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It’s in the luck of the draw that Ruby Allred drew the number for her grandmother Louisa Motsinger Payne’s Sunday bonnet. When her grandmother died, there were five grandchildren and five bonnets.

Each bonnet was numbered, and the grandchildren drew numbers for the bonnets. Allred drew the number for her grandmother’s black Sunday bonnet. But what do you do with a black bonnet from the early 1900s? Allred decided she would wear it and become “Grandmother Payne” so that she could share what life was like on a farm near High Point in the early 1900s.

Since putting that bonnet on, she has shared this information with school children, senior groups and others. Allred has always loved history and is a docent at the High Point Museum. When she started collecting information for her program she remembered what she learned at the museum about presenting historical information: “Don’t say something unless you can back it up with facts.” This led Allred to do research in the Heritage Research Center in High Point and at several other places in surrounding counties.

On a recent Saturday in October she told Payne’s stories at the High Point Public Library. Her visit was sponsored by the Heritage Research Center at the library and was coordinated by Karen Hardie, a reference librarian.

“Grandmother Payne” spoke about living on a farm near what is now called West Lexington Avenue, remembering the big two-story house and the 10-party telephone line that was shared by families in the neighborhood. “You learned everybody’s secrets,” she said.

In the 1920s and ’30s, tobacco was the money crop for the family. Starting in January until the tobacco went to market the following December, the family worked from sunup until sundown. Sometimes the children, carrying baskets of young tobacco plants, would follow the people doing the planting and hand them the transplants.

There were two barns on her family’s property, and each had two brick furnaces where the tobacco was cured. The plants were tied in bunches and hung from tiers. At first a little fire was built in the fireplace, then more wood was added and more wood until, by the end of the week, the temperature was up to 180 degrees. When the tobacco was ready it was taken to market in Winston-Salem. The process was usually completed in December and started again in January.

There was work to be done in the house, too. Lunch was cooked six days a week in the summer. All of the food was grown on the farm. There were vegetables and fruits. Meat was only included on Sundays, usually ham or sausage since they raised their own hogs.

“Grandmother Payne” remembered how someone always got up at 4:30 a.m. to build a fire in the cook stove. They prepared a big pan of about 30 biscuits on which they spread jams and jellies made from the fruit on the farm. They usually also had ham and eggs for breakfast.

The dishes would be washed, the beds made, the floors swept and the animals fed. Depending on the season, fruits and nuts might be gathered from outside.

“Grandmother Payne” laughed when she talked about the rain barrels.

“People think rain barrels are a new invention but we always had rain barrels on the farm. Our water had a lot of limestone in it so we saved the rainwater to wash our hair and clothes,” she said. “Wash day was always on Monday, and it took all day. Ironing usually took half a day and we always did that while we were cooking so that we could heat the irons on the stove. The irons were heavy and held with a pad so that hands did not get burned. The younger children learned to iron on handkerchiefs.”

In the winter, the women might work on quilts. On one quilt, family names were printed on the pieces. The pieces came from clothing worn by uncles, aunts and cousins. The quilt was recently taken to a family reunion and everyone enjoyed finding the name of their family member.

First-grader Matthew Beane looked at the artifacts Allred had brought and said, “They did a lot of work. I would be so worn out from all that work. I would ride on a cow at Christmas.”

His father, Michael, and 5-year-old brother Jonathon looked at the artifacts with him.

Chanel Hill brought her daughter Taylor. “I wanted her to see this. We take so much for granted but those people had to grow, kill and cure their own food,” she said.

Newspapers and the Sears catalogue were prized commodities and were used as toilet paper after they had been read.

“Grandmother Payne” remembered that when she was about 11 years old, some members of her family flagged the train down and went into Greensboro to see a movie and shop. They rode the bus back home. “This was my first bus ride,” she said.

“Families were closer then. There were not as many outside influences pulling on them. We ate our meals together. Since children helped raise and gather the food, they didn’t complain about what they were eating.”

Although she has many happy memories of her childhood, she has no desire to return to the good old days.

“I’ve lived through many changes in the 20th century. I love my electric stove, dishwasher, washer and dryer, car, and being able to go to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread wrapped in plastic wrap,” said “Grandmother Payne.”

Allred has several programs on different aspects of life in the 1920s and 1930s. She can be contacted at 883-4370

If you have news of High Point people, please contact me at mjohnson2@triad.rr.com.