a dog that contributed a lot to our survival. His name was Sputter Someone gave him to us after Dad died. He could run down a rabbit flat footed. He would bring them back to us in his mouth, still alive, kicking its feet and hollering. We had no need for a gun to get a rabbit as long as we had Old Sputter. We went out in the woods and let him know what we wanted. He would find one in a short time and the race was on. The rabbit had two choices, take a hollow tree or try to outrun Old Sputter. If his choice was to run the race never lasted long. If he took a hollow tree, that meant meat on the table tonight. Old Sputter would sit down at the hole where the rabbit went in. He would start barking so we could go straight to him.
We cut a long stick or switch with a small fork on the end. We would run the switch up the hollow, press the forked end against his body, and twist the stick around until it became twisted into his fur and hide, We would pull the rabbit down the hollow tree until we could reach him with our hand.
Old Sputter devoted all his time to taking care of us and helping with what we were doing.
When we were diving for fish he was on the bank watching. He never took his eyes off us.
If we caught a fish and threw him on the bank Old Sputter would start trying to keep the fish from getting back in the water He would drag him back from the water if he started getting too close.
The dog knew how long we could stay down without coming up for air. If we were after a big catfish and had trouble, causing us to stay down longer than he thought we should, he would be out there swimming where we went down.
We teased him sometimes to watch him. We would stay down for an extra long time and when we came up he would be out there swimming in a circle, looking for us. We would start acting like we were unconscious. He would take our hand or arm in his mouth and start for the bank, dragging us In the water If we were really hot after a fish and stayed down too long, he would come out looking for us. When we came up and he saw we were okay he would go back and take his perch on the bank.
He was always keeping us from the snakes. We had to walk to church. It was a one-room building made out of rough lumber, called Jonesville Church. It was located two miles or so across the bottoms, up in the hill land across the creek. There was only a small trail, one foot wide or so. We had to walk a foot log across the main part of"the creek.
We never owned a light. We walked that trail in total darkness. You could tell when you were out of the trail because of the brush on both sides. We were barefooted and most of the time you couldn't see the person walking in front of you. Sometimes I would stop and let the person walking behind me run into me, for a gag.
Old Sputter was always outside the church waiting and watching for us to come out. He would go first and we would line up on the trail behind him. We could not see him but we knew he was there.
We would hear him killing a snake in the trail ahead of of us. We would stop and listen. When we couldn't hear him anymore, we knew the snake was dead. We would continue on.
The way he killed a bad snake was worth watching. I have seen him do it hundreds of times.
He was very smart and fast. He knew how dangerous the snake was.
He would circle the snake a few times. confusing him. He would jump at the snake, then back out of the snake's reach. He would fake the snake out until he caught him stretched out. Then, like lightning he would move in, grabbing the snake with his teeth. He would sling him like crazy You could hear the snake popping up against the dog's body He was whipping himself with the snake. It was so fast you couldn't see the snake until he threw him down. If the snake showed signs of life he would grab him and repeat the treatment. The snake would soon be unjoined, burst open in places, and helpless. He would kill from one to a dozen in front of us on our way home from church.
As Old Sputter grew older he could not move as fast and his eyes weren't as good. The snakes took advantage of this. He was bitten several times and lived over it. He was a mighty tough dog and he knew we needed him. The snakes finally got him. I did not see the snake that killed Old Sputter I know he was dead, for Old Sputter would never have walked away from him if he hadn't been. He hated snakes and fought them until he died.
It was a terrible day for me when he died. I dug him a grave and gave him a nice burial. I made him a tombstone out of wood. I took a piece of wire and heated one end red hot then burned his picture and his name on the tombstone .
I was putting this up on the head of the grave when a long-time friend of mine came to see me. Mother told him I was down at the dog's grave. He came down there. He saw the head board and started laughing. I hit him somewhere alongside the head and layed him flat on the ground. He was still on the ground in shock. I told him it was wrong for him to laugh at my feelings toward my dog.
I told him, "Now, you can see what can happen when you do something wrong."
Davie and Albert Crabtree Smokey's Mother and Dad.
Albert Crabtree, Smokey’s Dad with his Ford car. Dad could not bring his car home with him except a few months during the dry part of the year. It was left at the home of a friend two miles away.
This is our house, mentioned in the beginning, the fireplace and chimney built of mud, grass and slats. There are beautiful flowers next to the house, though not in color they look like weeds, I know.
Chapter Three
I am just like Old Sputter in some of my ways. I am not afraid of man or beast. I am willing to die if I have to in order to protect the ones I love from getting bitten by a snake.
I was only a child when I found out for sure that all snakes don't crawl around on their bellies. Some of them walk upright. They are in the form of a man, but have very little man inside the disguise.
They will not reflect signs of danger, but can be fatal to you and your loved ones.
They will crawl up next to you as a friend. They even wiggle their way into your home.
Suddenly you realize that he has bitten you or someone you love.
Just like Old Sputter, as long as I can see, I will fight the snakes, all kinds of them.
I remember one time, not too long after Dad's death, we needed a barn, it did not have to be a large one.
We went into the woods with what we had, that was a crosscut saw with a handle on each end. It was manually pulled back and forth across the tree until the tree fell to the ground. Most of the time we would fall to the ground several times, to rest, before the tree would fall.
We had a chopax, a sledge hammer, and some steel and wooden wedges. We had made the wooden wedges out of small dogwood trees. We had a froe and a mallet. The froe was a piece of metal three inches or so wide and about fifteen inches long. It was sharp on one side with a large eye in one end of it for a handle. We had cut a round stick two inches or so in diameter and about fifteen inches long for the handle. The mallet was an alley-cop looking club that we used to drive the froe into the wood.
We cut down only straight,
