A Day at the Pond--glimpses of life in antebellum Kentucky

A baker's dozen children, some cane poles, a can full of worms and a good fishin' hole is really all it takes to spend a pleasant summer afternoon. The men took all the children over to the Dye house in the afternoon with the promise that we would cook whatever they caught. We really would have. . . but we weren't too distressed over the idea.

Children and men spent a pleasant afternoon. There were a few little blue gill caught and released. Everybody had a lovely time. They all came back tired and content-- just in time for supper: Chicken supree, ham, all kinds of summer vegetables, sweet potato pie and blackberry cobbler.

As much as children love water, I have to wonder sometimes why they are always so dirty. As grubby as they can be, from head to stockings, we usually find them under all the caked dirt when we bathe them head to toe in the big wash tub.