| Bob Weaver 2000
The snuff rubbers came from the hills and hollers of the Husk Ridge
(Hur-Richardson Road) to attend the one
room school that doubled as a church.
Tuttle Hill was a place of
worship or education, supported by several dozen
families who lived in the backwoods in the early 1900's. The
teachers, preachers, parents and kids, nearly all
practiced tobacco usin' during services or class, thus Tuttle Hill
got its name - Snuff Box Glory, the Tuttle Hill one-room school.
By 1950 an
official church building, the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, organized by Southern Baptists, was constructed
after the demise of the one room school-church.
"This church replaced the nearby Snuff Box Glory school and church"
The Husks, Coons, Carpenters, Tuttles, Goughs and other
families turned out for events, with some of the
worship services being held outside under brush shelters.
Worshipers
would seat themselves on logs, protected by
a "lean" of brush, and "stump preachers" would revive their spirits
from a stump. In more modern times, ornery boys irritate
folks around Hur squealing the tires of their pickup trucks and
roaring the motors of their 4-wheelers while they do
daredevil feats.
The anti-authoritarian youth of Snuff Box Glory days
had a tendency to go around and disrupt
church services, keeping the Sheriff busy.
On one occasion the
ornery boy clan hurled some rotten eggs into the
Baptist bent congregation on the Husk Ridge.
Aunt Harriett Adams, who undoubtedly was a
rubbin', got struck in the head and rose to
exclaim, "Oh Lord, numb the arm of that boy who threw that rotten
egg."
Ola Husk, a leader in the congregation,
continued the response from his stump in the middle of the congregation, shouting, "Oh Lord, just numb his
WHOLE BODY."
The late Pauline Kerby Duskey, wife of the Rev. Bob Duskey, who
got his start as a Methodist
clergyman in the Village of Hur, wrote about Snuff Box Glory:
"Many
things have changed over the years, but
memories still linger that keep me laughing."
"You see, most of the
old-timers (and even the kids) used snuff in those
days. The front part of the church was a favorite for the devoted. They sat in the amen corner, particularly during
revival." "The old-timers had their spit cans sittin' beside the pew,
and believe me they would spit whenever they
wanted to. You could hear the echo of the metal spittoons during
services." "I recall a group of boys from Cremo and
Cedar Grove paying a visit to Snuff Box Glory. Thirteen boys in all!"
"Beside the pulpit was a water bucket and
dipper, placed there before each service for the preacher to quench
his thirst and clear his throat." "The preacher
took off his coat, loosened his tie and his voice rose over the
congregation of about seventy-five people. He would
stop occasionally stop and take sips from the dipper."
"The thirteen
boys entered the right side of the church, and
one by one they went up the aisle to the pulpit and took a drink from
the bucket, and then quickly exited the other
door."
"The ornery boys ran off the ridge, not to be seen again. The
members seemed dumbfounded and the preacher
kept right on preachin', dry and parched. 'I seed it with my own
eyes,' an old-timer once told me."
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