MR.ROOP'S "HORSE"
Every Saturday morning, during spring and summer months, we kids knew Mr. Roop would be coming up our street bringing us produce from his farm.
He drove a neat horse and buggy rig and kept us supplied with all sorts of garden-grown produce, as well as chickens from time to time.
Most unusual for us was the fact that he called his horse "Horse"
"Horse" usually showed up around 9:30 depending on weather conditions up river from us. A little rain didn't stop them and he said Horse was part goose anyway. She was the only horse I ever knew who giggled - a tremulous, little neigh of approval and seeming joyfulness when he saw us run out to meet them. Heavy snow, downpour storms with high wind and deep freezes, meant they would not travel. Not that they felt in bad to cope with the weather at its worst, but the ferry they used to cross New River would not be operating if the river was too high or the wind too fierce, of if flakes and ice flew to plentifully anything that might pose a hazard for Horse Mr. Roop and Horse were good friends of long standing. They looked after each other at all times. There were blankets under the buggy seat - one for “Horse” and the other for Mr. Roop if the weather turned foul.
Mr. Roop, called his horse “Horse”; his dog was called “Dog” and he kept it that way because, as he told us one time, the love they held for each other piled up when a friend had to be replaced. “They seemed to like it that way,”Mr. Roop told us. “Leastways, I never had no complaints.” I found out later that he had “used up” two “Horses” and three “Dogs” since starting the naming system when reference was made it Dog-2 in conversation.
I never knew if Mr. Roop had any other customers. He sold all his produced to a friendly grocer downtown, but he always gave us “first crack at“ whatever he had on board any Saturday morning he came to town.
We always felt we had been privileged to have him call on us when he came to town and we enjoyed many good meals of farm fresh vegetables, fruits and other farm treats such as chicken, an occasional duck and sausage or side-meat as available. They had a long drive from Snowville,Virginia down to a settlement called Newbern, so named by its original Swiss settlers. He crossed the wide, fast-flowing New River at Ingles's Ferry, a three-car or two-wagon cable-connected flatboat poled across the stream by one man walking the edge of the craft and making use of the fast currents to speed the crossing. Once on the other shore, our town was five miles long, and we lived half way through it.
There came a time when Mr. Roop and Horse could no longer take such a trip. We missed seeing them ...Mr. Roop ...Horse and, occasionally, Dog , but we have good memories of them having been part of our growing-up years.
A.L.M. May 19, 2003 [c804wds]
