678: {NS} Sometimes if I don't eat I might get caught out uh three or four hours you know Interviewer: And never get to eat 678: Now where were we Interviewer: Okay 678: {NW} Interviewer: Um oh what were the things what would nails come in 678: Oh back Back then uh in wooden kegs Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: Wooden kegs Interviewer: And what would they call the things that would run around a barrel the those metal things to hold the the stays in place 678: Bands I suppose uh {NS} That's what I'd call them I don't remember I don't really remember {NW} How they referred to them But uh They were that was a band #1 So I don't know # Interviewer: #2 Was a band # 678: I don't know any other any other thing to call it Interviewer: Mm-hmm well do you ever remember uh anything uh like a round metal thing that children would play with uh like sort of spin along called a hoop or a hoop or 678: Oh gosh yeah {NW} Uh one of the things that That boys and girls too played with {NW} The old wooden wagon wheels had a band around the hub #1 About # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # 678: So big Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And uh {NW} Course when the wagon wheel would go bad why there they'd {NW} Metal tar laid and all the other metal until Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Someone gathered up {D: soda} We'd take those little hoops Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: We'll take a stick with a #1 Little cross on the bottom # Interviewer: #2 Oh # Mm-hmm 678: And we'd {NS} Start that thing out #1 And follow it # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # Uh-huh 678: Just as hard as you could go you know see how fast you could run it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Now that's one of the things that we played with girls and boys Interviewer: Mm-hmm played with both of those 678: Mm-hmm Interviewer: Oh um what would you put in the top of a bottle to stop it up 678: Cork and bay Interviewer: And a little #1 Musical # 678: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: Instrument that children would 678: French harps you mean #1 Jew's # Interviewer: #2 Right # 678: Harps and French harps Interviewer: Jew's harps and French harps what would be the difference in them 678: French harp you blow Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And move and a Jew's harp is just a little old {NS} You ever seen one Interviewer: No I don't think so 678: I don't know if I can describe it now it's just a little old metal thing with one trigger like #1 In here and he'd just # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh uh-huh # 678: He'd just go {NW} And thumb that thing #1 You know # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh uh-huh # 678: {NW} Really it's not it's not very musical Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: #1 But uh # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 678: One of the things that we played with as children and I may bring in things here that you're not interested in but Up in our hay loft When the when we used a uh half or two thirds of the hay Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Uh I'd like to have some breakfast if you wouldn't mind now #1 Because # Aux: #2 Yeah # Well uh I got uh Newt to come back they have oh my gosh you've never seen it like sleeping pills 678: #1 Well I told you that's what's wrong # Aux: #2 They billed # 678: #1 {NW} # Aux: #2 Her bill # 678: #1 That old nurse bring them down here # Aux: #2 Three different # Three different doctors oh she's gone to three different doctors and there's two of them being filled on the same day the same stuff and he's took her gun and a bunch of them pills And stuff and taken them with him and he's really laying low down to her over there she's nutty as a fruit cake #1 Harlene # 678: #2 I know # Aux: Harlene told him he said he called her and she said said Newt said there ain't a thing wrong with her she's just {X} And now somebody has beat her up again she said that he broke in about four last and beat her up somebody 678: #1 No she's fell # Aux: #2 Beat her up # 678: She's fell She's strong and proud and she's fat and bruises that's what's wrong with her Aux: #1 Uh well something's happened now # 678: #2 {NW} # Aux: #1 She is she did go to # 678: #2 They're not breaking in there she's got # Aux: Jonesboro yesterday #1 {X} # 678: #2 She's got # Aux: And Mr Reeve's seen her go 678: She's got new locks on that and uh They didn't break in Aux: And she can't hardly talk her tongue is bit #1 Is big # 678: #2 I know # Aux: And Harlene has told him he she said now she's just she just {X} 678: That's all Aux: And we got to checking on the medicine and and I mean he really was trying to {X} Right now I said well I'm going home Burt hasn't had any breakfast and their kinfolk Interviewer: That's just what he was talking about 678: #1 Well # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 678: I'm not really hungry but I think I should eat because {NW} I've got some things #1 I've got to do this afternoon # Aux: #2 Is that my lock # 678: I I don't care if I eat at midnight you know just {X} Aux: #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # Aux: #1 He eats breakfast all the way from # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 678: Uh Aux: #1 Nine to twelve one o clock # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 678: Mary would you like to have a coke Interviewer: I'd love to have a coke 678: Well maybe Louise will get us a coke Aux: You reckon I might {NW} 678: #1 I said maybe # Interviewer: #2 It would be # So kind of you Louise 678: #1 I I said maybe # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # #1 Maybe we would # 678: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: Appreciate it if you could {NW} 678: Uh I started telling you about a {NW} The haylofts #1 When the the when the # Interviewer: #2 Oh yeah # 678: Hay got down we'd have what we'd call a bag swing up in there Interviewer: Oh 678: Boy was that fun #1 Those little barns was # Interviewer: #2 I was wondering about that # You mentioned that that was in #1 I noticed that that # 678: #2 Uh-huh # Interviewer: Bag swing in your 678: Yeah that uh the whole barn would be sixty foot long you know and #1 And you'd get up # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # 678: On this hay {NW} And we we were kind of dare devils we would uh Interviewer: {NW} 678: {D: When I was between this old} The bag was made out of a toe sack crammed full of hay Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: See on the big chain Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And we'd swing that thing and And uh we'd see how far we could leap {NS} From this shelf Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And straddle that thing and grab it Interviewer: Oh 678: Well if we missed we might fall #1 Sixteen # Interviewer: #2 Oh # 678: Feet #1 Over the hay # Interviewer: #2 Goodness # 678: See {NW} Interviewer: Oh did you ever miss 678: Oh yeah I missed but you'd roll in that hay Interviewer: Oh you'd roll in the hay 678: And uh we learned uh we learned uh if we miss we learned to throw ourself over Know uh how how to fall and roll Interviewer: Isn't that something 678: Oh we had some we had some times Interviewer: Mm 678: Wonderful times that's to A kid that didn't grow up on a farm in those days really missed #1 Something # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 678: Just really missed something Interviewer: I can tell reading your memoir #1 That # 678: #2 {NW} # {NW} Interviewer: Sounds like you really had a good time um now on a wagon what would you call the the piece that goes up between the horses the long wooden piece 678: The doubletree You mean to pull it by Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: That's a double #1 Tree # Interviewer: #2 That's a doubletree # 678: And the singletree #1 That uh # Interviewer: #2 And the singletree # 678: {NW} A doubletree {NW} {NS} Well here's your wagon Interviewer: Mm-hmm {NS} 678: Tongue Interviewer: Oh the wagon tongue 678: Yeah we'll just say this is your wagon tongue #1 Here # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # Uh-huh 678: And here here's your horses Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: Well they've got chains that run down from {NW} From each side you know of them Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Until their collar Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: You familiar with horse collar's parts maybe #1 You should have seen a horse collar somewhere # Interviewer: #2 I think I've seen # I think so 678: Now these These chains have got a ring here {NW} This is what we call a singletree It's got a little old hook that comes out here and these hook into it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh it hooks on And these things are On swivels Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And these hook onto a A doubletree #1 See # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 678: And uh That's how the horses are hooked up and there's a Center hole here Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: This tongue comes across on back into here And this doubletree {NW} One horse gets hit why it'll just simply Turn on this #1 He walks # Interviewer: #2 Oh # 678: Ahead and {NW} That's why you had to try to get horses of the same gait Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: See Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Compatible Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: That uh {X} Had the same gait and and everything if he didn't why one of them would lay back and {NW} And your doubletree would be Similar to that Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And old lazy bones you've got to whip him all #1 The time # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # 678: But maybe it wasn't his fault maybe You take a short Fat man or woman They can't keep up with an old long-legged man #1 Or woman see # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 678: So you had to try to match your Your teams up {NW} And most of the times it was hard to match a horse with a mule Interviewer: Oh 678: #1 See # Interviewer: #2 Oh I bet # It was 678: We lots of times I've seen teams that A horse and a mule made real good teams Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: But it was the exception rather than the rule Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: But uh that's uh and and and then up here in front they had what they called a neck yoke We'll just assume this is a horse's head Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Comes on out here This neck yoke held a tongue up Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And it was fastened to his Lower part of his collar Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: With what they called a hang {NW} Hang chain Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: The {X} Or thing that went around the collar And the hang chain Fastened onto the neck yolk and that's the way they guided the wagon Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And pulled it this way Interviewer: Mm-hmm oh yeah that's 678: And uh people would see who could have the fanciest harness you know Interviewer: Uh-huh oh they would 678: Oh gosh yeah man Interviewer: Oh 678: They'd dress those horses up {NW} Fare you well Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: {NW} Interviewer: Oh well I didn't I never stopped to think about that that the you know you mentioned whips #1 Being fancy # 678: #2 Yeah # Oh yeah yeah Interviewer: Everything 678: Pride. It just all goes back to pride {X} Trying to keep not up with the Joneses but ahead of them Interviewer: Well the good the good uh sort of you made me understand it when you mentioned like a Cadillac you know and then I could oh thank you Aux: {NW} Would you like to have a sandwich there's some bacon and eggs Interviewer: No thank you Aux: I have three or four kinds of lunch meat some cheese Interviewer: I I ate breakfast this morning 678: {NW} Interviewer: Big breakfast Aux: I'd be glad to give you a sandwich or something Interviewer: Oh I appreciate it but I don't think so but Aux: Now really I don't a mind a bit in the world {X} Sit right on the table and you can come right in there and eat and Or eat it right here wherever you want because I'm gonna #1 Feed him too # 678: #2 Move this down on here # Place that you last Interviewer: Oh this is fine Aux: I've got to feed him too you know Interviewer: {NW} 678: I I don't smoke Aux: #1 {X} # 678: #2 And uh # Aux: And he's got a little family 678: #1 When the fellas # Interviewer: #2 No he said # 678: #1 Come in # Interviewer: #2 He wants # Breakfast 678: #1 When the fellas # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 678: Come in here and smoke and I'm drunk after they smoke Interviewer: {NW} I don't smoke either so I no really I had a big breakfast Louise thank you though mm {X} Um now when you have a buggy uh before you hitch the the horse up you have to back him in between the 678: Shafts Interviewer: Now the out the the outside part of the wagon wheel do you call that the rim 678: {NW} Interviewer: What do they call that 678: The metal part Interviewer: Yeah that metal 678: Well it two things it it is the rim Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: But most of them call it the tire Interviewer: The tire 678: Mm-hmm Interviewer: Mm-hmm now what about 678: #1 Even back then # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 678: before cars they referred to it as a {NW} Tire it it it it uh actually the rim the outer part {NW} But we called it a metal tire Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh And and they had the uh Dolly dog I can't think of the name of the Course they had this hubs and the spokes Interviewer: Mm-hmm and then 678: And then those other things I can't think of Interviewer: The spokes went up into uh 678: Into it was a filler of some sort {NS} What in the heck did they call that One of my blanks can't think Interviewer: There was a now I have heard some people call there's something that they call like a filler 678: A filler that's what I was #1 trying # Interviewer: #2 oh # A filler oh that's what that's what you were 678: It's a filler actually #1 But the word to they refer # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # 678: #1 To it as a filler # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 678: Filler Interviewer: #1 As a filler # 678: #2 See # Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm um 678: Couldn't I couldn't think sometimes like I said I forget names Interviewer: Mm-hmm {NS} Now if you had a if a log had fallen across the road uh now you tie like a what would you do like put a chain around it and then to drag it out of the way how would you do that 678: {NW} #1 Well # Interviewer: #2 Did you pay # 678: 'course it would be done with a team Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: #1 And there's uh there's more than # Interviewer: #2 Oh and a team # 678: One way you can do it Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: But to answer your question we would We would put a chain we'd have a log log chains we had uh We had uh three types of chains Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: {NW} We had one fit on each Wagon bunk Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Went out {NS} And I'm talk I'm I'm I'm a little uh {NW} Misleading here but I'm talking about loading logs now in the wagon Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: These two chains would go out In under the log And hook together And then we had what we called a cross haul Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: It'd hook onto there and come back across the wagon and a team took one that loaded on the wagon Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: But we used to get back to your question we'd usually take the cross haul It had what they call a grab hook on it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: {NW} And we would uh Somewhere other get that under then the log Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: Uh you couldn't say well we can't get it under there had to be a way #1 It had it # Interviewer: #2 There had to be a way # 678: You had to dig down In the earth and get it under there or if you had to if it's on {NW} Something solid why you just simply got a prize full of something and got it under there Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh Hoped you grabbed hook and hooked your team onto it and we called it snaking it Interviewer: Snaking it 678: Snaking it away Interviewer: Oh 678: And then there was another way if it was on the side of the road you would take your cant hook you never saw a cant hook I don't guess {NW} Well it's a big old long Shank so long curved about {X} With a Barb on it like a similar to a fish hook {NW} And it was on a Big long handle Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh handle handle's strong where This hook uh fastened onto a big old Cuff of a thing and that went on over your handle and you just simply {NS} Got this Big pole on the log and put this hook under it and you got back and manhandled it rolled it off Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: See Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: That's one way of getting it off the side of the road but {NW} If you had to take it any distance you would hook onto it and Either drag it or snake it we we can refer to as snaking Interviewer: But snaking if you said I snaked it would that mean the same thing as I 678: Drug it Interviewer: Uh-huh it would be just the yeah I see it was just another #1 Word # 678: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: For that 678: Some of them used tow tow it away Interviewer: Uh-huh mm-hmm 678: But tow uh {NW} The way I look on the tow is {NW} Is something with wheels Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: See Interviewer: #1 Mm-hmm # 678: #2 But # A lot of them say I towed the log away but Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: We we'd either say {NS} We drug it away or we snaked it #1 And # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 678: The {NS} The general word right here was snaking Interviewer: Have you have you drug them a lot in the past 678: Well {NS} In in hauling logs {NW} You had to in o- in order to get into these Timbers you cut them you couldn't move them they they grew there you had to cut them down where they were Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: {NW} And then you might have to clear up Several little bushes to set your wagon close enough to this big log Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Now there's there's been logs big enough that you could It's impossible to move with teams Unless you be set your l- your wagon here by them and load it on the wagon Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: So there has been trees left that'd be That would grow in in between two scrub trees or something Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And say well we just can't get to it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Until some wise guy would come along and say well we'll cut the other two trees and get them out of the way Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: See Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Lot of work but {NS} It's a valuable tree Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: So {NS} If it was small logs {NW} Like we cut a lot of what we called second growth sappers Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: That was anywhere from Well maybe down to this small it uh something like this Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Then you could take a And we'd cut them in ten twelve fourteen sixteen foot lengths Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh there you could a hook a a good team what we call log team they were always strong Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: It would hook on these logs and you would set your wagons say as far from here to that house right there Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And you could snake these logs in there Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Now if the butt of it the butt end got heavier than they could snake {NW} Then you would cut you {NS} Little trees down about that long and Oh say this big around And you'd put Those under that log Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh if you had someone with you he'd just {NW} When the log was drug they acted rollers see Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: And uh when one'd come out he'd he'd grab this and run up and it put it in front Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Well if you was by yourself you'd pull the left One out and then you would stop your team and you'd move that by yourself {NS} Interesting {NW} Lots of them {NW} Lots of planning lots of #1 Ingenuity went in with it # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 678: {NW} I know When I was a kid when I was about twelve or thirteen my dad turned me loose to loading all the logs Interviewer: Oh 678: And uh I got one just about loaded one time and and I had four logs Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: On the wagon you'd put three what they called bed Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And then two would fit in between those and then one on the top Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And when I loaded that top in my old hard-headed team {NW} Kept pulling turned the whole thing over Interviewer: Oh 678: Well you talking about a crying time I had it Interviewer: Oh 678: And things like that would happen to you Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Well then you had to {NW} Reset your wagon and re-snake those logs until do it all over again Interviewer: Oh goodness 678: But I {NW} I I I finally got ahold of me a team of horses That uh You could set out set them to pulling this log up and when that skids you know it #1 Wouldn't # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 678: Go up the wagon And uh they'd get that thing about halfway up skid and I'd holler hold it and they'd just stretch on hold that thing right there {NW} And they also was wise enough That when this log hit the bunks And the stop blocks Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: It made a certain noise and they knew that Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And they just stopped pulling Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Just uh wonderful to have teams like that Interviewer: Oh sure 678: {NW} Interviewer: That 678: But if this log you know a butt Butt logs are larger on one end than the other Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Well if you roll it it's gonna gain see Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And it'll run off your wagon Interviewer: Oh I see 678: So the way you would do that If you had a team that you could depend on and uh you'd say Get up or okay whatever you way you spoke to them Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: {NW} This uh This big end where it gained You'd take this big old cant hook which was twice big as this Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And you'd throw it In front of this butt end On that skid and that'd cause it to roll And turn backwards and let the little end gain Interviewer: Oh 678: Yeah {NW} Interviewer: So that that made it even out 678: And you could load your wagon {NW} There's science to everything you know Interviewer: Oh yeah 678: I've seen I've seen fellas that were numbskulls Interviewer: {NW} 678: #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 678: Load them to where the butt of the log would just barely be on the bunk Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And and a whole lot of it was hanging back behind well that {NW} That made the wagon pull balance bad and pull bad and Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: There's always a a danger of the thing that gradually work and and drop off see Interviewer: Uh-huh uh-huh 678: They wouldn't they didn't know how to balance their load or anything about it Interviewer: Huh 678: But well we called those fellas ne'er do wells Interviewer: Ne'er do wells mm-hmm 678: {NW} Interviewer: Um {NW} oh {NS} When what would be some different types of plows that people used 678: Back then we had what we called a single stock Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: The double shovel Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: The top harrow the gee whiz Interviewer: The gee whiz what was the gee whiz that's a #1 great name # 678: #2 It was a thing # It had uh A series of uh s- spring uh spring similar to this Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And was sharp on the end and Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And just you just simply hold them down push them down and you ran as far as they wanted to go and they were springing they'd hit roots or something well they'd spring back and jump over see Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And then we had the breaking plow Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And the disc harrow that's the thing that has the round uh {NW} Well you see the disc now on tractors you know these huge We had those and And they were the heaviest tool a team had to pull it was really hard and we had the section harrow which was You could take apart and use one section or two sections or three sections depending on the size team or the Uh the size of the place you was Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: harrowing down then we had the drag we had a drag that We had a bedder that bedded up the cotton drones then and we would either harrow them down with harrows and Or we'd drag it off with drags {NW} And uh that was followed with a planter Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: We had one row of planters and later my dad as soon as he'd come out he got him two row of planter he's Interviewer: Oh 678: Yeah And we had uh Interviewer: Hmm 678: Cultivators Interviewer: Cultivators 678: And uh Of course uh getting out of the plow family we had uh More machines and hay rakes Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: We never owned a hay baler Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: {NW} Had more #1 than one reason # Interviewer: #2 Yeah you # 678: one hay baler would take care of many farms Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: My dad My dad didn't have the time to operate it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And he didn't with so much money invested in it that he didn't want to just let Dick Tom or Harry Run it And he didn't want to be tied down with it because if he'd get caught up why he He'd take my brother and I fishing Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: #1 So we'd make # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 678: Arrangements with someone else to bale our hay Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And when that happened The hay baling crew and all of your own crew Would gang up and bale your hay and the Uh for instance {B} Would fix dinner for that whole crew Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: If it took one day or two days or three days {NW} And have forty or fifty people {NS} But the neighbor women would come in and help Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: See Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Uh maybe {B} {X} {B} Today and Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: My mother and miss {B} {NW} Miss {B} Where would it be Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Would all take Things that they could fix and go over there And they'd pour that old coffee {X} Back when I was a kid it was boiled in a pot Interviewer: #1 Oh # 678: #2 Wasn't no percolator # To it you boiled a You ground your own coffee Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And boiled it Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And uh coffee and milk was what you'd have {NW} #1 And water you had three choices # Interviewer: #2 Coffee and milk # 678: #1 Coffee water and milk # Interviewer: #2 Coffee milk # And water right 678: And uh kids didn't get the coffee {NW} #1 That's {NW} # Interviewer: #2 Oh but you did # Because 678: Yeah yeah #1 I switched around I switched around # Interviewer: #2 You switched around and got it # Uh-huh 678: Got it Interviewer: {NW} 678: Know that Uh you know that was uh that got the job done that harvested your crop and so much fun Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: The men would uh sit around and Rest during the noon hour and talk and the women would feed us and take those old fans and keep the flies away from us Interviewer: Oh oh yeah 678: Everybody happy You didn't see people unhappy those days It it's uh Really Mary it {NW} It's sad uh And you couldn't realize this unless you can Could have gone back you know and {NW} And lived it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: We had mean people then and we had thieves then but they were the exception Interviewer: They were the they were very 678: {NW} Interviewer: #1 Unusual # 678: #2 And # {NW} And they were in one class {NW} #1 And we were in the other # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # Uh-huh 678: And they were distinctly no good Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: They knew it they admitted it And they they were punished for it Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And uh Interviewer: The kind of people now these though are not now the kind of people you referred to you were saying ne'er do well type people now they would not necessarily be #1 Thieves or anything # 678: #2 Mm-mm # Interviewer: Like that 678: #1 No # Interviewer: #2 Now that was not the same # 678: The ne'er do wells were people #1 That were # Interviewer: #2 Just people # 678: Illiterate to the #1 Extent that uh # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # Uh-huh 678: That they didn't know how to take the advantage Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Uh Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: If if they had uh {NS} Oh what we called a single stock plow you'd go down this side of the road and throw the dirt {X} {NW} And you'd come back the other side This day and time they plowed twelve rows at a time Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Well that single stock to them someone made it and it was a pretty good idea Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And but that's far as they'd ever think Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: They didn't ever think well why couldn't I use Why couldn't I build something That'd do both sides of this at one time see And they didn't plan the they didn't cut their wood during the summer hot weather it was too hot see They didn't want to expose the {NW} Their kids to the mosquitoes Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Or to the hot weather {NW} To the chiggers and the ticks That went along with it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: But they would wait 'til winter And the house would be cold and the kids would get sick Interviewer: Mm 678: And they'd have to get out in the snow and cut their wood Interviewer: Oh 678: I called it grasshoppering around Interviewer: {NW} 678: You know and to explain what I mean Interviewer: {NW} 678: When I was a child I was uh {NW} I was observing I In a lot of things #1 These grasshoppers # Interviewer: #2 You must have been # Reading that 678: These grasshoppers just Jump around have the biggest time in the world during the the Early or late spring and and summer and late and early fall But they finally run into a barbed wire fence and there they lodge For the winter Interviewer: {NW} 678: They die they get a barbed wire fence great big old grasshopper And you'll find him there during the winter Interviewer: Oh 678: And he'll he done just hop around all summer Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: #1 And uh # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 678: {NW} I called it grasshoppering around Interviewer: Oh that's 678: They just wouldn't do nothing but just Hop around Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: Until it's too late Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: My dad has uh Loaned people wood during the winter Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: During the winter of uh Nineteen seventeen Interviewer: Mm-hmm I remember reading about that 678: {NW} And the snow was extremely deep Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And all winter long we had snow Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And we had to loan wood To our neighbors Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: They'd come on those mud boats Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: Get the {NW} We had all of our lane Full of logs Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: My dad uh As I said was a timber man {NW} And if he had some logs that {NW} They'd cut into these trees and maybe they'd be hallow Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Why he'd have my me or my brother This happened to be before the time that I could uh drive a team but he'd have his Hard hats that haul these logs up and unload them in the lane Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And all winter long why {NW} As I said while we was resting we'd be cutting wood Interviewer: Uh-huh uh-huh 678: And we'd sell wood and {NW} It kept us exercised but he'd always let us go hunting we'd just do that for him because we had all day #1 Long and # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # Mm-hmm 678: And he'd cut that wood But these people would come borrow that would and And and I don't never remember But one man paying back Interviewer: #1 Oh really # 678: #2 Any wood # And he only paid back Load for load Interviewer: Oh 678: They was they would come there and agree we'll cut you two loads of wood next summer #1 If you # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # 678: let us have one load now Interviewer: Oh I see 678: And he'd let him have it Interviewer: And he'd let him have it 678: Of course why he'd have given it to him because their family was cold Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: Needed the wood and Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And they were good people but they didn't think Interviewer: #1 But they didn't # 678: #2 See # Interviewer: #1 {NW} # 678: #2 Ne'er do wells # Interviewer: I think Louise said your breakfast was ready 678: {NW} Well if you {NS} Interviewer: Getting everything I was I was going over it and underlining some of the stuff I I was really surprised about this you know where it says uh uh finally it was 678: #1 Mm-hmm # Interviewer: #2 Decided # 678: And that got even worse than I put there Interviewer: #1 Oh really # 678: #2 Mm-hmm # Interviewer: #1 And if # 678: #2 Mm-hmm # Interviewer: If they refuse now they you would tell them to haul they'd have to haul 678: They'd have to haul or get shot Interviewer: Uh-huh and they'd have to identify 678: That's right it's kind of it was it was going to be kind of like a vigilante #1 Committee # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # 678: That the people was gonna organize And they was gonna put the signs up and everywhere that {NW} After a certain certain date Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: If uh If more than One or two or three people is More than two Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Or anyone Had to identify their self Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: Or get ready to start shooting and shooting back Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Uh for instance to I I didn't put everything in there and I don't know if I mentioned what I'm going to tell or not The old the {D: pilot} That was the captain Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: {NW} Now I shook hands with one of his boys in Jonesboro the other day see that's what I mean by being Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Close Around {NS} Uh {NS} They lived right down below us and he couldn't read nor write Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: But he got scared up and he'd come to my dad and my dad was working {X} Trying to find out who it was Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And he came to my dad and said I want to tell you {NW} Who these night riders are Interviewer: Oh 678: Then uh He did he told who a few of them was and said he was one of them Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: While he went back home And that night Uh They they began to suspect him they other fellow so they They got liquored up Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: Now these men if they'd have been sober wouldn't have done that but they got liquored up {NW} On that white mule #1 Whiskey # Interviewer: #2 White mule # 678: White mule whiskey Interviewer: Oh {NW} 678: #1 White lightning they called it # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # {NW} 678: So they got this man And they took him out into the woods Interviewer: Oh 678: To build a big campfire Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh {NW} They said we're gonna go over here We we think you have Talked to another man about you was going to Turn us all in Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: We're gonna go after him Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And bring him back And they You can call him a liar he can call you a liar Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: We're gonna let you face one #1 Another # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 678: And they didn't tell him what they was gonna do but said uh We'll tell you then what we're gonna do Well they build up this fire {NW} And they left one man to Guard this guy Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And While they was going after the other fellow this old drunk this guy was guarding him he just got so drunk he just fell out Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And this guy {X} He just slipped off his gun boots his hip boots Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And he waited uh He went across the woods That's a little over a half a mile In the dark Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And slews and ridges slews and ridges in almost freezing weather {NW} And he came to my My dad's house Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh But {NS} Before {NS} Before they took him over there I got a little hint at something before they took him to this campfire They brought him to my dad's house and he had an and my dad had one of these paling fences #1 Up about so high # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm mm-hmm # Mm-hmm 678: And they asked my dad if uh This man had told him anything {NW} Well my dad had to lie about it of #1 Course # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # Mm-hmm 678: Said no And uh Convinced them that he hadn't Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And all the time they had this man make him squat down back here behind one of the wagons Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And another man to guard him Interviewer: Oh 678: And {NW} The story went that if My dad had had said yes This man told me he was going to shoot my dad and shoot him too #1 And hush him up # Interviewer: #2 Oh # 678: See Interviewer: Oh 678: So then they went to this campfire Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And When he got loose he could come back and come by my dad's house and my dad said well you can cut across the fields and so forth and come down to mister Amos {B} He runs a store and he was the only man that has a telephone Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: And said to tell him that I said to put you up Until daylight you'll get there before daylight and said uh Have him to call the sheriff Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: And he called the sheriff and the sheriff come down and got him Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And he turned state's evidence Interviewer: Oh he did so he he really turned himself in 678: Yeah turned himself in Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: {NW} Interviewer: Wow that is really something that's really exciting 678: I don't know if I put all of it in or not but {NW} Me and uh a boy named Norman {B} Had been up to Pleasant Valley district Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Course to see some girls naturally Interviewer: {NW} 678: And uh we came back back and {NW} I stopped by Norman's and you know chatted like boys will Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And even went into the horse lot with him and we we had in the barn what we called our gear room where we keep our harnesses Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Hang our saddles and Rather than to get up into the gear room and hang it on the peg {NW} He just tossed it in the door that night Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And T- Tossed it on top of a man that was there waiting to burn the barn Interviewer: Oh 678: And did burn the barn Interviewer: And did that was the one that burned the barn 678: And the only reason he didn't burn the home of Norman {B} Daddy was they had one of these little uh Uh dwarf women you know #1 He had a sister # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 678: That was a little dwarf big head #1 You know and so forth # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm mm-hmm # 678: And they did have respect enough about him to say well If we burn that well maybe she wouldn't get a Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: So they didn't burn the house but he burned the barn Interviewer: Oh 678: And that night Interviewer: Mm 678: But us boys me and my brother {NW} Well mister {B} Told you about him but Of course I wouldn't want Him to even know that I wrote #1 This up # Interviewer: #2 No # No 678: We lived right {B} Time it was happening and Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: {NW} And now these boys their daddy was uh uh Captain of this thing Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: They didn't know he was captain they thought he was out coon hunting Interviewer: Oh I see 678: But we did do we knew they was Night riders and and we'd slip through the woods {NW} My brother and I and and these three boys And slipped right up close to them Interviewer: Mm-hmm #1 Oh you would # 678: #2 But # Yeah onto their campfire but they kepts dogs Interviewer: Oh they did 678: Yeah they kept the dogs with them and these dogs would bark Interviewer: Oh 678: And when the dogs would bark why {NW} They bet uh Anyone know they was around they better get the so and so out of there Interviewer: {NW} 678: We got Interviewer: {NW} oh that's funny that's great um let's see where'd we get to oh uh now back to the wagon on a wagon what do you call the part that the wheels spin onto that runs underneath the wagon 678: There's an axle {NW} And the {NS} And then there's a spindle Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: That fits on the end of the #1 Axle # Interviewer: #2 Fits on the end of the axle # 678: And the hub of the wheel goes onto that Interviewer: Mm-hmm um 678: I've got an old wrench that we used to screw the Interviewer: Oh really 678: Screw the nuts on the #1 End of the spindle # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # Mm-hmm 678: Found one just hung it up out there somewhere Interviewer: Oh um now if you were those kind of A-shaped wooden frames that you would lay boards across what would you call one of those oh I guess it it would be like two A-shaped things together with a piece across it and like if you were gonna have a church supper you might put them down 678: Oh Long trestles or horses Interviewer: Oh 678: {NW} Wooden horses or Interviewer: Wooden horses 678: Are trestles Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm would they use them if they were sawing what would they put if they were gonna saw like if you were just needed to cut up your stove a little bit smaller what would you put it on 678: Oh {NW} Well that's a saw uh we a saw rack or a saw horse Interviewer: Oh uh-huh 678: It was it was an X shaped thing and Interviewer: An X shaped thing 678: Have a maybe {NW} Oh you'd have a Maybe as long as this room you'd have a X there and a X #1 Here and X here and X here # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh # Uh-huh 678: And uh you'd Pull it out saw one off pull it out saw one #1 Off # Interviewer: #2 Oh # 678: Until you get down to {NW} To where you sawed the last one #1 See # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # Mm-hmm well now uh if if your mother was fixing her hair she'd use a comb and a 678: Brush Interviewer: Have you ever seen her did they used to she have long hair #1 And she # 678: #2 Yep # #1 I # Interviewer: #2 Uh # 678: Combed her hair Interviewer: Oh you did 678: {NW} Those kids {NS} Kick me and my brother would get a kick out of #1 Combing mother's head # Interviewer: #2 Oh really # 678: She'd read to us Interviewer: Oh 678: She used to get us down around our knees and read the bible to us #1 At night # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: Explain it Interviewer: Mm-hmm and you mentioned in in your uh memoirs that she really knew the bible #1 Well # 678: #2 Yeah # Interviewer: I know 678: Lived it Interviewer: Mm-hmm uh now oh when they used to use those straight razors what would they sharpen them on 678: {NW} Well {NW} They Had a rock we called a hone Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: We would hone them and then they would strap them Interviewer: Oh they would 678: Strop #1 They called it strop # Interviewer: #2 Oh they'd strop it # 678: So long {NW} Strop about that long and about so wide and generally hang on the wall and you get that out there and Well and {NW} You there's an art to that see Interviewer: #1 Oh # 678: #2 You would take a # {NW} If you didn't know how to strop one you'd cut it in two Interviewer: Oh really 678: See you would {NS} Like this was your razor Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: You'd hold this strap and you'd go this way Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Well you wouldn't turn here see what it'd do to your edge Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: #1 You'd come here # Interviewer: #2 Oh # Oh uh-huh uh-huh 678: See Interviewer: #1 Uh-huh # 678: #2 And # Around these barber shops just {NW} Interviewer: #1 And they could do it real fast # 678: #2 And just oh # Gosh {NW} Well I stropped one but I uh When I first started shaving why I had me a straight razor I'm scared to death of them Interviewer: #1 {NW} # 678: #2 Things were dangerous you know # Interviewer: #1 They sound it sounds terrible # 678: #2 Oh my gosh # Interviewer: #1 {NW} # 678: #2 I cut this # My ear #1 Several times you know # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # {NW} #1 Oh goodness # 678: #2 And then you get # On with well any If you'd bear down on any Part of your face you'd just grab a slice of meat I I I'm even afraid of a barber getting ahold of my neck Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: I always had the horrors of a barber having a heart attack Interviewer: {NW} 678: #1 When he had to hold that razor on me see # Interviewer: #2 Oh # 678: {NW} And I always figured well if that sucker has a #1 Heart attack it'll be when I'm in his chair # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 678: #1 Ain't that something # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # That's funny I never have thought of that 678: Shows I'm a little queer #1 See but uh # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 678: {NW} That's that's one of the things in my life that has always bugged me Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: Is going to a barber shop and that Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And I never read of it happening Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: But gosh it could Interviewer: It could 678: It could Interviewer: {NW} 678: {NW} He could have a hold of you and just cut your head off #1 With that thing # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # That's great 678: Or be under here you know used to where they shave them Have a hard time holding onto it and just Interviewer: {NW} 678: I never got over a half dozen shaves in a barber shop and that was partly #1 Reason # Interviewer: #2 That was partly # The reason oh 678: I was happy when I run across a safety razor Interviewer: Oh yeah I bet yeah then you didn't have to be afraid 678: #1 I don't know # Interviewer: #2 Anymore # Um what would you call the ammunition that they would put in a shotgun 678: Shells Interviewer: Uh would a shell be the same as a cartridge what would be the difference 678: Shells are {NW} In one effect are larger and made up of uh Paste water or hard cardboard uh Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And the cartridge is uh all metal Interviewer: It's all metal 678: #1 Container # Interviewer: #2 Oh I # See um now we were talking about 678: A cartridge has a bullet in the end Solid lead bullet and a shotgun has shots Interviewer: Has shots 678: Shell rather Interviewer: Hmm um now we were talking about oh playing things that you'd play with like the bag swing did you ever know of children uh getting on a plank and one getting on 678: Teeter totter Interviewer: #1 Teeter totter # 678: #2 Oh # Oh yeah Interviewer: Yeah 678: And that's not the only only one now these if I'd have been in Mississippi I'd have said onliest Interviewer: Onliest {NW} 678: {NW} That's what they say Interviewer: That's great 678: Had the teeter totter Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And then we had a merry go round Interviewer: Oh 678: Uh we'd have uh {NS} Well if you moved where there was uh Trees around why Maybe your dad would cut down a Saw down a tree about Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: So big around and up about so high And he would get them a great long board Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And put uh {NS} Maybe put a seat of some sort but mostly you rode the thing bare back Interviewer: {NW} 678: A handle across the board Interviewer: Uh-huh uh-huh 678: And then he'd bore a hole in the Center of this board Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: {NW} Drive a big old metal Stop down in there and {NW} One get on one end one the other and the other would push Interviewer: {D: Oh} 678: You had two ways of getting out there and let them go around and ride you could {NW} Duck down and crawl out Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: If their feet didn't hit you Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Or you could time it and run out Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: Well one time {NS} I was running one Just as fast it could go empty Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Fortunately it didn't have these handles on it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Where it might have cut me in two Interviewer: Mm 678: But I I had it going just as fast as I could run Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And I attempted to go out Run out and thing hit me in the side Interviewer: Mm 678: Like that broke me open {NW} #1 Well if it had those handles # Interviewer: #2 Oh # 678: over see it'd have stuck right on them Interviewer: Oh goodness 678: {NW} Interviewer: Oh you sure #1 Have had # 678: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: Some close calls 678: Oh I've had uh I've had three horses on top of me Interviewer: I read the one 678: #1 Yeah # Interviewer: #2 About the # Uh where 678: The mule Interviewer: #1 The mule # 678: #2 Fell on me # Interviewer: #1 Fell on you # 678: #2 Yeah # Interviewer: Uh-huh that was 678: Nine year old {NS} Interviewer: Yeah that was terrible 678: {NS} You know after my bones I remember They were popping just like popcorn Interviewer: And you said and then that you wouldn't tell them 678: #1 No I didn't tell them # Interviewer: #2 And # And then uh your mother had got one and went to church 678: #1 Church and found it out # Interviewer: #2 Found it out at church yeah # #1 I couldn't believe that # 678: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: Um did you ever play on a like a jumping board anything like that #1 A jump board # 678: #2 Oh yeah # Yeah we had uh Jump boards kind of like a Like a diving board Interviewer: Kind of like a diving board mm-hmm 678: Spring you know we'd we'd jump on that thing see how high we could jump or how far we could jump {NS} Had all kind of gadgets Interviewer: Mm-hmm uh how about uh if the uh oh like taking two ropes and tying them to a tree and putting feet across it it'd have a 678: Little swing Interviewer: Mm-hmm had those too um now if people ever had um had coal if they ever burned coal what would they carry coal in 678: In a coal bucket {NW} That is uh Kind of had a chute on it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh {NS} And put that chute in the The where you lifted the lid up Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And poured her in there Interviewer: Mm-hmm um 678: Unfortunately I only burned coal one year I Done meat the rest of my life Interviewer: #1 Oh they did # 678: #2 I hate # That stuff Interviewer: #1 Oh yeah # 678: #2 Nasty # Interviewer: {NW} 678: You can't have a house #1 With the smoke and all # Interviewer: #2 Oh ew # Yeah ew well you know when you had uh like those wood burning stoves uh what would run from the stove to the chimney to take the smoke out 678: {D: Sulfite} #1 Mm-hmm # Interviewer: #2 {D: sulfite} # 678: Six inch pipe Interviewer: Six inch pipe um how about now this is a like a little vehicle that's got one wheel and two handles to carry heavy things 678: Uh Interviewer: Like 678: One wheel Interviewer: Uh-huh just it 678: Oh you mean the wheelbarrow Interviewer: Yeah yeah did they use those 678: Oh gosh yeah We made uh {NW} You could buy them or you could buy a wheel make them we did and made ours Interviewer: Oh you made your own 678: Mm-hmm Interviewer: Well I never heard of that 678: You could buy wheelbarrow wheels and Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And you could make them as large as you wanted Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 678: Side boards on them. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: We made them uh Lot of people would make them with a little bed on them and then then they'd put side boards and {X} We made {NW} We made the platform {NS} And the side boards were We could uh add to it or we could take it off and just use a platform and there we could put fence posts {NS} Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Cross wise on it see Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh {NW} Just push them Down through the country Interviewer: Oh I didn't know 678: Rather than tote them on your shoulder #1 See # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # Mm-hmm uh well now what about a kind of a porta- a rock that you could carry around to sharpen like a side or something 678: Like a what now Interviewer: Like a rock that just a rock that you might carry in your pocket to sharpen a tool if you're cutting with a 678: Uh you mean the whet r- whet rock that's what they called it Interviewer: Whet rock 678: Now they call them a {D: carver hunting stone} Interviewer: Oh 678: They dress it up a little you know Interviewer: But it's the same 678: #1 Still whet rock # Interviewer: #2 Thing # How about one that that you sharpen things with that had a handle that you turned 678: That's was an emery wheel Interviewer: Emery wheel mm-hmm 678: Well no we had two Mary we had the Old time grindstone Interviewer: Oh 678: #1 Grind # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 678: Which is a finally Well might say knitted rock My dad's Rock was that big around Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And that thick Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And he he had it bend to this square In the middle of it And you put that onto a shaft And then you made your own wooden crack Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: {NW} And you stationed that on a stand and He'd get out here to the hand sharpen that ax and one of Us children would turn the The old thing and keep water Interviewer: Oh 678: Pour water on it well finally Show you how he was always the thinker Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Uh we We poured the water on and of course it'd run dry and we'd have to pour more on and get more Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Too much water {NW} He rigged him up a thing with a Simple tin can on it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And just punched a little bitty hole in it he just had a constant drip on it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: #1 On this thing # Interviewer: #2 Oh # 678: See Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: Which is as simple as A B C yet what an improvement Interviewer: What an improvement 678: Mm-hmm Interviewer: What do you 678: And you could keep grinding the other way. You {NW} You had to have somewhere to pour the water Or he had stop gri- uh With his ax or I had to stop grinding to pour the water on Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: So that simple little uh Stick that he put up there with a {X} Through a tin can Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And a little hole Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Why it fed the water constantly Interviewer: Mm-hmm #1 Well he really was # 678: #2 But uh that's what # You call the old grind stone Interviewer: #1 Yeah # 678: #2 But then # And the emery was uh More abrasive #1 And smaller # Interviewer: #2 Oh # Mm-hmm 678: Turned faster and {NW} It would cut your Ax down and {NW} Really Abuse it more or less but it would get the shape that you wanted and then you'd go back with the old {NW} Grind stone and Cut it down to a Interviewer: Oh 678: Smooth it out and then even take your whet rock Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Back then they had that old whet rocks that long Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And you would go up each side and well those axes was sharp as Interviewer: Mm 678: Almost sharp as razors Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: I've got a When I was a child I got ahold of my dad's ax and And I think I can show you {NS} Interviewer: Oh #1 You did that with an ax # 678: #2 I was # I was I was four year old when I done that Interviewer: Oh 678: Yeah {NS} Interviewer: Four 678: But I've got other scars like that I got playing baseball Interviewer: Oh from playing baseball uh-huh 678: {X} Interviewer: Oh 678: #1 This one was caused from a knife # Interviewer: #2 Baseball # 678: I mean a axe Interviewer: From an axe when you were four 678: Never went to the doctor it Interviewer: Oh 678: {NW} Interviewer: #1 What in the world were you doing with an axe # 678: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: When you were four years old 678: I was just out in the back {X} Pile and I well of course I'd watch him cut Wood and I thought well I'll try it Interviewer: You had seen 678: #1 And I picked # Interviewer: #2 Yup # 678: The axe up and I hit the stick and it glanced off and whack Interviewer: Oh 678: I just laid her down went walking in and had blood all over me blood all over the floor Interviewer: Oh 678: You know a scar that wide should have been #1 Sewed up yeah # Interviewer: #2 Should have been sewed up sure # 678: Nothing to it Interviewer: But you had you were a little kid you'd see you had seen 678: Watch my dad yeah Interviewer: Oh 678: Wanted to try it Interviewer: So you wanted to try it oh 678: That's one of the times that he was careless ordinarily he would have {NW} Put that ax up or he would have stuck it in a block of wood so Deep that we couldn't get it out Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: It might have been my mom was out there using it over there getting some {X} She needed or something and she may have Carelessly left it Interviewer: Mm goodness 678: I couldn't looking back I can't hardly believe my dad would Interviewer: Would be that careless 678: be that careless Because he was more conscious #1 Of those things # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # 678: But uh my mother would have uh Probably If she'd have used she'd probably just Stood it down the side of the Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And it's so dangerous Standing them down on the side of a {X} You can just hit your foot against one it'd cut you open see Interviewer: Mm 678: It's like hitting a razor they kept them sharp back then {NW} Felt like {X} Interviewer: {NW} 678: I even chop concrete with it some Interviewer: {NW} 678: That doesn't help it at all Interviewer: {NW} Oh your mother now if she was uh baking something like biscuit what did she do to the pan to keep them from sticking 678: Well I suppose {NW} Mary that she Greased them I imagine with with lard because uh I don't believe they used butter so much #1 For cooking back then # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh they would have # Probably used lard 678: We had what we called pure lard hog hog lard Interviewer: Oh and they would grease 678: {NW} Interviewer: #1 With that # 678: #2 Yeah # {NW} This hog lard would get old And Smell a little rambunctious #1 During hot hot summer months # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # {NW} 678: But again my dad had ways of overcoming that they had what they called uh {NS} That was pure lard and then they had shortening #1 When they # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 678: First come out with shortening made from Cotton seed Interviewer: From cotton seed Uh-huh 678: {NW} And uh that was be- Better summer grease than than the {NS} Pure lard Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Well what my dad would do he would {NW} We'd kill butcher these hogs and {NS} And make oh five or six stands of lard Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Enough to do us a year {NW} But he'd take uh he'd decide about what We could use until up up until it would begin to Yellow up and begin to smell now {X} Wasn't anything wrong with it except uh {NW} It was strong Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh Say we had uh We'd make seven stands of lard and he figured that Uh three of them would do us until {NW} Middle June Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Well he'd take four down here to A friend of his mister {B} In a tremendously big store and he put uh This pure lard in there that mister {B} Sell it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh he wouldn't take the money he'd just Wait and buy a bag of shortening in place of it #1 See # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 678: During the summer {NW} So he kept my mother {NW} In plenty of good groceries and and would look ahead #1 At things like that # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm mm-hmm # 678: {NS} {NW} And some of those I say the ne'er do wells {NW} They {NW} This is so believe it or not but they they took that lard and when it would it would be so Rank that you could smell it on the bread On through their food Interviewer: #1 Oh my heaven how horrible ugh goodness # 678: #2 {NW} # Oh that was Again that was the exception rather than the rule #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 Than the rule # 678: And {NS} And Interviewer: Well if you got lard all over your hands you'd say your hands were all 678: Greasy yeah greasy Messy Interviewer: Well it would be they would #1 Would be real # 678: #2 Yeah it would be # Greasy yeah Interviewer: Would be uh now the well if you had a door hinge that was squeaking what would you have to put on it 678: {NW} Before my time they put {D: briar} grease on it #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 Oh did they # 678: Well I read that Interviewer: #1 You read that yeah # 678: #2 {X} # But we {NS} {NW} Well we had from the time I can remember we've had what we called three in one oil #1 Machine oil # Interviewer: #2 Oh you had # #1 Machine oil that you used on that # 678: #2 Mm-hmm yeah # My mama {NW} Owned a sewing machine from the day I can remember Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And she had a little sport can that uh And that's what she hauled uh She took care of the house my dad didn't mess with that Interviewer: Mm-hmm didn't mess with that at all 678: She'd run him off #1 Nobody messed with her house # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # {NW} Well now would the uh that the what you burned in the lamp uh you said it was 678: #1 I think it was kerosene # Interviewer: #2 Kerosene # Did was that ever called anything else other than 678: Coal oil Interviewer: Oh would that be the same thing coal oil and kerosene would be the same thing well then now when they first began to have electricity uh did they have lamps or did they just have it like hanging from the ceiling just have a 678: They had the old what we called the old drop cord Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: Sure you've seen some of the old uh {NW} Green and black mix twisted wire Interviewer: Uh-huh #1 And then that would be # 678: #2 That's what it was # And had a little rosette at the top that you {NW} You'd measure rig up this uh {NS} A thing similar to this right here Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And your cord would go in that Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And then it'd fasten fasten onto a little What they called a rosette part of it went up And connected to your Wires up in your loft and then you'd take this other part and just {NW} Kind of screw it in there and and then uh you had these {NW} Push and pulls or {NW} The jerk cord type Interviewer: Mm-hmm and did they have um uh did the bulb look like it does now 678: #1 Mm-hmm # Interviewer: #2 Did they have a # 678: More a lot of clearer bulbs back then Interviewer: Oh they did #1 They had clearer # 678: #2 Lot clearer ones # Interviewer: Oh 678: Hurt your eyes something awful Interviewer: #1 I didn't know that # 678: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: #1 They were clear # 678: #2 Yeah # Yeah personally we had one clear on our Delco system Interviewer: Uh-huh well did they did they call them lightbulbs like they do now 678: {NW} I don't know I don't know if they called them lightbulbs or not Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: #1 Undoubtedly undoubtedly did # Interviewer: #2 But they were the same thing # Mm-hmm did you ever see a lamp that was just made out of a rag a bottle and kerosene just kind of a 678: #1 Yeah yeah # Interviewer: #2 Like a makeshift lamp # What were those called 678: I don't know Interviewer: Um 678: They wouldn't know what the word improvised meant back then #1 But that's what it but that's what it was # Interviewer: #2 Oh but it definitely would be yeah # #1 Um # 678: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: {NS} Okay now uh inside of a the tire of a the early cars now did they have inner uh did they have the inner 678: Holster you mean Interviewer: No #1 Inside # 678: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: The tire 678: Oh the tire #1 It had a # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # 678: Tube inner tube #1 Yeah # Interviewer: #2 They did have # The inner tubes in the in the early cars um if somebody had just built a boat and they were going to put it in the water for the first time they'd say they're going to 678: Launch it yeah Interviewer: What kind of boats would they use like if they were gonna go fishing maybe on a did what 678: You mean here Interviewer: Yeah uh-huh 678: Well {NS} To fish we had what we called a flat john boat #1 Built out of lumber # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # Uh-huh uh-huh 678: Just a Very crude affair Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Because you didn't no motors #1 You didn't go very far # Interviewer: #2 No motors # Right 678: You just uh Fished off the bank or if you got {NW} Uh real ambitious you'd build you a boat Get out in the deeper water or go downstream or Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Maybe setting out set ups or drop lines Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And then they had the what they called the Canoes or dug outs Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Uh I remember my dad And a friend made a Canoe from a big red gum tree just #1 Hued it out # Interviewer: #2 Oh # 678: And it was perfectly shaped Interviewer: Oh 678: And my brother and I couldn't hardly wait until we got in it Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And he finally the the high water came in just to take your time and He put this canoe out in there and he We noticed he would stand up and And uh push it with a {NW} With a big long pole Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And uh we couldn't hardly wait until we got in that thing Interviewer: Mm 678: And we never did get in it {NS} Interviewer: #1 Oh you never # 678: #2 Well # We never did get in it we got halfway in it Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: Until it turned over Interviewer: Oh it did 678: Just like a barrel you know Interviewer: Oh 678: And it took us quite a while to learn how to sit down and it not #1 Turn over # Interviewer: #2 And not turn over # 678: Let alone paddle it around Interviewer: Oh goodness did you learn 678: Oh yes yes we'd have died or learned Interviewer: #1 {NW} # 678: #2 You know # Interviewer: {NW} 678: But we just kind of Indian fashion you know they set flat down so we my dad said after he laughed at us a while he'd say well set that plant down Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: Take a paddle one get on One end and one the other Interviewer: So then you learned to #1 Just # 678: #2 Yeah # Interviewer: So y'all sat down 678: {NW} And to show you the confidence he had in us uh after we Had uh Ridden that boat around there a while and He thought we was safe he put us in this {D: Grudgy ditch} Down here wasn't as large as it is now but it was High high water and running wild and he put us in that thing and {NW} And uh He met us on down about a quarter of a mile in the wagon and took the us and the boat out and we hauled it back Interviewer: Oh 678: Let us ride downstream in that thing Interviewer: Well he really did #1 Have confidence in you if he did that # 678: #2 {NW} # Yeah he told us to do it well we could swim like ducks you know and he figured we turned over we'd swim out Interviewer: Yeah I noticed in there #1 You were talking about # 678: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: One one uh summer where you did a lot of swimming and stuff #1 You and your brother # 678: #2 Yeah # Interviewer: Uh and I didn't I didn't r- so y'all could #1 You swam # 678: #2 Oh # That's one of things like a duck we learned to swim Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: Very few kids back then could #1 Course they'd live # Interviewer: #2 Everybody swam # 678: Uh we had a {NW} The boys that were uh I called them progressive boys would all learn to swim Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: We'd slip off and go to the swimming hole #1 Take our younger brother # Interviewer: #2 Oh you did # 678: Take the younger brothers along We would go by sometimes and ask uh neighbors or Can Bob and Joe go to the swimming hole with us no no They don't know how to learn well let them go learn how no they'll have to wait until they learn how to swim Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Well it never struck me then but how would they learn #1 Without going in see # Interviewer: #2 If they never went # {NW} 678: #1 So # Interviewer: #2 That's right # 678: Those boys {NW} Probably never learned to swim We didn't have the opportunity to go to swimming pools and be supervised #1 So # Interviewer: #2 Right # 678: {NW} A lot of old men in this country right today my age can't swim Because their their parents wouldn't let them Interviewer: Never let them 678: And after they got growing they didn't care enough about it you know as a sport to try Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: But us fellows was permitted to go now should we learn to swim {NW} I've been down a third time twice #1 That's right # Interviewer: #2 Oh you don't mean it # 678: My brothers pulled me out twice and I didn't uh I'd already lost conscious Interviewer: You don't mean it 678: {NW} Interviewer: You mean you can 678: #1 My arm went up that waters # Interviewer: #2 Come back from the # 678: Sounded like felt like I was bottom of the whole ditch #1 Grudge ditch # Interviewer: #2 Oh # And you come back close to 678: That's right Interviewer: Drown 678: Went down the third time he {NW} He pulled me out one time and I Interviewer: Well you'd have drown if it weren't for 678: Oh yeah one more time I well {NW} When I'd have gone back down that'd have been it But that happened lots of times when we was in swimming #1 I remember # Interviewer: #2 Oh it did # 678: One time I Feel something against my leg it'd be fifteen or twenty of us boys down at the old swimming hole Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And all who {NW} Who were all laughing Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: Uh mud throwing mud at one another you know and {NW} I I remember Feeling something against my leg and I thought it was a fish and I jumped And I felt it again and it didn't feel like fish and I fell down {NW} Picked up a kid about seven year old at that time I was about ten Interviewer: Oh 678: I don't know how long he had been under we got him out there and laid him on his belly and {NW} Well we end up bashing on him that's all we knew to do in fact {X} Water just gushed out Interviewer: {NW} 678: Sick #1 Oh got so sick # Interviewer: #2 Oh # 678: After that's over you just want to die Interviewer: Oh 678: But the positive of that it's three miles down to the old swimming hole and I'd always be ready to walk back you know Interviewer: #1 Uh-huh # 678: #2 They'd have # A fight or two on the way home Interviewer: Maybe have a fight or two on the way home that's great that's really something I can't believe you came that close #1 To drowning # 678: #2 Yeah # I didn't even remember when they pulled me out Interviewer: You didn't 678: No Interviewer: Wow that's scary 678: You know it didn't scare me it didn't excite me and I didn't realize I thought well I just figured that oh there'd be someone there to pull me out Interviewer: Uh-huh uh-huh 678: Nothing to it {NW} Interviewer: Uh now if a person had wanted to sign their name in ink they'd use a 678: Oh well you know way back then they used a quill but uh {NW} Um well we had what we call a Pen staff I believe they called it a Ink pen Interviewer: Mm-hmm they would have to #1 Fill it # 678: #2 We bought uh # Yeah well now that was fountain pen Interviewer: Oh that's fountain pen 678: What I'm talking about is uh One about like this that you #1 Bought extra # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # 678: Points and slipped them up in there Interviewer: Oh 678: Yeah Interviewer: Heard of that 678: Really before your time Interviewer: Yeah 678: But you're thinking about the {NS} The fountain pen this is the old #1 Fountain pen # Interviewer: #2 The old fountain pen # 678: See you would Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Why it's broke down I {NW} I just use it dipping I like to write with them #1 Once in a while # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # Mm-hmm 678: But uh It had a a little thing here that you'd mash you know and that sucked the ink up in there Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And I got the bottle of ink there and Once in a while people want something signed in ink Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: {NW} I'll think when they say that That it's an old saying and that these are just as good Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: But when they say signed in Interviewer: #1 Ink # 678: #2 Ink # Interviewer: You use 678: I say I'm a notary public and when they say something is signed in ink I get this out Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And I get it they're in good writing order and give it to them and {NW} It scares the tar out of a lot of people getting a little something like that Interviewer: {NW} #1 That's great # 678: #2 But talking about # The writing I have a letter Down there that's {NW} My great granddaddy wrote my daddy Interviewer: Oh #1 Really # 678: #2 In eighteen # Ninety-eight And it was uh it was wrote with a Peculiar colored It was dark ink But my dad said that he believed that uh The best he can remember that His granddaddy wrote that with one of the old quills Interviewer: With one of the old quills 678: Why he was the At the time my great my great granddaddy was a {NW} County judge up in Saint {NW} Saint Clare County Missouri Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And he wrote that letter to Time Interviewer: Hmm 678: And that's one of my relics is that old letter Interviewer: Yeah that's great to have kept that that's that's really hmm uh what would they use you know you were talking about they used those uh flower sacks for baby's diapers what would they hold the diapers on with 678: Safety pins Interviewer: They had safety pins 678: Yeah Interviewer: Well now if you bought something in can what was the can usually made of 678: Well it'd be a {NW} You didn't buy many cans but if you did {NS} Back when I'm talking about when when I was a From the time I can remember up until I was about twelve or thirteen year old that's what I generally refer back to Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: But if you bought it in cans it was in tin and you had to empty it Quick Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: You let it {NW} Rinse in sardines would uh If you'd leave them in there thirty minutes And then eat them why you'd have a diarrhea Interviewer: Oh #1 Goodness # 678: #2 Yeah # Interviewer: Just that #1 That length # 678: #2 Oh yeah # Interviewer: Of time 678: Yeah you'd get ptomaine poison Interviewer: Oh it would be it would be poison actually 678: One of the things that I remember we got back in cans and it was pork and beans that's #1 One of their # Interviewer: #2 Yeah # 678: Things I can remember {NW} A way back Interviewer: Way back coming in cans 678: But uh no peaches or apples you dro- you bought those dried Interviewer: Oh you bought those dried 678: We used to buy them in a box peaches Peaches box about so long so wide and so deep Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Great big beautiful red peaches Interviewer: Oh they would be that 678: Dried yeah Interviewer: Dried and they would not be all shriveled up 678: Oh no they would be this these little bitty ones you'd get dried peaches that was that big around and pressed into these boxes Just the prettiest color and you talk about fine pies man Interviewer: Oh well now 678: Wooden boxes very sanitary at the time Interviewer: I never heard about that 678: {NW} Interviewer: The only thing that I've seen were just all uh 678: In little old paper sacks uh cellophane sack #1 Little bitty {X} things # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 678: #1 Yeah # Interviewer: #2 Right right # 678: {NS} Peaches uh be half as large as this right here {NW} Interviewer: You don't mean it I didn't even know they did that 678: And and getting back to the lard situation {X} Uh {NS} Grease that they used Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: We would put put this uh Hog lard aside And then the sugar was something we couldn't grow Interviewer: Yeah 678: We would always buy Oh two or three hundred pounds they come in hundred pound sacks Interviewer: Oh sugar 678: #1 And put # Interviewer: #2 Did # 678: Put that up For the winter Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And {NW} We we grew some wheat but Uh we would all sell it but uh For all our meals and Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And then uh then we would either take a new bill and buy flour back or Or we would buy flour directly from the store mister {B} and I referred to we'd get flour here for the box car loaves #1 Fit # Interviewer: #2 Oh # 678: Twenty-five and fifty pound sacks Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: And some of it in old wooden barrels Interviewer: Oh the flour would come in 678: As long as we could buy it in wooden barrels my dad would buy about three barrels of flour Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: To last all winter Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Well when spring would come {NW} Well if you didn't have it used up why the weevils would get in it see Interviewer: Uh-huh uh-huh 678: Then you'd mix it up into a batter and feed it to your hogs and family Interviewer: Oh it'd feed uh-huh 678: But {NW} We would we would store up sugar And flour Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: And coffee and then uh the things the essential things or things we wanted that we couldn't grow Interviewer: That you couldn't grow 678: So we didn't worry about food during the winter Interviewer: Mm-hmm {NW} 678: We had all kinds of fruit all kinds of jellies and jams Interviewer: Mm-hmm mm-hmm 678: All kinds of dried peas and dried beans Potatoes put up Uh apples put down in barrels layers and {X} Apple flavored {X} Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: Uh Everything imaginable peanuts put up uh popcorn Interviewer: Mm 678: And had all that stuff and sorghum molasses Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: We'll grow our own sorghum they'd have the sorghum mill around So you didn't worry about uh you had to buy pepper and salt and uh and spice and Sugar and flower and coffee And tea if you drink tea seldom did we drink any tea it was hot you know Interviewer: #1 It was hot right # 678: #2 Hot tea # Interviewer: Hot tea yeah how much was a dime worth then 678: Well there's an old saying it's worth a dime Interviewer: {NW} 678: Now it's worth about one cent Interviewer: But was it worth it was worth 678: Yeah Interviewer: Ten 678: That's right it was pure silver Interviewer: And it was worth actually worth ten cents 678: I've got some of the old ten cents dimes Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: Pure silver dimes Interviewer: Mm-hmm 678: {NW} But then you bought a dollar a dollar's worth for a dollar Interviewer: Uh-huh 678: I bought uh blue denim pants for sixty cents a pair That you pay twenty one dollars for now Interviewer: Oh 678: Course they got them dressed up like your your uh Interviewer: With the #1 With all that stuff # 678: #2 Mm-hmm # Fancied up now but It didn't make them wear any better see Interviewer: Hmm 678: But I bought during the depression {NS} I bought {NS} Uh blue jeans for sixty cents a pair Interviewer: Really during the depression 678: I remember a thing that happened {X} {NS}