I was a coal miner's daughter, I lived in an old coal mining town. When I'd wake up in the morning and hear the whistle blow, my daddy would grab his dinner can and off to work he'd go.
He'd work hard all day and it weren't no fun. When he'd call for two dollars at the script office they wouldn't give him but one.
I would say "oh Lord looks down on me for a coal mining town is an awful place to be".
In the winter time when the snow would blow. I could look out the window and see the slate dump glow.
My daddy worked hard all day, and it weren't no joy because they were all covered with coal dust, every man and boy.
My daddy done told me he'd have to pay his union dues, but it didn't make me feel any better about the holes in my shoes. My mama made our dresses to wear upon our backs, but all she had to sew with was flour and tater sacks.
She made curtains and table cloths, and aprons to wear, even towels and dish rags to spare. We sleep in beds with 3 & 4 but that was better than sleeping on the floor. She made quilts for the beds with clothes we out grew. We had a warm iron to place at our feet. but had to get it warm before we went to sleep.
In winter we had a water bucket to get us a drink, but by morning we had ice water to drink. We had cows to milk and hogs to slop, chickens to feed and wood to chop. My daddy worked from sun up to sun down and mama would churn butter and sell it in town.
We would get a stick of gum to chew, we made it last the whole day thru, even at at night we forgot to stick it on the bed post in a special spot. When we woke up the next morning, Lord knows where we found it, in our bed or in our hair, mama would have to get the scissors and oh what a sight, in order to get that sticky stuff out, we must have been a terrible fright.
We went to the theater on Saturday night, we didn't have to worry if it was adult rated or not because only the bad guys got shot. We got a dime for popcorn and pop, no extra because that was all we got. At Christmas time we had a stocking we hung with care because we knew it it would be full of things we could shake, like candy, oranges, apples and pears.
We didn't have a washer and dryer then you know mama hung our clothes out side even in the snow, she was lucky the coal dust didn't blow.
I had to walk a mile to school, and teachers then believed in the golden rule, with a paddle in hand they were firm and stern, because we knew we had to learn. My daddy would always say if you want to be somebody worth while, when you grow up, don't ever drop out or give up, and I would say a coal mining town is an awful place to be.
We burned coal in the stove for warmth and fuel to cook, and the old family bible was our only book.
My mama would get up early for breakfast to cook, because she had to kill a chicken and feathers to pluck. before the chicken was ready to eat, she had biscuits in the oven ready to eat. She had biscuits in the oven and gravy as a treat, we had jam and jelly to spread on our our bread, but before we pass it all around we all bowed our heads. What we had weren't much and we had nothing to spare, but we always had each other we could share.
So being a coal miner's daughter and living in an old mining town is my story to you, and I hope you will believe me because its true!!
A Poem By Joan Gilbert
