From the time I started school in 1949 until it was consolidated in 1958 I attended Pine Grove school. Pine Grove was a backwoods redneck country school and was a tough place for anyone who wouldn't stand up for themselves. All of the students except 4 or 5 were sharecroppers kids and it was common for a student to be 3 or 4 grades or more behind. When I was in the third grade one of my classmates was 15 years old but he quit before the school year was out.
There wasn't much money in the community, and not enough coming from the state to support the school, so two or three times a year the school would have a box supper and cakewalk to raise money. The women and girls in the community would cook the box meals and cakes and donate them to the school for the box supper and cakewalk. For those who don't know, a box supper is where the women cooked a meal, put it in a box and the school had an auction to sell the box of food. The men and boys bid on the boxes and when a box was won the winner and the lady or girl who made the box would eat together. For a cake walk, a big circle was drawn on the oiled wooden floor of a classroom with chalk and marked off in squares with each square numbered. To win a cake required paying a fee, usually a quarter, and lining up with others who had paid until every square was occupied. Then the person running it would say go and people would walk around the circle until they said stop. Then a number was drawn from a box and the person who was standing on the square with the same number that was drawn would win a cake.
The box supper auction was a hoot. The young men would try to find out what girl or woman made which box so they could bid on one made by a pretty girl or lady. The older men wanted to get a box by the best cook. The bidding was hot and heavy for some boxes and some boxes barely would get a bid. The one woman that no one wanted to get her box was Carrie Taylor. Carrie was at least 6'5", skinny as a rail, had unmanageable red hair and an extraordinarily long neck. I won't go so far as to say she was ugly but she was very unfortunate when it came to the looks department. To add percieved insult to injury, she was a terrible cook and the unlucky male who won the bid for her box was ragged unmercifully. I know Carrie couldn't help but be hurt and embarrassed but she never showed it and was always one of the first to get there with her box supper.
If two or more young men thought a particularly pretty girl made a certain box the bidding would get out of hand. C.B. Bickerstaff once bid 15 dollars on a box, wages were 75 cents an hour for public work here then, if a job could be found, and 15 dollars was half a weeks work. Needless to say he won and got to eat with the prettiest girl there. Occasionally a young man would win a box made by another young man's sweetie and a fight would take place. That didn't happen often and the fight was quickly broken up but it was exciting to a youngun' like me.
I haven't heard of a box supper or cake walk being held in this part of the state since Pine Grove school was consolidated with the school at Nettleton in 1958, but if I hear of one being held in this area I'll have to go and watch it. Things just might be better if folks still did those kind of things, for sure life was much more simple and, for some of us old fogey's, more enjoyable in those days.
There wasn't much money in the community, and not enough coming from the state to support the school, so two or three times a year the school would have a box supper and cakewalk to raise money. The women and girls in the community would cook the box meals and cakes and donate them to the school for the box supper and cakewalk. For those who don't know, a box supper is where the women cooked a meal, put it in a box and the school had an auction to sell the box of food. The men and boys bid on the boxes and when a box was won the winner and the lady or girl who made the box would eat together. For a cake walk, a big circle was drawn on the oiled wooden floor of a classroom with chalk and marked off in squares with each square numbered. To win a cake required paying a fee, usually a quarter, and lining up with others who had paid until every square was occupied. Then the person running it would say go and people would walk around the circle until they said stop. Then a number was drawn from a box and the person who was standing on the square with the same number that was drawn would win a cake.
The box supper auction was a hoot. The young men would try to find out what girl or woman made which box so they could bid on one made by a pretty girl or lady. The older men wanted to get a box by the best cook. The bidding was hot and heavy for some boxes and some boxes barely would get a bid. The one woman that no one wanted to get her box was Carrie Taylor. Carrie was at least 6'5", skinny as a rail, had unmanageable red hair and an extraordinarily long neck. I won't go so far as to say she was ugly but she was very unfortunate when it came to the looks department. To add percieved insult to injury, she was a terrible cook and the unlucky male who won the bid for her box was ragged unmercifully. I know Carrie couldn't help but be hurt and embarrassed but she never showed it and was always one of the first to get there with her box supper.
If two or more young men thought a particularly pretty girl made a certain box the bidding would get out of hand. C.B. Bickerstaff once bid 15 dollars on a box, wages were 75 cents an hour for public work here then, if a job could be found, and 15 dollars was half a weeks work. Needless to say he won and got to eat with the prettiest girl there. Occasionally a young man would win a box made by another young man's sweetie and a fight would take place. That didn't happen often and the fight was quickly broken up but it was exciting to a youngun' like me.
I haven't heard of a box supper or cake walk being held in this part of the state since Pine Grove school was consolidated with the school at Nettleton in 1958, but if I hear of one being held in this area I'll have to go and watch it. Things just might be better if folks still did those kind of things, for sure life was much more simple and, for some of us old fogey's, more enjoyable in those days.
