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Speaker 1: Welcome to this Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Rieves

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Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

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Speaker 2: I want you to stay a while as.

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Speaker 1: I share my stories and the country skills that will

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Speaker 1: help you beat the system. This Country Life is proudly

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Speaker 1: presented as part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you

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Speaker 1: the best outdoor podcast.

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Speaker 2: The airways have to offer.

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Speaker 1: All right, friends, pull you up a chair or drop

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Speaker 1: that tailgate.

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Speaker 2: I think I got a thing or two. The teacher

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Speaker 2: Minding your manners.

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Speaker 1: Minding your manners. Man that's like biscuits and gravy, And

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Speaker 1: just like good biscuits and gravy these days, sometimes they're

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Speaker 1: hard to find. It was instilled in my noggat at

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Speaker 1: birth that as a male member of this planet, that

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Speaker 1: I was saddled with a few inherent responsibilities. Don't pick

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Speaker 1: on folks, I'm all than you. Defend those that can't

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Speaker 1: defend themselves, and show everyone as much respect as they'd allow. Now,

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Speaker 1: obviously we're talking about manners and acting right this week,

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Speaker 1: but it's going to be a little different. This is

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Speaker 1: going to be my first two part episode. Next week,

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Speaker 1: in part two, we're going to dig into the specifics

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Speaker 1: about manners. But today I'm going to unravel a tale

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Speaker 1: from my childhood that took forty six years to complete.

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Speaker 1: But before I do, I want to tell you a story.

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Speaker 1: A while back, I got an email from a young

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Speaker 1: man who was in college in Arkansas. He was interested

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Speaker 1: in coon hunting. He was from another state, had never

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Speaker 1: been coon hunting in his life, but he'd listened to

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Speaker 1: clayon Nuklem and I talking about it on one of

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Speaker 1: Clay's Bear Grease episodes. He reached out, and his email

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Speaker 1: was so kind and respectful and well thought out. So

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Speaker 1: I invited them to come and go with me. And

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Speaker 1: after a few days we met up and we went hunting.

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Speaker 1: He pulled up to my house in a truck that

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Speaker 1: looked like he'd built it himself for the parts that

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Speaker 1: no one else wanted. He jumped out, smiling, shook my

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Speaker 1: hand firmly, and told me how much he appreciated me

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Speaker 1: taking him hunting. He didn't know his behind from fifteen

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Speaker 1: cents when it came to anything about hounds or chasing

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Speaker 1: combs with him, and that was all right. It was

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Speaker 1: fun for me to teach him, at least what I

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Speaker 1: knew about it. And anytime I get to hunt with

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Speaker 1: someone that's interested in it and wanting to be there,

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Speaker 1: they'll get just as excited as I do. And I

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Speaker 1: really enjoy sharing it with him. It makes it that

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Speaker 1: much more fun for me. And I've always said that

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Speaker 1: sharing a burden with someone will lighten your load, and

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Speaker 1: sharing a joy will multiply it. And I can't think

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Speaker 1: of anything better to share than the love of a

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Speaker 1: dog and witnessing what that's dog purpose in life is.

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Speaker 1: Because I promise you, neither one of us was having

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Speaker 1: any more fun than old Whalen was. Now, like most

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Speaker 1: folks putting themselves through college, he didn't have a lot

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Speaker 1: of extra money, especially to spend on hunting equipment. On

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Speaker 1: his first night out, we drove to our hunting spot

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Speaker 1: and he pulled out a homemade light that attached to

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Speaker 1: his head by a strap and pired by wires connected

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Speaker 1: to a six volt battery that he toted it around

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Speaker 1: in his hand like a rock. The wires weren't long

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Speaker 1: enough for him to put the battery in his breeches pocket,

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Speaker 1: and that would have drove me crazy, but he'd never

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Speaker 1: said a word about it. His hunting boots were a

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Speaker 1: pair of Chuck Taylor converses. He never complained about the

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Speaker 1: wires coming loose causing his light to go out, never

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Speaker 1: commented that he wished he had a better one, or

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Speaker 1: a reference to anything about how dim it was. Never

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Speaker 1: said anything about wading through water in his shoes that

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Speaker 1: I know in my heart was the same pair that

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Speaker 1: he was wearing in school that day. I didn't say

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Speaker 1: nothing about him either, that would have been rude. He

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Speaker 1: was happy to be there, and I was enjoying his company,

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Speaker 1: and we had a great time. He asked a million questions,

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Speaker 1: and Whaling did his job by treating a few coons.

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Speaker 1: I invited him to come back again, and in a

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Speaker 1: few days when his schedule allowed it, I had a

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Speaker 1: light waiting for him when he got there. It was

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Speaker 1: an older coon hunting light that was more or less

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Speaker 1: an emergency sparis since I didn't use it, but I'd

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Speaker 1: held on to it, and while it wasn't new, it

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Speaker 1: was several steps above a headband and tote a battery.

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Speaker 1: I'd invited my good friend Rex white and to go

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Speaker 1: with us, and he brought him an old pair of

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Speaker 1: hip boots that he had to say, my little buddy

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Speaker 1: was overjoyed as quite an understatement. If you're unfamiliar with

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Speaker 1: hip boots, they're just a rubber boot that have material

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Speaker 1: swn to the top of the boot called chaps, and

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Speaker 1: a strap and a buckle attached to the top that

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Speaker 1: you lose around your belt. The chaps are a waterproof

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Speaker 1: layer for your breeches legs, and as long as you

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Speaker 1: don't wade in water that's higher than they go up

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Speaker 1: your legs, you're gonna stay dry. Now, my new hunting

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Speaker 1: buddy had never owned a pair of these boots in

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Speaker 1: his life, and when he put them on and pulled

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Speaker 1: the leggings up, he was looking at the straps and

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Speaker 1: the buckles the way a caf looks at a new gate.

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Speaker 2: He said, what are these for? I told him.

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Speaker 1: I said, just fasten them. They'll keep you chaps from

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Speaker 1: falling down while you walk. And with that instruction, I

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Speaker 1: had turned back to cutting whaling loose, and the three

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Speaker 1: of us stood there in conversation in the dark, all

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Speaker 1: about things about coon hunting. It was good to have

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Speaker 1: Rex with us. He was my coon hunting mentor, and

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Speaker 1: he was helping me train whaling. In answered a ton

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Speaker 1: of questions from our guest. Whaling got treated and we

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Speaker 1: all three took off toward where he was. We were

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Speaker 1: walking through the knee deep water, and with every step

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Speaker 1: I just knew my young friend was enjoying those boots.

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Speaker 1: What I didn't understan was why he kept falling further

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Speaker 1: and further behind. He was almost three times as young

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Speaker 1: as Rex and I and was skinning his old job's turkey.

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Speaker 1: He should have been out running everyone out there except Whaling.

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Speaker 1: We got to the tree and we waited for him

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Speaker 1: to get there. We let him find the coon, and

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Speaker 1: we cut Whaling loose again. We just stood there talking

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Speaker 1: in the dark, waiting for Whaling the tree again, which

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Speaker 1: in he did in pretty short order. We cut her

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Speaker 1: lights back on and we three took off again, and

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Speaker 1: again he fell behind. When he made it to the tree,

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Speaker 1: Rex and I had already found the coon and we

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Speaker 1: showed it to him. We cut Whaling loose again and

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Speaker 1: once again cut her lights out, and found ourselves standing

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Speaker 1: there talking in the dark. That boy never said a

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Speaker 1: word about his boots. Not one complaint. My coon hunting

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Speaker 1: protege turned his light back on and walked back over

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Speaker 1: to have another look at the coon that was still

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Speaker 1: in that tree wreck saw something that I hadn't paid

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Speaker 1: any attention to. He said, well, now I know why

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Speaker 1: college boy can't keep up with us. He's hobbled himself.

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Speaker 1: I said, do what Rick said. Yeah, instead of attaching

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Speaker 1: his bootstraps to his belt, looks like he's tied them

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Speaker 1: together and told him in his hand like a set

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Speaker 1: of reins to keep from falling down. No wonder he

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Speaker 1: can't keep up.

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Speaker 2: Well.

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Speaker 1: I walked over to where he was standing and we

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Speaker 1: looked at that koon for a minute.

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Speaker 2: Just talking.

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Speaker 1: All the while I was thinking of how not to

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Speaker 1: embarrass him, so out of the blue, I just said,

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Speaker 1: looks like these traps on your boots would come undone.

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Speaker 1: Those buckles are tricky sometime, let me fix it for you.

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Speaker 1: I buckled one correctly around his belt, and as soon

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Speaker 1: as I did, it was like he had an extra

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Speaker 1: light above his head that wasn't attached to his hat.

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Speaker 1: His face turned beat red, and I could tell that

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Speaker 1: he had just figured it out, and he snapped the

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Speaker 1: other and I never said anything, and he never said anything,

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Speaker 1: and Old Rex, he never said anything. At least we

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Speaker 1: didn't say anything in front of him. It was funny

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Speaker 1: and we still laugh about. But what seems second nature

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Speaker 1: to some may be a mystery to others. And it

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Speaker 1: thanks sure ain't a sign of someone's intelligence for not

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Speaker 1: knowing that boy's smart as a whip. My friend hasn't

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Speaker 1: hunted with us in a while since the school load

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Speaker 1: got so heavy, And the guy that didn't have a

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Speaker 1: grasp on how a bootstrap worked will finish up his

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Speaker 1: master's degree in business next fall, and that'll go nicely

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Speaker 1: with the law degree he finished last spring. I tell

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Speaker 1: you this out of the three of us that was

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Speaker 1: on that hunt that night, for if you count old Whalen,

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Speaker 1: he'd be my pick to keep me out of the

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Speaker 1: electric chair. Who knows, I may need that one day.

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Speaker 1: But one thing's for sure. Our meeting and becoming friends

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Speaker 1: was a direct result of a well written, respectful email.

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Speaker 1: Manners can be a key that unlocks adventure and knowledge.

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Speaker 1: I like to think we taught him a few things,

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Speaker 1: and if he didn't teach me anything, he definitely reinforced

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Speaker 1: some stuff. Being happy with what you have, living within

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Speaker 1: your means, prioritizing your budget, and working hard toward a

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Speaker 1: better life is the best way to succeed. He may

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Speaker 1: not have been able to afford a new truck, a

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Speaker 1: new light, or even a new pair of hunting boots

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Speaker 1: at that time, but he will, and those good manners

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Speaker 1: they didn't cost him a nickel, but it paid his

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Speaker 1: way into a lifetime of a standing invitation.

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Speaker 2: To hunt with me whenever he wants. And that's just

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Speaker 2: how that happened.

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Speaker 1: There's a ton of lists and books that describe the

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Speaker 1: proper etiquette for different situations and the manners associated with them.

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Speaker 1: It was just a part of growing up for me.

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Speaker 1: While I could be considered semi feral, how I acted

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Speaker 1: in any place I found myself was a part of

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Speaker 1: my home training, just like reading and writing in school

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Speaker 1: was saying please, thank you, You're welcome, Yes, ma'am and no, sir.

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Speaker 1: I do it a lot out of habit, but to

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Speaker 1: the folks that hear it, it tells them that I

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Speaker 1: value them as a neighbor. And they may not be

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Speaker 1: my next door neighbor, but in the scope of humanity,

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Speaker 1: we're all neighbors to some degree. And I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: when or why the decline in teaching children manner started,

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Speaker 1: but it's not hard to see that it has. And

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Speaker 1: to me, manners are a direct result of the amount

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Speaker 1: of respect you have for others and yourself. Now, I've

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Speaker 1: had grown folks around my children when they're talking to them,

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Speaker 1: and one of my kids would say yes, ma'am and

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Speaker 1: the adult would say, oh, you don't have to say

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Speaker 1: yes ma'am to me, and that's when I would say, oh, yes,

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Speaker 1: they do. It's not a statement about your age. It's

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Speaker 1: a sign of respect for you as an adult. I

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Speaker 1: was taught that just like every generation in my family before.

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Speaker 1: I asked my oldest daughter about what her memory of

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Speaker 1: manners training was in our family, and she gave me

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Speaker 1: the example that I just quoted you. She gave me

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Speaker 1: another one that when I or any other adult asked

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Speaker 1: her a question and she said yes or no, that

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Speaker 1: I'd always say, I'm sorry what you say, and she'd

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Speaker 1: correct it by using the appropriate term of respect by

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Speaker 1: adding sir or ma'am while I tried to set her

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Speaker 1: on fire with my eyeballs. She still has good manners,

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Speaker 1: and I still get compliments from folks about how kind and.

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Speaker 2: Respectful she is.

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Speaker 1: She cuts hair for a living, and if you'd like

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Speaker 1: to get some compliments, you ought to look her up

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Speaker 1: and let her skills turn your head into something new.

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Speaker 2: And your parents could be proud of.

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Speaker 1: Now, back at the beginning, I teased you about a

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Speaker 1: story that took forty six years complete. She's part of it,

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Speaker 1: and here it is. There was never a time when

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Speaker 1: my mother got called to the school for any reason

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Speaker 1: as a result of my behavior that the first question

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Speaker 1: out of her mouth wasn't was he disrespectful? One time

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Speaker 1: I'm reminded of was in the sixth grade. I don't

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Speaker 1: remember if it was before or after the time I

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Speaker 1: hopped a train with an accomplice, leaving school and the

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Speaker 1: rest of those suckers for a day of freedom and cigarettes.

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Speaker 1: But on this day, because of a minor classroom coup

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Speaker 1: i'd orchestrated, I and another friend who would remain a

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Speaker 1: friend of mine for the rest of his life, found

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Speaker 1: ourselves in the principal's office. Our teacher, Miss mary Anne Mobley,

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Speaker 1: had left the room and put our classmate Amy Ashcraft

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Speaker 1: in charge of setting on her stool and taking names

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Speaker 1: and writing them on the chalkboard of those of us

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Speaker 1: she caught talking. Now, Miss Mobley hadn't been gone long

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Speaker 1: enough for a cat toilick it's behind when my old

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Speaker 1: pal Donald started talking to me. The sound of chalk

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Speaker 1: hitting the chalkboard made me look up and seeing Amy

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Speaker 1: writing Brent and Donald real pretty like girls writing on

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Speaker 1: the chalkboard.

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Speaker 2: Doo.

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Speaker 1: But I hadn't been talking, not loud anyway, I was

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Speaker 1: mostly listening. But regardless, having your name on the board

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Speaker 1: was doomed. I knew what that meant. Miss Mobley had

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Speaker 1: warned us, get caught talking and you're headed to the office.

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Speaker 1: Going to the office back then was the one way

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Speaker 1: ticket to get in your ham smoked, unless you was

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Speaker 1: buying a pencil or going home for pukin after a

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Speaker 1: wild ride on the Merry Go Round. Your fate was

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Speaker 1: sealed when you crossed the office threshold, as mine often was.

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Speaker 1: I looked at Donald, and, being a highly decorated veteran

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Speaker 1: of getting my hand smoked at the office, I said, Buddy,

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Speaker 1: I ain't taking no whooping this time. I ain't done

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Speaker 1: nothing wrong much. I had been to the office on

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Speaker 1: multiple occasions for very deserving reasons, but this time I

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Speaker 1: was mostly innocent and I was taking a stand. Donald said, well,

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Speaker 1: I ain't taking one neither, and that's just how easy

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Speaker 1: our sixth grade non violid insurrection was planned miss Mobley,

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Speaker 1: God bless her. It was her first year to teach,

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Speaker 1: and she got.

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Speaker 2: Me and Donald in the same class.

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Speaker 1: Long story short. When the principal got the report of

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Speaker 1: mine and my coc and the spirits aleds transgressions, he

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Speaker 1: told me to assume the position and get ready for

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Speaker 1: three licks with his paddle. I said, no, sir, I

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Speaker 1: didn't do nothing wrong, and I'd like to call my mama.

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Speaker 1: He looked at me like I had lost my mind

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Speaker 1: and was smiling when he said, well, here, Brent, just

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Speaker 1: use my phone. I thanked him and thought to myself,

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Speaker 1: jokes on you, pal. She fished to wipe that smile

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Speaker 1: off your face and clean your plow when she gets here,

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Speaker 1: for you and everybody here have wronged her.

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Speaker 2: Baby boy.

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Speaker 1: I called her at he work at the Warren Bank.

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Speaker 1: I told her what I had just told y'all, and

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Speaker 1: she said I'll be there in just a minute. I

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Speaker 1: hung up, and Donald said I won't call my mama too. Sure, son,

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Speaker 1: go right ahead, was the principal's answer. He was smiling

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Speaker 1: even bigger. Now My mama and Donald's mama got there

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Speaker 1: at the same time. As fate would have it, they

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Speaker 1: both walked in the off and the principal said, Hi, Betty,

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Speaker 1: sorry to get you.

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Speaker 2: Away from work. What Brent wanted you here?

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Speaker 1: He said the same thing Donald's mama. He told her

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Speaker 1: why I was there. She looked at me, and I

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Speaker 1: told her what I had been accused of, and she

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Speaker 1: looked at him and said, was he disrespectful to you

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Speaker 1: or miss Mobley? And they both said, oh, absolutely not.

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Speaker 1: She looked at me and said, were you talking? And

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Speaker 1: I said no, ma'am. She was looking at me with

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Speaker 1: that same stare that I would later use on my

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Speaker 1: oldest daughter when I tried to set her on fire

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Speaker 1: with my eyes for having bad manners. The silence was deafening.

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Speaker 1: She kept staring at me, and the truth came out, Yes, ma'am,

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Speaker 1: but I was just whispering. The principal gave me three

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Speaker 1: licks with that paddle, and then my mama gave me

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Speaker 1: three more. Donald received the same fate. Now, I've told

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Speaker 1: that story a million times, but what always stuck out

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Speaker 1: of my mind in that situation and the countless others

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Speaker 1: that lay ahead of me along the story journey of

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Speaker 1: my education, that my mama always wanted to know first

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Speaker 1: how I'd acted toward my teachers or administrators before being

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Speaker 1: told what I had supposedly done. Now I forgave Amy

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Speaker 1: Ashcraft for writing my name down after a few days.

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Speaker 1: She was just doing what she was told to do,

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Speaker 1: and I knew better. Later that same year, I read

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Speaker 1: Where the Red Fern Grows, and I brought a jar

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Speaker 1: from home and I set it up on my desk

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Speaker 1: and I taped a piece of paper to it that

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Speaker 1: I'd written by Brenda Kundog Fund. Amy's was the only contribution.

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Speaker 1: She dropped a quarter in there, and as she walked away,

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Speaker 1: I told her that if I ever had a daughter,

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Speaker 1: I would name her Amy, and she.

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Speaker 2: Laughed at me.

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Speaker 1: Mss Mobley would teach for forty more years before retiring,

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Speaker 1: and while I was somewhat a rebellious child, she never

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Speaker 1: gave up on me. That year, the sixth grade was

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Speaker 1: a tough time for me. I was sorting through a

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Speaker 1: whole bunch of things, and it would have been easy

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Speaker 1: for her, a first year teacher, to just let me

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Speaker 1: coast along, but she didn't. She held me accountable, and

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Speaker 1: she let me know that she cared about me. I

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Speaker 1: acted like a clown in her first year teaching and

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Speaker 1: she didn't deserve that, and I never forgot it, and

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Speaker 1: to this day I still feel guilty about it. Last year,

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Speaker 1: my oldest daughter, whose name is y'all say it with me, Amy,

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Speaker 1: had just started fixing hair in my hometown and called

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Speaker 1: me and said, Dad, you'll never guess who's hairy.

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Speaker 2: I'm scheduled to do today.

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Speaker 1: Of course I had no idea, but when she told

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Speaker 1: me it was Miss Mobley, I got a little emotional.

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Speaker 1: I hadn't seen her in over forty years, but I

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Speaker 1: hadn't forgotten her. I told Amy that I wanted to

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Speaker 1: pay for it, and I did over the phone. I

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Speaker 1: told her that when Miss Mobley got there, not to

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Speaker 1: say anything to her about it until she was finished

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Speaker 1: fixing her hair. Then I wanted to tell her who

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Speaker 1: her daddy was and that I loved her, and that

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Speaker 1: I was very thankful for her not giving.

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Speaker 2: Up on me that year.

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Speaker 1: Regardless of the trouble I got into, she never quit me.

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Speaker 1: That probably wasn't the first time I'd made Miss Mobley

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Speaker 1: cry through something that I had done, but it's the

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Speaker 1: only one she ever deserved. In episode one twenty seven,

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Speaker 1: Know Your Trees, I briefly mentioned an incident in high

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Speaker 1: school where I took it upon myself to cram a

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Speaker 1: water wet paper towels in one end of an industrial

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Speaker 1: grade steel pipe that we used a practice cutting within

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Speaker 1: a satelene torch. I went to the open end, and

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Speaker 1: with that unlit torch, I released an unknown amount of

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Speaker 1: a satelene gas into my homemade cannon. I don't remember

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Speaker 1: where my watermelon stealing buddy was, but I'm sure it

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Speaker 1: was his idea to do it. Probably anyway, when I

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Speaker 1: sparked that flint striker and lit the gas, it shot

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Speaker 1: that water wet paper towels across that shop like a

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Speaker 1: shooting star. It was also so loud that the principal

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Speaker 1: heard the explosion from his office on the other end

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Speaker 1: of the school. My agri teacher, who should have been

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Speaker 1: given a medal for working in a combat zone every

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Speaker 1: day with a class full of hooligans, stepped out of

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Speaker 1: his office and said, I don't know who did it,

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Speaker 1: but somebody's in trouble.

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Speaker 2: That quote was good.

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Speaker 1: That quote was sent to me by my friend Johnny Nolan,

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Speaker 1: who listened to the podcast and reached out to me.

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Speaker 1: He was also standing in the general vicinity of me

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Speaker 1: when I did it. He and a couple of others,

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Speaker 1: along with yours truly, were standing there trying to look

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Speaker 1: innocent when the principal came running in, expecting to see

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Speaker 1: the street to tell Aviv, and focused his gaze from

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Speaker 1: clear across that shop on me and the boys around me.

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Speaker 1: I thought, I'm as good as dead, But no one squealed,

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Speaker 1: not a one. We all went to the office and

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Speaker 1: I fessed up. But I'm pretty sure that they all

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Speaker 1: got a few leaks as well. I know, Johnny did.

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Speaker 1: They dispatched justice back in those days with a shotgun method.

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Speaker 1: If you shoot into the covey enough, you're bound to

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Speaker 1: hit the right bird. And the ones that had no

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Speaker 1: hand in it, well, they probably got away with something

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Speaker 1: that sometimes, so it pretty well evens out. They called

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Speaker 1: my mama and she came up there again, and there

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Speaker 1: we all sat, looking like we were all waiting for

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Speaker 1: our turn in the electric chair. She said, come on,

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Speaker 1: and we walked into the principal's office and sat down.

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Speaker 1: He told her that I more or less had built

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Speaker 1: a bomb and set it off in shop class, and

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Speaker 1: I swear to my soul. The first question she asked

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Speaker 1: wasn't did I kill anybody or did anybody get hurt?

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Speaker 1: It was you guessed it was he disrespectful. I believe

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Speaker 1: in my heart the only reason she let me live

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Speaker 1: from the sixth grade until I graduated school was because

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Speaker 1: of my manners. It pays to be polite and respectful.

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Speaker 1: I thank you all for list and those have left

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00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,120
Speaker 1: reviews and shared our podcast with others. Man, we're hearing

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Speaker 1: from folks from all over the world England, Germany, Australia, Scotland, Finland, Norway, Africa, Japan,

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Speaker 1: even outer space places like California. Catch part two next

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Speaker 1: week and be good to one another. It really don't

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Speaker 1: get more country than that. Think a teacher and teachers,

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Speaker 1: y'all be thankful you weren't teaching in the Warren School

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Speaker 1: District from nineteen seventy eight to nineteen eighty four.

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Speaker 2: Here in my reign, beffonger.

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Speaker 1: This is Brent Reeves signing off.

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Speaker 2: Y'all be careful wh