My aunt lost a child at about 3 months. My uncle came to tell my mother and grandmother, but he just said she was in the hospital. My mother asked if she had had bad luck. A baby was not mentioned. Such were the GOOD OLD DAYS. I married at an early age and moved to the city. Went to work in a cafe and quickly learned that no topic was off limits.

I met my first husband when I was 13. My youngest brother asked me to go with him and his girl friend to church on Saturday night. Fine. I would go. What I did NOT know was that I was supposed to be going with her brother. I'M SMART. I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WITH ME. *S* Of course we went in our horse drawn wagon. I didn't think to much of MY BOYFRIEND then, but we continued seeing each other off and on. THREE years later, we were married. I HAD GROWN UP BY THIS TIME. I WAS 16.

As I said, I married at a young age. I had been seventeen nine days when my first child was born. I guess we kinda grew up together. Suddenly I had this screaming little person to take care of, and knowing nothing of taking care of babies it was a learning experience. I had to quickly learn that formula came before anything else. The fact that she screamed constantly before she was put on formula helped to remind me.

When my oldest daughter was very small, I began working in a cafe. I helped do the cooking and then helped serve. I made 15 dollars a week. The lady (LOUISE CONNOR JONES) and I became very close. She was my dearest friend. She helped me so much. She gave me advice and a shoulder when I needed one. They then sold out and I went to work for another cafe then for 20 dollars a week. Worked there for about 2 years. Then worked for 8 years in an industrial laundry. My husband and I divorced when my daughter was 9 years old. I was now 26 with a daughter to raise.

When she was eleven, I remarried and had five more children; three boys and two girls. My children are spaced over a period of almost 20 years. Family planning was not a subject that was usually discussed in my younger days.

We lived in Tennessee and Alabama for awhile and then moved to Georgia to work in the rug mills. I was working in the shipping department of one when the minium wage went to one dollar an hour. I had been making 75 cents an hour. That was a big raise.

Except for a son that passed away at an early age, they are all grown and married and gainfully employed. They have managed to stay out of jail and become upstanding citizens. They have given me some beautiful grandchildren. It's also "PAYBACK TIME". For all the rotten things they did as children, I can now pay them back by spoiling their kids and then handing them back afterwards.