Footprints in the Ozarks by Ellen Gray Massey

Author:Ellen Gray Massey [Massey, Ellen Gray]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Goldminds Publishing, LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Use it Up, Wear it Out,

Make it Do, or Do Without

Years ago if you had asked people from the Ozarks if they made any crafts, they would have probably said no. The word “crafts,” as we know it today, did not apply to them. They didn't consider what they fashioned out of scraps and native raw materials for their own use to be crafts. Following the old saying, “A penny saved is a penny earned,” they created tools, household items and decorations because they needed them or enjoyed them.

Yet today, valuing what they made, we scour the country for people who still know how to design black walnut crackers from scrap iron or make rugs from rags. For these people created a craftsmanship that eased farm and household jobs and provided beauty that made even the simplest home more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing. We now call what they produced crafts. Some of the best craftspeople reached high artistic levels.

Women saved worn-out clothing, no matter how faded, cut the material into strips, tacked them together, and wove them into carpets. The long runners, sewed together and padded underneath with fresh straw, added softness and color to a drab parlor and served the useful purpose of keeping the cold from seeping in. And that wasn't the end of those “useless” rags. When the warp that held the rug together wore out, they washed and mended the rags and wove them into another rug. When too far gone for reweaving, pieces could be used as a saddle blanket, a bed for the dog, or a stopper under the door to keep out the cold.

Using the plentiful oak or walnut trees, men built straight chairs. They “bottomed” them with available materials such as hickory bark strips or dried corn shucks that had been soaked in water and twisted into ropes. The original chair lasted many years, for when the seat wore out, they wove another, making it do for several more years. This sturdy piece of furniture was more than a chair. Two placed apart with a board across the top rungs of the back was an ironing board or, before funeral homes, a place to lay out the dead to cool. Four of them in a square made a perfect support for quilting frames. The chair's straight design allowed it to lie flat on its back on the floor, the front legs just the right height for a youngster to hold to. Pushed across the wooden or linoleum-covered floor, it became an aid for learning to walk. And for grandpa, standing upright, the chair's solid footing and light weight made it a handy “walker” before three-pronged canes and modern walkers were designed. Using it to support himself, he could go to the garden or barn, sitting down in his chair when he became tired.

Nothing was wasted in the strict economy of the Ozark people. Depending on their own ingenuity and the resources of their land, they created what they needed and repaired and reused everything in any way they could, because if they couldn't make it do, they would be without.

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