THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
A Light in the Window--Ros's
Story
The late
Charles Roscoe Collins of Choestoe in
Charles Roscoe
Collins was a student at the Blairsville Collegiate Institute. The year
was 1926. The mountain school had been opened in 1904, sponsored by the
Notla River Baptist Association. Later, the
Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention also began
support of the school, adding it as one of the Board's mountain
schools. Students could board there and go to school, or else live in
cabins or rooms in town, do their own cooking and laundry, and go to
classes at the Collegiate Institute. To be able to go to this school
was a privilege, indeed, as education beyond the seventh or eighth
grade of one- and two-teacher country schools was about the extent of
educational offerings then in
Mr. W. P.
Lunsford, a man of deep piety and well-qualified as a school
administrator and teacher, was headmaster at the Blairsville Collegiate
Institute in 1926. Mr. Lunsford, wanting the
students to have opportunities in drama, had cast a play with several
boys and girls as actors. The play was well-received in its debut at
the school when performed there. Mr. Lunsford got the idea that the
drama should go "on the road."
In his
recollections, Mr. Charles Roscoe Collins did not remember the title of
the play, but he did remember the names of all the male characters. He
said there were roles for the girls, too, and several of them starred
in the play. The male actors were Joe Brackett, Tom Conley, Walter
Hyatt, and Roscoe Collins.
With their
hometown's hearty reception of the play fresh in their minds, the cast
eagerly loaded into the two Model T-Fords that would transport the
actors to the
The entourage
arrived in Dahlonega on time and without incident. They performed the
play to a responsive audience. By the time the play was over, it was
night time, and snow had begun to fall.
The two cars
loaded with the cast carefully made their way over the mountainous road
from Dahlonega. As the Wyatt-driven, rented car, loaded with the male
cast members, arrived at Cain Creek, the slippery condition of the road
(and perhaps the inexperience of the student driver) caused the rented
Model-T to go out of the road. Wyatt lost control and the car turned
over. Fortunately, none of the riders or the driver were injured—just
badly shaken up.
Mr. Lunsford
and the girls were traveling behind the rented car. They stopped to
lend aid to the overturned vehicle and the shaken-up passengers. They
turned the car upright and got it back onto the road. The wreck took
the top and windshield from the car. Mr. Lunsford went to town to get
gas and oil, for the wreck had spilled those necessary items from the
Model-T. They refilled the radiator with water from Cain Creek.
Mr. Lunsford
told the boys it was their job to get the car back to Blairsville, and
to be more careful. He proceeded ahead of them with his car loaded with
the female cast members. The boys got to Quillian's
Corner, but not without more car trouble. The motor would die, and with
each incidence of the car stopping, one of the boys would take turns
turning the crank in front of the car to get the motor going again.
They finally
saw Neal Gap looming ahead. At the sharp curve south of the Gap, the
car ran out of gasoline. Wyatt and the other boys thought it best to
leave the car and walk the rest of the distance. Snow was building up
on the ground. It was not an easy journey, climbing up the mountain,
crossing it on foot at night, and starting the descent on the north
side.
North of Vogel
State Park, at
Tired from a
long day before, the performance of the past evening, the misadventures
of an automobile accident, and the walk over a rugged mountain at
night, the four boys were exhausted. Dared they make their presence
known to the Reece family and seek a little respite from their
problems?
Emma Reece was
cooking breakfast. Roscoe, who knew the Reece family, was appointed the
one to knock on the Reece door and explain the boys' plight. Mr. Juan
Reece answered the door, and invited the cold, tired cast inside.
By then Mrs.
Emma Reece had come from the kitchen to welcome the unexpected guests.
She assured them she could easily add to the Reece breakfast fare and
would soon have them food that would squelch their hunger and last them
until they got back to the dormitory at Blairsville Collegiate
Institute.
Four boys sat
down to a hot breakfast: hoecake bread made from flour milled from the
Reece's home-grown wheat, fatback bacon fried to a crisp, thick sawmill gravy and scrambled eggs. "Four boys had
never had a better breakfast," wrote Collins in his memoirs 65 years
later.
At the time of
the intrusion at the Reece family's breakfast, Byron Herbert Reece, who
would grow up to be a noted poet, was nine years of age, a shy boy
looking on as the ravenous high school lads ate the breakfast his
mother prepared. His little sister, Jean, was about three at the time.
Sister Eva Mae and brother T. J. were
older.
In recalling
the welcome of the Reece family, Roscoe Collins wrote, 65 years later:
"There was the warmth of the open fire and shadows on the walls from
the flickering oil-burning lamps. I am sure the mother and father
gathered the children around these scenes and read from the Treasured
Volume stories that helped to shape the life and thoughts of Byron
Herbert Reece."
A collegiate
institute, a drama to share, a rugged trip over mountains, and,
finally, a light in the window welcoming weary travelers. Is
it any wonder Charles Roscoe Collins remembered this story vividly 65
years after it happened?
[Ethelene
Dyer Jones is a retired educator, freelance writer, poet, and historian.
She may be reached at e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail
Updated July 1, 2018
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