Papa and Neave's Wedding

I remember very vividly Papa's wedding day, although I was only five at the time.  The kids stayed home with Grandpa and about sundown here came a rather unorthodox procession.  Papa was driving the team which was hitched to his farm wagon.  Behind was tied Mama Neave's four horses, a baby colt following, and a cow.  In the wagon was a coop of chickens, various tools, household goods, kitchen gadgets, Papa, Mama Neave, and her mother.

Mama Neave was big and strong and proud of the fact that she weighed exactly the same as Papa the day they were married.  176 pounds.  And neither of them were fat.  She lost no time in establishing herself as the manager of the children and all household duties.

She was a tireless worker and soon brought law and order where there had been none before.

Mama Neave was very frugal, and believed that hard work was the only way that any person could achieve salvation.  This applied to herself as well as to anyone with whom she came in contact.  She worked in the fields when there was any need for extra help, and she could and would do as much work as any man.

She was an expert when it came to riding a horse side saddle, and could equal any man, even though the man had a foot on each side of the horse.  She took no back seat for any of them.

Papa was so glad to be free from the mundane chores of raising a family that he was glad to have her assume many duties that I always felt he could have held on to for himself.  However, she was a good mother, if a little hard hearted and over domineering.  I will say in her defense, however, that she wasn't lazy, and did the best any one could have done coming into a family of this size.  She and Grandpa Fret never got along, but other than that, things moved rather smoothly.  Her word was law.

Mama Neave had a remedy for any disease that came along.  This not only applied to members of the immediate family, but to any of the neighbors whether we knew them or not.

Her remedies were mostly made from herbs, roots, or other plants she might be able to get ahold of.  Her most often used remedy seemed to be castor oil and hot mustard plasters.  They were used almost universally by her for colds or any of the symptoms ordinarily connected with colds or fevers.

There was only one treatment for an aching tooth.  That was to extract it at once.  That not only applied to the kids but to neighbors as well.

Many of the neighbors, knowing of her talents with teeth, would come over at all hours of the day and night.  They knew when they came that the tooth would, of necessity, need to be pulled.  They also knew that if it were to be (and it always was) extracted, that it would of necessity be without any kind of pain killer.

I remember one neighbor, Mr. Henson, who woke us up at midnight with a badly infected and aching molar.  He was crazy with pain.  Mama Neave got him down on the floor on his back and held him down with her knee on his chest while she extracted the offending tooth.

Some of her patients would try to get away, but I never saw anyone get away from her.  She was strong and knew how to handle her strength.