Mickey Starling
reporter3@greenepublishing.com
Martha Hoyt Young was one of my aunts who passed well before my time. Young died a tragic death within two years of writing this humorous reflection on the artifacts found in her grandmother's attic. Young was a senior in high school in 1949 when she penned her thoughts that will certainly resonate with many who have traveled memory lane through the treasures of a family attic. Young was the daughter of the deceased Marwin H. and Nita Young, of Pinetta.
"Our Attic"
You should see it – but, of course you couldn't, for you would never make the stairs. Shoes – the bottom step holds Joyce Elaine's since she is the latest addition to the family. Next are mine, Joyce's, Louise's, Kathleen's and on through the family tree. My grandmother, who lived here alone, had several children, and everyone who came to visit her left a pair of shoes.
However, if you ever gained the stairs, your trouble would only have begun, because there is scarcely standing room in the attic. Old coats originally belonging to my grandfather, two stacks of "Life" magazines, each about two feet high, a trunk full of love letters, photos, valentines and invitations make up a small portion of the attic's "antiques." Broken window panes, collected through the ages, are thrown in a heap in one corner of the room. Other broken things, such as quilting frames and chairs, are found at random. There is a bundle of broom straws which, as far as I know, my grandmother gathered the first year she was married.
These things have been contributed by our ancestors. Later contributions were: various sizes of bottles (all too small to bottle syrup) , Joyce Elaine's baby carriage, an old oil stove oven, a bed stead, several tobacco sheets and baskets and one or two discarded mattresses which, I might add, the rats carried off and packed around light switches.
We have learned that the biggest rat beds are found where we pull the light cord and it refuses to come on. Upon investigation, we have found that the switch just can't catch because it is so full of cotton.
Another of our contributions are the vacancies in the floors and walls which we discovered later, and are the results of our getting the wrong man to wire the house for electricity. Since the Live Oak limbs which extend over the attic windows serve quite well as a springboard for squirrels, both they and the rats have partied galore, serving as refreshments the peanuts and chufas which have been spread on the floor of the attic to dry.
And, by the way, if you ever decide to investigate this, I beseech you, don't make a mistake and go into our living room. They have so many things in common. However, there is one difference – a little door in the attic. I was told that the devil and rattlesnakes live in there, so I've never had the nerve to investigate this for myself.