The Bullitt County News December 24, 1909
Sunday, January 17, 2021
The Bullitt County News December 24, 1909
Saturday, January 16, 2021
The Bullitt County News December 17, 1909 The Children’s Corner
Friday, January 15, 2021
Children and Their Ways, continued
I am running out of pictures of GGGrandpa Charlie, but here is a photo of some of his offspring...taken around 1931-32, the year my Dad was born. On the left is my Grandma Alma - Grandpa Charlie's son Grandpa J. O. Ridgway is holding her oldest, my Aunt Bertha. the short lady is GGrandma Mattie.
August 2, 1908- BN Continued from last week
Thursday, January 14, 2021
The Children's Corner
always click on image for larger view- This is Mary Jane Ridgway ca 1860
July 19, 1908 BN The Bullitt County News Children’s Corner
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
The Bullitt County News February 28, 1908 BN Children’s Corner
My Childhood Home
I appreciate the frequent calls for C. W. R. and should have written sooner, but the paper has been so full of good interesting matter that I thought our space might be more profitably occupied. But if my little article may be a pleasure to any one I shall be pleased to write. I hope the people will remember that I write for the children. The very nature of home awakens many sweet and tender recollections. The one I shall try to describe to you may not be as dear to you as it is to me, but doubtless there is a spot somewhere that is equally as dear to you. Most people have had a home and the mention of that home awakens many sweet recollections; the mention of it causes the breast to heave and the eye to moisten. All that is dear to memory clings around our early home. When I was a small boy my father sold the place where we lived and bought what was known as the Bridwell place, situated on Floyd’s Fork four miles northwest of Mt. Washington and it was there that I spent the most of my childhood days. It was quite a large farm of 175 acres, but strange to say, that every building on it was made of logs, from the mill house to the parlor. The rooms of the dwelling house were large and comfortable. The parlor, as we called it was a large two story hewed log building with large old fashioned chimney at the north end with two fire places to it, one below, and one up stairs in the boys' room. The kitchen was a large old round building with a pass way between it and the parlor. Of course there were out buildings which, as I have said, were also made of logs; you must not suppose that they were not comfortable, for indeed they were quite so. If you could have seen those spacious, old fire places on a cold winter night well filled with dry beech or hickory wood, and mama with her knitting, papa with his paper and we children popping corn and cracking walnuts you would have thought it was a place superlatively comfortable. In fact, what we lacked in finery we made up for in good things to eat- for my papa was a good provider and my mama was a good cook. The best people in the county visited our house and the preachers made it their stopping place; so you can see it was a delightful old place. The yard was filled with locust trees and evergreen trees and some cherry trees. The sweetest shrubbery about the place was two large clusters of wild rose bushes, one on each side of the front door. There were large stone steps with the rose bushes on each side almost obstructing the doorway. The yard was long and rolling and reached down to neighborhood road that passed in front, so that you may imagine that in the springtime, when the trees and shrubbery were in full leaf and bloom, with the birds singing in their branches and the bees humming in the flowers it was a delightful place notwithstanding its modest pretensions. I must not forget the clear, cool spring that gushed out from under a cliff of rocks and sent its cooling waters through the milk house among clean jars and well filled milk cans and then went on to fill the big watering trough for the stock. But one of the sweetest places to my childhood remembrances was a summer bathing place in Floyd’s Fork near our house. There the creek widened and deepened until it became quite large pool, large enough to swim horses in. In the last summer days we would repair to that pool and enjoy it to our hearts delight. My papa would go with us and teach us to swim. He taught us how to ride the horses and let them swim. I remember the thrill of pleasure mingled with fear when first undertaking that feat. I must tell you how we used the fish in that pool. The little shiny fish would collect there the enjoy the deep water; we would work good all the week for the privilege of going fishing on Saturday evening, we would get a little eight foot pole and a line about the same length and we did not have to wait long for a bite, and when we would see our cork go under we would give a tremendous jerk and sometimes sent the little fish sixteen feet in the air, and when it struck the ground if it did not kill it, it would usually flop off the hook. The next thing was to catch it before it got back into the water and as the bank was steep it was a little uncertain which would get into the water first, us or the fish. But we seldom failed to catch a nice string of little fish. Mother would cook them nice and brown for us and we would enjoy eating them while we talked over that wonderful experience we had while watching them. Another interesting circumstance connected with my child life was our potato patch. My papa gave us boys a peck of Irish potatoes and told us that we might have all we could raise to sell for ourselves. That potato patch was well tended, and it was interesting to hear how many wonderful purchases we laid off to make when we sold our potatoes almost every thing that summer we laid off to buy when we sold our potatoes. The sugar making was also and interesting time when it came time to make sugar and tree molasses we would dig a large furnace, set the big kettles, prepare a sled and barrel; making the spiles was night work. When everything was ready we tapped the trees, usually putting two spiles in each tree, the water was collected and boiled in those large kettles until it was thick syrup, then it was taken to the house and strained through a coarse cloth; it was then put into large ovens and boiled to sugar, or molasses. There are few things better than good, thick, maple molasses, especially when served with good hot shortened biscuit. You are ready to say he is greedy, is that all not enough to make any one greedy? I would love to tell you about the watermelon patch and the apple hole, each in its own season, but I have said enough for this time. C W R (Charles W. Ridgway)
Sunday, January 10, 2021
The Bullitt County News April 19, 1907 Children’s Corner
Friday, January 8, 2021
The Bullitt County News April 10, 1907 Children’s Corner
It’s sunny slopes and grassy meads And sweet and sunny bowers
Its orchards white with flowers bright With fruitful nest in store
For it matters not how much we have We always want some more.
Most children are good, and many would like to be better than they really are. Children generally possess a desire to be good, useful and pleasant, and we should encourage them in such habits. We should let them know that we appreciate their good qualities and actions. It will encourage them. I am not one to put a bad meaning upon every thing that children do. Inexperience may some time lead them into error, Then should be kindly advised and pass over the error as lightly as possible. In fact a little prompting in advance might save the child from many errors which would be better than fault finding afterwards. Many little children would like to know what is right and would receive any good advice gladly and profit by it. I believe that almost any child, if taken in time, might be trained to be good, useful, and happy, and when children fail to turn out well the fault is more often in the training than in the child. Their moral surroundings has much to do with their spiritual growth and happiness and everyone should see that their moral surroundings are good. It is a real pleasure to observe some children in their walks and actions in life. They are pleasant, sweet, and affable in all their ways and goodness seems to be almost natural with them. They have nice manners and they move in an easy, natural way, and seem to make friends of every one they meet. Such children are a delight to parents and a pleasure to everyone. Happy the parents who have such children, for nothing gives parents more pleasure than to see their children turn out well. Most parents know something of the evils and temptations that beset children in their course through life . and when they see them possessing good moral qualities that will make them strong to resist the evil it is a great source of pleasure to them. May God bless the children and help them to be good. C. W. R.
Thursday, January 7, 2021
The Bullitt County News March 22, 1907
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
The Bullitt County News March 8, 1907 BN The Children’s Corner
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
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Monday, January 4, 2021
The Bullitt County News September 8, 1905 BN
Sunday, January 3, 2021
The Bullitt County News November 25, 1904 BN
The Bullitt County News was a short lived paper published in the early 20th century. The following entries that were identifiable as being written by my Great Great Grandfather Charles Wesley Ridgway were excerpted from the existing remnants of that paper housed on microfilm at the Ridgway Public Library in Shepherdsville, KY. Transcribed by Anthony Foster from 2008-2009.