Morton – Alright, first of all, Bo Jay, what was the town like when you lived here long go, when you first started living here; your first memory. What was the town like?

Hodges – We had four grocery stores, hardware store, variety store, drug store, which is now called the pharmacy, one doctor, one dentist, one dry cleaning shop, one shoe shop, uhh one Chevrolet dealership, we had two cotton gins, five tomato sheds, two saw mills.

Hodges – Yeah, we had a theatre here, and there used to be a, uhh, passenger mail train that come here which we called a jitney.  And they had steamed locomotives that come through, 2 or 3 times a day and the little passenger train run from Lufkin to Tyler. 25 cents to run from here to Broaddus, 50 cents from here to Lufkin and they had a Greyhound bus that come through town in the morning and back in the     afternoon to Tyler and Lufkin.

Morton – So it was a lot different then?

Hodges – (Nods saying) This was a farming community, farming and uhh sawmill and that was all there was running. 

Morton – So that was kind of like your first job, working as a farmer?

Hodges – Yeah, I farmed and I worked at the tomato sheds and cut wood for a little bit and I cut logs for about six years, started when I was sixteen. Oh, we had a jail and a courthouse there. Only one man got in our present jail.

Hodges – (Laughing) I don’t know who that was. 

Hodges – But during the 30s and the war, you couldn’t hardly get up and down the streets of Wells on a Saturday.  Everybody come to town Saturday.  Gas was rationed, shoes was rationed, clothes was rationed, food was rationed, and uhh most of the farming was done with horses or mules.  Very few had tractors.  Probably wasn’t over five or six of us used ‘em. 

Morton – So after that you went into the military?

Hodges – Right.  After 1952, I went into the army, stayed two years.  And then uhh, the 18^th of February, flied to Germany in July last of July and left Germany the 15^th of  February, no the 5^th of February in 1955.  Worked at the foundry from ’55 to ’57,  got laid off and went to the Air Force, spent two more tours in Germany, one tour in Iceland.

Morton – Do you remember some of the events or some of the stories from the time, or that you can say? (Laughter)

Hodges – (Laughs saying) Yeah, I remember one thing.  There was an old man, I was   drinking coffee in the café.  An old man came in and wanted a cup of coffee and a piece of homemade pie.  The waitress told him didn’t have any homemade pie. All they had was these little pies in cellophane bag,  had a little plastic cardboard bottom to it.  He said he’d take one of those.  And he sat there and he ate and he   told the waitress. Said, “Daughter”, he called all the waitresses daughter. Said, “Daughter, that was good pie but it sure had a tough crust.” He ate the cardboard. (Laughing)

Morton – (Laughing) He ate all of it, huh?  Oh, man.  I heard another good story about a preacher long past used to walk on water or something like that. 

Hodges – Yeah.  He told everybody, told all of his church members that he was gonna walk on water and he would show them on Sunday. Well he went out to a pond and put holes in the water, in the mud, put him some posts there just below the water and nailed planks on them. And he was gonna walk on water about three or  four inches deep, deep enough they couldn’t see the holes. Well, some boys was watching him and after he left, they sawed the boards into and he walked a little piece and then "bloomp".  

(Both laugh again)

Morton – So you had a good time back then in the old day?

Hodges – Oh, yeah.  We used to go huntin’, fishin’, went barefooted.  The girls got shoes in the summer all  year round, but the boys didn’t get shoes until the cotton was picked and all the debts was paid off cause all the farmers had borrowed money from the bank and when all that was paid for, which was about $125, $150, and that was everything – feed, seed, fertilizer, food and all that. When that was paid, you got shoes. Well, I’d come to school out here barefooted with frost on the ground. 

Morton – Really? Man.

Hodges – And I wasn’t the only one. 

Morton – I mean, uhh, how many brothers and sisters did you have?

Hodges – Well, I had two brothers and two sisters. 

Morton – So it wasn’t real easy back then was it?

Hodges – No, it wasn’t real easy. The school was fired with wood heaters. The gym was the old auditorium now. It was fired with a wood stove and it had balconies and it was always full. 

Morton – So you went to some of the games?

Hodges – Yeah, I went to some of the games.  It was always full.

Morton – Did you see the women play whenever they played half court?

Hodges – Yeah, the women played half court.  The boys played full court and it was real           interesting.  I wish that the young people now could see how it was back then.

Morton – Yeah.  It was a lot different at that time.

Morton – So that was the system back then. 

Hodges – Yeah.

Morton – It was a big farming community? 

Hodges – BIG farming community!

Morton – Well, I appreciate you...

Hodges – They was... Well I started cutting logs when I was sixteen years old.  And we made about $5-$6 a day.  When I quit cutting logs in 1952, I took about 2 days to go huntin’.  I was making $12 – $15 a day.  Nobody was making that back then. We worked hard. 

Morton – So that was good money?

Hodges – Yeah, that was good money then. And when I went into the army, the pay was $79 a month.  And when I made staff sergeant, I was making $142 a month. Now a man goes in a $1,100 a month. 

Morton – Yeah, right.

Morton – I guess that’s it.  I appreciate you doing this. I had a good time.  

Morton – Uh, huh, really. But you don’t now.  You have a house. 

Morton – I guess that’s it. 

Hodges – I forget her name, what it was. Well, she married Robert Luce. He was a counselor and she was a teacher. She asked me to talk to the kids one time because I was older than she was and I was telling them that we used coal oil lamps with kerosene in them or in front of the fireplace to do our homework.  And a girl raised her hand and I asked her what she wanted.  And she said, “Where did ya’ll plug the TV in?”  I said, “The coal oil lamp.” 

Morton – It was a lot different back then. 

Morton – Well, I guess this concludes the interview with James Edward Hodges.  It will become a part of the oral history project of the department of history of Wells High School, Wells, Texas. The interviewer was Brett Morton. I appreciate it much. Thank you.