February 5, 1907, II

Photo Credit: Possibly Paul Cherry, Tyrone Oklahoma

Left to right: Lowell Harrison, Lois Harrison, Major William Turpin

Major Turpin Watches the Children

The warmest February in 100 years and they sit on his grain sack in the sun sheltered by the half dug out hut he’s built. He is fond of their family; the boy the girl - the baby being born in the next house a short ride away. Their parents helped him last season with haying and she fixes all his shirts, has patched his trousers. Major Turpin watches the children and can’t recall if he has nieces or nephews now – an uncannily harsh family split; hasn’t heard from Kentucky. Well he could sing – my grandmother recalls–.and he had horehound candy that he kept in a tin on a small blue wooden shelf.

“Grandma,” I kept asking over the years as this story was retold, “Who took the photograph and why were they there the day you were born?”