Hopkins County Christmas
A Century Ago

 

"A Tale of Two Families"

by: Roger Cambron (1901-1984)

 

It was the year 1902. Enos L. Ashcroft, Sr. and Harve Cambron were boyhood friends and worked in a gin side by side. Both boys married; Enos L. married Lou McDonald and Harve married Hattie White.

The Ashcrofts and Cambrons purchased lots on Oak Avenue and built twin houses on the adjoining lots. A garden separated the two dwellings. The five room houses had gingerbread trimming and high steep roofs which were stylish architecture in that day.

The yards were enclosed with a red pickett fence to keep the children out of the street. Since there were no cars then, there was fear of a child being run over by a buggy or wagon.

The Ashcrofts had a beautiful black horse named "Beauty."

The Ashcrofts who owned the electric light plant at the time also had a Choctaw pony which was hitched to a hack each day and used to make service calls from a small red wooden building. The building was situated where the present TP&L Office is now located (that was on College Street near where the Tax Appraisal Office is now).

The Cambrons had a pretty black horse named "Nigger." Each family had identical surreys, both vehicles had cloth tops with fringe trimming around the entire top.

 

 

 

There were drives in the country on Sunday afternoon and during the week there were backyard picnics and often a neighborhood stew. It was a time of neighborhoods and friendship and love.

Each family kept a Jersey milch cow, planted gardens and divided the surplus with their neighbors.

The years passed by quickly and it was 1912. In the Ashcroft family there were Florine, Ina Mae, and Enos L. Jr., who was 2 years old that year.

In the Cambron family there were Jewell and Roger. It was near the Christmas season and my mother had baked her fruit cakes. In those days, the stores could not supply the "ingredients" for fruit cakes.

My mother was an industrious person. She candied orange and lemon peelings, candied fig preserves, candied watermelon rind preserves, which served as citron for the cakes.

 

 

 

After the cakes were baked they were wrapped in a cloth moistened with home made wine, then the cakes were placed in a tin bin in an old fashioned kitchen cabinet. Apples were placed in the bin with the cakes which gave the cakes a delicious flavor.

Both families of children were very excited with the coming of Christmas. Each home had four wood burning fire places. One was always left without a fire so Santa Claus could come down the chimney in safety.

Few stores carried toys at this period. The Cummings Drug Store was located on the west side of the square in the building now occupied by The Winnie Lee Shop (now the Antique Mall at Corner of square and Main Street). This store carried a variety of toys and especially displayed a large collection of beautiful dolls.

Mr. Cummings, the owner, was the father of Miss Laura Cummings and Mrs. Florrie Dufton.

Each Christmas season the show window in the Cummings Drug Store was filled with nothing but beautiful dolls arranged in stair step fashion. This year, 1912, the dolls were on display at Christmas.

 

 

 

At the top of the arrangement of over 100 dolls, was a large life sized doll with long curls. This doll was beautifully dressed and lifelike in every way.

Children gathered in front of the show window and every little girl who looked at this display wanted that large beautiful doll.

A few days before Christmas the large doll was taken from the window to the disappointment of many little girls.

At this time nearly all of the churches had Christmas trees on Christmas Eve. This year my entire family went to the First Baptist Church for the celebration. There at the top of the Christmas tree was the beautiful doll that every little girl wanted so much.

 

 

 

After many gifts were taken from the tree and delivered to the children there, the beautiful doll was removed. Each little girl held her breath hoping the doll would be hers. To the surprise of many the doll was presented to my sister, Jewell, as a gift from my mother and father. They had known my sister wanted the doll very much so probably sacrificed to give her the present.

That night, Christmas Eve the Ashcrofts and Cambron children were finally coaxed into bed, to await the arrival of Santa Claus.

Long before daylight, on Christmas morning, both families of children were taking well filled stockings from the fireplace mantel, unwrapping the many presents that Santa had brought.

 

 

There was a sound at the back of the Cambron house and father took a lantern and told me to come outside. It was still very dark. The house was high off the ground and by lantern light I discovered that Santa had brought me an Angora goat, along with a two wheel cart and a set of harness for the goat. My happiness in receiving this gift could never be expressed in words.

At the Ashcroft home there was much happiness. Two strings ran from the Christmas tree to two different closets in the house. One string led to another closet and at the end of this string was a six week old bird dog puppy.

Later, when the puppy had grown quite large, Ina Mae would try to carry him. She would sigh and say he was so heavy; so we named him, "So Heavy."

In a few years both families remodeled their homes. The Ashcrofts added a half story and Cambrons made a full two story house for their home.

Miss Ina, Mr. Ashcroft's sister came to live with the Ashcrofts. She was a talented musician and a sweeter person never lived than Miss Ina. She occupied one of the upstairs rooms. The other room was used as a play room for the children.

In this play room with all the toys that Santa had brought through the years, there were May Fetes Carnivals held to pass away the cold and rainy days.

 

 

 

The years slipped away and we grew up. My mother Hattie Cambron passed away on December 23, 1927. Mrs. Ashcroft (Miss Lou, to me) stood at my mother's bedside as she passed away and spoke of the friendship and love we had shared as neighbors and friends through all these years.

Mrs. Ashcroft passed away on April 29, 1943. A sweeter, gentler and kinder person never lived than "Miss Lou." On her monument is this inscription and how well it speaks of this wonderful person, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace." Proverbs 8:17.

Mr. Ashcroft passed away August 29, 1948. He was a businessman; shrewd and loyal to his friends. On his monument is this inscription that describes him well, "With him wisdom and strength. He hath counsel and understanding." Job 12:13.

My father, Harve Cambron, died in 1947. My sister, Jewell Cambron Mach, died in January 1976, and her husband Robert Mach follwed her in death in December 1977.

Florine Ashcroft (Mrs. S.A. Thompson) lives in Dallas, TX, and Ina Mae Ashcroft (Mrs. W.A. Carothers) lives in Sulphur Springs. Enos L. Ashcroft, Jr. is the third generations of Ashcrofts to live in the large Ashcroft brick house on Oak Avenue. Marjorie Lou Ashcroft (Mrs. Will Wilson) lives in Austin, Texas.  (All are dead now!!!)

I am an old man. I shall be alone at Christmas, yet, I shall not be lonely, I shall relive the joys I had as a child, the love of a father and mother, and the supreme happiness I knew as a child, with good neighbors and friends who loved and cared, and who have left a memory that shall live in love forever.

I hope when each of you reach my age in life, that you can look back on your Christmas experiences with the same joy and happiness that I now have.

(Roger Cambron passed away in November 1984.)

 

 

 

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