Dock Harper, like all the other farmers, did all the work with mules. "Verge" Kirk, an elderly black man, was the hostler and was responsible for feeding the mules and pumping water for them. Verge had a little girl named Mary Alice who would sometimes come to work with him. She was about the same age as Louise and they spent many a day playing in the back yard.
Mrs. Henderson said she well remembers taking a boat ride through the flooded orchards with her Uncle Damon Bolton in 1927.
During the Depression of 1929, the Harpers had plenty to eat, having raised their own food; hogs, chickenss, potatoes, milk, turnips and other vegetables. Louis's uncles would go rabbit hunting and would always bring back "Hoover Hogs." They were called Hoover Hogs after President Hoover because most of the people around blamed a lot of the Depression on Hoover. Soup and cornbread were served every day at the England School.
Mrs. Louise tells of a tornado coming through in the spring of 1930 in which it lifted up the little house in which they lived and set it back down. Her mother, Mrs. Ethel Harper, said it was God's answer to her 3 year old daughter, Ann's prayer which was "Oh! God don't do that."
