Some Generalities from my Childhood
By Walter Ebanks

Keep in mind that I am 5 years younger than Sam so what I know about his first 8 years comes mostly from circumstantial evidence or hearsay. For instance, I can tell you he was the favorite of his four older sisters. This can be deduced from a family photograph in which Sam is dressed like little Lord Fontleroy with long flowing, obviously curled, hair surrounded by his sisters while the rest of the boys are off to the side (click here to see this photo). Sam at the time was probably 5-6 years old. My sister Nella often spoke of Sam and how beautiful he was as a child. Of course, he also grew up to be a very handsome man - black hair, black eyes and pink unblemished skin. I believe one of my earliest recollections of Sam was of one of the sisters teaching him to play the organ, which dad had bought when Grace was a child (she had already married and gone from home). I also recall this sister telling Sam that he was doing so well that he should take it up seriously. But apparently Sam wasn't buying it, for shortly thereafter Sam's curls disappeared and the organ remained silent until I left home in 1938 a month before my 20th birthday. I think it was Nella who saved locks of Sam's hair and had them tied up in ribbons. To the chagrin of his sisters, Sam had declared his independence. In less than a year or so all the girls had married and the home was male-dominated until the two youngest (Doris and Edith) came along.

Our mother died May 22, 1935 at age 57, having given birth to 12 children (5 girls followed by 5 boys then 2 girls). The first girl died in infancy. My father told me he had expected to bury me a few days following mother's death. I had then been in bed several weeks with typhoid and dad said gangrene had set in. I remember him praying over me. I will always remember his towering strength and faith. It seems that all I did in my childhood was to bring heartache to my parents. More than once they had had my coffin made (it was the custom to bury the dead within 24 hours as embalming was not available).

My special fondness for Sam is easy to explain: Tim was away at school in Jamaica before I was 2; Bill was going out the back door of the school system as I was coming through the front. I remember him vaguely as helping dad in the store then he went to sea briefly before coming to America. George was 3 years older than me and it seemed like we were in competition for every thing, from food to affection to bed space (we shared the same bed). I also had to wear all his discarded clothes, shoes etc. So after fighting all night for bed space it is understandable that I would look to Sam for a little affection, which he didn't always tolerate either (understandable); never-the-less I persisted in spying on him and trying to ape all the things I would see him doing - like rolling dried Juniper leaves in brown paper to make cigarettes .

END

12/21/2003
3:35pm
End of Installment One