When we left the Baileys, we moved to the Ralston place on Liberty Pike., about two miles out. There we went to the Fairfield School. It was here that I met Louise [Still sbt] Reese . She was a little tiny girl just like I was, and we would play together. We played a game, I remember, pitching a ball over the housetop and calling it Annie Over. I had seen that played at the other place before we left that neighborhood. At the school there was a teacher called Miss Charlotte Fanning . Also some of the children that went there were from the Albert Jordan family and many, many others besides the Stills. Well, I do remember a family named Ford and another family that went there was named Walker.

I can remember so much about the Ralston Place I always loved animals; and when they would shear the sheep, they would bleat and cry; and it made me feel so sad I didn't want them to do that; but they had to do that, of course. So much that I have to say will be foreign to so many of my grandchildren and many others, I suppose, at this time. There was a watering trough down on the road near where we lived. The farmers would keep it full of water so the horses and ponies could get a drink as they passed along the road. One day when school was out, we started down the road; and Louise Still was with us. Jessie Lee wanted her to go home with us; so, she told Louise that a mad dog had been on the road. She showed her the saliva that horses had dropped on the road. Jessie Lee said that meant a dog with rabies was around somewhere; so, Louise went home with us. Mama really got after Jessie Lee and made her walk Louise home. It was dark when she got back. Louise is my dear friend, and she is still living at this time, the oldest friend that I have in this world. I visit with her as often as I can.

Dan was born at the Ralston place. William looked at Dan one day and said, " I just wonder where that baby's mama is." Sometimes Mama would laugh and say she did, too. A black woman stayed with us night and day for a couple of weeks to take care of Mama and help with the cooking. Dan would sleep so well, especially at night. After the woman left, Mama found the reason. The black lady was giving him paregoric.

I think Jessie Lee tried to do some cooking. I had to do a great deal of churning, and I hate a churn until this very day. One time I put real hot water in and ruined everything.

While at the Ralston place I had beagle hound for a pet. That was such a gentle animal. It had to be because I would take some of the baby dresses that were worn and caps and put them on the dog and drag him around in an old bucket. His name was Dan for my brother Dan.

The Agees were our closes neighbors. We didn't go there very often. I don't remember if we did. One day Mama and Daddy went to town and left us at home. Daddy told us not to leave the house. It looked too stormy. So Jessie Lee decided that we would go to the Agee house about one-fourth mile down from us. So we started with Dorothy and William down the Road. Sure enough a bad storm came. It was raining and windy, and the wind was blowing very hard. . The only place for us to take shelter was under some hedge apple trees. The hedge apples hit us pretty good. Jessie Lee took us back home and tried to get everything wet off, hoping Mama and Daddy wouldn't find out. I don't remember if they did or not. Another time they went away and it was windy and rainy. We were told to stay inside; but we took my dog and an umbrella and got in a chimney corner outside. They came home and caught us there. Daddy got a little switch, and he started after us. He said, "Stop where you are." I stopped, but Dorothy didn't. She ran in the back door and pushed the table against the door to keep him out. I think it was the same table that Sara Tarpley has in her house now. He got in and switched her a little. [They didn't do much whipping.) He hit me one time because I cried because he got Dorothy. That was the only time my father ever struck me. Mama got me a few times for saying I had the stomach ache when I didn't want to go to school.

I have wonderful memories of my childhood. Daddy would sit by hours and cut paper dolls out of catalogs for us. He would put them on the window sill, and the wind coming under the window would make them look like they were dancing. Sometimes he would pop popcorn or crush nuts. He played the banjo a little.

One Christmas at the Ralston place I remember with much pleasure. There was a big snow on the ground, very deep, on Christmas Day. We had hung our stockings that we wore. Santa had brought us some little dishes and pots and pans. Mama let us bake a cake in the little pan and cook something else in the other pan. We also got a table and chairs. Maybe Uncle Simmie made the table, for he was good at that sort of thing. He and Aunt Susie were with us at that time. They had come from Birmingham and stayed because Uncle Simmie had TB. I also remember my doll to this day. She was stuffed with straw and had a red and white checked dress. Daddy always got raisins on the stems. I know there isn't anything like that anymore. . We had a little butter mold also. Mama had a mold, and she would mold the butter to fit in the butter dish. How I loved the magic of Christmas!

We had a cow I loved very much. Her name was Buttercup. At the Baileys we got our water from a spring, but at the Ralston place we got it from a well. The bucket was lowered by ropes and the water drawn up.

During World War I, I remember how sad some people were. We didn't have any relatives that were in the service at that time, I don't think. A Gentry man who lived near us had to go. So far as we knew, he was not related to us. His name was Harrison Gentry. What happened to him I do not know.

I remember having the flu. It hit everywhere in the world in the very worst way. The powder plant near Nashville had so many people employed because of the war that they just died like flies, I used to hear people say. We were all real sick but Daddy. He sat up all nights and took care of us. I remember the cold weather, and I was so sick. I can remember the white iron bed I was in. I remember feeling like I was floating up near the ceiling. A neighbor Bessie Brooks came and helped us out. She said she just had to do it. If she got the flu, it would be all right. She never got the flu, however. Maybe God watched over her for being so kind to us. Bessie married Race Cook here in Franklin. She taught Sunday school at Fourth Avenue and also the ladies' Bible class years later. Uncle Tommie, Mama' s brother, died with the flu in Reno, Nevada. All of Uncle Willie's family was sick; so, it was several days before anyone could see to Uncle Tommie's burial. Ora Newcomb grieved so when he died. I had to say my prayers every night, and I prayed the Germans couldn't cross the ocean. Woodrow Wilson was president during World War I., and I tried to remember the name because I was afraid someone would ask me who was president and I would not know. I had kind of a hard time remembering the name "Woodrow."

The William Richardson Butner family of Lyon County, Nevada, about 1915
Back: Elmo and Willoise.
Middle: Sophronia Caudle Butner holding Erwin, Gertrude, Ruby, William.
Front: Owen.

People on the farms had big dinner bells. They called the workers from the fields to come home to eat; and if they rang too long, people knew that something was wrong. Neighbors would hear them and know something had happened and come to see what was wrong. My father had been to Franklin and came home with the news that the war was over. Jessie Lee and I were on the way to school, going across a field. We heard the bell and heard Aunt Susie saying something. We ran back home, and Aunt Susie was crying and hollering "Praise the Lord" or something like that. Everyone was happy when they heard all that great news about the end of the war.

Grandma and Grandpa Gentry came to visit us while we were at the Ralston place and brought us some rabbits. From those rabbits came, it seemed like, hundreds. They mixed with the wild rabbits, and Daddy had to get some men to come and help shoot the rabbits to get rid of them.

One day Dorothy, William, and I were playing house, which we did often. We were going to William's house for a visit. We called him Mrs. Williamson. Dorothy let her doll cry and cry. William said, "I can make your baby stop crying;" so, he took the doll by the feet and broke the head to bits on a big rock. And so that was what stopped the crying.

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