"Paw loved to show off old Mungo, his paint stallion and all the other paint mares and horses that he had," Alma recalls. "He would saddle them all up and get his boys on them and parade around the house to show them off to the Carsons, then he would blow his horn and the hounds would come running, yelping, bawling and jumping up as high as they could on Mungo where Paw was blowing the cow horn. He had that horn all decorated and polished up too. Then they would take off for a hunt. I know it must have been very exciting for the little Carson boys."
"Ada suggested that since we were all there together that we should go to Mr. Wiseman's studio in Hico and have our pictures made," Alma recalls. There was Jim Haile, Ollie and Dora and their children Noble, Wallace and Dan; Ada and Fred Gordon and daughters Edna Mae, Irene and Lena; Dud and Allie and their children Jim, Lillian, Mable and Gracie; Lola and Carl Carson and sons Oran, Clyde, Aubrey, Thurman and Raymond; Sue and Wyley Trammel and daughters Gertrude and Oveta; Kate and Benard Lynch and daughter Oma Lee; Alma, Little Jim, Mollie, Cubbie, Ella and David Crockett.
"Before Grand-Pa would have his picture made he went down to Petty's store and bought a new pair of stove top boots," Oran recalls. "They wanted the pictures because it had been several years since the Hailes had seen mother and they thought it might be that long before they saw her again."
Mr. Wiseman took several poses. One of Mr. Haile and his own children. Another of Mr. Haile, his own children and grandchildren. Then one of Mr. Haile and his grandchildren. All these poses are still in the possession of several of the children and grandchildren of Jim Haile today.
"It was quite a tussel getting the little kids all looking just right and keeping them clean," Alma recalls, "but we were all very glad we did it because that opportunity never came up again.
"We had started to Hico early that morning in wagons and buggies and by the time we got finished with the photographer and got back home it was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and we were all sure hungry," Alma says, "and Carl was beginning to say that they had really enjoyed their three weeks visit but that they had better start back to Oklahoma. "Paw took them to the train the next day but it took us several weeks to get over the excitement."
"Babe Garner and I had been going together for three or four years and so we decided it was time to get married," Alma Says. "The first time I ever saw Babe was about the year 1896. His family had moved to a farm just a few miles from our ranch, it's where Dale is living now. They had come from Burleson County and it was the neighborly thing to do in those days to go see all the new folks that moved into the community. We drove up in the yard and Babe was about 4 years old and he was sitting in the window. Maw said, little boy is your mother and dad at home and Babe said, yea he was sorta bashful like then. Well, we visited them for a while and they seemed like awful nice folks. Well they lived there awhile then moved around several places. I went to Gum Branch school with him one year then they moved again. I never saw him again until he was about 20 years old and he came to the ranch and went to work for Paw. Course we never did say a half dozen words to each other because we weren't allowed to talk to the hired hands or to be around where they were."
"When he first came to work on the ranch I didn't pay him much mind cause I was going with someone else but that was several yeas ago," Alma says.
"You see, I had to wait awhile to marry after Mrs. Lizzie died because I had to take care of the kids that were left at home" Alma says.
"Babe went to the field where Paw was working and asked him if we could get married and Paw said, she's over 21 and I'll not try to tell her what to do. We intended to meet the Justice of the Peace at the river and have him marry us because I didn't want to marry at home because I would have to cook my own wedding dinner. Well, Ada and Suc sent Benny, a hired hand, to meet Babe and tell him to stop by the Murry place and get Willie Rogers, the preacher, and bring him to the ranch. All the sisters were just bawling and squalling cause I was getting married and it made me so nervous. We couldn't even eat dinner because of all the takin on. My friend Birdie was bawling too and I hushed up and we had the ceremony at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon then we all went to church. The date of our marriage was June 27, 1915," Alma recalls.
"Babe's name was Osborn Ignita he was named after his dad. Osborn Ignita Garner was quite a name, but he always went by the name Babe. His dad didn't have a name until he was 14 years old so he named himself. Babe's mother sometimes called him 'Nichi' but because he was the baby in the family, they got to calling him Babe and it stuck with him all his life."
The following children were born to this union: Woodrow, October 12, 1916; Evadean, April 11, 1918; Obie, October 26, 1919; Dale, July 22, 1922; and Neal, April 19, 1928.
Mollie was now the oldest girl at home and she was now 'mother' to the other kids. Jim Haile was 61, Little Jim was 20, Mollie was 16 and was going with the boys some, Cubbie was 13, Ella was 11 and David Crocket was 4.
Jim Haile's finances were beginning to become a bit shaky. Instead of making every effort to pay for the land that he now had in his name but mortgaged heavily at the bank, he bought more land and took out second mortgages. On September 25, 1915, he bought 100 acres for $2000. Then again on December 11, 1915, he bought 7 ½ acres for $160. On May 12, 1916, he paid $3000 for 671 acres of land of the old Hoover survey. All this recently purchased land added to the land he already had gave him a total of 4094 acres. However, this total included two farms that he gave to Ollie and two farms that he gave to Dud. "Of course, when Paw bought this land he couldn't pay for it," Alma recalls. "It just seemed like he couldn't quit buying.
It was supposed to be a cooperative effort. All the Hailes worked the land together and were all supposed to help pay off the mortgages. However, the married sons were just getting started and had families and really didn't have enough money to take care of their own families much less pay on the land. Several times they would run out of money and would have to come to their dad and he would then go to the bank and borrow more money with still another mortgage.
The money that Jim Haile got from the sale of his cattle, horses, goats and cotton was always a little short of being enough to meet the mortgage payments so the payment time would have to be extended so payments could be made at a later date.
This spring of 1916 was a busy time. Jim Haile and Little Jim and Cubbie, along with the hired hands had planted the oats and wheat and the cotton and corn. They had rounded up the cattle and branded them and had branded the horses that Jim had raised or traded for and broken those that were wild.
Mollie, Ella and David had planted the garden, put up the plum and grape preserves and jellies and canned some green beans and other garden vegetables. "We just caught on how to can right after I married," Alma remembers.
"Paw loved to show off old Mungo, his paint stallion and all the other paint mares and horses that he had," Alma recalls. "He would saddle them all up and get his boys on them and parade around the house to show them off to the Carsons, then he would blow his horn and the hounds would come running, yelping, bawling and jumping up as high as they could on Mungo where Paw was blowing the cow horn. He had that horn all decorated and polished up too. Then they would take off for a hunt. I know it must have been very exciting for the little Carson boys."
