Echoes From The Attic and Poems, Amelia Bradford, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Don Johnson, Feb. 2001
Typed by Belford Carver
Written by by Edna F. Campbell
Copyrighted by Edna F. Campbell
With special thanks to her family for permission to use her works.

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OLD HAMMOND STIRS AGAIN

That good old summertime of Hammond is brightening up the pages of Reader's Digest 
this month.  Lydel Sims, son of the late Dr. Linus A. Sims, has stirred nostalgic 
memories, especially for members of the Methodist Church, in his article "Miss 
Bradford's Slide to Glory" in the June issue.

The story, condensed from a lengthy narrative written by Sims for the Memphis, 
Tenn., Commercial Appeal Mid-South Magazine, tells of the annual Methodist Sunday 
School picnics during his boyhood days in Hammond.

He describes the long ride to Mandeville, the spreading of food, the great 
expectancy.  He tells of washtubs of cracked ice and the orgy of waiting for the 
for the blessing as requested by the breezy little superintendent, "Dr. Loosh," 
who in reality was Dr. Lucius McGehee.  Entertainment was baseball, horseshoe 
pitching and 
swimming.

The Miss Bradford in the story was Amelia Bradford and she left an indelible mark 
on the writer who remembers her as a lady of at least 60 years who wore voluminous 
dresses, black hats and never missed a church service.

The plot of the story is developed by Miss Bradford's acceptance to a challenge to 
"come on, Miss Bradford, go down the slide."

Miss Bradford followed the crowd into the water and ventured near the slide which 
Dr. Loosh had admonishedthe group as being perilous.  The writer tells of Miss 
Bradford's defiance and of her ascent and fall resulting in a broken collar bone.

The moral of the story was that one desperate deed done by Miss Bradford had 
succeeded in making her loved by every kid at the picnic, while all of her other 
good deeds had failed.

Mrs. Emmett Fortenberry, the former rose Wolfe, remembers when Miss Bradford spent 
part of the year with her parents, the Daniel Wolfes, in their home on South Holly 
Street.  Mrs. Fortenberry's maternal grandmother was Mary Ann Bradford and her 
mother was Rose McManus.

Mrs. Fortenberry recalls the slide escapade, the knee-length bathing suite she 
wore and the medical treatment she received from Dr. McGehee.

Rose and her sister, Mig, were mentioned as choir singers in the Methodist church 
along with Ray Streck and the Harry McCains.  Also named were Mrs. Mary Darouse 
and children Myra, Libba, Jimmie and Tootsie.

(From ECHOES FROM THE ATTIC, VIII, 1974, by Edna Campbell)