[Granville-Hough] 15 Oct 2009 - Sartor's Folly

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

SARTOR’S FOLLY

More quotes from William Sartor’s “Meanest Valley in America,” Life 
Magazine, 1967. “…Many of the women still wear ankle-length dress, rich 
with lace trim, and high-top shoes…” Remember, this visit was 1967. 
Where, in America, in 1967, could you buy ankle-length dresses with lace 
trim, or high-top shoes? Answer: Maybe near Broadway or Hollywood where 
they make costumes for stage performers. Not from department stores in 
cities or towns in Mississippi, and not from Sears-Roebuck or 
Montgomery-Ward catalogues.
It seems Sartor’s informants were Peter Sullivan, at the time 83 years 
old and his cousin Rosa, about 75, old-maid daughter of Joseph Sullivan, 
Jr. Probably Peter is describing what he saw in his youth, around 1900. 
If Sartor saw some woman with high-top shoes, it was probably someone 
prepared to milk her cows in the barnyard, and wearing men’s brogans to 
save her regular shoes from cow manure. If anyone presently alive ever 
saw anyone in Sullivan’s Hollow wearing ankle-length dresses or ladies 
high-top shoes for daily wear, please let me know when and where.
Another quote: “When the weather is good, old people sit on porches, or 
in swings, shelling beans, sorting scraps for a quilt, or just listening 
to the wind in the cottonwoods. There’s not much else to do in 
Sullivan’s Hollow.” Just for the moment, I will refer you to the “wind 
in the cottonwoods.” I actually never saw a cottonwood shade tree in 
Sullivan’s Hollow. Perhaps someone set one out. Or maybe they have been 
introduced like kudzu and now grow on the creek banks. As the second 
person ever to enroll in Forestry at Mississippi State University, I 
know that the cottonwood tree will grow in Sullivan's’ Hollow if set out 
and nurtured. But it is not natural there in the sandy clay hills.
Years earlier, in the days of longleaf pine, it was common to go to 
sleep to the soughing of the pines, a low soft monotone of the wind in 
the longleaf pine needles. It seems more likely Sartor was sold a bill 
of goods, probably much to the amusement of his informers, both of whom 
were known for practical jokes. Rosa also had such a sharp tongue that 
many people approached her with caution.