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Society

City Personals
Mary Clay Brooks

Little Dribblers put on a show

With Christmas being just a little over a week away, the hustle and bustle of every day, small town life has gotten a tad bit hurried! It is a nice thing to see people around the square doing their shopping instead of travelling out of town. With Terry Gill’s 12 Days of Christmas going on in his studio, now is the time to pick up those last minute gifts for the special people on your lists! His pottery is stellar and only available from his studio this time of year. He has all sorts of price ranges, colors and a large assortment of different types of pottery for purchasing.

Last Saturday, the Marshall Academy Patriots hosted the Potts Camp Cardinals in basketball. What one might have thought would have been a slow night of basketball turned into real barn burners! The junior high boys’ game was intense, fast paced and very exciting! Next up were the varsity girls. I will admit I had my doubts when I saw the Lady Cardinals take the floor. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of play the Lady Patriots brought during that game. They were quicker than I had seen them play in a while and most certainly more aggressive - they played to win. They only fell short four goals for the win but in my mind, it was a moral victory. It was a red-hot ball game! The varsity boys took control of the game early and continued to hold their lead through the buzzer.

The Little Dribblers, a group of 40+ elementary students led by Bridgett Dailey, stole the show at halftime of the varsity girls game. The children ran out to a mix of songs, one of which was the theme song to “Rocky.” They put on a show that wowed the crowd on both sides of the gym. The experience with Little Dribblers will help the youngsters learn how to handle the ball and become great basketball players. They are the future of the Patriots squad! A huge thank you to Mrs. Dailey for taking time out of her busy schedule to show these children the way. They all enjoy it and have learned so much from her!

(To put your news in City Personals, please e-mail maryclayb@yahoo.com; mail to City Personals, The South Reporter, P.O. Box 278, Holly Springs, MS 38635 or call 662-252-4261.

You may also e-mail your City Personal news to south@dixie-net.com.

Museuming
Lois Swaney Shipp
Museum Curator

Christmas memories...

Isn’t Christmas exciting? It has always been and always brings to the best of everybody. Christmas in Holly Springs has changed from when I was young. Nobody got ready for Christmas until two weeks before. Then everyone did their Christmas shopping and the town was busy, busy.

I remember at my daddy’s store (where Jennie’s is now) he had boxes of raisins with stems still attached. He had big jars of big dill pickles (one was sold for a nickel). He had hoops of cheese. A customer came into the store and pointed to the item on the shelves behind the clerk to buy what he wanted.

Of course, my teenage years were during World War II and quite often there were soldiers bivouacing in this area from Camp McCain. At the beginning of the war, my brother was finishing medical school. His residency was cut short so he could be shipped to a combat zone.

He was commissioned a captain at the beginning. He came home for Christmas in 1942. The town was full of soldiers and Jimmy wouldn’t go to town as he didn’t know how to salute except the Boy Scout salute. I’m sure he was a figure to be reckoned with as he was tiny, weighed a little more than a hundred pounds and looked like a cherub even when he was old. Immediately afterward he was shipped to England, then Italy to work with the bloody battles causalities there.

There were no Christmas parades, or even square decorations, but we had envoys of one army truck after another, loaded with young boys heading for the war zone. They came here to catch the train. The depot was buzzing and trains were really busy.

My senior class in 1944 took our senior trip on the train to Memphis to go to a movie and eat and come home on the train the same day. It had been raining too much and the community of “Miller” was flooded completely under water but the train was up on an embankment and we zipped right over the water.

Rationing was everywhere. Each family was allotted a few gallons of gas for the month. Everybody was driving on old tires as there was no rubber for new ones. All the rubber went for the war. There were no rubber balls that bounced for babies. Sugar and coffee was rationed with a coupon (as was gas). Ten pounds of sugar per month for Christmas cooking as we know it was all that was available. Oleo made appearance. I could never understand why oleo was invented when a lot of folks had their own cows in the backyard for butter. Oleo margarine was vegetable oil and yellow food coloring had to be added to make it palatable.

Back to the trains, everybody in town went to the train stations just to see who would be arriving or departing. My sister and I walked down one night to see the terrible fire when the hotel on the southeast corner burned. It was horrifying.

When the troop trains would come through, the soldiers were hanging out of the windows, as there was no heat or air on the trains. “Hitch-hiking” was an alternative to the trains as a lot of people hitchhiked and everybody was supposed to be good and kind in those days.,

It was always so sad to see the boys going to war and making history. A lot didn’t return. It also harmonized the world. South married north and vice versa and I was one of these as I married a boy from northern Michigan after knowing him for 17 days and I had never been north of Memphis.

When I was in the seventh grade, my dear mother was desperately ill and not able to manage Christmas too well and wasn’t able to have a tree. I asked my daddy to put up the tree and I would decorate it. In those days boxes of ornaments were scarce. My friends helped me and we had to make the ornaments.

We strung popcorn. We whipped Ivory flakes and it looked like new fallen snow. We hung magnolia burrs we covered with foil and pine cones and sycamore balls and I can still envision that tree now as it was so beautiful.

Our cook, Julie Ann Glover, was a fantastic cook and she always had great food for Christmas and every day. My mother was a great cook, too. She had taught Julie Ann to cook as when she came to work for us she was 14. She worked for us for 54 years.

“O’possum” stories keep emerging as the ’possum seems to be ubiquitous. My helper, AJ, (arty Ann) has a dog that needed to go outside at 3 a.m. She let him out then shortly afterward he was scurrying to get back in. She sleepily opened the door and the dog came flying in with something in his mouth. In his exuberance, the dog dashed in and jumped in her bed and brought her a live ’possum. He killed the ’possum on her bed and was so proud of himself.

However, she was hysterical and had to clean up the catastrophe for the rest of the night. We are still looking for a ’possum. Find one in this paper. He’s hiding somewhere in here.

The museum will be open each day until December 23. We have a wonderful Mississippi shop where local books can be purchased. We have cotton bales. Civil War memorabilia can be had. Our localized T-shirts are on sale now and are great and unusual. We sell Christmas ornaments of the museum and they are on sale also. We have local art work of Hamilton Brooks (Brooks Art Gallery in Memphis), prints of the 1862 etchings of Simplot.

We sell great gifts. What’s more, we are tax deductible. You are helping and aiding the museum and yourself by shopping in our unusual Mississippi Shop for a wonderful Christmas. Do yourself a favor by smiling, being kind and thoughtful to others.

The reason for the season is Jesus. Do someone a favor of a lifetime and who may have missed out on Sunday School and church and may never know Him unless you spread the word.

With Christmas just around the corner, what better time to come and visit the Marshall County Historical Museum. Come in and see our fabulous brand new “old” museum with 22 rooms, three floors and 7,200 square feet of history and artifacts. With the holidays just around the corner, what better place to bring family and friends for a family, fun-filled afternoon or morning of entertainment and browsing. There is something for everyone.

If you are looking for a unique Christmas present or stocking stuffers that you can’t find anywhere else, we carry those Civil War keppie hats, jars of delicious kudzu bloom jelly, lots of interesting local books, cookbooks, history books and Civil War diaries.

Our hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Come in and see us at 220 East College Ave., Holly Springs, MS; 662-252-3669.

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