bear that Wayne had when we were married.  He thought he was part of the family.  It would make him mad when we all left home and he would go in the house and tear up the bed looking for Wayne.  Wayne sometimes would take him to the river for a swim and he would have to take a stick to that old bear to get him out of the water.  The bear would cry like a baby when Wayne did that.”

Sarah, looking out the window, continued her story.  “There was great unrest among the Cherokee people while they were in Arkansas.  My father, who was an Old Settler under Agent Vashon, signed a treaty that said the Old Settlers would receive increased land holdings in the new nation.  My father left for the new land in October and never knew the treaty he signed was never sent to Washington.”

Grandma, tell me about the old silver mine?”  Perry pleaded.

Just one story then you go to bed.  Tomorrow is hog killing day.

I was told about a village, whose chief was called Cornstalk.  This village was about where our cornfield is.  There were Spaniards working silver out of the earth on Tomahawk Creek.  The chief agreed to help work the mine for food that the Spanish brought from New Orleans.  The braves grew tired of working and asked the Spanish men if they could leave.  The Spaniards became angry and made work for the braves even harder.  The chief called a meeting to decide the fate of the men.  During the meeting, the braves became angry.  They took their tomahawks in hand and moved into the sleeping camp.  With one great bloody cry they used their tomahawks to slay the Spaniards.

Early the next morning, the coals in the fireplace came to life by the help of skilled hands.  Virginia placed biscuits in the bottom of a “Dutch Oven.”  The oven was placed on hot coals and the coals raked over the top of the “Dutch Oven.”  While the breakfast was cooking, his Pa was building a fire under a large iron kettle, out by the wood shed.  The water had to be scalding hot for hog killing day.

After breakfast, John, Garland, and Perry followed their elders to a log pen where six hogs were held.  On the way to the hog pen, they met Uncle Enoch and his family riding toward them.  The family was welcomed with shouts of, “Are you ready to kill hogs?”  Enoch handed the horse reins to his wife and joined the men.  Wayne carried an axe with which he laid a sharp blow to the head of the first hog he saw.  Outside the pen, Enoch took his hunting knife to the hog’s throat and cut it from ear to ear.  The hog lay bleeding for about thirty minutes.  When the bleeding stopped, the hind legs of the hog were put on a “gamble stick” and hoisted to a limb of a large tree, just above the kettle of boiling water.  They let the hog slowly down into the water and pulled it out again.  Sharp knives were given to everyone to scrape off the hog's’hair which left a clean, shaven hog.  The hog's’head was removed and the carcass cut open down the middle.  A large tub placed under the carcass caught the entrails.  The liver and heart were taken to the house for the women to cook.  The boys were rewarded for their work by being given the melt.  This small part of the hog was promptly taken to the first and roasted and was eaten on the spot by the happy boys.  When the hog carcass was clean, it was taken down onto a table for the purpose of cutting it up.  Wayne and Grandpa returned to the hog pen to begin the process over again, while Enoch cut up the hog into hams, “side meat,” and shoulders.