The date was probably in December 1923, and we were on our way home after school.

There were six of us... Sister (Lizzie Lois), James, Ollie, Lula Mae, Agnes, and 

me (Mary Leila)... in a two-seated buggy pulled by our two horses, Daisy and Felix.

As we traveled home, James got this crazy idea of going by Uncle George Davis' (an 

old black man) to see if there were any oranges on his tree. In order to do that, 

we had to get off our main route and go through a low area, which during dry 

weather was passable. But since it had been raining, we soon found out as we 

approached that it was deep in water.

We girls objected to going any further and pleaded with the boys to turn around. 

But James said that it would be okay 'because Glen Geiger's father went that way 

all the time to his farm.'

We proceeded to go across, but the further we got, the higher the water came up 

into the buggy. James told us girls to close our eyes.

We closed our eyes, but then he told us to open our eyes and start getting our 

coats and books off the floor. We also had a 24-pound bag of flour in a cloth 

bag which we had picked up from the store for Mama. Sister held it over her 

head so that it wouldn't get wet! (By the way, Mama used these flour bags to 

make our underwear).

To make matters worse, the water got so deep that the horses were swimming!

We finally made it across, of course, but we were wet up to our waists. We 

stopped to assess the damage and that's when we saw a light colored object 

floating out in the water. Lula Mae thought it was her new sweater, because 

it wasn't in the buggy.

No one was willing to swim out to get it, though. Lula Mae was very relieved 

the next day when she found it at school!

I don't remember now if we went by Uncle George's place to get the oranges. 

I'm sure our only concern at that moment was Mama and Papa finding out!

 
On many occasions, Mama and Papa would be in the field when we arrived home 

from school. Fortunately, on this occasion, Mama had left a note saying to 

change our clothes and come to the field right away. 

On other afternoons, we would often linger and play around, but this time we 

changed our clothes immediately and hurried to the field. They never suspected 

a thing!

Many years later, though, we told them about our afternoon adventure, and we 

all had a big laugh!