Smithsonian Contributions - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

56
To Cheever Meaders there was something magical about jugturning,
and when the mood struck him he took considerable delight
in demonstrating his skills to outsiders. It concerned him, however,
that "they's none of these young boys'll learn it at all; there's too much
of something else for 'em to see." Yet Cheever supposed correctly that
few boys in 1967 would wish to expend the necessary years of patient
study. Seconded Lanier:
I guess it would take about fifteen years for a person to get to where
diey can really learn it, really work at it. Of course, a man just starting
out, try to make a living at it, he'll starve to deadi. And if he owes
anything, or in debt, he'll lose everything he's got.
He acknowledged that someone who undertook a five- or six-year
apprenticeship with an expert could conceivably find success. He
hastened to add, however, that "you get discouraged at diis right
quick."
In turning ware, father and son both used foot-operated treadle
wheels, or turning lathes as other White County potters called mem
(fig. 16). These differed from the familiar artist's kickwheel in the
sense that the potter's foot was brought into contact with a treadle bar
connected to the axle rather than direcdy with the flywheel. Standing
or, more often, leaning back against a padded rail, he maintained a
steady pumping rhydim with his foot causing the device to rotate. Not
only was this arrangement less taxing than kicking a heavy disk
around, it also allowed the potter to vary his turning speed without
braking.
Cheever's treadle wheel was manufactured at a Rome, Georgia,
foundry around 1918 for his neighbor, Little Bill Dorsey. Upon
Dorsey's death three years later, the wheel passed to a member of the
Meaders family and was subsequendy purchased by Cheever. Among
its turning parts were an iron crankshaft with a U-shaped bend to
create an eccentric motion, a heavy metal flywheel, and a headblock on
which the potter worked. A wooden box surrounded the whole
apparatus as a support and also served for temporary shelf space
(fig. 17).
Cheever's headblock measured about fifteen inches in diameter and
was fashioned from four pieces of plywood which had been glued
together and machined flat. While other potters, including Lanier,
later abandoned this form of headblock for a cast-metal variety,