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In the Spring of 1979 after reading this wonderful book, the 8th
grade students in Curtis Loftin's Reading Class began working on
a visual presentation for the book - complete with photos and a
play written by the students. |
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It's been over 35 years since we did this project with my group
of 13-year-olds and I decided that since the photos and the
story are so wonderful I needed to share them. |
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There were a lot of adults who helped in one way or another
with this reading project |
1. Curtis Loftin, 8th Grade Math & Reading Teacher
in 1979
2. Rev. Paul Hart, Pastor at Shiloh Methodist Church (in 1979),
who took the photos
3. Lee & Bessie Robinson, who allowed us to use their home & farm
on Hot Rod Rd. in Catawba for the outside of the Madison family
farm.
4. Patty Mauney, who not only helped in the background, but
also allowed us to use the inside of her home as the inside of
the Madison home.
5. Jimmy Stewart, who allowed us to use to outside of the old
Stewart family home as the home for our Castor family in the
story. |
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Cast of Characters |
Dayne Miller:
D.J. |
Angile Roth:
Doris |
Tim Miller:
Renfroe |
David Hester:
Monroe |
Layman Mitchell:
Nutty |
Mitch Valentine:
Britt |
Tera McDaniel:
Clara May |
Mack Byers:
Chester |
Curtis Loftin:
Pa |
Lonnie Evans:
Hoot |
Patty Mauney:
Mamma |
Roger Brittain:
Dr. Coe |
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D.J. finds his best friend, Nutty, relaxing under a tree
and invites him to go fishin' |
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The two boys go back to D.J.'s house to pick up fishin' poles
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... and head for the pond |
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Down past the barn ... |
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... and through the lush fields |
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As
the boys relax, D.J. hears the gate to the pasture open |
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His sister Clara May was taking buttermilk to the pond to keep
it cool |
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D.J. and Nutty decide to hide and scare her by pretending to be
Pa's bull |
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When the boys hear the same sound coming from behind them , they
decide it's the real bull and take off running |
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Clara May and their brother Renfroe catch up with the boys |
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It
turns out Renfroe was the one making the bull sounds that scared
them - and he did an even better job than them |
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Clara May puts the buttermilk in the pond |
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Later that day Renfroe finds D.J. shucking corn at the corncrib |
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Renfroe helps shuck corn - hoping to be able to be able to go
along with D.J. and Pa to the mill |
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Nutty drops by and before long ... |
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... all three boys were shucking the corn |
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D.J. becomes angry with Renfroe and hits him with an ear of corn
instantly realizing that he had thrown the ear of corn at his
little brother much harder than he should have |
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D.J. helps his little brother into the house |
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Mamma questions Renfroe about how he was injured - but he tells
her he hit it accidentally on something in the corncrib |
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Mamma warns him to be more careful in the future |
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D.J. realized that his brother had covered for him but he wasn't
about to say "Thank You" |
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Bored with fishin', the D.J. and Nutty decide to go over to the
Castor's house and maybe start a fight |
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Doris was in the yard preparing hot water in a pot to do the
family laundry
D.J. and Nutty were always pickin' fights with her brothers, Monroe,
Britt, Chester and Hoot |
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D.J. wants to fight but Monroe tells them it's too hot to fight
so D.J. pushes the smallest brother, Hoot, down
Monroe tells D.J. to stop it - that Hoot is much smaller than
him |
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Suddenly Britt and Chester jump on Nutty |
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Monroe eventuallly gets involved and gets the best of D.J. -T
hey all decide to call a truce for the rest of the summer |
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D.J.'s father, Pa Madison, comes driving by in the wagon |
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Hoot asked Mr. Madison where he's been
but Britt tells his little brother that it's none of his
business |
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Pa
laughs at the two boys and then offers them one of his melons |
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As
they drive away, D.J. realized that the Castors really were good
friends |
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The next morning while eating breakfast ... |
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... Pa informs D.J. that the entire family is goin' to the mill
- including Renfroe |
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D.J. loads the wagon as the family prepares to go to the mill -
Clara May is annoyed with his attitude |
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Finally they they all get aboard the wagon and head for the mill |
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Halfway up the first hill, there was a loud scraping noise
coming from the area near one of the front wheels |
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Pa
stopped the wagon and got down to take a look, but couldn't
figure out where the sound was coming from |
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Renfroe asked, "Did the scraping noise sound like this?"
Pa tells him, "Renfroe, I'm a good mind to make you get out and
go home!"
"I'm sorry, Pa. I didn't know it would fool you," Renfroe
said.
"Henceforth," said Mamma, "limit your imitations to the
entertaining variety!" |
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The Madison family find Nutty standing beside of his mailbox as
they near his house and invite him to join them
They continue their journey on to the mill to have the corn
ground into meal |
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Murray's Mill Photo from
1979 |
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The rest of the day was a time of fun for the entire family
- games, walking around the lake and picnicking - then time to
head home |
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The next morning D.J. finds Nutty at his usual place
They decided to head to the spring for a drink of water but are
startled when Nutty sees a snake move in the grass |
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Nutty picked up several rocks while D.J. picked up a huge limb
and together they struck the water moccasin repeatedly |
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"What you doin'?" came a voice from behind them. Skinny
Little Renfroe climbed down from the tree and added, "That's a
big 'un". |
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Renfroe brushed some leaves away to reveal a string that was
tied to the snake's head |
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D.J. and Nutty suddenly realized the truth
Renfroe had found the snake that Pa had killed the day before
and had tied a string around it to make them think it was alive |
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D.J. was a little aggravated by Nutty laughed and congratulated
Renfroe for foolin' them
Seeing the strange look on his face, D.J. finally asked him,
"What's the matter Renfroe? We ain't mad at you." |
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Renfroe told his brother that his foot hurt really bad
"I'll help you to the house," D.J. told him |
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Mamma saw the red streaks coming from the recent injury |
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She tried to hide her concern and gotsome warm salt water for
Renfroe's foot |
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Mamma decided that they'd best get the doctor to come take a
look at Renfroe's foot, too, and sends Clara May to get D.J. |
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D.J. ran to the barn to saddle up the family horse and then rode
into town to fetch Dr. Coe |
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Dr. Coe ordered Renfroe to bed and Mamma warned him that he'd
better not get up |
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Clara May excitedly let Renfroe know that the radio they had
ordered had finally arrived |
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Renfroe turned it on but decided that the radio must be broken
when nothing happened |
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D.J. told his brother that the radio he'd ordered was an
"electric one" and they didn't have electricity |
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The Castors stopped by to visit their sick friend and Britt
Castor told D.J. that their mother had sent a blackberry pie and
some tea cakes |
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The Castors handed Renfroe the pie and se showed them his new
radio |
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Still not feeling well, Renfroe eventually fell asleep |
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Renfroe's foot continued to get worse and eventually Dr. Coe
decided to send him to the hospital in Atlanta. Mamma went
with him. |
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Several weeks later D.J. heard Dr. Coe's car outside and invited
him inside when he comes to the door
Dr. Coe informed the family that due to the severe infection in
Renfroe's leg, it might have to be amputated
Pa told Clara May and D.J. that Mamma and he had been praying
for Renfroe and not to give up hope |
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Eventually a letter came from Mamma telling the family that
Renfroe was starting recover and was feeling better |
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Clara May and D.J. told Pa that they wanted to give him the
money
they'd earned for working in the neighbor's peaches to help with
the hospital bill |
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Pa
told
them that he appreciated their thoughtfulness but they both
needed to use that money to buy some new clothes for school |
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D.J. confessed that the entire problem with Renfore's foot was
as a result of hitting him on the ankle with an ear of corn
Pa told D.J. that he shouldn't have "done it" to his brother,
but that he shouldn't blame himself |
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Several days later D.J. came in from morning chores and found
Renfroe waiting on him on the front porch
D.J. told his little brother how much he had missed him and
invited him to go fishin' with him and Nutty |
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They found Nutty resting in the shade of his favorite tree
D.J. put his arm around his shoulder and told him, "I'm glad
you're my brother, Renfroe." |
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After a little wrestling ... |
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... the three boys headed off to do some fishin' |
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THE END |
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If you've never read the book, it's a
charming tale of family rural life in the early 1900s
- and well worth the time to read and share with your children
and grandchildren. |
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SOURCES |
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Be sure to get your own copy
of the book at Amazon.com |
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