ironing a white shirt was no small feat. You see, we had to heat the iron on the fire, use a piece of cloth to rub off the smoke or any spot, and then iron the shirt, making sure that no spots were transferred to the shirt. We were never able to iron an entire shirt with one iron. So, the process had to be repeated several times before one shirt was completed. Sometime this was done without an ironing board. We would iron on the table padded with sheets and/or blankets. Furthermore, the iron was small.

We were elated when we finally got a “gGoose Iiron.” A goose iron was larger than the small metal iron. It was hollow, and inside we placed live coal that heated it up. We could iron many pieces before the iron had to be refilled with coal, and we did not have to do all that rubbing to keep it clean. We had to be careful, though, not to burn the clothes because the goose iron could become very hot.

Well, one Sabbath, Ddaddy was preaching, and Charles was crawling around on the rostrum. Tita was so proud of her handiwork of ironing Ddaddy’s white shirt. Suddenly, Charles raised his head and said out loud, “Daddy socks gat a hole!”

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Tita, said she could feel the look that Mmama was giving her. Like I said, Charles was constantly, even as a little boy, getting himself or someone else in trouble. Daddy always took care of business when it came to Charles. I believe that is why he has walked so closely into Ddaddy’s footsteps, especially where the church is concerned.

I guess Charles thought that he was Ddaddy. When we would drink tea at home, he would look at the mugs, and if his was smaller than Ddaddy’s, he would say, “Daddy gat more tea than me.” There is another weird thing that he did. If

he did not see the sugar being placed in his tea, he would say that his tea was not sweet. However, if he has a large mug and he saw even a half of a teaspoon of sugar placed in it, he was satisfied that it was sweet and would drink it.

Daddy was also a carpenter. Not just a “‘rough”’ carpenter but a “‘finish”’ carpenter. If there was heavy rain and a leak was found in the church, our home, or our tiny grocery store, Ddaddy would be on the roof the next morning with the shingles and nail. He built benches for the church, dining table and chairs for our home, and, yes, his specialty—; he built boats. Not just small dinghy boats, but large fishing vessels that traveled between Andros and Nassau and would sometimes be gone for many days on the high seas in pursuit of sponges, craw-fish, grouper, and conch as each came into season. One of his largest ships was The Industrious and one of the last was The Sparkle M. Not only did Ddaddy build for a living, he even built coffins for the dead. One of his last big jobs as a carpenter was his job at the Bahamas Junior Academy on Wulff Road in Nassau.

Other skills that Ddaddy exhibited included the knitting of fishing nets. Not only were they created for use on the big vessels, but there were long ones created for hauling fish such as bone fish and shads by the beach. Many times our nets were used by the neighbors to haul fish. Because of the loan of our net, we were entitled to a share of the catch. We also cut sisal plants from which Ddaddy spun rope. The rope was used to anchor the large vessels, the dinghy boats, as well as to tie the goats.

Daddy was a strict Sabbath keeper who believed the Ten Commandments and tried to follow them to the letter. His boats, his net, and any or all work equipment were put away before the sunset on Friday and were not brought out until after the sunset on Saturday. Even the animals around our household rested on the Sabbath. The goats were tethered under the trees in the yard with enough food for the day, and the chickens stayed in their coops with enough food for their consumption. The boats were pulled up to the shore. The nets were folded and hung to dry, and all work tools were brought in to the shop. The shop was closed before the sunset on Friday and not opened until after sunset on Saturday. We truly used Friday as the preparation day!

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On Fridays, we got out of school at noon and hurried home to prepare for the Sabbath. Our food was cooked, special breads were made, the floor of the house was scrubbed, fruits were gathered, clothes and shoes were made ready, and we were gathered for family worship before the sun set.

Daddy was not a full- fledged farmer, but he loved his vegetable garden. We raised cabbages, onions, tomatoes, pepper, and other vegetables in the yard, apart from the cassava, peas, sweet potato, okra, corn, bananas, etc., on the farm that was overseen by our mother. The garden also was well watered on Friday because there was no watering on the Sabbath. We really rested from secular work.

Mama, Eva Augusta Forbes-Miller

////Someone once said, that behind every successful man is a good woman/////////////.

Not behind, but rather beside my daddy Thomas William Miller was my mama, Eva Augusta Forbes-Miller.

Mama was a robust, hard working, no- nonsense woman. She believed that if one worked hard enough, success would be theirs. She instilled this belief in all of her children. And we grew up with the attitude that if you want something and worked hard enough, you would get it.

When Ddaddy set a rule or precesident, Mmama made sure it was carried out. She did not have to say, “Wait until your daddy comes home!” She made sure that we knew who was in charge. Sometimes Mmama would try to make us confess to something that we had not done. However, if we stuck to our story, she was satisfied.

I remember the four of us younger siblings coming home from school one day to find Mmama very upset. She said that she had heard a young man calling my sister Hazel about half an hour earlier. Hazel, Charles, Cliff, and I had stopped by our maternal grandmother, Mama Gusta, and we were a little bit later than usual getting home. We had neither seen nor heard the young man in question, but Mmama thought that she had heard him.

When we got a “spanking” from mama, we always had to get our own switch. If the switch was too small, she would beat it out on us and send us back for the real deal! Well, this time, she started from the oldest. Hazel took her beating. Charles took his beating. I took my beating. When it came Cliff’s turn, he tried to be a smart- alleck. All along, the four of us maintained that we did not hear or see the young man in question. However, when his turn came around, he said, “Oh, Mmama, I believe, I did hear him, but we didn’t see him.” Of course, Mmama knew that he was just trying to save his skin, s. So, she gave him extra for trying to play smart. Even when we were grown up, we never forgot that day. Cliff would remind Mmama by saying, “Mama, remember that time when you beat all four of us for nothing?” Mama would just smile.

As mentioned earlier, Mmama made sure that we knew what work was all about. Before we would go to school each morning, depending on the time of year, we had a designated piece of ground from which we had to clear the weeds, w. Whether it was from around the pigeon peas, the “benny” (sesame seed plants), the corn, or in the vegetable garden. Sometimes we had to go on the beach and gather shells or go in the fields and catch crabs. Whatever it was, there were always chores to be done.

And Mmama made sure that they were done to the best of our abilities.Many children today cannot imagine not having a washing machine or at

least access to one at the Llaundromat. We were the washing machines. What do I mean by that? Thank you for asking. The round galvanized tubs were filled with water, and the clothes were placed in them. Earlier on there was no washing powder, so we used what we called ‘saw’ soap. That was the label because it had the image of a hand saw engraved in it. There was a scrub board or wash board, which could be made of wood and later of glass. The scrub board was placed in the tub, and the pieces of clothes were rubbed/scrubbed against it until it

seemed they seemed to be clean. If they were white clothes, they would then be placed in water with bleach before being placed in the final tub to be rinsed. After rinsing, the clothes were then twisted and wrung, by hand, and hung on the line to dry in the sun.

I was a bit short for my age until I became a teenager. I recall one day as I was washing the clothes while standing on a box, in order to reach the scrub board, that the box tilted, and I lost my footing. The entire tub turned, over and all of the clothes and water poured out on me. Everyone standing around thought that was so funny. Off course, I was in tears. One, because I was embarrassed and then because I was cold because it was the winter time. Some smart- mouth made the comment that at least I didn’t have to take a bath that night. How mean!!!

It was Mmama who taught me that if I was cooking rice and it accidentally started to burn, I could use a slice to onion to absorb the smokey, burnt taste and smell. She also taught me that I could hold a slice of bread between my teeth to keep the onion from making me tear up while I was slicing it to use in cooking. These were simple but useful advice.

Mama used to get sick every now and again and had to go to Nassau to the doctor. I remember her going on what we called emergency flights several times. There were no doctors available in Kemp’s Bay. Therefore, when someone was too ill for the local nurse to attend to them, a telegram was sent to the hospital, and a small plane would come to take them to the doctor in Nassau. There was no airport, so the plane would land in the sea. If it was rough or really windy, it had to land in the creek at Deep Creek settlement. Daddy once had to go on the emergency flight because he had the hiccups theat would not go away. That was really scary because Ddaddy never seemed to get sick. He would have the asthma, but he had medication for that.

One time when Mmama was in Nassau at the doctor’s, my brother Cliff and I were left at home with Ddaddy. Daddy always went to prayer meeting on Wednesday night. Cliff and I were left at home. We played marbles until it became dark.

Daddy had told us we could play, but we were to go out in the back of the property and bring the goats home and fix ourselves something to eat before we went to bed. Off course, as I stated before, we had a good time playing marbles and forgot all about the goats.

We closed up the shop when it became dark and went to the house. We decided to cook some white rice. We were so tired from playing that before the rice was done, we were fast asleep. It was a good thing that Ddaddy did not stay late at the church or I would not be telling this story. When he came home, the rice was still on the stove, burnt up, and the house was filled with smoke. He quickly opened the windows and doors to let the smoke out while calling desperately for us. Thank God, we had not inhaled a lot of smoke.

Daddy took off his belt in an attempt to give us a spanking. I screamed so loudly that he changed his mind. You see, Ddaddy had never given me a “beating—.” Aand he never did. I was lucky! He told us to get the goats into the yard as we should have done. We tried to find them, but the female , nanny, goat had broken her rope and wandered off, with all the other goats following her. We returned to the house with the bad news. Daddy did not display any anger. He,

however, told us that when he got up in the morning, the goats had better be in the yard. Believe me, we did not fail in that task.

Games Wwe Pplayed.

There was hardly any game that was gender oriented. We all played the same games. We played ‘marbles. We rolled hoops. We jumped rope. We played Rrounders. And hand- clapping games were played by male and female alike.

On Good Friday, the entire community gathered out on the beach, some to watch and some to participate in the game of rRounders. This was a special time for children and adults alike. Rounders is similar to bBaseball except that if you are running between bases instead of being thrown out, a member of the opposing team could throw the ball and hit you and then you were ‘out.’

Jump rope was not played with actual store- bought rope. We would go into the high grasses on the beach and pull actual live ropes that were growing there. We would pull off the leaves and have a fairly strong rope to jump. We called it ‘Sskipping.’

Rolling hoop was another story. Sometimes we would acquire the rim from the bicycle tire. This was the hoop. We would then bend a wire hanger to cradle the hoop as we pushed it, running along the Dixie. There were other times when we would come across metal hoops and use them just as well. I remember my brother, Cliff had a metal hoop that was cracked, and every time he rolled it, it sounded like bells were ringing because of the metal hitting together. That was his favorite hoop.

When playing marbles, we would draw a fairly large ring on the ground, and everyone involved in the game would place an agreed- upon number of marbles in the ring. At an agreed- upon distance from the ring, a shallow hole would be made in the ground. Each person in the game would roll their marble toward the hole. The one getting closest to the hole would have first try rolling their marble, which we call the tar, back toward the ring and trying to hit the marbles out off the ring. If a tar lands in the hole, another person would have to roll their tar and hit the first one to be first in line. Everyone would take turns based on their position at the hole. Sometimes a boy or girl would come up with a steel tar. We called them steelies. The steelie would sometimes break the glass marbles, and then no one wanted to play marbles with that person.

Sometimes we would lose all of our marbles. The boys would sometimes pull the buttons off their shirts and play shooting buttons instead of marbles. What exciting games we often played.

Life seemed so simple, and yet we had so much fun. Alas, we all grew up and were obliged to go on to bigger and, as we thought, better things. Many of the children in my age group went on to Nassau to attend high school, technical and trade school, and even on to college.

I was the first in my family to graduate from college, and oh, what a day. My oldest sister, Puritan, my brother Charles, and my sister Hazel sacrificed to travel from the Bahamas and Key West to Lincoln, Nebraska, for the occasion.

My oldest brother, William, retired from the Water Department at Clifton Pier in Nassau. My sister, Hazel, went to college after raising her five children and retired as Ssenior mMistress at Yellow Elder Elementary School in Nassau. My brother Rodney was a carpenter, a Llight Hhouse keeper, and finally an officer at the prison in Nassau. My sister, Mutalyn retired from the housekeeping department at Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau. My brother Charles retired

from the engineering department of the Holiday Inn Hotel on Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas, and is now the owner of several businesses in Kemp’s bay, where we grew up. My sister, Puritan (Tita) became a nursing assistant at the Florida Memorial Hospital in Key Wwest, Florida. My brother Eggleton became a driver of heavy equipment such as tractors and pay-loaders. My brother, Wycliff, the last child, was one of the most renowned rRadio Aannouncer at the radio station ZNS in Nassau, Bahamas. His broadcast name was t“The Preacher’s Son,” and he always began his show with the song of the same title. When closing out his show, he always played the song, “For You I Am Praying.” He truly made us proud!!

About the Author

Mina Elizabeth Miller-Dawes, born ‘oOn the Dixie’, attended Mr. Toote’s School and the Kemp’s Bay Seventh-d Day Adventist Elementary School. Upon graduating from Bahamas Academy of Seventh- Dday Adventist in Nassau, Bahamas, in 1963, she became a student teacher with the bBoard of Eeducation and taught initially at the Western Junior School on Market Street, Nassau, Bahamas.

Mina attended the Bahamas Teacher’s College and successfully matriculated after two years. She continued teaching for the bBoard of Eeducation as a trained teacher but was not educationally satisfied, . Sso she enrolled at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. In the middle of her studies, she met and was married to Byron Dawes. Still not completely fulfilled, she applied for and received an iIn-service aAward from the Ministry of Education. Finally, in 1976, she received a bBachelor of Sscience Ddegree in Eelementary Eeducation.

She migrated to the United States after marriage and lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she worked as a teacher as she pursued her Mmaster’s Ddegree. After four years, she and her husband, Byron, along with daughter, Maxine, and son, Byron Anthon, moved to the Dallas– Fort Worth area, where she found employment as a teacher in the Dallas Independent School District. After eleven years, she became a school administrator, working as a Ddean of iInstruction and later an Aassistant Pprincipal. She retired after working in Dallas for thirty-one31 years. She is now taking care of her grandson, Byron Anthon, Jr. Her daughter’s two children, Jaxon and Paschall, are also enjoying her retirement since they can come to visit during the week, when out of school, and Mimi does not have to go to work.

Growing up o“On Tthe Dixie” has its merits after all.

Definitions for Ccolloquial Llanguage

Aaun..................................... – AuntBbulla.................................... – Big brothercussin’ – Ccursingfanners............................ – Hhandmade flat baskets used for sifting graingamalamie .........................– Nnative wild treeGgoddie................................ – God mothergoin’ – Goingharvest ingathering – Soliciting money for humanitarian purposes

heab’n .................................– Hheavenmikkaas .............................– Mmake hastequarming – Rhythmic movement to music

“sSand” – ... Parcel of sandy land use to grow vegetablessapodilla/dillie – A tropical fruit

Ung.....................................uncleAun.....................................AuntGoddie................................God motherSsettlement .........................– Communitysperrits ..............................– Sspirits or ghostsstraightening – Pressing hair with a hot combination“Sand” ...Parcel of sandy land use to grow vegetablesuUng

.....................................– Uuncleheab’n.................................heavenyinna –................................... Yyou all

quarming...........................rhythmic movement to music

mikkaas.............................make haste

straightening....................pressing hair with a hot combination

harvest ingathering.........soliciting money for humanitarian purposes

sapodilla/dillie..................a tropical fruit

sperrits..............................spirits or ghosts

gamalamie.........................native wild tree

fanners............................handmade flat baskets used for sifting grain

About the Author

Mina E. Miller-Dawes was born at Kemp’s Bay, Andros, Bahamas. She attended the Kemp’s Bay Seventh Day Adventist Elementary School, where Mr. Toote was her first teacher. Upon graduating from Bahamas Academy of Seventh Day Adventist in Nassau, Bahamas, she became a student teacher with the Board of Education and taught initially at the Western Junior school on Market Street.

Mina attended and matriculated from Bahamas Teachers College. She continued her educational pursuit at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska from which she received a BS in Elementary Education. After again working for the Bahamas Board of Education, Mina, along with her husband Byron and daughter, Maxine, migrated to Lincoln, Nebraska where she was employed as a teacher with the Lincoln Public Schools and where her son, Byron Anthon was born. The Dawes family then moved to Dallas, Texas and Mina became a teacher in the Dallas Independent School District. She worked at various schools as a teacher and after eleven years became an elementary school administrator working first as a Dean of Instruction and finally as an Assistant principal. She is now enjoying her retirement as she babysits her newest grandson, Byron Anthon, Jr. Her other grandchildren, Jaxon and Paschall, also enjoy the opportunity to visit on week days when they are off from school.

Back Cover SummaryDo you want to get a jump start on the news for the day? Well then, you need to go to the Dixie! The Dixie was the thorough fare for travel from one end of the community of Kemp’s Bay to the other. It was also the connecting link to communities south and north of Kemp’s Bay. Most of the homes were located on or near the Dixie so that anyone passing through the settlement via the Dixie would be observed by most of the inhabitants.

Being on the Dixie was the equivalent of being on the social media of today. Everything worth seeing or hearing about transpired on the Dixie. Children travelled to and from school via the Dixie. Adults went about their daily routines via the Dixie. News travelled like a flash from one end of the Dixie to another. All that one needed to know was communicated by way of the Dixie. The stories cited in this book are all in some connected to being “oOn Tthe Dixie.”