Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 13: Education and Educational Programs
Series 19: Students
EDUCATION Children’s Writing (58) Douglas Reynolds
C. 1947
TAGS: EDUCATION CHILDREN’S WRITING (58) Douglas Reynolds, Douglas Reynolds, Harold Reynolds, Jimmy Rex Reynolds, Bonnie Faye Reynolds, Kodak KY, writing, education, miners, electronics, timber, farming, log cabins, William Brashear, Gertrude Reynolds
GALLERY: EDUCATION Children’s Writing (58) – Douglas Reynolds
Douglas Reynolds – Brief autobiography, c. 1947. [children_wrtg_058.jpg]
TRANSCRIPTION: EDUCATION Children’s Writing (58) Douglas Reynolds
[children_wrtg_058.jpg]
My father, he’s a miner. Well, he and mother used to run the post office but then Grand-dad [William Brashear] told dad he could have the farm if we lived on it til Grand-dad did. So about four years ago we moved to the farm. The land there is not like it is over here. This land is new — it’s just been started but our land is worked out. We do have virgin timber though — mostly oak for all the popular’s [sic] been taken out . All the mineral rights to the land have been sold. A man up in Lexington owns most of the coal around us. Dad’s worked in the mines a long time. He’s always dug coal, never loaded it, and he’s worked deeper and deeper into the mines. He got so he made twenty-five dollars a night — that’s why he got bronchitis. He stopped for a while, got better so he went back again. Mother tries to tell him but I guess he is foolish —well, not foolish, but … he figgers he’d like to make money while he can. He’s promised to send us all through college except that Harold and I have to help pay for Bonnie Faye and Jimmy. Harold’s doing real well, has only one C, … is interested in plastics. Me — well, I’m interested in electronics and if I keep on being able to do math I’ll be all right. Bonnie, I think she’d like to be a doctor. Dad figures on selling our timber now that prices are high. Why even scrappy stuff sells at one hundred dollars per 1000 feet. And we’ve got some really good timber. We’re going to build a home too. The farm house is too big, twelve rooms and the walls are about three feet thick — not even water inside. Mother likes to plan houses — she’s thinking about this one.
Dad wants to give us the chance he missed …
Douglas Reynolds, Kodak, Kentucky
[Handwritten notation] circa 1947
See Also:
EDUCATION Children’s Writing I – Samples 1-20, 1915-1945
EDUCATION Children’s Writing II – Samples 21-40, 1917-1925
EDUCATION Children’s Writing III – Samples 41-58, 1921-1950
HAROLD REYNOLDS Student – Biography of Douglas’s brother; includes references to Douglas Reynolds.
