Excerpt from An Hour Before Daylight by Jimmy Carter, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

One night, as we shut down the mill and headed home, Uncle Lem said, "Tump, I've noticed that you don't usually get to work as early as I do."

Tump responded, "'T'ain't so, Mr. Lem, I'm there time everybody is."

Uncle Lem, following up, said, "I'll bet you a quarter I'm at work before you in the morning."

With wages a dollar a day, this was a good-sized bet, but Tump didn't hesitate. "Yes, sir, I bet."

When I asked Uncle Lem what was going on, he laughed and said, "Well, Tump don't know it, but I'm going coon hunting tonight, and will just come back by the cane mill long before daylight and pick up my quarter."

It didn't seem fair to me, but I didn't say anything.

The next morning, even before the farm bell rang at the barn, Uncle Lem arrived at the cane mill. Tump sat up from some cane pummlings where he had spent the night and asked, "Dat you, Mr. Lem?"


Both in our house and in those of tenants, the long workdays and the high price of store-bought kerosene prevented much staying up after dark, except perhaps on weekends. All the workers' cabins were constructed with rough boards produced by one of the traveling sawmills that came to our farm every now and then to harvest our pine trees. The clapboard siding was the only barrier to the outside heat, cold, wind, and rain, so occupants covered the inside of the boards with old newspapers pasted on with a mixture of flour and water. The wooden windows were kept closed during cold weather, making it necessary to depend on the lamp and fireplace to illuminate the cabin. There were no screens on the doors or windows, so flies and other insects had unimpeded access. It was impossible to seal the floor, and I could see the ground underneath through the cracks between boards. Except for these design limitations inherent in any simple clapboard structure, Daddy made sure that we kept our tenant houses in good shape, with necessary repairs made during the winter months between harvest and land-breaking time. This added to the skills I learned in the workshop.

The only other buildings, far from our house, were the syrup mill, located on a small stream, and two sheds where seed cotton, fertilizer, and workers could find shelter from a sudden rain shower.

All our fields were fenced with woven hog wire about three feet high nailed to wooden posts, and topped with two strands of barbed wire to hold the larger cattle, mules, and horses. Daddy also bought some steel rods with corkscrew bottoms that were used as temporary fenceposts. The fence corners were well braced, and the gates were level, swung easily, and were strong enough for little boys to ride on them. Daddy always said that the condition of tenant houses and fences was a good indication of the pride and industry of a landowner.

A lane from the barn extended north to connect all our lots, fields, pastures, and woods. Most of our woodlands were also fenced, having some value as forage areas for the livestock. Acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts, a few chestnuts and chinkapins, and leaves from bushes and trees supplemented the pastures and feed grown in the fields. Almost all the leaves and even pine needles were eaten as high as cows could reach, giving the woods and swamps an openness that was convenient for us boys to explore, for hunters to follow dogs, and for finding and observing the domestic animals. There was a big black-cherry tree down the lane, and we boys used to see and sometimes catch floundering blue jays that were intoxicated from eating too much of the ripe fruit.


My playmates were mostly the sons of tenant families on our farm, but a few others would join us from houses farther down the road. We used to claim the most remote shed, not too far from the creek, as our clubhouse, and slept in it when we couldn't stay awake all night on the creek bank. I don't remember that my parents ever put any limits on my explorations around the farm, even including the more remote woods and swamps. They expected me to perform my assigned tasks, know basic safety rules, and be on time for meals, but otherwise I was completely free to roam throughout the 350 acres of our home place.

Copyright © 2001 by Jimmy Carter