Rockdale Farmer is in debt to no man

Rockdale Farmer is in Debt to No Man

Raises own living at home and has had no store bills for 11 years

"I see you are telling the world about that Cameron farmer who had a store account of

only $31," said Lee Caywood as he dropped into the editorial sanctum Saturday morning.

"Well, you can tell them you know a Rockdale farmer who has no store account whatever,

and hasn't had one in eleven years - and that's me."

Lee Caywood owns a little farm out in the Talbot Ridge community, about three miles

northeast of town. He cultivates less than 30 acres of ground but he does that

cultivation scientifically and well. He uses both barnyard and commercial fertilizer,

and he breaks his land nine inches deep and beds it high and wide. His annual program

is to raise his own living, his own feed stuffs, have something to sell every time he

goes to town, and his little cotton field is then clear velvet. If he fails to raise

any cotton no merchant worries, because Lee Caywood doesn't buy anything on credit -

not even drugs.

Lee's farm is of deep sand that conserves the moisture well, and this year in spite of

the drouth he has already sold $255 worth of watermelons and cantaloupes and has

another crop of both coming on. Lee says if the season had been right he would have

sold $1500 worth of melons and cantaloupes by this time.

His annual program includes melons, cantaloupes, radishes, peas, turnips, plums,

berries, grapes, and all kinds of garden truck in season, in addition to his feed crop

and a small acreage of cotton. When he hasn't anything else to sell he cuts and sells

wood. He has a few regular town customers who buy all their wood from him. He sells

about 150 loads of wood every year, and manages to cut and haul same at odd times when

his crops do not demand his attention.

Those who know Lee Caywood will agree with Reporterman when he says there is not a

happier, jollier farmer in Matchless Milam. He does not live in a mansion, and his

bank account is not plethoric, but he is never in debt, never hungry, and always

contented - and after all, contentment is what makes happiness. Lee says

diversification and a properly applied manner of sandy land farming will make anybody

independent who practices it. (Rockdale Reporter)

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John E. Lee is Host to Men at Oil Field Dinner.

John E. Lee gave another one of his famous "stag parties" Tuesday evening out at his

oil field home. John E. Lee has become famous among men of this section of the great

footstool as an entertainer, and upon this occasion he outdid himself. Starting at six

p.m. an alfresco luncheon was served at which almost one hundred of his friends from

Rockdale, Cameron, Minerva and the oil fields were treated to a variety of dishes of

that plain, satisfactory variety that leaves nothing to be desired. Home boiled ham

and home cooked beans formed two of the principal articles of diet, and every man

present insists that Mr. Lee must have some secret process of cooking these two common

foods, the dishes weer so good. Near-beer in bottles and kegs was also supplied, and

ad libitum, while the hospitality of the host was of that variety which makes it

difficult for the guest to tear himself away. (Rockdale Reporter)

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Outstanding Hero of World War is Victim of the Drouth.

Austin, Texas, August. 15, 1925 - One of America's outstanding heroes of the World War

is a victim of the drouth which has prevailed in this section of Texas for the last

fifteen months. This fact became known Saturday when A. R. (Buck) Simpson appeared in

the Capitol with former State Senator T. H. McGrefor in an effort to find work.

Buck Simpson has been living with his wife and two babies on a goat ranch six miles

west of Austin, but the lack of rain has destroyed the pasturage and the goat business

is in a serious condition. Simpson is not an educated man and depended on the only

business he has ever known. He was reared in the blue hills to the west of Austin and

left them for France.

"This man has a wife and two babies and the family is actually in want," asserted

Senator McGregor, as he placed the case before the State Board of Control with request

that Simpson be given a watchman's position, which pays but a meager salary. "This man

has no education," went on Mr. McGregor, "he having received decorations from France,

Italy, Belgium and the United States with citation by England and he received the

distinguished service medal from the United States. This was not for one act of

bravery, but he distinguished himself in the Argonne and at Chateau Thierry. It was in

the Argonne that he alone cleaned out a whole nest of Germans with a machine gun and

saved his own troops from slaughter. His valor there was recognized on all sides. He

ranks with Sergt. York of Tennessee as one of the great American soldiers in the war

and there is not enough we could do for him."

Simpson is an interesting figure. He is a giant in stature with sandy hair, sparse

built and his face and neck is burned by the hot sun which has shone this summer with

unusual heat in the hills. He was collarless and coatless. His shoes were rusty and

his blue hickory shirt was open the throat, but it was clean. The man is quite modest

and unassuming, taking no part in conversation, except when questioned. When asked

about some specific heroic thing he did, he is visibly embarrassed and never admits

doing it, always prefixing it with "They said I did it" or "I was supposed to have done

it."

Senator McGregor was insistent that something be done and the board promised to do its

best without delay, but had no place open.

"This man, his wife and two babies must be saved from the drouth," declared the

Senator.

These articles are from the August 20, 1925
issue of the Cameron Herald
with credit for two of them going to the
Rockdale Reporter