This is old blowers and I want to tell you about something that happened down here the other day just made me mad as a devil and I didn't I wasn't nothing I could do about after it was dead But I tell you what happened and it just like I say it just made me so that blame mad But about oil about eight o'clock and I had come to the house I had just got through milking the cows and and putting feet out for them and everything and I'd come to the house And this Bob truck come down the road and This little old girl come to my door and she was about I guess ten years old Reminding me a lot of my girl Emily that I told you about before But she come to the door and she's a pretty little old girl and she said that she was looking You know to cut a Christmas tree and did I know any place where she could cut a Christmas tree and So, you know, I've got all kinds of trees down here and I don't I usually come But one every year from myself and I give up there are two or three people down here, you know, Flossy butts and and That little big Emily, you know, the woman that lives down at the end of the street Well, I always get a treat for her and bring it down there and Flossy butts decorates it for you And she's about that Emily is about 90 years old and Flossy butts always decorates the tree for her So anyway, I was telling you about this little girl coming down here and and I said well, honey I've got trees I said if you want to go down there and cut you cut you a tree I said you just help yourself I said you pick out the one that you want and you have you got a saw and she said yes and her daddy was It driving the truck and that he would cut the tree down for and I said well, okay That's all right with me I said you just go down there and and get the one you want and She said well, what will it cost me and I said well, it won't cost you nothing I said didn't trees just grow wild down there and and I said you welcome to anything you won't down here You just come down here and get it Well, she thanked me and got back in the truck and they went down there and I didn't see them when they come back But see this road that I live on is a it's a it's a dead-end road It just comes down here past my barn and goes on down to Luther Phillips's place and and Then comes down there to the to the river and it dead ends down there's what the what my girl told me was a Cold is sack. I've never heard that before but that's what she said. She said it was a cold is sack But anyway, I didn't see the truck when it come back by but old Jimmy Vanderstig You know, he lives up there on the road and he did and that truck was loaded down with trees And he thought that was kind of strange, you know for that truck to be coming down here Oh and loaded down with trees because there wasn't any anybody that lived down here And he was pretty sure that if that truck was loaded with trees He had to have cut them somewhere and he figured that he had cut them off of my land down here So he he got in his car and followed the truck, you know, Jimmy Vanderstig don't miss much I'm gonna take it and so he he He followed that truck and the truck went down there about a quarter of a mile and turned off on the highway and Went down there about five miles and the guy had a sign up there said tree lot and Jimmy Vanderstig said there wasn't no trees down there and so that guy unloaded them trees that he had cut off of my land And he was going to sell them And Jimmy Vanderstig come down here and told me about it He said did you tell him that he could cut them trees and I said well no Jimmy I didn't tell him he could do that I said I told his girl that she could have a tree she come down here Won't a Christmas tree and I told her she was welcome to it But I didn't tell him that he could come down here and cut a bunch of trees I said you know Jimmy that we can't have the the land clear cut down here because if we do we gonna have a problem with With the river flooding I said that trees is what keeps the rivers the river in its bed And so I said I sure didn't tell him that he could cut the trees and so What I've done was I went down there to his house and I asked him about it and so he Denied it first. He said he got his trees from Memphis and I said no you didn't I said Oh my buddy down here and of course Jimmy was me with me Jimmy said no you didn't he said I seen you when you hold him trees back from the from from from down here at Wailwood and he said I know where you got him So it was just lucky that the sheriff come by then he you know Sheriff patrols down here and and he he's one of these Sheriff's that really looks out for his people you know he he Actual is one of these sheriffs that patrols you know comes down from time to time and makes the rounds and and he come by there and I flagged him down and I told him I said Sheriff Williams I said this man has come down here and cut my trees and I said he's selling them and I said I told his girl He could she could have a Christmas tree But I didn't tell her that they could go down here and cut a whole pastel trees I just didn't tell him they could do that and so Sheriff come down there and he said you put him under arrest and So he was gonna take him to jail and I said no I said let's don't take him to jail sheriff because I ain't gonna do me no good I said let's let him sell the trees and then he can give me what he makes and I said I will go down there and plant Recede that ground that he cut them trees off of I said and he so what I need is I what I need is the money I said it won't do me no good to put him in jail I said what I need to do is to get him to pay for the trees that he cut and the sheriff said that was a good idea And the guys first all he argued he said well I ain't gonna do that and the sheriff said well would you rather go to jail?
He said I can't make you do it. No, he said I can take you down and put you jail He said I can make it real uncomfortable for you. He said I don't know what you're used to eating but he said what we feed down there is is salt meat and Cold meal muss he said he said now that's what you want and he said I can keep you in there for a good long while if I want to he said now that's what you want to do we'll do it that way or said you can do it my way and That guy come in stuff. He said well, I'll get a Wasn't he called it a reit a Reit of havers corpus is what he said and the sheriff laughed at me He said we ain't never heard or nothing like that down here So the man realized that the sheriff meant business and so to make a long story short what he done He sold every one of them dead and blame trees and he got anywhere from from $40 to $80 for he had some biggens and some lillins and he got oh You know from $40 to $80.
I think what I'm sold for $90 and so he give me the money every penny of it And I took it down there and I bought me some seedlings You know and and went back and planted him replanted them trees that he cut down But see that didn't cost me all that money. I had about $300 left and so I called up Jimmy Vanderstigge And I said Jimmy I said I don't want to make no profit I don't need no money I said I appreciate you doing what you done because I don't want people coming out here cutting the trees So I said what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give this money to the school up there and I said y'all have a good Christmas party I said you tell the principal that you won't have a Christmas party and I said for $300 You ought to be able to have a real good party So that's what I done I give this money to the school and they did they had a Christmas party down there had a band come in and played You know kids danced down there and had a had a band come down there and play and and they danced and had a Rodber freshmen's and stuff like that had a real good time and I got my trees planted But see it's gonna take him trees a while to grow back and that that was awful thing for that man to do I didn't know people could be that way But I'm gonna start watching them from now on because you know I don't mind giving somebody a tree or two, but I don't want like I told you I don't want the land clear cut because when you do that you cause uh, what is that? Rosion cause rosion and so we don't want that to happen down here So that's what happened and I just want you to know about it It's just one of the things that you had to watch out for you know people most people is real good But some people can be awful greedy sometimes and awful inconsiderate of what belongs to other people