|
My
father-in-law, B.L. Barrett, was born in Fuqua, graduated from high
school in Kirbyville, and married Edna Idell Bass, born in Warren.
What does Fuqua, Kirbyville, and Warren have in common?: saw mills
operated by John Henry Kirby. A succession of Mr. Barrett's step
fathers and Miss Bass' father's family all worked in mills Kirby
operated north of Beaumont
until they "escaped" to oil refinery employment in one of Jefferson's
county's coastal cities.
Life for laborers in a Kirby mill, in company towns, followed the
rhythm of whistles from tram trains bringing logs for processing
to the signals by which the mill itself marked its day from work
time to quitting time, including the blasts that indicated accidents
or fires or other dreaded events.
The pay wasn't much and even that likely came in the form of "script"
or "chit"—paper or coins made of inexpensive metal and issued by
the company in lieu of real United States currency—redeemable only
at the company store. Prices there kept the worker about one payday
short of ever becoming debt free, and thus obligated come Monday
morning for another six-day week of work.
If a worker succeeded in securing legal tender for a necessary trip
to Beaumont
or Houston, his pay might
be discounted as much as twenty-five percent. His family lived in
company houses, with rent adjusted similarly to mercantile store
prices. Perhaps the company even owned the church house where the
worker's family worshiped.
The family
probably had access to a company clinic, if ailments proved sufficiently
critical, with dispensary services available for less serious maladies
and injuries. A great many East Texans lived this life during a
significant portion of the 20th century. They lived in Bon Wier,
Burkeville, or Buna, in Silsbee or Kirbyville or Koontz. When time
permitted they hunted and fished and gathered wild berries or nuts—I
especially remember the chinquapins, which apparently are no more.
A Saturday night dance, a Sunday preaching, pivoted week upon week
of cooking meals over coal oil stoves, working at the mill from
daylight to dark, kids going to school, Monday wash days...until
the trees were gone. Then the mill, and the men, moved, to do it
all over again.
|
