Are you a country boy?

That question was addressed in last week’s column. It was motivated by John Allen’s statement at my cousin’s funeral. After saying Sam was a country boy, the preacher then referred to himself as a country boy.

When I was young, there was a popular contrast made between boys living in town and those in the country. They would often be referred to either as a “city slick” or a “country hick.”

Neither expression was intended to be complimentary. For instance, slick can be defined as clever in deception or trickery; deceptively plausible or smooth in speech, conduct or action.

Then hick really does take on a contemptuous air with a definition of unsophisticated person regarded as typical of rural areas, yokel, or hayseed.

It is doubtful that everyone in a town is a slick. It is also not true that all living in the country are hicks. Many living either in the city or the countryside possess great qualities of character, education, hard work, refinement and spirituality. It is unfair to label the totality of either population as slicks or hicks.

Now, let us go back to being a country boy. John Allen appropriately spoke of Sam and himself as being country boys in a sense of pride. They were proud of their background. So it is with all of us who can look back to years on the farm and reflect on a manner of life that many have never known or, if they did, they have forgotten.

Let us add to that list from last week and put each of us to the test and see who might be a country boy.

You might be a country boy if…

- You had a rabbit box and any you caught would be either cooked and eaten or traded to the Rolling Store that came through the country side once a week.

- Your school pictures from early grades through high school depicted a young man in overalls.

- Your clothes came by mail once or twice a year in a box from Sears and Roebuck. It was always a time of great excitement and joy.

- You know what a “single tree” or double tree” is relative to plowing.

- You would chop, hoe or pick cotton all day long with nothing at the end of the row except a jug of water.

- The only light or heat you experienced in your house was begun by first striking a match. The oil lamp, cook stove and fireplace provided the energy in the house.

- You never bathed by taking a shower until you first played football in high school or went to college or the armed services.

- The only eggs you ever ate were taken from the hen’s nest at your own house. It was sad when the report was the hens weren’t “laying.”

-You never saw sliced bread until you were grown or moved off the farm. Cornbread, biscuits (made from scratch), were the stable food that fed the family. The occasional yeast rolls were what made life worth living.

- You never got money put in your hand for working, but you worked in the field all day, often behind two mules pulling a plow.

- You know what a sweet potato slip is. How about the eye of a potato?

- Your grandmother thought an enema would cure whatever was wrong with you.

- You and your family knew weeks ahead when they were going to visit the neighbors one-half mile up the road. Those chili suppers with the Bill Brock family are still great memories.

- You saw the clothes washed once a week (usually on Monday) in a black pot with boiling water heated by a fire built around it. Then the clothes were rinsed in galvanized tubs and hung to dry on the clothes line as well as the pasture fence.

- Your only milk came from a daily milking of the cow. You watched butter and buttermilk formed by a process of churning milk by the fireplace.

- You never drank a soft drink at home. It was a luxury enjoyed for five-cents at a country store. There was no way to cool it at home.

Both “Country Hicks” and “City Slicks” have much to for which to be proud. I am glad I have seen both sides of the fence. Only those who have, really understand.