The Gift, The Towel, and The Legend!

Family legends are born everyday, sometimes they are tied to objects, sometimes to actions, and other times just to the people themselves – this is the Murphy legend of the canner and it actually involves all three. This is a tale that goes back to World War II and a time when the majority of meals were cooked at home and many items were either rationed or in short supply because of the needs of the military.

To give a little “back story” - Home canners were not “new” in the 1940's but they were not a common item and if you didn't own one before the war started you were probably not getting one until it was over!. My grandparents, Loyd and Eva Murphy had been married for just a few years and while my grandmother did not personally own a canner but she had been wanting one of her own for a while. They were ranchers in Borden County, I would tell you that the nearest “town” was Knapp but you wont find it on any map, better to say close to Snyder, Texas.

Now I must interject here a couple of facts about the character and habits of my grandparents. My grandmother was one heck of a cook and she took some pride in her cooking. Her recipes did not just include the “normal” fare she branched out..........heck you know those little “wedding mints” that you buy at the store? Not her, she had her own recipe (which I have) and I am not sure if there was a wedding or shower in Grady, New Mexico for 30 years that did not serve her mints!.........oh maybe I should mention that in 1952 they moved to a ranch outside of Grady, thanks to Uncle Sam for deciding that he just had to build lake J.B. Thomas and take up half of the Murphy land........but that is another story. Now my grandmother was what I would term more on the “reserved” side and she didn't do a lot of kidding around.

My granddad was a quiet man, if he spoke more than a couple of words everybody stopped to listen because it HAD to be important! He was awesome with animals and kids..........oh the tales I could tell of my adventures with granddad, lol. But he had a little bit of an ornery streak to him too! Lol, when I was little he and I would occasionally eat a meal or snack when grandmother was gone...........he would tell me we were going to let the dog wash the dishes and put them back in the cabinet so that grandmother wouldn't know! We let the dog lick them clean and he pretended to put them up (eventually I discovered that they ended up in the sink) I would giggle for a day thinking of what we had gotten away with.

Now this fact about my granddad is very important to the story - One thing he liked to do was pop you with a towel! And I am telling you that man could POP a towel so loud it would have made a mule skinner jealous! He rarely even touched you with it but the sound would make you jump five feet!

As had been the custom of most ranchers since the trail drive days usually the owner of the cattle would make the trip with the cattle when they were taken to the sale. My granddad ranched with my great-granddad and it came time to take a load of cattle to Ft. Worth to sell. Again because many things including gasoline and tires were rationed people didn't just drive everywhere they wanted so granddad rode with one of the truck drivers. Either in Ft. Worth or Dallas (sorry I don't remember this part of the story), the truck driver and my granddad stopped at a store............and on the shelf they had brand new Maid of Honor home canners! Well the driver and granddad proudly bought two of these treasurers to take home to their wives!

Shortly after arriving home with the canner my grandmother was in the kitchen and the canner was on the stove...........granddad came in and saw an opportunity!

He picked up a towel and flipped it back to “pop” grandmother...............his sneak attack was detected and SHE turned around and POPPED him! He dodged the towel and his head hit the canner............splitting his eyebrow and sending blood everywhere!

So now our legend of the canner has TWO versions...........

Grandmother – excited and proud that granddad thought of her and bought her a very wanted and treasured item.

Granddad – he went out of his way to buy and bring her something rare that every woman in the county wanted and she was so mad at him for it that she threw it at him and split open his head.

Lol, personally I like both versions AND the real story! I have possession of that canner, I have lugged around the Texas Panhandle............I would never dare can in it but for me it is a precious memory that brings a smile to my face every time I see it.