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This is the true account of his trip to a mill when he was about nine years old as told
by Paul Hearl
During the Great Depression of the nineteen thirties meal was an important part of many peoples diet and during
late summer and early fall the supply of corn from the previous years crop was exhausted.. We went into the corn field and pulled all
the corn we could find which was beginning to dry on the stalks and managed to get it shelled off the cobs but it still wasn't suitable
for grinding into meal.. The shelled corn was spread on sheets on the tin roof of the kitchen of the old log cabin.. I climbed up there
every morning and spread the corn out so it would dry in the sun until Daddy decided it was hard enough to grind..
 The corn was put in a heavy grass
seed sack and tied tightly, then Daddy saddled old Dan, our horse, and lifted the heavy sack of corn to his back behind the saddle and
tied it to the saddle so it wouldn't fall off.. Then he helped me into the saddle and sent me through the fields to John Meadows' grist
mill to get it ground. He had to send me because he had work to do and couldn't spare the time to go to the mill, after all, I was nine
years old and plenty big enough to ride old Dan to the mill as many other boys did.. Daddy knew that John Meadows would take the corn
off the horse for me and put the sack of meal back on. That would be no problem.
When I got to the rail fence which separated our farm from the Fraley farm I rode up beside the fence and got off
the horse, laid the rails down and led the horse through. Then I laid the fence back up, led the horse over to it, climbed up the fence
and got back in the saddle and continued on toward the mill..
When I got to the mill, John Meadows came out and took the 'turn' of corn off as Daddy knew he would. I slid off
the horse and watched as he weighed the corm and dipped out a small amount as "toll" for grinding it. Then he turned a big wheel on big
gas engine and it started with a loud sound. I watched as he fed the grains of corn through the hopper and saw the meal coming out and
into the sack..
Mr. Meadows placed the sack of meal on the horse and tied it to the saddle and helped me back on old Dan and I
rode toward home.. I had to climb down and open a gap in a fence and get back on as I entered the Fraley farm and everything was going
alright. Then I came to the rail fence again, climbed down and laid it down so I could lead old Dan through but just as he got on the
other side, the sack of meal fell off his back! I tried to lift it but it was so heavy I couldn't even move it! Then I saw some cattle
which had been grazing in the field coming toward me and the meal and I knew cattle would eat meal! What was I to do? I couldn't let
the cattle eat the meal we had worked so hard to get! Old Dan stood there as I ran the cattle away and sat down on the sack to guard it
and think about what I could do.. I cried a little as I thought.. I knew I couldn't leave the meal..
Finally I decided to send old Dan on to the house, maybe someone would come looking for me if he showed up without me! Well, he went
straight home and my older sister saw him standing at the yard gate and told Mama.
Mama got worried when she didn't see me anywhere and her and my sister came looking for me, leading old Dan
behind them..
There I sat on the sack of meal half crying and looking at the cattle which were a short distance away.. I was glad to see them arrive!
Me and Mama tried to lift the sack of meal but it was too heavy... I still had a problem to solve but now there were three of us.. It
was decided that I would ride the horse to the barn, remove the saddle and put the harness on him, hitch him to a sled and bring it
back.. Then we were able to roll the sack of meal on the sled and haul it home.. When we got to the yard gate we couldn't lift the sack
to get it in the house so Mama got a bucket and carried it a bucket at a time to the meal chest in the kitchen.. Just as we got the
last of it in the house, Daddy got home from the field.. Mama made a big "pone" of cornbread and we had cornbread and milk for
supper... and it was Good! I was glad I had Saved The Sack of Meal!
The End....
Old Mill in North Carolina Near Where the Herrells Settled About 1790
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