<TITLE>05. Par 35-42</TITLE>L-35   And then Pop used to have a shaving brush. I... Now this is going to get you. It was made out of corn shucks, a shaving brush with corn shucks. He'd take mother's old lye soap that she had made, fix it up and put it on his face with this corn shuck brush, and shave it with a big, old straight razor. And on Sunday he'd take the--the pieces of paper, stick around his collar, they wore celluloid collars and put it around the collar like this to keep the--the--the lather from getting on his shirt collar. Did you ever see that done? Why, my, my!

L-36   I remember a little old spring down below, where we used to go get a drink of water, and get our water out of an old gourd dipper. How many ever seen a gourd dipper? Well, how many of you is from Kentucky, anyhow? Yeah, well, just looky here at the Kentuckians. Well, my, I'm--I'm right at... I thought it was all Okies and Arkies out here, but look like Kentucky is moving in. Well, they did strike oil in Kentucky a few months ago, you know, so maybe that's some of them's coming this way.

L-37   And then I remember when Dad used to come in and take his wash for dinner, he'd roll up his sleeves, and them little short stubby arms. And when he'd pull up his arms to wash, throw the water up on his face, them muscles just wadded in his little arms. And I said, "You know, my daddy will live to be a hundred and fifty years old." He was so strong! But he died at fifty-two. See? "Here we have no continuing city." That's right. We cannot continue.

L-38   Now let's take a little trip, all of us. There's every one of you here that has a life story, just as I do, and it's good to stroll down memory's lane once in a while. Don't you think so? Just go back, and let's all go back for a while, back to similar experiences as little children.

L-39 And now the first part of the life story. I'll just give it a little touch, 'cause it's in the book and many of you have the book.

L-40   I was born in a little mountain cabin, way up in the mountains of Kentucky. They had one room that we lived in, no rug on the floor, not even wood on the floor, it was just simply a bare floor. And a stump, top of a stump cut off with three legs on it, that was our table. And all those little Branhams would pile around there, and out on the front of the little old cabin, and wallowed out, looked like where a bunch of opposums had been wallowing out there in the dust, you know, all the little brothers. There was nine of us, and one little girl, and she really had a rough time amongst that bunch of boys. We have to respect her yet today from the things that we did in those days. She couldn't go with us anywhere, we'd run her back, she was a girl. So she couldn't take it, you know. So we had... And all...

L-41   Remember that back behind the table we had just two chairs, and they were made out of limb bark. Just old hickory saplings put together, and the bottom of them laced with hickory bark. Did anybody ever see a hickory bark chair? Yeah. And I can hear Mama yet. Oh, later on when we got into a place where she could have a wooden floor, with those babies on her lap like this, and rocking that old chair just bangity, bangity, bang on the floor. And I remember to keep the little ones from going out the door, when she would be washing or something, she'd lay a chair down and turn it kind of catercornered across the door, to keep the little ones from getting out when she had to go to the spring to get water, and so forth.

L-42 And Mother was fifteen years old when I was born, Dad was eighteen. And I was the first of the nine children. And they told me that the morning I was born...


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