Two Longs and a Short: An Ozark Boyhood Remembered

By Phillip W. Steele

"If the blackberry patch brings back memories, you will like this book."
-- Small Farm Today

"We need books like this to remind us and succeeding generations that at one time the small, independent operator represented an essential ingredient for our country's successes."--Reviewer's Consortium

Long before cell phones and computers, home telephones were designated by a sequence of rings. To reach the late Phillip W. Steele's grandparents on Gilliland farm, the caller would have to ring two longs and a short on a wooden box on the wall. Inspired by memories of his grandfather, Joe, telling tales on the front porch, Steele collected elements of vanishing rural life.

These dissolving cultural pieces of rural life include diverse topics, from the lost art of stone carving to the history of the outhouse and chamber pot. Steele did not limit this work to only the tangible aspects of life. Legends on the creation of certain trees are also included, not to mention the important superstitious information on when is the best time to cut fingernails for health or wealth.

Steele was staunch in capturing every detail of this bygone time. There are multiple pictures on the topics described. Being introduced to images from sorghum mills to a picture of a granddaddy spider, the reader will understand the sights being discussed within the text.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1589802012
• ISBN13: 9781589802018
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.5" x 11.1"