Interviewer: We were talking about the the stairs 811: Yeah. Um most of 'em was outdoors, you- you'd come like um well, you didn't have to exactly get outside, but you had to get out the house. Let's see, you would come out the front door, and uh as you would come out, you'd just {D: tell him to sit on the porch} you know. And you go up the stairs. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. Um {NS} did you- did you ever see any on the inside? You know, they'd have a #1 on the inside of the house, # 811: #2 Yeah. # Interviewer: #1 they'd have a what? # 811: #2 Mm-hmm. # Uh they got wi- old house over there, old abandoned house they got uh one with the stairs inside. Interviewer: Yeah. Um {NS} now- okay. At the back, say when you walked out of the back door, did you ever see a house that would have a kitchen off of it? So, the kitchen would be off the house, or- Man: Or uh 811: #1 Mm. # Interviewer: #2 Okay. # Say out back, the- you'd walk out on the what? Out- outside of the back of your house, you might've had a? 811: Well, they'd usually have a little ol' screen porch or {NS} on the later model, you know #1 usually # Interviewer: #2 Yeah. # 811: have a little porch or something. Interviewer: Would it be covered? 811: Yeah. Oh, you di- it was your- your porch or either your storage room. You had a little porch back there, but most of 'em was storage rooms. Like I was telling you, where you put all your canned goods. {NS} And uh Interviewer: Huh? 811: like- well, and all your preserves and stuff like wha- what you'd can, you know. Interviewer: Jams and 811: Yeah. Make all your jelly and and then, you had a other little off house for your- for your meats. Cause your- you had these big jars where you would salt your meat. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: Like your bacon and stuff, or Interviewer: Put it in a jar? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: #1 {X} # 811: #2 Well, yeah. # You ever seen one? Interviewer: Well, I- I'll get you to me then, if you don't mind. 811: It's a- a ten-gallon jar. Interviewer: You kill hogs? 811: Huh? Interviewer: You kill a hog in here? 811: Yeah, they uh they killed one once, about three, four weeks ago. Interviewer: Yeah. {NS} 811: And um what you do, you you take it and you make you a put your salt, your pepper. If you put it in there, you put your salt and pepper over it, you know. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: {NW} That gallon uh jar would hold about ten gallons. And they had some twelve gallon, some twenty gallon, whatever you wanted. But most people with big family, you know bigger their family was, bigger the jars they had. And uh you salt it {D: as you going} when you get through, you pour you some water in it. Interviewer: What was it made out of? 811: Huh? Interviewer: The jar. 811: Um Man: Kinda clear, something like- 811: yeah, it uh something like what you call a crock- crock jar. Interviewer: Crock. Okay. {NS} 811: You'd get through you you get you a rag, and you tie on top of it to keep the flies off. {X} And then you take it and put it in your little house. {NS} And that meat would keep there for the longest. You didn't have to worry about it spoiling or nothing cause it wasn't gonna spoil in that salt and pepper. {NS} Interviewer: The meat never got never got- 811: Mm-hmm. Interviewer: never got spoiled? 811: Now if you didn't do it right, you would lose it. It went rancid. Cause a bunch of people lose some if you some of them young people that knew- thought they knew how to do it, you know. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: But usually wouldn't happen like that with us, it was always you know, one of the old ones {D: that would do it- had- had been at doing it.} Interviewer: Uh-huh. 811: And I never known us to lose nothing. Interviewer: The meat around the bone, too, usually the- 811: Yeah. Interviewer: that shoulder or something like that. Um okay now you mentioned a- would anyone call a porch a gallery? Or any- #1 {X} # 811: #2 Yeah. # And they'd say a gallery the- the older ones the older ones down here, most of 'em would say a gallery. You know the- the French people. Interviewer: Uh-huh. 811: The ones that really talk French. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: Cause they they always said things {D: backwards} to the {NW} to the people that {NS} that just talk English, you know they Interviewer: Yeah. 811: And if they tell you something, the- they'll tell it to you halfway {D: backwards} and you got to know know 'em pretty good, you know, to know what they they saying. {NS} Interviewer: Did uh did any your- uh let me ask you this. Did any of your family speak French? Like your father? 811: Mm-mm. They understood it a little bit, but none of 'em talked it. Interviewer: Okay your grandparents or your grandmother? 811: Mm-mm. Interviewer: What'd she call- where'd she get that dish {X} from? 811: Well, that was in that time the- everybody was you know that was just uh Interviewer: Okay. 811: everybody that survived, you know? To keep you know Interviewer: That's an interesting dish. It may be French. I don't know- I don't know where it came from, but 811: Well yeah, you can buy it uh {NS} it's got to be a old store, though. Where you would buy- now they might have some in Church Point, I ain't sure. Interviewer: {X} huh? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: Would you ever eat the little intestines? 811: Yeah, you'd use that to make boudin. Interviewer: #1 Boudin. # 811: #2 That's how I say it. # Yeah. Interviewer: Okay. You ever- do you know what chitterlings are? 811: Ye- uh yeah. Interviewer: Wha- 811: That- that was the little guts so the ones you didn't use, you'd take 'em and you'd cut 'em small. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: And you could- talk about good with cornbread. Interviewer: And that was- 811: That was chitterling. Interviewer: And you've eaten them? 811: {X} {NW} I didn't eat {X} Man: Some hog head cheese. 811: Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah, you made what? From the ho- head of the hog, you made? 811: Hog head cheese. Interviewer: Yeah. {NS} What about- would you ever take the liver and grind it up? Did you make a dish outta that? {NS} 811: Uh Interviewer: Wi- after you cooked it? {NS} 811: Mm. Let me see. {NS} Interviewer: Okay. Would you ever use the blood of the hog for anything? 811: Yeah. Make red boudin. Interviewer: Red boudin. Man: Blood pudding. 811: Yeah. Well, it was the same thing. {NS} You had your white boudin, your red one. And what you have to do is uh whe- as soon as you stab the hog, you had to go there with a {NS} uh with a pan. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: And you'd catch it. And you keep {X} it running in there, and then you get you some salt and put salt instead cause it's gonna clabber if you don't do that. Interviewer: You stabbed him with a? 811: With a knife. Interviewer: Big ol' knife? {NS} 811: Uh it don't necessarily have to be that big, long as it's pointed and you can hit his heart. You stab him on the left side. {NS} Right down there. And if you {X} very, very seldom you gonna miss his heart. {NS} Interviewer: Yeah. Um {NS} about the house, what would you call the boards on the outside of the house that would lap over? {NS} That was a you know, on the outside of the house they'd make 'em so they would have one board going down the side of the house, and then another board would lap over that. That was called? {NS} 811: I don't know too much about #1 {D: two little} # Interviewer: #2 What # what was your house what were the houses you- you lived in made out of? 811: Uh Interviewer: What'd they have on the s- outside of the 811: #1 The- # Interviewer: #2 house? # 811: {D: That weather boarding uh} no, they had brick paper. Let me see. Interviewer: Okay. 811: Yeah. Brick paper. Interviewer: Okay. 811: And baked siding. It is something like they got on that house over there. Interviewer: Uh-huh. 811: But it was gray. Interviewer: Right. And uh now you have a- a house had an L on the house, say. And when the two come together, would be a there would be a place where, you know, come together. What was that called, a? 811: Mm. Interviewer: You ever see that? You know, when you had a house, and an L on the house? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: And uh and the- the uh the two would come together and and the water would run together, and that was a? It'd be a little p- piece of tin there or something. 811: Yeah. But I don't know what would you call it. Interviewer: Uh okay. {NS} Now, did you have a you said you stored your wood out in the uh 811: Well, you usually had a a wood pile outside. Interviewer: Okay. 811: But you had you a wood box in the house. Like if you'd get three or four rainy days, well, we uh- we just had our time to cut wood. Uh either one would cut wood, one would do something else. {NW} {NW} And if you know there uh by that time when we got big enough that we had a radio, it'd work with a battery, and then they said they had a cold front or something coming for a day or so. You'd better get out there and cut you enough wood to fill up your box. Interviewer: {X} 811: Cause if you wait till late, you was in trouble. And then if it would stay froze, I remember one time it stayed froze for what? Nine days. And uh we couldn't go in the woods to get no wood. Cause the branches tha- that snowed and that and they had a bunch of ice. The branches was falling off the trees. And then, and if you would go walk in the woods, they could fall on you and kill you. So what we had to do was go on the edge of the woods {NS} and bring some back on our shoulders. {NS} {D: We'd run in lower wood} {NS} Of course that- we had had a bunch of trees and the branches would fall out the trees in the yard, and that helped us out some. But it was green. {NS} And that green, wet wood just wasn't going. {NS} When we got a chance, we went out there and got us some dry wood. {NS} Interviewer: And you did have indoor uh plumbing? 811: Huh? Uh {NW} Interviewer: You had a what? 811: You had a cistern. Interviewer: Okay, and then 811: {NW} Interviewer: What'd you call an outdoor toilet? 811: Well, I don- yeah, toilet. #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 Okay. # Joking words for it, you know? They call it the? The other words they'd have? 811: Uh Man: Little outhouse. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: Yeah, most time it was a toilet, though. Interviewer: You don- do you ever hear talking about a commode? 811: Why, that come out Interviewer: Or a 811: when they came out with the ones in the house. Interviewer: Yeah. Well, they might call it a a privy or something like that? Okay. Now that's w- cuz we had one up in the house where I was at. That's what we called ours. Um what about um mr {B} what about other buildings on the farm? Uh, you mentioned the barn. What'd you use that for? 811: Well {NS} most uh farmers now you talking about uh like now? Interviewer: Uh-huh. 811: Well, mo- most farmers today, they uh uh like on this farm, they uh they uh {NS} they go on with rice, beans, and cattle. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. {NS} 811: So what this big ol' barn back here was used for cattle. {NS} And then {NS} #1 uh # Interviewer: #2 that he keeps the cattle in? # You know. 811: Well, they can go and come in the barn like they want. Uh {NS} You've got about a hundred {NS} about a hundred and twenty head, I guess. And you got this big barn with some hay rice. {NS} Uh now if it's freezing cold, raining, what we do, we go put hay and the hay rice in the barn. And uh {NS} let 'em {NS} eat out of the water. But if the water's not any good, {NS} we've got some of these big ol' round barrels, I don't know if you ever did see 'em. {NS} Interviewer: Mm. 811: And we'd take 'em and just put 'em out there where they can eat outdoors. Interviewer: How do you carry those things? My goodness. 811: Uh, we got a fork. Uh all you do, you'd put it on back of a tractor and you'd back up to it and it works on a lift. They got one of the dealers supposed to bring two. {NS} But I don't know how you gonna- how that's gonna work #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 They weigh a ton a piece, # don't they? 811: Uh fifteen hundred pound, most of 'em. Interviewer: Pretty big. {NS} When you when you used to raise hay in the old days, tell me how y'all would cut it. Did you cut it? Did you ever cut it back in the 811: Yeah we uh- you but uh this fellow here, he never well, after I started working for him, he used to cut a whole lotta hay. Then we start building rice straw. {NS} We're going back of the combines, so you have the combines cut the rice. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: They would leave a row of straw. And we'd just go behind and press that. And it got so bad on the last well, you couldn't get nobody to haul it. You had to almost get on your hands and knees and beg people to haul it, you know? Um then we was- I was running the crew and {NW} this fellow had his truck, he was charging fifteen cent a bale. {NS} {X} And uh they usually would put out about a thousand bales a day, you know, if it go good. {NS} And uh Interviewer: That's a hun- that's a hundred fifty dollars a day. 811: Yeah. {NS} And he uh he had these fellows hauling and what I would do, they had a tractor and a wagon, I'd let him use that, too. {NS} And he was making headway like that cause he wasn't wearing and tearing his truck. {NW} Interviewer: #1 Why- # 811: #2 {X} # with uh with his own truck, you see. #1 And you had # Interviewer: #2 Why's # they char- why do they charge you so much to haul hay? 811: Why, that was cheap. I- I tell you right now, i- in Texas, they- they pay up to forty-five, fifty cent a bale {D: others didn't have a fork, you had to haul it.} Interviewer: Where were you hauling it to? 811: Well, I was hauling it like out of this field right here? {NS} {X} {NS} Interviewer: Oh, I see. 811: Now, if they had to get at Interviewer: #1 Oh, I see. # 811: #2 {X} # Interviewer: been outta the state. {NS} 811: Texas. Interviewer: Okay. 811: I always did love to travel. {NW} They forgot to {X} {NS} I tell you my wife the other day we {NS} always doing all work and no play, and I believe her. {NW} Then we had a doctor talking like I not- might not be able to work for another three years. So, I don't know how much ch- chance we gonna get to travel. {NS} While I'm not working, you know, be kind of bad. {NS} Never could save up enough money. {NW} {X} take a trip. {NS} Interviewer: Um {NS} so you bale rice straw? 811: Mm-hmm. Interviewer: And that was just about as good as hay? 811: I-I would uh I went out well tha- that's my job I wa- take care of rice and the cattle. I bale the hay. {NW} And we had a a farm out there in Jeff Davis parish by Jennings. And I went out there and baled some grass hay. Baled about a hundred bales, and they're big bales. And we was feeding that to 'em and I don't know- something came up {NS} well, I carried some rice straw out there. You know, they start eating that rice straw they didn't want to go back to they grass hay? Now if you're feeding 'em grass hay, I don't know what it is about that rice straw, seem like it got more protein or something in it. I don't know what it is, but they much rather that- they do that that grass hay. That grass hay, if you don't bale it just right, it got a tendency to sour. You know, if it's kinda green and if they eat it, sometimes it make 'em sick. But that old rice straw, it starts smell like the dickens, like that rotten. And they get out there and eat it, it won't do 'em nothing. {NW} {NS} Interviewer: Um {NS} now {NS} when you {NS} when too much hay where would you stack- put your hay in the barn? 811: Uh we'd stack that upstairs, in the barn. Like uh, this barn back here, we can put about twenty-seven hundred bales in it. Small bales. Interviewer: Hmm. 811: And these big bales, uh the idea it is you don't put it in no shade. You take it and uh stack it outdoors, but you gotta put a fence around it. You- you don't stack it close together, so when it rain you stack it on a hill. {NW} Interviewer: What kind of fence? 811: Well, put barbed wire fence, about six wires six, seven wires {X} Interviewer: Around it? #1 Why? # 811: #2 Yeah. # Cause once the cows they get in there, {NS} you got all kind of trouble to keep 'em out. Interviewer: Oh yeah. 811: We got one back there, we put a four wire fence they got there. {NW} Shit, we put wires, put wires {X} they got about seven wires on there, finally keep 'em out now. #1 And there was a # Man: #2 {D: Sometimes} # {NS} as long as they ain't hungry. 811: They'll jump push and get in there. And you stack and you space it about a foot apart. You know, so the- whenever it rain the water just roll off it. And the only thing, you kind of lose it on the bottom you lose about that much on your bale. The top part they do the water just rolls off it and the Interviewer: Hmm. 811: #1 And the # Interviewer: #2 Back # in the old days, when they cut it, you used to? When they cut it out the field, they'd rake it into what? 811: Uh Interviewer: Did you ever- 811: uh yeah you rake it i- in uh windrows. Interviewer: Okay. 811: Rake yo- your hay. {NS} Or you press to pick it up. Interviewer: Yeah. Did they- would they ever leave it out in the field? You know what out there? They'd make a? 811: Oh, they'd make a haystack. Now back before the in the old, old time. They didn't bale. They uh made haystacks. {NS} They uh took a wagon what they do, they go out on the {NS} was nothing but highland farmers, mostly. Then they needed some uh Had one or two uh milk cows and they mules. They take a long stick. uh old tree or something a small one, about this size, {NS} And they would cut it oh about {NS} ten, twelve feet high {NS} that's a- about fifteen feet. {NS} And they'd take a {D: post over there and} put it about three feet in the ground. Three or four feet in the ground. And they go out on the- on the headlands {D: on their torn rows where they were torn, you know?} And they always had quite a bit of grass, and they would cut it. Go along there they had a a mowing machine. {NS} they would cut it. {NS} They would come back and uh The had what you'd call a- a mule rig. And it was a thing with a bunch of forks. And you would let it down, and you would go and it just would pass it, rake it up when you would get it get it full. {NS} {D: You had to put but your} match on it that thing would go up, and it would leave you a pile of hay. When you'd get through, you know, when your hay would dry, about a day or so after, you come back with your wagon. And you load it on your wagon. And you go back where you put that stick in and you start putting it around that stick. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: And uh {NS} yes, you'd go {NS} you would just keep throwing it higher and higher. Interviewer: {NW} 811: And by the time you #1 finished it it'd # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 811: be almost to the top of the stick, but by the time it'd settle, it'll be about a half way. So if you just would pull up on the old haystack like that, them old cows would get up under there, some of 'em would have calves or something during the winter. Go in there if you didn't watch it close, it would fall on 'em, you know. They'll eat to the bottom and the thing just would {NW} collapse on 'em and you'd lose a calf or something like that. Sometimes the cow would come out, but you wouldn't see the calf. {NS} But if I put that stick, it uh it would hold the hay up {NS} {X} {NS} Interviewer: What about a building or a part of a building where you would store your corn? 811: Well yo- you had uh oh well wo- you would feed your mules yo- usually had uh let's say if you had four mules, you had uh {NS} uh four stalls, one to put each one of your mules in. {NS} That- see, that would be on the left side uh the left or right side of your barn. You'd put your four mules in there. And then you had your {D: hoer} where you could put your wagon and stuff. And then, let's say if you had your stalls on the left side but on the right side you had your place to put your corn. {NW} And uh {NS} You always had upstairs a little old upstairs there if you wanted to put you some hay. {NS} Mostly what we used that upstairs for was uh like when we start picking cotton, and the cotton would be green, and we couldn't put it in the {D: wind} so we had to put it upstairs and let it dry {NS} until we get a bale. It'd take something like four days to pick a bale, you know, just {D: before it's open} {NS} And you'd go pick it green it would mildew so what we do is just take it and put it upstairs {NS} in the barn. Just let it dry. {NS} Interviewer: Um the place where you kept your corn was the what? the c- corn? 811: Corn crib. {NS} Interviewer: Um did you ever have a place where you would store grain? Or a part of a building? Or anything like that? {NS} 811: Mm. Interviewer: Like rice, they keep that now. What do they dry it in a? 811: Now? Interviewer: Yeah, they got a would you call it a 811: {NW} Interviewer: a granary? You know what- 811: Uh they got uh rice drawers. Uh Interviewer: Rice? 811: Rice drawers. Well, they call 'em bins. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: They got these big uh Interviewer: They're mighty bigger than a bin, though. 811: Uh, they might hold about thirty-five hundred barrels, most of 'em. You seen the this big old thing out here #1 when you step out # Interviewer: #2 Yeah, yeah, # yeah, coming in. 811: Yeah. Coming out. Interviewer: Coming out, yeah. 811: Yeah. Well, that's uh that's what you call a rice drawer. {NS} Man: {X} 811: Yeah. Uh, I'd like for you to come out here during the summer, during harvest time. Be glad to take you around and show you how whe- during you know, harvest time, they'd cut? And go through their drawers? #1 That's it # Interviewer: #2 If I'm # here, I'd like to see it I'd- if I'm back in the area. Um now, {NS} what about a place where say, besides the barn, did you ever have a place where you would milk {NS} the cows? 811: Uh most people didn't milk in the barn, cause you always had fleas if you had hogs, boy if you had hogs, you had fleas. {NS} Most people always had a milker right in front of the barn. {NS} Had 'em a little place, you know. {NS} Interviewer: That was a what? 811: Well, it was just outdoors, you know? There are very few people that would milk in the barn. {NS} If uh you was raising {NW} {NS} hogs, then your hogs was going in the barn. {NS} Cause there are very few people that would milk {D: on the barn} Cause you- the hog would make such a mess. And then they'd create fleas and stuff. Well, you had {D: D-Z-T} then. {NS} They uh they won't let you use it, now, but that was good for 'em. You went there and sprayed that, you didn't have no trouble with 'em. But otherwise them fleas would eat you up. Just like ants. They would get on you Interviewer: Yeah. What about where you kept your hogs? {NS} 811: Well, if uh you could most people had 'em a hog pen built on the side. Something pretty big, where they didn't have to feed 'em all year, you know cause uh say if for instance like if you was working on {X} the boss would furnish {D: a place} but he had to furnish his own wire and everything you know, to make his hog pen. And they always make a big pen. So that mean you didn't have to feed your hog. all summer and all winter if you had a little grass and stuff. Interviewer: What kind of fence did they have around it? 811: Uh it was a- a hog wire fence. But you always had to have boards and stuff to the bottom, or they'd root out. Interviewer: Uh-huh. 811: I put rings in their nose. Interviewer: You have a shelter? {NS} 811: Yeah, you had a little old house lay in the middle of their pen out there. Interviewer: Was it floored? 811: No. Interviewer: Like when you wanted to kill a hog, like don't you- don't you do that when you #1 floor the pen? # 811: #2 Yeah. # Well, I got one out there now that's floored, but uh in them time people would kill 'em mostly off the ground. It didn't have to be particular people. I say particular people. People that that could afford it. To build a shed. {NS} And take you a hog it maybe something like a month, and put him on the floor. {NS} And what I mean a floor is uh put him in a pen with a floor and feed him corn. Now that's what they call cleaning him out. And uh Interviewer: Uh where did where did people used to keep their milk and butter before the days of refrigeration? 811: {NW} Well- like us we would we'd make uh {NS} let me see. {NS} If you do, you didn't have to uh most of 'em was clabber cause if it would stick overnight. Then you could take it and put it in a cool place. Like you had a water cistern, you take it and put it in a jug. And let it hang down in the cistern. It would stay fresh like that. And then the later on they Interviewer: What'd be in the top of the jug? 811: Uh well, you Interviewer: They put a- 811: well Interviewer: or they put it down in the water? 811: Yeah, you see, you take a string and tie around the top of it and put you a top on it. Interviewer: What kind of top? {NS} 811: Uh no {X} uh they're like a gallon jug, you know? Interviewer: Oh yeah. 811: And uh and your bottle, you'll take it and put it in uh in a jug or something, your cream. And uh let it hang down in the cistern. And it'd stay cool in that. {NS} Interviewer: What about a- did you ever hear of people they'd be uh near a stream or a {X} they'd take a trough a trough and- and run water through that and keep it cool that way? Okay. 811: Mm. #1 No. # Interviewer: #2 Yeah. # Well you get your milk now from a where? From a? {NS} 811: Uh w- we usually buy it, you know Interviewer: It comes from the? 811: Um {NS} from the creamery, I guess. Interviewer: Well, is there a place around here where they where they have cows and they do 811: Yeah. Did that two or three places round here. But what they do, they gotta take it uh {X} and purify it. They got these uh milk dairies, and they milk it, they got a big truck come pick it up. Interviewer: In Appaloosa? 811: Yeah. {NS} Interviewer: Well I'd say these are just out here, they're what? 811: Uh well now, that's just the farms. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: The milk dairies {NS} They uh milk the cows you know, they got they selected milkers and everything. And every morning, this truck come by and pick up a trailer truck he'd back up there and uh they pump all this milk in his truck. And then he'd go to the Pelican Creamery in uh Appaloosa over there in their {NS} Interviewer: Creamery. 811: Yeah. {NS} Interviewer: Did uh {NS} okay, where would you store your potatoes or your turnips, in the winter? 811: Well, you had a potato house. You had a a house that was uh you had paper all around it something like insulated. {NS} And you'd put your hand down to the bottom and you put 'em in there. {NS} And all over the top of 'em {NS} or like that so- but you might you had to keep it closed so you don't get frostbitten. And when you close your door, you put paper all over the door. Just keep it closed tight. {NS} You would lose some, but very little bit. Like to the bottom that was your seed potatoes, you had that to plant. Interviewer: Uh-huh. 811: And uh when you would go back in there, you had to pick 'em out again but most of 'em had some sprouts on 'em about that long. Interviewer: Turnips? 811: Uh no uh well, y- we didn't do it with turnips. We did it just with sweet potatoes. Interviewer: Okay. You know what a dairy- do you ever hear of them call a dairy that- that a dairy or anything like that? No? 811: {NW} Interviewer: Okay. Around the barn, a place where you let the animals walk, say all the mules and the and the har- and the chickens and the 811: That'd be the barnyard. Interviewer: Was it fenced in? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: Um and then where would you let 'em out to graze? 811: Well, you always had a pasture. Interviewer: And was it fenced in? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: Okay. Now wh- tell me about the type fences you remember round here. 811: Well we uh they had barbed wire fences, you- you had barbed wire and hog wire. {NW} Now, your barbed wire fences was like for your barnyard and stuff. Most people used barbed wire. Cause they didn't have the hog pen and uh and the barnyard together. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: And uh they used 'em both. They used barbed wire and hog wire and when they would on they uh hog pen where they would use a that hog {D: pool for 'em.} Interviewer: Uh did you ever see those other type wire those other type fences made outta wood? You ever seen any wooden fences #1 around here? # 811: #2 Ye- # yeah, I've seen 'em usually on uh on yards, they had them picket fences. They used 'em on yards, they didn't uh Interviewer: Was that uh 811: you know, around the houses. Interviewer: Okay, were they nailed? 811: Yeah. And they had some of 'em they had some uh at most four cornered nails. Uh some old, old time nails. Oh and they had these old pew fences, too. Seen quite a few of them. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: They use that for a barnyard. Interviewer: I was gonna ask you about that. That- those were the kind that were uh 811: #1 Uh yeah. # Interviewer: #2 The wood # went into the- they cut holes in them. 811: Yeah, they notched the uh something like some wood nails. They ha- they had uh quite a few of them, too. Them old pew fences. {NS} Interviewer: Um did you ever see the kinds that went like this? 811: No. Interviewer: They were rail. You know they went- in other words, they'd they'd lay one over the other? Zig-zag, they didn't go straight, they went #1 never {X} # 811: #2 I # I never di- I seen {D: how in a books uh one} but I never did see none you know, personal. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: I'd have been glad to seen one. Interviewer: Uh-huh. Okay. And now, when you- you had to dig holes for the 811: For the posts. Interviewer: Yeah. In all the- in all those fences. Um well when you wanted to start a hen laying, what would you use to fool her? You- you know when 811: Yeah. Interviewer: Okay. You kept your, say, your chickens and uh would you ever put anything in the 811: Well, they always Interviewer: in the #1 nest? # 811: #2 most of # the time, they had one or two that's laying. Well, we always- they do is just leave one in the nest. You know, one egg. Interviewer: That would be the? 811: Uh we call that a nest egg. We just leave that one one in there. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: Well, what we would do is pick up the eggs every day and we'd always just leave one. Just go pick up and leave one in there and so uh most of 'em would start laying like that. But sometimes they'd go {D: on a spare} like a lot of the Easter and Christmas {X} {NW} They'd do it with holidays, they didn't want to lay at all. {NW} The rest of the time, they would lay good. {NW} Interviewer: Yeah. Um {NS} now your wife's b- if- if your wife had a nice tea set, or something like that, she'd say it was her best it was made out of what? Made outta? 811: Oh well, I- I'd put with my Interviewer: A cabinet where they'd- where they'd they'd might have a cabinet where they'd put there best what? 811: Well, {X} their best china. Interviewer: Yeah. Okay. Did you ever see an egg made outta that? 811: No. Interviewer: Okay. Like something- a kind of an egg that they would put in in a nest, {X} 811: No. Uh. Interviewer: Okay. But that would be a what? That would be a? You'd call it a china egg? 811: I guess you would. Interviewer: Okay. You never saw one? 811: No. Interviewer: Um {NS} what would you {NS} carry water in around here? 811: Well, you mean like now or in the olden time? Interviewer: Yeah. Bu- back in the old times, when you'd get water out of the cistern, say. 811: Oh well most of the time you had a wooden bucket. {NW} Interviewer: How did you get water out of the cistern? 811: Well, what you do is you you had a bucket on a rope. Interviewer: Uh-huh. 811: And you had a little door, you just open the door and you and you {D: pass you} let your bucket fall in there, then you pull it up. Interviewer: Did you ever see them and they'd have place down at the the cistern would be b- was yours built in the ground? 811: Yeah. #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 Oh. # 811: on top of the ground. Interviewer: Oh, I see. 811: Didn't have one of those on top of the ground. You know, on the side of the house. Interviewer: And the water would come out of a what on the si- on the top of the ground? The water would come outta the? 811: You mean the ones that was in Interviewer: The ones that were built up on the top of the ground. 811: Well it- Interviewer: They'd open- there'd be a little thing 811: You got a little faucet. And now, we had one a deep well with one of these long buckets, oh I'm sure you've seen it. {NS} Interviewer: No, tell me about that. 811: It was a bucket about that long. Interviewer: How- how long is that, about 811: Uh about three feet long, I guess #1 that bucket. # Interviewer: #2 Three feet. # 811: {NS} And uh you had a a long rope {NS} and you- you had a rafter built that {D: and this here was your-} your well right there. You had a rafter built on the top of it. Interviewer: Uh-huh. 811: And you had a pulley right in the middle of it. {NS} And you had a rope on it. What you do, you let that rope go down. And you'll have to let it go down pretty fast so when that bucket hit, it would go {NS} the water would get in it. And when you get it full, you'd pull it back up, and you pu- {X} you had to have, you had a bucket there. Like your water bucket or whatever. And you had a a little ring on the top of the- a shaft that goes down to the bottom. You take your tub and you'd pull it, and the water would fall out. Interviewer: Was the bucket a big one? #1 I mean was it # 811: #2 It was # about that big around. It would hold about Interviewer: But it was long. 811: Yeah. Would hold about two gallon and a half. Or two gallons. About two gallon at the most. Interviewer: Okay. Um now, what did you carry milk in? When you milked, you milked into a? 811: Yeah, a pot. Or you'd uh or they'd get- they had some little old uh about a gallon and a half bucket, little tin buckets. Interviewer: Okay. Were they big or- or do they w- can you de- what was the- how was it shaped? 811: Uh Interviewer: Would they get wider? 811: To the top, yeah. Interviewer: Okay. 811: And they had uh a handle on it with a little piece of wood, you know. Could even see some of these buckets with uh uh a little old piece of wood about that long. You know, on the handle. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: It was just an ordinary wire handle with this little piece of wood on it. Interviewer: Around your kitchen, mr {B}, you would keep a? Say some kinda bucket around there, or anything that you might carry uh scraps in for the pigs? 811: Uh yeah they usually- what we did is is kept a a bucket that was covered where it wouldn't smell so bad, we could cover it up. Or either had us a five-gallon can outside. Interviewer: That was the what, that was called? 811: The slop barrel. Interviewer: #1 Slop barrel. # 811: #2 You either had you # a fifty-five-gallon drum where you can pour all you dishwater in, and all your scraps. What you would do, you'd take you a sack of bran and put in there. And uh you'd go there, you had your shovel, you would s- go ahead and take your five-gallon can and dip it go put it in your hog troughs. And the bran would swell up, you put a that would last you about three weeks, two or three weeks. We didn't have too many hogs. We had something like three hogs. At a hundred pound, it'd last you about three weeks with all the scraps and stuff from the the kitchen. Interviewer: The bran did what? 811: {X} a hundred pound would last you about three weeks. Interviewer: Yeah. {NS} 811: #1 Uh but # Interviewer: #2 {X} # the bran, did it get {NS} 811: It would swell, {NS} you know. {NS} You put it uh in that water, it had a tendency to swell up. Interviewer: Uh-huh. Well, what did you fry eggs in? Like, you remember your gr- uh your mother or your- you fry eggs now in a? 811: Yeah well we had one of these old uh {X} black skillets well, when I was small. Interviewer: Made outta? 811: Uh well it was uh cast iron. A m- the only yeah, it had to be cast iron. Cause that's what we used to cook cornbread and stuff in. One of these old black pots. Interviewer: Did you ever see the ones that had uh old- the old black that had legs on 'em? 811: Uh some of 'em had legs and the others didn't. You had some flat skillet looking ones. But we had some with legs on 'em, some uh didn't have legs. Interviewer: Okay. Uh now, you boil water in a? In a what? In a? Well, something you'd have on the stove, you know? They'd keep 'em on the stove to boil water in. 811: Oh, a tea kettle. Interviewer: Okay. And uh your your mother might call a container uh we- a container that you might plant some sort of flower in, or keep it in the house? 811: #1 Uh # Interviewer: #2 You know, # like a vat or 811: A flower pail. Interviewer: Okay. When- when she got cut flowers she would do what with 'em? She'd put 'em in a? 811: In a jar of water. Interviewer: Okay. Or something that would be made for that. You know, you'd see 'em in a house. That would be called a? 811: Uh a flower pot. Interviewer: Okay. Um 811: {NW} Interviewer: {NS} Now the eating utensils that you would put at each plate when y'all ate. Uh when you when you had dinner. 811: Well, usually she would in them times, they would dish our food out. Interviewer: Uh-huh. 811: The mama would fix each kid's food {X} And don't come back for seconds. {NW} Interviewer: You ate with a wha- with a? 811: With a spoon. Interviewer: Did you have anything else to eat with? Uh like when you had a piece of meat? 811: Uh you had a fork. But then- {D: soon, very soon} you had meat, that when you would get it, you didn't want to play around with it. {NW} I remember when we had meat at once a week that was uh on Sundays. {NS} And then as it went along, we started getting it maybe two or three time a week. We'd have chicken on Sunday and sweet rolls. It was our biggest meal We looked forward to Sunday. And it was the bad part if you had company. The kids had to wait till till everybody else ate. And what they had left, that's what they would eat. It's not like now, they feed their kids first. But in the olden time the kids would come last. The company would eat first. Then the kids would would get the leftovers. {NW} Interviewer: Um {NW} what sort of sharp instruments did you have around? 811: Uh usually had a butcher knife or people would make 'em out of {D: fire or s-} or either a blacksmith shop, you go and you take you a- a piece of iron and make you one. Interviewer: Did- did men carry uh 811: They carried old Texas jacks. It would- {X} one blade knife. Most of 'em was switchblades. It was very seldom you would see a man with a knife that had more than one blade. Interviewer: C- people carry 'em with 'em a lot? 811: #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 People always # had in their pocket, they always had what? 811: Uh always had a well a little call- what we'd call that. #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 811: No, Texas jack. and the only thing you'd have to do is take the {D: red belly like that, it would break.} And they were dangerous with 'em, too. They would cut you. {NW} I tell you, at that time, about ninety percent of the men if you'd ask 'em for a knife, they'd tell you they didn't have nothing. If a fight started, everybody had one. {NW} Interviewer: They all had their- 811: No one had that. But you'll ask 'em to borrow one for something, nobody had nothing. If you start up a fight, {NW} ninety percent of 'em had one. {NS} Interviewer: Had the kni- had the 811: Had- had one of them old Texas jacks, yeah. {NS} You find it on him if you can, he had it stuck somewhere in his sock or Interviewer: Yeah. Did you keep a lot or did you keep one or two or? 811: Me? Interviewer: #1 Yeah. # 811: #2 Uh # during my time coming up, I I always did keep a- a- a case. Cause I castrate calves and stuff. Uh that's mostly what I kept it for. Interviewer: Those are pretty good, aren't they? They're #1 pretty # 811: #2 Yeah. # And they're so many, they expensive, too. And on the farm you need one. The boss didn't want us {D: to ride horses and doubt we had one.} Cause with one fellow, a horse had fell on him and he got trapped up under the horse. And if he could've cut the girth, he could've got from under him, but he couldn't cut the girth and the horse fell on him and he smothered. That's why he told us he didn't want us riding a horse {D: unless} we had a knife. So everybody on the farm you pretty much need a knife on the farm, though. You always got something to cut. Or some adjustment to do and something. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: #1 I swear y- # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 811: you've got t- it pays you to keep a good knife, cause you never know when you're gonna Interviewer: Farmers have keep good #1 {X} # 811: #2 Yeah. # Interviewer: good knives around? 811: Yeah. They should, most of 'em does. Well most of 'em t- uh pack these big knives. {NS} Big two blades in the case. {NS} But uh {NS} Well about fifty percent of 'em does bring them big knives uh with the outside case. Interviewer: Yeah. Did um now okay after the dishes dirty, your wife put soap on 'em and washes 'em, and then she does what? She? 811: Well, she dries 'em. Interviewer: To get the water off, she? 811: She dries 'em. {NW} Interviewer: I mean, to get the soap off, she? 811: Oh sh- she take 'em and wash the soap of 'em and rinse 'em. Interviewer: Yeah. Okay and then {NS} and then uh she dries 'em with a what? Usually? 811: With a dry cloth. Interviewer: Okay. What did she wash 'em with? You know? Or your mother, she'd use a what to wash 'em with? 811: Uh well she use a homemade a homemade dishrag uh like I was telling you about them fertilizer sacks that was Interviewer: Yeah. 811: They'll serve a whole lot of purpose for everything, dish rags and bath towels and everything else. Interviewer: Did y'all get to bathe much? 811: Well, I'll tell you the bathing it was- was- was mostly on Saturday. In them times that you would wash yourself off through the week, and on Saturday you take a bath. {NS} Cause the water was scarce. {NS} Cause if you'd have start toting water in gallon buckets about Interviewer: Yes sir. 811: about a half a mile, they didn't have too much to bathe with. Interviewer: Okay. Now you turn on at the water pipe, in the kitchen sink you turn on the? Turn on what? Well, you get water now, you just turn on the? 811: On the faucet. Interviewer: Okay. Uh when you're working out in the field, say, and they brought water out to you in a cart or a wagon, uh what was that container called? 811: Well, like you mean now or Interviewer: Yeah. 811: in the olden- well like now we usually uh take ou- our water jug out in the field and go come back for lunch. We put our ice and everything in there. Fix us a container of water with a water cooler. And if we running tractors we just take it and put it on the tractor. If we shoveling or something well, we just take it down in the field with us. And when we start shoveling, we set it down, when we get through w- we shoveling right there when we move further over we just pick it up and bring it with us. Interviewer: Okay. And that's a water what? 811: That's a water cooler. Interviewer: Okay. You get water- you push on the what or you turn on the? 811: Uh all you got is a little button you press to the bottom. Interviewer: {NW} The water comes out of a? 811: Uh well I guess you would call it a little fountain. Interviewer: Fountain. You can put a spigot you know. 811: Uh yeah cause you got two cups on it uh the top of it. You had two containers. Interviewer: Have you got a place out in the yard where you can get water? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: You just turn on the water out 811: Yeah. Out in the yard there. Interviewer: At the? 811: The faucet. Interviewer: Oh. You have any problems with your pipes here like in- this winter when it got cold? 811: No problems at all cause uh all our pipes is uh yeah they all in uh well they all covered. They leave from the well house out there and they uh underground. And when it get to the house, I got one faucet in the back the only thing I do is just wrap it up and put a something over it, like a tub or anything. And just keep one faucet running in the house. Interviewer: And that will keep it from? 811: Keeping the pump from freezing up. Long as your water's moving, it ain't gonna freeze. So every once in a while, your pump come on so your pump ain't gonna freeze, either. Interviewer: But you've- you've heard of people's pipes freezing? 811: Oh I have experienced. {D: Well, I might} fix enough pipes this winter to go into the pipe business. Interviewer: Really? Why? 811: Oh the ice. Uh Interviewer: Y'all had it bad here? 811: That one of the worst winters we ever had down we had a house right down there where I used to live, Interviewer: Uh-huh. {NS} 811: And man, every time I go there the water was gushing over the yard. Everybody get up under the house, get the {D: chain} I bet it broke every T on the they had on there. Interviewer: All the pipes? 811: Yeah, all- all the Ts. Had to unscrew 'em. Some of 'em, I welded 'em. And uh Interviewer: You oughta go into plumbing. 811: I should have. {NW} The way it was going. Interviewer: Um now the way things used to come, like when you went to the store, say, back in the old days uh how did things how did you get your say flour, how did it come? 811: Uh your flour would mostly come uh like in twenty-five pounds. Interviewer: In a? 811: A twenty-five-pound sack. Interviewer: Made outta cotton? 811: Uh yeah, it was a cotton sack that you in them days, most of your stuff you would get it was in sacks. Interviewer: Did you ever see 'em come in a big thing? 811: Well they- you could get 'em in a hundred-pounds, too. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: But very few people would get 'em uh the wholesale would have 'em quite a bit, a hundred pound sacks. And it had to be a- a tremendous big family to buy well a family like us, we were seven, and twenty-five pound would would last quite a while. We never get a hundred pound cause the weevils and stuff would get in it during the summer when it was hot. Interviewer: Uh now they used to have to roll some of these off the bagon- or off the back of a wagon on boards. You know? The things that {NS} said br- uh that would come in? 811: Yeah, you had your Interviewer: Molasses would come in a what? 811: That would come in uh tin barrels, your cooking oil. All that kind of stuff would come in uh in fifty-five-gallon drums. Interviewer: Mm. Okay. And it'd come in a barrel, you said? 811: Yeah, in a fifty-five-gallon drum. Cause I heard a bunch of I didn't exactly see, cause I heard a bunch of these uh old people that waits till the wholesale. Got one of my old hunting friends, there. He been there for forty- forty years, I believe. And he told me how he fit them fifty-five-gallon drums of cooking oil and and other stuff that would come. And a hundred pounds of sugar in the old days And now the most they pick up is fifty pounds, I believe. Interviewer: Okay. Uh now, in a barrel that had a narrow mouth, you would make something to, say to make the w- 811: #1 Uh # Interviewer: #2 to make a {D: jug} # 811: {NS} you had to have a funnel. Interviewer: Make a funnel to #1 make it go down there? # 811: #2 Uh-huh. # Interviewer: Did uh {NS} when you were driving the wagon, you used a what to hit the horses with? 811: Uh you had a a whip- uh b- well, the {X} had a buggy whip and then you had a a bullwhip. Well, most of 'em would use bullwhips Interviewer: Yeah. 811: {NW} on the wagons. Interviewer: Okay. Now when you when you go into town {NS} that's C-B- {NS} 811: Tell Junior to cut his C-B off that's coming out. {NS} Interviewer: I get interference with this thing all the time, with the C-B. It's- I- I guess it's the battery in it or something like that. I don't know. 811: {D: He come uh that-} that radio T-V. Interviewer: Over there? 811: Yeah, when he talking. If we put that on, it come out all day. {NS} Interviewer: Um when you buy fruit at the store, the grocer would put a put it in a? 811: Uh Interviewer: Paper b- 811: well in them time, you didn't have to- you always had a a sack or something bigger. They didn't have too many paper sacks then. Interviewer: Okay. 811: In the old time. Interviewer: Okay, when you bought, say when you went into town and you needed- your mother would send you say, with some money uh to get some flour, how much would you buy maybe? Would it ever come in a paper 811: Yeah, you could get Interviewer: They'd weigh it out? 811: Yeah. You could get nickel, dime's worth. Cause uh uh Interviewer: Ten? 811: You had ten pound uh twenty-five pound well, it couldn't have been much over about a dollar, if it was a dollar. I don't believe- it must've been about seventy-five cent. {D: Cause I remember I used to go to dime and thirty-five cent and get} thirty-five cent worth of {X} meat. And that sack I was telling you, I had the back of it full. {NS} And the rest of it is stuff I had like a when we'd go to town, we'd take two dozen eggs two or three dozen eggs and we could buy Lord knows how much stuff with it. And one day we went- we even went to the drugstore with some eggs. {NW} {X} {NS} We went to the drugstore with the {X} we went to get grocer- {NW} She said we don't sell groceries but she said I'll take the eggs, though. {NS} So she went on and boiled the eggs, gave us cash for 'em. Interviewer: Yeah. Um {NS} now potatoes, used to would be shipped in a? {NS} 811: Um sweet potatoes? {NS} Interviewer: Yeah. 811: Uh {NS} Interviewer: Or any sort of potatoes, really. 811: Well in a crate. Uh your sweet potatoes, most of 'em shipped in a they used to ship 'em in a wanted to call it a fifty-pound case. It was a crate, though. Most of 'em ship 'em nowadays in uh grass sacks, or either paper boxes. The crates got so expensive, I believe they got to about ninety-five cent a- a crate. Interviewer: Grass sack, is that real? 811: That's uh burlap. Interviewer: Burlap. Uh well now when you what would you call the amount of corn you took to mill at one time? When you went to mill. 811: Uh Interviewer: #1 {D: It's a big, brown} # 811: #2 {D: they took} # anywhere from fifty to a hundred pound, to twenty-five pound. Uh like I said, it all depend on how big your family was. Like us, we got about fifty pound. Interviewer: Uh okay, that wasn't a that wasn't a full wagon, that'd be just a {NS} 811: {D: You took} Uh you had cornmeal to eat. Uh, what I mean is uh like cornmeal. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: Uh what you would do- you- you shell it and you get you a sack, um a hundred pound sack, you know, and if you had a horse, you just take it and throw it on your horse and you know? Put it up in the saddle with you and go ahead. Now like if you had to go have corn crushed for your uh your mules or something, well you usually take {NW} about six, seven hundred pound. That was a- a wagon load. Interviewer: Uh now you'd be out in the say out in the garden and uh your mother would need some wood and she'd- she'd yell, she'd say run bring in a 811: All my wood. #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 811: Just run out there with your arm of wood. Interviewer: Arm of wood. Um now you mentioned you had coal back, nowadays you just put in a new? When it burns out, you put in a new? 811: Uh on what? Interviewer: When you- when the light burns You forgot you put in a new? 811: Uh new bulb. Interviewer: New #1 You had # 811: #2 but # Interviewer: back in the old days you had {NS} 811: you had c- {NW} smoke and {D: cola} {NW} Interviewer: Yeah. When you went out a night, did you ever go out say at night and make a something to go out at night with? Like take a piece of rich wood or something like that? Take a piece of some kind of wood, maybe. Do you have pine around here? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: {NW} Take a piece of, you know, 811: Well, {NW} in them times, we uh {X} put it, but we had flashlights. Uh Interviewer: {NW} 811: We was kinda up-to-date then. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: I ain't that old, but I- I seen a bunch of a bunch of things I Interviewer: #1 {X} # 811: #2 and # when you would come out the house, it not like it is now, if you it the lights was dim in the house. And if you would walk outside the about in a minute, you could see just about what you could see in the house cause you only had no light in the house. Interviewer: Uh-huh. 811: But now you put the light on in the house, and you walk outside, it was about ten minutes before your eyes get adjusted to the dark. {NS} And then you still can't see nothing. {NS} I don't know if it they seem like to me in them times didn't seem like it was that dark. You know, it look like it was always a little bit lighter. Interviewer: Uh well, when people went out, say did you ever go out bird thrashing at night? 811: No, Interviewer: Would you ever go out and kill birds at night around here? {D: Kid with a stick?} 811: Mm-mm. We used to have cotton pickings at night. Interviewer: Uh-huh. {NS} 811: And get and get a bunch of people and make ice cream and all kind of stuff like that and uh Interviewer: How'd they make ice cream for gosh sake? 811: {NW} You had a freezer uh you take your your milk and stuff, you cook it Interviewer: Yeah. 811: make like a custard. {NS} Then you go get you some ice Interviewer: Yeah. 811: and this big ol' cool s- ice cream salt. And {NS} you put your custard, they had a well you had one or two gallons uh container you take it and uh you set it at a- a big bucket like a bucket and you set it in the ice. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: And you had a pallet {NS} in that container. {NS} And you had a {NS} a crank that would go on top of there. {NS} You set it in that ice and you get you a sack or something and let a small kid or something sit on the top of it. And you'd turn it and {X} it'd just keep on turning it about for half hour. {NS} And that ice would freeze. Interviewer: Good ice cream, wasn't it? 811: Oh better than the one you could buy. Interviewer: Yeah. My mother's made that, now that you come to think of it. {X} Um but whe- when you went out at night, they'd take a piece of wood or something like that or were you ever just if you didn't have a lantern, say. You might take a bottle, and put coal in it and stuff a rag in it and they call that a a what? I lit a? Or 811: {X} Interviewer: or would they ever take a piece of wood 811: I never did do it. I never did see nobody do it. Interviewer: #1 Yeah. # 811: #2 It's # {X} Interviewer: When they- when they went out at night, light a piece of wood say when they were fishing out on a lake? 811: We ne- cause they wouldn't let us play with fire when we were small. Interviewer: Uh-huh. And you what a flambeau was? 811: Uh-uh. Interviewer: Okay. A torch you know, like 811: Yeah. {X} Interviewer: All right. {NS} When now when your mother was was doing the wash she carried the clothes out to the line in a? 811: In a bucket or well, mostly a bucket. Interviewer: Did you ever see the things they would make that were woven, say? Woven kind of things uh when the- when you'd go on a picnic, you'd take a what? 811: Oh Interviewer: Or- or 811: Uh I- I don't s- Interviewer: when you go out in the woods somewhere, your mother would have a a what? Carry a lot of things in. 811: Uh a basket. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: Well, we {NW} couldn't afford no basket, we had a Interviewer: Yeah. 811: I just {X} a bucket. Interviewer: Yeah. Um now nails used to come in a? Nails, didn't what did nails come in? 811: Nails used to come in a barrel. Uh Interviewer: Would it be a big barrel? 811: You had uh they would uh um Interviewer: You ever see the little ones? 811: Yeah, you get so- they had all sizes. Um I'm guessing they went from ten pounds to a hundred pound, you could get. {NS} Interviewer: It was just a little uh 811: A little old wooden barrel. Interviewer: Uh-huh. It had what around i- what went around a barrel to hold it? 811: Uh you had some rings. Uh wire rings. That was uh Interviewer: Or those metal what? Metal? 811: {NW} Uh metal rings. Interviewer: Remember that game they used to play? 811: Tha- that hula hoop? Interviewer: Y- yeah. 811: It was something. Interviewer: That's- that's what I was thinking of. 811: Yeah. {NS} Interviewer: Those things were called {NS} metal? {NS} 811: Uh rings I Interviewer: Hoops? 811: Yeah. Cause they used to have 'em on the on them old outdoor cisterns. That's what they would call 'em. Metal hoops. {NS} Interviewer: Um {NS} now a little barrel was called a? Like beer would come in a what? Beer, 811: #1 you ever seen 'em? # Interviewer: #2 Uh # You ever seen 'em when they bought that? It would come in a? {NS} 811: In a keg. Interviewer: Keg. 811: Cause what we used to make plenty of in them old {D: croaker like I was} #1 telling you. # Interviewer: #2 You did? # 811: Yeah, we'd cap that stuff, man. Interviewer: Made- made what? Made? 811: Uh homemade brew. Interviewer: Home brew. 811: {NW} Then we'd cap it green but before and that {X} {D: would swivel right} {X} put that up under the houses, take it to buses. {NW} {NS} {X} {NW} {NS} Interviewer: How much of that would you make? Could you make it good? I mean 811: Oh when poor daddy would make it, he'd make about ten, twelve gallon. Interviewer: {NW} 811: And that would be till ten, eleven o'clock at night capping it. Had a beer tester to tell when it was ready, you know. Interviewer: What did you put it in to make- okay, what were the ingredients? 811: Uh you had uh uh- uh- uh they call it moss. Was a syrup, a beer syrup. And you put you some yeast case in there. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: With sugar. {NS} It wasn't hard to make. But you had to know when to cap it. That was the important thing. Interviewer: You had to know how much 811: Yeah, but you had a tester. And you had to know how to read that tester. {NS} And if uh that tester- you would go they were just about on the mark and it was about six o'clock that evening after we'd already cap it ten o'clock that night, you'd better cap it. {NS} And if you start at ten, sometimes you have about a hundred and fifty bottles. {NS} Interviewer: Okay, the bottles would put would- you'd put what in the top of the bottles? 811: Well you- you had a cap. We had a special cap for I had one somewhere here. Interviewer: Y'all had a- y'all had a first-rate 811: Oh {X} That was a good- you- {NW} We'd put dusty barrel and make wine. Interviewer: Yeah.