Cracker’s Mule: More Than Meets the Eye
By Leah Stratmann January 30, 2003 Issue

For many early baby boomers born prior to 1950, only one generation separates them from the farm and the rural lifestyle of their grandparents. For urban kids, even those from small towns with all the modern conveniences of electricity and indoor plumbing, a trip to the farm of the grandparents was an adventure. The animals, the mysteries of the barn, the old-fashioned methods of washing clothes, the kerosene lamps and grandma and grandpa—she almost always in an apron and he in overalls—were undeniably romantic and in a different world.

Such are the memories evoked by Cracker’s Mule, the first novel of DeFuniak Springs resident Billy Moore. Moore was 11 in 1956. In the midst of the great polio scare he was sent to his grandparents Opp, Ala. farm for the summer by his urban dwelling (DeFuniak Springs) parents on the theory he would be safer from contracting the dreaded virus. It would not be an idle summer for the boy known as Cracker, and readers of a certain age will well remember the times of which he writes.

Trips to the weekly sales of livestock were among the most treasured experiences for the young Florida boy. He figured his grandpa Newman was as sharp a trader as any and he relishes the learning experience from each trip. Charged by his grandpa to listen real close to what was said about a certain mule up for auction, the boy listens and mistakes the phrase, “This mule don’t look too good on either side,” as indicative of being an unattractive mule. In auctioneer terms, the phrase means the animal is blind. Thus Cracker’s granddaddy purchases a blind mule for the awesome sum of $75 and the boy becomes the subject of much ribbing by the local populace for ownership of a blind mule.

With money tight that particular summer, the cost of the mule is a constant source of worry to Cracker, even when the blind mule proves to be capable and reliable as a farm worker. He calls the mule Mr. Sam, in something of a snub to the sale manager, also known as Mr. Sam. The mule responds to Cracker as he does to no one else, always aware when the boy is near, using his ears and sense of smell to identify his friend. The mule quickly adapts to finding his way to water and other places on the farm without the benefit of eyes.

The book carefully details the adventures of Billy in the summer of 1956. From trips to various fishing holes, with the faithful snake-hunting dog Ring almost always at his side, Cracker determines he has made the trip to adulthood. Not quite, but to an 11-year-old boy, the summer impresses upon him the value of a dollar, and how hard it is to make money farming in a summer plagued with near-drought and every penny figured on.

Moore claims he never owned a mule—blind or otherwise—but it is easy to look at the man and see the boy. To hear the book read, in Moore’s authentic “cracker” dialect, is a pure-d delight. While this book is being marketed as juvenile fiction, adults should read it to re-awaken their own memories of the summer of 1956 and realize how very much things have changed. Common courtesy and well brought up children are seemingly part of a dead past and one might honestly consider if this is progress. (Top)

Junebug Books, 249pp, available at The Book Store in DeFuniak Springs, local retail book stores, online retailers and from New South Books, www.newsouthbooks.com,

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