Memoirs of Lloyd Moss: 1910 - 1914
In 1912, the year I was five, I began waking up at daybreak in the summer and exploring around the farm by myself. One morning while it was still hardly light I became aware of something going on in the road behind the hedge of honeysuckle. On investigating, I found it to be a big touring car full of people with engine trouble. It was the first car I had ever seen near home and the people wearing long dusters, the women with veils over their big hats, and the big, high machine itself made quite an impression on me. So, followed by Nannie, our dog, I proceeded to get as close as I could in order not to miss a thing. As soon as they saw me a man came over to the fence and told me they were very thirsty and would I bring them a pail of water. I rushed back to the house, grabbed a nice bright milk pail, went to the pump and filled it nearly full, then hurried back to the travelers. Well, they were pleased, and two of the men each gave me a nickel. Having two nickels of my own in my hand was an overwhelming experience so just as soon as they'd finished the water I rushed home and woke father and mother to tell them all about it.
I remember resolving at that time that there was an advantage in getting up before other people. Early rising was a delightful experience on that farm anyway because in walking around in the misty early dawn I saw many cute little animals that were never around during the heat of the day. I remember being frightened more than once by box tortoises. They often hid in low bushes or grass with just their big necks and heads sticking out and when I inadvertantly walked close by them they would instantly pull their heads in and close up their shells which apparently neccessitated expelling a lot of air to make themselves smaller, and this made a loud hiss that naturally made me jump, thinking that it was a big snake.
In 1913 the Wickers started a tomato canning business. They equipped a shed with cooking kettles and the machinery for filling and soldering up the full cans of tomatoes. They planted their fields with tomatoes and made quite an enterprise of it all. Everybody around was solicited to help pick the fruit in the height of the ripening season so here is where I earned my first wages of fifty cents a day for picking tomatoes. The Wickers had other interesting things. One was a hydraulic ram for pumping water up to the house and barn. Rams are never seen nowadays, and I think you would have to look up an old science book to find a picture of one and its operation. They also had a fishpond in their woods and I was supposed never to go anywhere near it, but once Eric, the older boy, took me for a ride in their rowboat. Mother heard about it somehow and instead of physical punishment for once she sat me down and told me a very sad story about a boy who disobeyed his mother and drowned in the river. The cow-pasture was just across the Newport News Road from our farm. It was composed of about half woods and half grassland and had lots of blackberry bushes growing alongside the fence.