Interviewer: {NW} Ah let's see you were telling me about your husband and you say he was a he was a member of this Pentecostal 548: #1 Uh-huh # Interviewer: #2 Church too # Do you know anything about his schooling 548: {NS} He didn't have any Interviewer: Didn't have any schooling 548: Mm-mm Interviewer: Was he was he able to read and write 548: No all he could He could figure and keep up his cotton weights and such as that you know Just figure just a little bit that's all Interviewer: And you say he worked well was he the one who worked at this mill 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: Was he in any kind of uh church group or any other kind of club or anything like that 548: Uh-uh Sure Interviewer: Was he from around here is this where he was brought up 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: In Greenville 548: No not in Greenville uh Around Rueville and through up in there And I lived in Rueville when he met me Interviewer: Is that right how did y'all meet 548: Well My s- My step-daddy wouldn't Wouldn't let no Boys come Around Around to see us girls And he went to the gin with a bale of cotton And my husband Uncle Brought This My {NS} This boy to my house While he my Step-daddy was going to the gin And uh so oh we talked a little bit you know Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: But I mean my Husband's uncle He went back by the gin and told him says I I carried the old sacks yonder to see your daughter While you was gone So Of course my step-daddy didn't say nothing to him he waited until he got to me And So he He says that boy ain't coming back here no more And Says if he does then you're going to talk in the same room where I am I says I ain't going to talk to him And uh So anyway My step-daddy take him to You know before But we had our date Set But before he had come back to talk to me my Step-daddy had hematuria And he was shut up over there in one room he couldn't get out You know he was in such a bad shape Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: Well he was He was dead inside for two days after he had taken hematuria Well he had come back My husband {NS} Come back and talk to me that That time And uh You know we just the whole house was only So anyway We he asked me to marry him the second time he had come Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: So I told him yeah And my step-daddy done told me Um If uh After he had taken sick he told me said well If you want to marry that boy you marry him since it's your bed if you make it hard you're the one you got to lay down on it Interviewer: Hmm 548: And uh But he wouldn't give up when he got sick And when he got sick and He told me I could go ahead and marry him Interviewer: You say he got hematuria what 548: Hematuria Interviewer: Hematuria what what what's wrong with you 548: Kidneys just turns to blood Interviewer: Ugh 548: Just blood and doctors can't do nothing about it Interviewer: Goodness bad 548: And he had hematuria seven times Interviewer: Whew pretty rough 548: Yeah Your blood will be gone and you That's it Interviewer: Did you get along with your step-daddy very much 548: Yeah I knowed to get along with him I know not to back Talk him uh-uh Interviewer: Did you like him didn't like him too much 548: I was scared of him Interviewer: Did he give you spankings a lot or 548: He didn't spank none of us I'll tell you Uh When he when he would woo he'd get a buggy switch Or a {X} Interviewer: Hmm 548: Maybe you know what that is I don't know Interviewer: That sounds like it probably hurt 548: Uh-huh Man he cut the blood every time he hit you Interviewer: Hmm 548: We was scared of him So I don't know Interviewer: Yeah that's pretty 548: Well Before he died Before he died uh he had a chill He had chills about two weeks And went on picking cotton every day and had three sixes In that pot Interviewer: Had three what 548: Sixes A medicine Interviewer: Oh 548: For he For chills Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: And every once in a while he'd just open his bottle and take him a Swallow of that you know No time of day of course you're supposed to take it right And That day he had a chill on him and He'd come into the Stove where I was cooking dinner We went in for dinner And He was sitting there watching me and He said Claire Bell if I asked you something will you tell me the truth I ain't going to whoop you Well I knew when he said that he wasn't going to whoop me And he says I ain't I ain't going to say Say the rest of it not on that thing But anyhow He He says ain't you girls said lots of times you big enough you'd kill that old And I I said I said yes sir we sure have We says we was big enough we'd just kill you and get you head off Interviewer: Hmm 548: Then he began to try to Um Explain things So I I couldn't see No good in what he was talking about So I never gave my apologies to him But he laid corpse in two days Interviewer: Is that right 548: That's right Always have felt bad though I should made apologies Interviewer: Well that's just the way it goes 548: But if it ain't from your heart well it ain't no good anyway Interviewer: Yes ma'am that's true {NW} Uh talking about your house what about uh the room that people used when they had company you know 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: What did they call that 548: Back in them wasn't nothing like that #1 Um # Interviewer: #2 What # 548: Course there was a front room where you went in but generally they had beds in that front room And in the middle room Because if you got a three room house and you had a You know there was four or five of you you had to have beds anyhow Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: They didn't they didn't keep a room just like we do now uh-uh {NS} Interviewer: What would you call a room like that nowadays 548: {NS} Nowadays Interviewer: Yes ma'am say the best room in the house 548: I don't know what they called it back in them days Interviewer: What about now 548: What about now Interviewer: Call it the living 548: The living room I reckon Interviewer: Do you ever hear people call it the parlor 548: {NS} Yeah I sure have #1 Since you said that # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # Does that mean the same thing 548: Mm-hmm I hear them call it that Interviewer: What 548: Parlor living room or Different things I Like I told you starting there's so many things I done forgot Interviewer: That's okay have you ever been in a house that had a real high ceiling 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: Kind of old-fashioned house 548: Yeah And you'll freeze to death in that house #1 during the winter time # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # Is that right 548: You bet Takes so much heat you know Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: To go up to that Fill that room Now this in here won't be hard to keep Interviewer: About how high are these ceilings here 548: Uh I don't know They ain't high though Interviewer: You reckon they're about ten uh 548: I imagine about ten foot Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: Now for knowing I don't know Interviewer: That looks about right I don't imagine you have any trouble keeping this place heated do you 548: I don't imagine I will Interviewer: Oh that's right you haven't been in here 548: {NW} Interviewer: In cold weather 548: {NW} Interviewer: That's right yeah 548: We see that uh They pay their They pay the water And the gas here anyhow And I pay the electric {X} Interviewer: I see where'd you live before you moved over here 548: Eight nineteen south of {X} Right over there Three room Shotgun outfit Interviewer: Mm 548: Just three room Interviewer: Yes ma'am they had uh had you been trying to get in over here for a while 548: Mm-hmm yeah You have to Sign up and wait a good long while Finally when they get you on into it then you can get it Interviewer: Back when you were growing up did y'all use a fireplace 548: Sure did Interviewer: Could you tell me about how you built a fire in one of those things 548: Well Yeah I made a mini one {NW} But in the evening I'd always pick up {NS} Get me kindling Little Little limbs or kindling little stuff that's easy to light Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: And uh So I tried we tried to keep a little coal oil And put a little coal oil on that kindling And uh Put our wood on the fire and then set Set the kindling on fire you know and then That's all we'd have a fire Interviewer: Did you burn big pieces of 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: Wood 548: Yeah Called back sticks great big Sticks about that big around you know Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: And lay that in the back of a Fireplace over there And then put littler wood in the front That would throw the heat out now Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: Oil Them things good too Interviewer: Right 548: I still like a fireplace Interviewer: I do too would those back sticks burn all night 548: Yeah Probably be part of it there in the morning Interviewer: Hmm 548: Still have some fodder Start my fire with Interviewer: Yes ma'am was there anything inside the fireplace that you laid those back sticks on 548: Mm-hmm We called them fire dogs Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: And Anyway it {NS} I guess you've seen them Interviewer: I haven't seen too many of them what did yours look like 548: Well it's a Big old tall piece of iron It's heavy And then Uh Down here It'd spark that way and it stands up on the And then there's a Piece of iron runs out from that back To the back of the fireplace And you lay your wood on that Not lay it down flat then it wouldn't burn anyway Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: Lay your wood on {NS} We called them fire dogs I don't know what they are Interviewer: Yeah I've heard them called that was there a open area right in front of the fireplace 548: Uh-huh down under the wood Interviewer: Did that have a name 548: No I was just talking about the wood that's up here you know it's open down under there Interviewer: Oh 548: Where you Put your kindling and stuff #1 Set the # Interviewer: #2 Right # 548: Fire Interviewer: I was thinking maybe that there was an open place right in front of the fireplace 548: Uh-uh Interviewer: Called the hearth or hearth 548: There was a hearth down there Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: There was bricks A a brick place you know around in front of the fireplace to where You know the floor won't catch fire Interviewer: Yes ma'am I see was there a place right over the fireplace where you could put pictures or stuff like that 548: A mantle That's what we called it a mantle Interviewer: Yes ma'am when you burned a lot of wood in your fireplace that stuff that's left after it's burned down 548: Ash Interviewer: What color were those usually 548: Well sometimes it was Black Or just Corner of the kind of wood you'd burn Interviewer: I see you know when you burn a lot of wood in a fireplace do you get this black stuff inside 548: Smut {NW} Yeah But uh Um We used to slack our water I burned hickory wood If we could get hickory wood We would burn that Uh Wood and then Put the ashes in the flower sack And uh Drop it in the barrel fill up with old pumped water And it would slack that water For us to wash our clothes in Interviewer: Oh 548: That old nasty pump water you couldn't wash your clothes in And we always had to slack it But Just put them ash in the sack and drop it down that barrel Fill it full of water shoot we got some good wash water {NW} Interviewer: When you say you slacked the water 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: What did what did that do to it 548: I don't know what they just old hard water you know and it just Well you wouldn't get your clothes clean Interviewer: Hmm 548: And Interviewer: Would those ashes help out 548: Uh-huh I don't reckon you even know what pump water is do you Interviewer: No not really I sure don't {NW} 548: Well it ain't good I don't like it But But anyway why We had to slack before we washed Interviewer: Some people have told me that that smut can catch fire have you heard that 548: Yes It can Burn the chimney out and boy that Fire will go way up there Interviewer: You ever seen that happen 548: Uh-huh yeah And uh And so I've always heard to go Throw salt in fire you know when your chimney catches fire And the dampness of that salt you know will put it out Interviewer: Huh 548: And we've done that many a time too Interviewer: It works 548: Yeah it worked uh-huh Interviewer: That's interesting I haven't heard of that before 548: It did though Just Go get you a big handful of salt and pour it in the fire And sometime I'll do my chimney sweeps and burns {X} In the chimney Boy I mean when You know whenever you start making a fire in winter time They have to go Interviewer: {NW} I guess they do what about {NW} {NS} This thing right here what would you call this 548: Couch Interviewer: Ever heard it call it by any other name 548: No Interviewer: What about sofa 548: {NW} I reckon so Interviewer: Call it that would that be the same thing 548: Yes It would answer for the same thing Interviewer: For what 548: It it would answer for the same thing yeah But I just always called it a couch Interviewer: But you've heard that other word used 548: Sofa uh-huh It's both the same thing though Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: It's got to be Interviewer: What about what you're sitting in what would you call that 548: A chair is all I know Interviewer: Were there when when you were growing up did y'all have a couch in the house 548: Uh-uh Might have had Three or four little straight chairs like this Interviewer: You mentioned I think uh a bench in your house where was that 548: Bench Interviewer: #1 Right # 548: #2 {NW} # {NW} Interviewer: Whereabouts was that 548: Well that was on uh Mister Pebbles' place Uh Yeah Top My step-daddy and I made a Bench To go down one side of the table For us children to eat On the bench And I was so small I had to set a bucket on the bench and me sit on the bucket To be high enough to eat Interviewer: Is that right 548: Yes Yeah We we had a bench in the house biggest part of the time Around the table Interviewer: Did you have anything in your bedroom that you didn't have anywhere else in the house like where you kept your clothes 548: No There wasn't no closets them days to hang them in neither Um Um #1 No # Interviewer: #2 Where # Where'd you hang your clothes 548: Just hung them on the wall Interviewer: Just had to hang them on the wall 548: Yeah Put a nail on the wall Interviewer: What would you call that thing right there with drawers 548: I just call it a nightstand Interviewer: Would it have drawers in it where you put clothes in 548: Mm-hmm But it's in the wrong place it belongs in {NW} Interviewer: Do you have a thing with drawers that's got a mirror on it 548: Mm-mm Hadn't got a dresser Now a dresser belongs with this but I didn't get the dresser Interviewer: Yes ma'am and you would call that a nightstand 548: Mm-hmm Interviewer: It's got about four drawers to it 548: Mm-hmm Interviewer: No mirror 548: Yep Interviewer: Have you ever heard people call something like that a chester drawer 548: Yep Interviewer: Is that the way they say it 548: Yes Chester drawers or either Nightstand I just call it anything Interviewer: Same thing 548: Yep Interviewer: Yeah we were you were talking about uh places where you would hang the clothes uh you know some people before they had closets in their house 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: They had these great big old things with doors that would have hanging space inside like it was a separate piece of furniture 548: Mm-hmm Interviewer: Have you ever seen anything like that 548: Yeah Yeah I've seen them but I I hadn't ever owned one Interviewer: Where did you see it 548: Oh I don't know Out In Other people's houses I saw some up there in the store too It's got a mirror Come comes all the way down there The Door Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: And you open it and you hang your clothes in that Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: You re- 548: We didn't have nothing like that back in them days Interviewer: {NW} 548: Uh-uh Interviewer: Do you remember what they called those things a wardrobe or 548: Wardrobe I don't Interviewer: Okay um these things that you have over your window to keep the light out what would you call that 548: Drapes Curtains {NS} Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: I just say curtains Interviewer: Yes ma'am have you ever had these things that are on rollers and the top is where you pull them down 548: Just uh shades #1 You know to pull that mm-hmm # Interviewer: #2 Right right # 548: {NS} I had some before I moved over here but after I moved here they won't fit these big windows Interviewer: Oh they won't 548: Uh-uh Interviewer: Do you like those shades better or do you prefer these curtains 548: Well being up on the Seventh floor I just prefer the curtains I like plenty of light Interviewer: Yeah I do too 548: {NW} Interviewer: Don't like dark houses 548: Uh-uh Interviewer: Uh did you uh have this all of this at your other house 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: Just moved it over here 548: Mm-hmm Well when I had come back from Texas I I didn't have anything to go to housekeeping on not one thing And uh So in the house The woman had to go had to move Because she stayed drunk all the time Interviewer: Oh 548: And they made her move And uh So I went in In there and uh I ask her About About buying her ice box and stove And she was going to sell it for a hundred dollars for both of them But uh she had done sold it But she said uh she'd sell me that couch The chair And uh Bed stand and springs for ten dollars So I give her ten dollars and there's where I got that at Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: You know I just pick up a piece here and a piece yonder wherever I can get it you know like that Until I've got enough I can get by Interviewer: Do they have a store in town where you could buy chairs or couches or 548: Oh yeah There's plenty of places you can buy them but I didn't have money to buy new ones Interviewer: What what kind of store would that be 548: Furniture store Interviewer: They have those downtown 548: Mm-hmm Yeah Interviewer: {X} Furniture's pretty expensive nowadays 548: Yeah Interviewer: Out of sight 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: Just like everything else 548: Yep Well So anyway that that's the way I got what I got in my house just Buying it Picking it up that way a piece or two at a time right out of there Interviewer: Yes ma'am is the house where you were living before you came over here was there a up above right underneath the top of the house you know some houses have a place that people use for storing things in #1 Do you know of anything like that # 548: #2 Uh-uh # Uh-uh Uh-uh sure would Interviewer: Have you ever seen a house like that 548: No don't think so Not that I remember anyway Interviewer: Didn't have an attic or anything like that is that what you would call it 548: Yep That's what I would call it but they that didn't They just Just three rooms Straight through and that was all Just an old Cheap apartment that's what it was Interviewer: But you've heard of a place 548: Mm-hmm Interviewer: Called a what was that 548: Attic Interviewer: Yes ma'am and that was right underneath the 548: Where the uh {X} Comes down Uh Over the edge of the house there Is that the attic Interviewer: Yes ma'am it's right underneath the roof 548: But Yeah there Well there there's bound to have been a place A attic there Where bird spills around the edge of the house Interviewer: Yes ma'am right um talking about the roof of a house you know some houses right on the edge of the roof they've got these things that'll carry off rain water 548: Yeah Interviewer: Do you know what people call those 548: Uh-uh I never did know Interviewer: Have you ever heard it called a gutter 548: Uh-uh I've seen them but that's all Interviewer: But didn't have any particular name for them 548: Uh-uh I've seen them yeah that that's good they're good too Carry all the rain water down in your barrel where you wash too Interviewer: Right right people used to have barrels to catch that rain water 548: Uh-huh To wash with Interviewer: Mm-hmm I see yeah you know on some houses the house has different slopes to the roof 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: Have you ever a place where two different slopes come together kind of like this 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: Have you ever heard of that place where they come together called anything in particular 548: No Interviewer: Like a valley or anything like that 548: No Interviewer: Uh-huh 548: But but I've I've seen in places where that water Hits the ground And just washes a big hole in the ground Interviewer: Right 548: I've seen a place Interviewer: Mm-hmm be nice if you had a barrel there to catch it 548: Yeah Be nice if you did Interviewer: {NW} Sure would uh-huh yeah uh around here some of these old houses have you ever seen them where the kitchen was built away from the main part of the house 548: Yeah uh-huh Interviewer: Whereabouts have you seen that 548: I saw one uh Last Friday We went to A picnic Sixty plus Uh gave us a picnic But we went way back way down {X} Or down through yonder And uh On the way out to this place wherever it We went to to have a picnic we passed one up Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: That house that's sitting here In that little old Kitchen I always called it was sitting right off out here Well there was just a little Walkway between the house Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: Kitchen Interviewer: Reckon why they had it that way 548: Don't know Well it used to be alright but I I wouldn't like it now There's too much mess going on I wouldn't want to go up in that house in the kitchen before daylight Interviewer: Really 548: Uh-uh Interviewer: You got a lot of meetings going on here in Greenville 548: Good lord me Interviewer: {NW} 548: They'll kill you for a dollar Interviewer: Really I didn't think Greenville was big enough for that 548: They will too Right right here lately Interviewer: Huh 548: Been here lately They they beat one poor nigger to death and went out to the Garbage Well Would have been Big things like that to put garbage in Interviewer: Oh it was a big green 548: #1 Out out # Interviewer: #2 Thing # 548: Edge of the country Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: And he went out there to empty the garbage and somebody knocked him in the head Thought he'd just got to check you know Interviewer: Oh 548: Knocked him in the head and got About thirty cents off of him Interviewer: Hmm 548: When he paid his Bills you see he didn't have no money Interviewer: Didn't kill him did it 548: Yeah they killed Interviewer: Oh really 548: And uh So I I heard of another one here in town They killed him and got two dollars off of him Interviewer: Oh hmm 548: Man this place is rotten Interviewer: Was it another colored person that killed him 548: Yeah They killed {X} Both both of them Yeah they was colored people But white people around here that's a bad bunch anyhow too Interviewer: Is that right do they uh is there anything open in downtown after night or where do they where do they hang out these people just all over 548: Yeah Uh Oh there's all kind of old drinking places and Juke joints and things like that There's all kinds of places for them to hang out Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: I don't do it I stay in the house {NW} Interviewer: I don't blame you well what would you call a little room right off the kitchen where you might store extra dishes or canned goods stuff like that have you ever heard of a place like that 548: Cupboard Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: Is that it Interviewer: Is that the same thing as a pantry 548: Yeah Uh-huh Same thing Interviewer: Has a separate room or is it just like a cabinet 548: Oh it's a Something like a cabinet Mm-hmm Interviewer: But you can call it either a cupboard or 548: Pantry Interviewer: Same thing I see 548: Yeah mm-hmm Interviewer: What about you know some people have a lot of things that they really don't need maybe like a broken down chair or something like that 548: #1 Mm-hmm # Interviewer: #2 That they # Just don't want to get rid of it 548: Yeah Interviewer: What would they say they've got they've got a whole lot of my house is just full of 548: I'd say junk Interviewer: Uh-huh 548: {NW} Interviewer: {NW} 548: What would you say Interviewer: Same thing just junk have you ever heard of people that had a separate room in the house where they kept all their junk and stuff like that 548: Uh-huh Always called it the junk room Interviewer: {NW} Have you ever had one of those 548: Mm-hmm Because uh You know uh Several times I've had lots of Stuff that the Children would Didn't need They wanted me to keep it for them or they'd buy them a trailer or something and then I'd wind up with all their junk Interviewer: #1 {NW} # 548: #2 And I # Have to pile it back had to take it somewhere to take care of Interviewer: Yes ma'am when when you uh you were married and your children were still at home 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: What did you do every morning after you got up out of bed 548: Well first thing I done when I got up I cooked my husband's breakfast and got him off to work Then I'd get the children off to school And uh So I had one boy was sick James That was my baby boy Oh I was out in the yard washing on an old Rub board And tin tub Out in the yard I guess you know what that is Interviewer: Uh 548: Boiling my clothes in an old black pot Interviewer: {NW} I've never seen that done 548: And uh So A rub board Interviewer: Uh-uh 548: You haven't s- Interviewer: I've seen one I haven't seen anybody use it though I think I saw one in uh #1 {NW} # 548: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: Did you did you use that rub board while you were washing them 548: Uh-huh Uh you wet You wet your clothes you know And then you Rub them on that rub board And then when you get through you put over here into your pot and boil Interviewer: Hmm 548: Big old big old black pot Interviewer: Yeah what was the rub board supposed to do to it 548: Get the dirt out of the clothes Interviewer: Oh oh those things those ridges #1 Were supposed to knock the dirt out # 548: #2 Uh-huh uh-huh # Yeah Supposed to get the dirt out And uh So I was out there washing and I left Raymond my oldest Son in there to take care of of the younger one while I washed I heard a big commotion in the house and when I got in the house {NW} James was laying on the floor didn't know nothing But Raymond had him up on the bed with a Box over his head running around and around on the bed And James fell off Off the bed Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: He knocked a A nerve Come right down this way And it went back to his kidney main nerve went to his kidney he knocked it Uh loose Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: And uh {NS} So He didn't know nothing I carried him to the doctor They couldn't do nothing for him But Oh just just looked like he was going to die anyhow And he So I I just Done all I could for him but And then get to having those Convulsions Interviewer: Hmm 548: And uh So Carried him to the doctor and he said He said it was uh Uh But an- But anyway I can't think just now But it's kind of Epileptic That's what it was Epileptic but it wasn't it was causing that nerve And it kept getting worse and kept getting worse and then he {NS} Just got to where he just stayed on the ground just waving his eyes Up in the top of the house And just having one convulsion right behind the other Interviewer: Hmm 548: Well the doctors couldn't do nothing about it And uh so my One of my daughters was born she's three days old And I carried her I mean my neighbor had come in And she says why didn't you carry this baby to the chiropractor I said well I don't know nothing about no chiropractor She said well get up and get your dress on I got up And she carried me to the chiropractor And he They got a Little board with a thing with a hole in it And they laid him down and stuck his Nose through that hole And uh So he was Drawn off His eyes all rolled back you know And I mean just just {X} Interviewer: Hmm 548: And uh He got out and run and played and Hollered and jumped all over that place Interviewer: Is that right 548: And uh I'll tell you if if a nerve ever gets wrong that's the only thing that'll do it Is a chiropractor Interviewer: Hmm 548: And uh So he I said well doctor what do you think about it Do you think he can handle it he says me and the lord too can And So It had taken him two years To wear that off Interviewer: Hmm 548: You know and get that nerve back in place where it would stay And Probably I'd have He'd take one of them spells and I'd have to Carry him up there by the time I get home then another was ready Interviewer: Oh 548: Look up this or either look down that way and that would pull that thing out again Interviewer: Hmm 548: And So I'd call Doctor Irving and here he comes And So he jumped up one night and Put on his uh Robe and And house shoes And was heading for my place You know I called him if the boy had uh Had one of them spell Not one but one right behind the other And my husband Uh he he had a bunch in there you know praying for him When the doctor come in And the doctor just But the doctor What I started to say though the law stopped him and For speeding Made him pay a Fine before he got there Interviewer: Hmm 548: But when we got there he knelt in the door and he said his prayer And he went on around to the bed where that boy was And he And he He just Cocked His head you now he just {NS} Snatched him around that way {NW} Looked like he Looked like he pulled his head that far off his shoulders Interviewer: Hmm 548: You know he was that nervous fast Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: But he knowed how far to pull it And {NS} And so James just opened his eyes and went to talking Interviewer: Hmm 548: He's alright Long as you can keep But it's taken that man two years to {X} Well I'll tell you He says well I've got to go away for Two weeks I'm going to get married I said uh-uh He says why I says I might need you before you get back and nobody else won't do Interviewer: Hmm 548: And he said oh you guys don't need me I says I don't know He says bring him in Friday for a check-up I carried him in Friday And He laid him up there again on that little old table thing Put him to sleep Just just that quick you know just one little nerve that'll put you to sleep I don't know where it is And So he he just walked the floor and I know he was praying And he walked the floor and prayed and walked the floor and prayed And I got scared I said Said to myself I said well I said lord if he's If he's going to die let him die easy You know I told God I need him But directly he just went back there and woke him up like that James got crawling up just like You know he'd been asleep And He He took a bottle of oil Just like a Holiness people Anoints people and prays for them And he anointed that boy from the Top of his head bottom of his feet Interviewer: Hmm 548: And from that day to this he didn't have another one Interviewer: Is that right that's amazing 548: And he was our chiropractor He don't give medicine He ain't allowed to give a shot or nothing But he just works up and down levels with the spine Interviewer: Have you ever been to one yourself 548: Uh-huh They make you feel good Interviewer: What kind of trouble did you have 548: Well I I had headaches Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: And uh A lot And And uh So he I called him out to one of my sons he had pneumonia he didn't know nothing But he can doctor anything but I I didn't think he could but I called him out there and And He just give Carter enough Adjustment You know worked up and down them leaders around Jerked his head way off of his shoulders and you could hear his neck when it'd pop you know Interviewer: Hmm 548: And So Carter just laid there like he was dead he didn't know nothing And So Directly he The doctor got up and give him another adjustment Carter just opened his eyes and went to talking just like he always did Interviewer: Hmm 548: He had so much fever he didn't know nothing Boy I mean he cooled that doctor cooled his fever right now Interviewer: Hmm 548: Didn't give him nothing neither Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: Just done it with his hands Interviewer: That's interesting the way they can do that I've never been to one 548: Well I'll tell you right now there's There's things gets wrong with you like that they're really good To For Slipped disc or anything They'll put it back in place Where any of these other doctors are going to cut on you Interviewer: Okay a lot of them like to do that 548: Uh-huh He ain't allowed to do nothing but use his fingers Up and down and then up Uh {D: bleeders} Interviewer: Hmm 548: Nerves and things Interviewer: Yes ma'am talking about what you did uh during the day did you how often did you have to you know sweep up the dust and that kind of thing did you do that every day or just 548: No Not everyday But uh now we didn't work on the field in the field on Saturday We We toted water And scrubbed The house from one end to the other Uh You know uh We'd get an old hoe and uh Twist us a You know what a crocker sack is Interviewer: Sure do 548: And double it about four times and get us a piece of water And fasten it around the hole And that's what we scrubbed that floor with Interviewer: That was a mop that was a mop 548: And it sure cleaned that floor too Interviewer: I bet it did 548: {NW} Interviewer: You know when you were cleaning a house did you ever get these this stuff that would gather in corners and your ceilings and you'd have to get a broom and get it out 548: I don't remember I don't think so though Interviewer: It looks kind of like this stuff that spiders make you know 548: Spider web Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: No I don't Don't remember I guess we did but I don't Don't think Interviewer: So you used this hoe with a crocker sack tied around what did if you were going to just sweep what did you use 548: Oh we we had {X} Well Sometime we used a straw you know There is a straw that you can cut and make a broom But it's not good like these Now But But uh generally we had just an old Straw broom Interviewer: Whole thing was made out of straw 548: Uh-huh Oh it grows up about that high {NS} And I guess you've seen it I don't know whether you know what it is or not Interviewer: Uh let's see is that is it called broom sage or something like that sage broom I'm not sure 548: It might be I But straw is all I would Call it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: So anyway when we cut it Make us a broom out of it Just a big wad of it you know and tied it with a spring good and tight you know Sweep for that And fresh brooms to Sweep the yard off with Interviewer: What kind 548: Fresh Interviewer: Oh yeah 548: Broom Just get you a a bush bushy Something you know and Fresh Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: Leaves and things off your yard Interviewer: Yeah back then were there certain chores that you did on certain days of the week like on Mondays you always did something in particular 548: No Interviewer: Like with all your dirty clothes 548: Well It's just Well yeah if uh There's days that I had to go to field or days I didn't Uh But uh You talking about way back yonder Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: Well No Uh That had to be on rainy days Or either on Saturday That we done our washing and And uh Scrubbing the floor and you know {NS} switches out Because we had all that other work to do and go to the field So We had to do our washing on Saturday Interviewer: I see there wasn't any particular day when you did your a lot of cooking or 548: Uh-uh Interviewer: Or anything like that 548: Back in them days there wasn't a lot of cooking done We cooked three meals a day alright just Such as it was yeah Whatever we'd get our hands on what we cooked Interviewer: The house that you used to live in before you came over here did that have a place right in front of it where you might sit and rock or something like that 548: Had had a little old Supposed to be porch wasn't no bigger than that chair there Interviewer: Oh 548: Just comes right out in front of the door So wasn't big enough {NW} Interviewer: {D: Bet you guys turned around all the time} 548: Uh-uh You couldn't put a chair out {X} Interviewer: Hmm 548: Uh-uh Interviewer: People used to have big long porches didn't they 548: Yes they did But them little old things Well they're right over here right in front of this church if you go back by that way then you can see From this side of the road right in front of that white church over there Just Wasn't wasn't no bigger than that chair Interviewer: Hmm 548: You just walk up the steps on that thing you go in the door Interviewer: Doesn't give you a lot of room does it {NW} 548: {NW} Interviewer: What did people used to call those long porches 548: Gallery {NW} Gallery Interviewer: Oh yeah do you ever hear people call it that anymore 548: Huh They call it a porch now But they used to call it a gallery Interviewer: Do you want to go sit down on the gallery 548: {NW} Yeah Uh-huh Interviewer: Did the house that you uh grew up in did that have a gallery 548: Uh-huh It had a good long porch Interviewer: Hmm do you ever see any houses around here that have a porch on an upper story on the outside 548: Uh-huh Well not right around here but Yeah I've seen them near the lake Interviewer: That still would just be called a porch 548: Uh-huh I guess it would You know now upstairs you know Interviewer: Right 548: Where it comes out upstairs and you sit Uh Up there Yeah I I saw one here the other day but it wasn't Here it was Between {X} And somewhere Interviewer: You know some of these houses are made out of boards these {D: green} Houses on the outside of those borders kind of lap over each other like that you know 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: Have you ever heard that called anything in particular boards that do that kind of overlap each other 548: Are you talking about the roof Interviewer: Well not the roof but the side of the house the side you know 548: I've seen them Interviewer: {X} 548: I've seen them but I don't know what they are Interviewer: Uh have you ever heard people call them weather boarding or clap boarding something like that 548: I believe I've heard them called weather boarding Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: I believe that's what I heard them call it Interviewer: Yes ma'am I see okay 548: Back way back yonder nowadays wasn't nothing like that though you could chuck a chuck a cat out the crack {NW} Interviewer: That's a pretty good sized crack 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: Hmm I imagine that was kind of rough in cold weather right 548: You you know I don't think so Uh we we didn't know no different Uh But you know back in them days we was Wasn't sick all the time And and I believe that That's one reason Because we got plenty of fresh air Interviewer: {NW} You were air conditioned before they had them 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: {X} 548: I believe that's one thing that Caused us not to be sickly back in them days There's so many more cancers and everything nowadays than what there was back in them days Interviewer: Yeah I know what you mean maybe it has something to do you know people eat all this junk food nowadays that might have something to do with it I don't know 548: I I believe one thing it's uh Poison You know that they're using nowadays Interviewer: You mean on crops 548: Uh-huh That That's one thing and then they put it on your garden too And then they get it in your dirt where you plant your garden And then they The meat you eat They give it something to blow it up Hogs or Or {X} Or whatever they're going to kill to sell They'll give it something to blow that meat up you know Before they kill it Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: And That Just such a mess as that I believe that's what What is doing it A big portion of it Interviewer: Did you ever keep a garden 548: Uh-huh Down here wayside Where where I we lived twelve years my husband got to where he couldn't work Yeah I kept a good garden down there And Hoed and picked cotton out there and it'd Come a- Come across for that old poison and just cover us Interviewer: Hmm 548: And uh Interviewer: This on the plain 548: Yeah And then they'd come Come up with the come out there to knock the leaves off of the cotton you know where we pick the cotton We'd be already out there picking cotton and they'd {X} With that stuff {NW} But I Sometime I believe that's the cause of these skin cancers Interviewer: Oh yeah yeah could be 548: But the doctor says it's because of Sunshine Interviewer: Hmm 548: But I still don't believe it Everybody would have Interviewer: Would have it that bad as you did 548: But well they ain't bad out here They're really bad under On across my shoulders back of my neck Have been But they're about gone now Interviewer: What did when you had a garden what'd you usually grow in it 548: Cabbage Onions Tomatoes Okra Interviewer: Mm-hmm 548: Pepper Interviewer: You like okras 548: Oh boy I love it Interviewer: {NW} Because some people don't like to eat that unless it's fried 548: I love it boiled in beans Interviewer: I do too 548: I love okra any way you fix it Interviewer: Did you ever grow these little tomatoes that don't get much bigger 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: Yeah 548: Oh boy that makes the best soup Interviewer: What do you call those little 548: Tommy toes Interviewer: Yeah 548: That's what I always called them Interviewer: Yes ma'am I heard that before 548: {NW} Interviewer: Have you ever uh what would you put in uh I guess you made a lot of vegetable soup 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: What would what would you put in a good vegetable soup 548: Well as I always heard everything but the dish rag {NW} Uh I put beans Tomatoes And cabbage And And uh Part of Pepper you know if it ain't too hot Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: And uh Corn {NS} Well everything in the garden English peas anything I can get out of my garden And then a chunk of meat And boil it all up and make a pot of soup Interviewer: Sounds pretty good yeah 548: I would eat a bowl of that right now Interviewer: Right 548: And be be sure and put A whole lot of okra in there Interviewer: Yeah 548: Boy I love that okra in there too Interviewer: Did you ever grow these little onions that had the long stalk to them 548: These little white onions that makes these big bunches Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: What were they called was it just green onions or 548: Nesting onions I believe Interviewer: What now 548: Nest Nesting onions I always hear them called Interviewer: I see 548: And uh And shell oats Interviewer: Yeah 548: That's another different kind of onion Interviewer: Does that have a stalk to it 548: Uh-huh Blades And stalk But they're red These others we were talking about is white Interviewer: I see 548: White you know And the top falls over in that little white little white uh Little white onions on the bottom Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: They multiply just lots of them under there Interviewer: They pretty good to eat 548: Yeah oh man they're good Interviewer: {NW} Did you ever try to grow any kinds of melons in your garden 548: Yeah One time I did Didn't do me no good though Um Down at wayside I had uh Old Salem Hills watermelon But didn't do any good there so people got to coming in there At night getting them I never did get none Interviewer: Oh hmm do people around here grow any other kind of melons besides watermelon 548: Well Um cantaloupes or mush melons I guess anybody's that got room would I know I would Interviewer: Is are cantaloupes and mush mellows are they different 548: Mm-hmm Cantaloupe to You know small But some mush mellows get that long Interviewer: Oh about foot and a half 548: Mm-hmm Interviewer: Is one any sweeter than the other taste any better 548: I believe I'd rather have a Cantaloupe Interviewer: Yeah my grandmother liked to have a slice of cantaloupe every now and then for breakfast 548: Mm-hmm Interviewer: I never got in the habit of eating 548: Some folks call them breakfast melts But I call it cantaloupe Interviewer: Yeah 548: They're a little round melt Interviewer: Are those the ones that are orange inside or green or 548: Yeah they're green uh-huh Interviewer: Mm-hmm I see what about potatoes have you ever grown potatoes 548: Yeah {NS} Yeah I growed uh Ash potatoes and then green potatoes I mean uh Sweet potatoes I ain't ever had no luck with them {NS} Interviewer: Ever heard of people around here calling sweet potatoes anything else what about yams 548: I have heared that somewhere {NW} Oh me Interviewer: Is that the way they said it 548: Yam Yellow yam Interviewer: Uh-huh same thing as a sweet potato 548: Yeah Interviewer: You like sweet potatoes 548: Yeah Interviewer: I never could eat those things 548: Oh boy I do Interviewer: {NW} Oops did I knock something down 548: Uh-uh Now there's some of your papers Interviewer: I don't think anything's under there I just heard something slip I don't know what it was 548: I see {NS} Here's the paper that wasn't no good Interviewer: Uh-huh thank you uh on uh you know some houses out in the country there might be a a little building back of the 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: Where you might keep stove wood or tools or something like that what would you call a little building like that 548: Utility house Interviewer: Yes ma'am sure would a utility house be the same thing as a shed 548: Yeah it would Mm-hmm Interviewer: Did you have one of those 548: Uh-uh Uh-uh I haven't ever had one Interviewer: But you would call it a 548: Utility house Interviewer: Or a 548: Or junk house if I was going to keep wood in there Interviewer: Nice 548: {NW} Interviewer: You know used to before people had indoor plumbing 548: Uh-huh Interviewer: Was there a place outside where they had the toilet 548: Yes sir Some places they didn't even have a toilet #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 Is that right # 548: That's right Had to hunt the woods {NW} Interviewer: What did they call the place like that if they had a little building 548: I reckon you'd still call it a toilet I guess Far as I know Interviewer: What about outhouse 548: {NW} That'd make it too yeah Interviewer: Called have you heard it that 548: Yeah I said I've said that to Yeah It don't matter it's all the same Interviewer: All the same thing true could you say that for me just to get a record of it since you have heard it 548: Outhouse Interviewer: Yes ma'am right some of them 548: House Interviewer: Uh have you ever heard of people calling them a one-holer or a two-holer or anything like that 548: One-holer or a two-holer no Interviewer: Haven't heard that or what about a privy 548: No Interviewer: Haven't heard that 548: No Interviewer: Okay just outhouse or toilet 548: #1 Or out in the woods # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # 548: #1 Like you said # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 548: #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 548: That's all I know Interviewer: Did y'all have an outdoor toilet when you were growing up 548: Uh-huh Down at the wayside too Interviewer: {X} 548: Down at wayside Interviewer: How far away was that 548: Oh it's about nine miles down above here Before we left there they had They had them toilets in the house Plumbing and all And a shower The government made them Made them put them in there Interviewer: Yes ma'am I haven't been I can remember going being in one of those outdoor toilets 548: Yeah Interviewer: When I visited some of my grandmother's relatives out of town they lived on a farm that's what they had 548: Well we had one down yonder And an old bachelor lived down the yard {B} And when he He went out there {NW} One night And uh So Right on the edge of leather you know and it Leather It's all growed up Interviewer: Yes ma'am 548: Lots of snakes out there Interviewer: Hmm 548: And And so He he went out there and uh I I don't know but he {X} Right into a snake Before he Got in there But after got in there he found out there was one Down down under there you know Interviewer: Hmm 548: Shoot you couldn't get him to go back in that thing at night Interviewer: I guess so 548: He's crazy I wouldn't go in there the first time not at night Interviewer: What kind of snake do you reckon it was 548: But there's lots of king snakes in there I saw them I wouldn't hurt one of them for nothing Interviewer: Why not 548: They won't bite you Interviewer: They're not they won't hurt you or anything 548: Uh-uh They'll run from you You you can pick at them they won't bite you Interviewer: What kind of snakes do you have around here or did you have 548: Down there we had uh Rattlesnakes {X} And uh Well they tell me wherever there's rattlesnakes there's {X} Too but there I know there was down there And king snakes and Cottonmouth moccasins any kind you wanted was down there Interviewer: That's enough to satisfy most people I imagine those moccasins if they bite you they'll 548: Now they're poison The rattlesnake either {X} But there ain't but one that I know of that won't bite you That's the king snake Interviewer: Have you ever heard anything kind of unusual about a king snake 548: Yeah Only thing I I heared them use it Uh You can put them in your barn If you had one And uh they'll keep the rats and things caught of your Crib And uh So uh If if they haven't bite you they ain't going to hurt you And they'll kill every poison snake that comes around there Interviewer: I've heard that that's that's 548: They'll do that Uh They'll sure do it Uh My daughter over yonder Said they moved in a house And said there was A Black snake Uh Well it in the house There was two of them in the house Well one of them was after the other {NS}