The Mountain Laurel
The Journal of Mountain Life

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from the
Heart of the Blue Ridge


My Mother's Domain

By Lora Fleming © 1988

Issue: May, 1988

Way back in the mountains, many years ago,
There once stood a cabin where now tall bushes grow.
To visit there now would fill my heart with pain,
(Twas a little log cabin, my mother's domain)

Here mother ruled proudly like a queen on her throne,
And no modern conveniences did she ever own.
Yet on my automatic range I never can bake
Any thing half as good as her pies or her cake.

In there we children would gather in snowy weather or rain
To the haven of this kitchen – our mother's domain.
In there I heard Mother pray many a prayer
While kneeling beside an old kitchen chair,

But Mother and kitchen have both passed away
Not even a cornerstone remains there today,
Gone too are brothers and sisters, alas never again
Will I visit the site of that log kitchen, our mother's domain.

EDITOR'S NOTE... Lora Fleming will be 78 in July of this year (1988). She has been a widow for the past 20 years and is the mother of eleven children, ten still living. She reads, writes, types, sews, gardens and was once a school teacher. She runs a free lending library out of her home with over 300 of her own books from her living and bedroom shelves.
When I remarked that she certainly has led a full life, Lora replied, "Well, I didn't waste any of it." We wish a very happy Mother's Day to a good example of Mountain Mothers – Lora Fleming.