Published in 2011, the late John Eddie Vogt’s book, Witches, Bitches, and Other Small Town Folks, brings to life the quirky, unforgettable, and entertaining tales of growing up and living in Kendall County from the 1930s through the 1960s. Thanks to the gracious permission of his family, The Kendall Gentleman is honored to share excerpts from his book for your enjoyment.
Mr. Eric P. was from the old German school, as was his wife. The expression “waste not, want not” was part of their life from the time they got up in the morning until they went to sleep at night.
The couple owned quite a bit of land in Boerne and a part of it was along the Cibolo Creek, from almost the dam all the way down to the sheep dip and on the north side of the creek. To my knowledge this part of the creek has never gone dry because of the spring located on the north side of the creek a hundred yards or so below the dam. This was some of the best fishing of anywhere in the area. If you didn’t catch a prize bass it was no one’s fault but your own.
There was a problem though. Mr. Eric demanded a fee of twenty-five cents to fish from his property. Twenty-five cents doesn’t sound like a lot of money today but in the 30’s, 40’s, and early 50’s this was a pretty good amount. It would be like five or ten dollars today. If you didn’t go by his house and pay before entering there was hell to pay afterwards.
Mr. Eric had quite a few rent houses that he had built and they were real nice little rock homes. They were scattered around town and he rented them reasonably. When the builders were constructing these houses Mr. Eric would go each evening and pick up the bent and fallen nails and take them home to be straightened for his personal use.
Mr. Eric raised sheep. At that time we had a lot of wild plums growing along the fence rows and if you know anything about wild plums you are aware that they have small limbs growing off the trunk, almost like thorns. As the sheep would graze they would rub against the plum trees and some of their wool would catch and pull off. Whenever shearing time arrived you would see Mr. Eric out in the pasture with a large paper sack gathering the wool from these branches to be put with the shorn wool to be sold.
The story goes, but I cannot prove this, that Mr. Eric’s children wanted to put in electricity for the old couple. He held out but finally gave in to them with the understanding that they would only put in one hanging outlet so that in case it leaked he wouldn’t have to pay for so much electricity. I would think that this went back to the early days when you paid for your electricity by the number of outlets you had. I know that in the early 1900’s the price was thirty-five cents per month per outlet.
Years later when I had my own store, Mr. Eric came in one day and in German asked if I had needles. Leading him to the back part of the store where the sewing notions were I asked him if he wanted sharps or embroidery, and a large size or small size. He didn’t answer me but when I held a package of needles, about ten needles, towards him he again in German asked how much? I answered him in German that it was ten cents and he very indignantly in a high tone of voice said, “I don’t want the whole package, I only need one.”
When the old folks died they had thousands of dollars in twenty-dollar bills. They had rolled the money into little rolls about like a match stick and had stuck them in the little holes in the mortar where the concrete blocks of the walls joined together. What a way to live your life, but like many others of the old timers, this was all they knew.
More from John Eddie Vogt: The Eric P. land ran down to the sheep dip, JEV’s primer on how Texas ranchers fought the fever tick. For the recreation side of the same stretch of Cibolo, read Cibolo Fun and Food.
