In the fall of 1913 we moved to Marathon for the school term. I was seven years old and this was my first school year. Since we were the only family in our section with children, school was next to impossible except in Marathon or Alpine [7].
During the winter Scott had some type of fever which almost took him from us. While he was very ill the stork slipped down our chimney and left a little bundle in the form of another boy who was christened Max. He was so afraid of being neglected that he did nothing but scream for the next three months.
The house in which we lived was made of adobe and was white-washed with something inside and out that did a fine job of clinging to the mud bricks. It resembled a stucco house. I was in Marathon a few years ago and revisited this same house. It had been bought by some rancher and remodeled. The old part of the house was left and added to. It looked much better than it did some thirty eight years ago.
[7] Clifford B. Casey, "ALPINE, TX (BREWSTER COUNTY)," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hfa05), accessed August 18, 2012. Published by the Texas State Historical Association