interviewer:  {NW} {X} electrical engineer. That's all about this stuff. Whenever something didn't work, first thing he does it to pound on it.
853:  uh-huh
interviewer:  And works. Usually
853:  well {NW} {NW}
interviewer:  Miss Terrell, could I get you to tell me your whole name for the tape?
853:  Uh Wait a minute. Now let me ask you. Do Just like I get on my mail.
interviewer:  Yeah Oh Well
853:  Which way?
interviewer:  Tell me Tell me your first name first, and then your maiden name.
853:  Essie Okay E-S-S-I-E. Essie {B}
interviewer:  How do I spell that?
interviewer:  Um-hmm.
interviewer:  Two r's?
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  And Would you give me the address here since I followed her out I don't know the address?
853:  {B} {B} {B}
interviewer:  Okay. Thank you.
853:  Um-hmm {B} {B} {B} {B}
interviewer:  Okay. Uh {NW} And tell me again now where you were born?
853:  I was born at Bosqueville.
interviewer:  Okay. And how far is that from here?
853:  Oh, I'd say From Waco The city limits of Waco over town if you went out North nineteenth, it would be about twelve miles, I think.
interviewer:  Okay, okay. How do you spell Bosqueville?
853:  B-O-S-Q-U-E V-I double L-E.
interviewer:  And you are eighty-one, is that right?
853:  Uh, I'll be eighty one in October but just put eighty.
interviewer:  All right. {NW} Let's not stretch it any more than necessary.
853:  No. {NS} {NW}
interviewer:  Oh. What church did you tell me went to?
853:  Uh. Shh- {D: Farksh} memorial methodist. You may not want nothing but methodist.
interviewer:  That's enough. Um What should I put for occupation?
853:  Uh gosh I'd say housewife.
interviewer:  Alrighty.
853:  Proud of it. #1 {NW} #
interviewer:  #2 All right. #
853:  I used be when I had a husband take care of, I could say in proud to say.
interviewer:  Did you ever, did you ever do any other kind of work, like did you ever work outside?
853:  I used to manage a flower shop. Floral shop. Florist or whatever you say.
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  {D: in Belle Mead}
interviewer:  How Um How long, how many years did you do that?
853:  Three.
interviewer:  Okay. Ever do anything else?
853:  No. {X}
interviewer:  Tell me about Bellmead. It's, it's kind of a suburb now I guess
853:  Yes it is. Although it is a You know, it's independent. It's not uh connected with Waco. I mean they have way our own system and everything. {NW} When I moved out here Uh Well, when I married in {D: Lu} down here I could count the houses between here and Waco. It was a old family home and this one right cross over there and me and one across over yonder and then they tore it down but one over there. And then there was no more until you got way down in Bellmead. And we have what we called {B} lane.
interviewer:  Um-hmm
853:  And a man with a name {D: Mohnmaha} {B} lived down near there. And that's where {B} lane got its name.
interviewer:  Huh.
853:  And they lived in a big two-story house.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And then on down in the flat further was some colored people and they had a good grocery store.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And their names were {D: Heir} Ah {B}
interviewer:  Um-hmm.
853:  And they had a boy named Harrison. {NW} And I've been told that that's where Harrison street got its name.
interviewer:  Is that right?
853:  Now I never knew that to be a fact.
interviewer:  Uh-huh
853:  But I always thought that uh It was named after an old gentleman by the name of Harris that used to live in Bellmead.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And they just added Harrison street.
interviewer:  Uh-huh, uh-huh.
853:  But I I've been told by several people that it was named after Harrison's {B}
interviewer:  Um-hmm.
853:  Colored man.
interviewer:  {X}
853:  Uh-huh.
interviewer:  Oh this, this used to be farm here?
853:  Yes, yes, uh-huh. There was no houses here. We built down here in the house on the other end just before we went into the other hallway.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  Go up here and you go into to the sideway back here.
interviewer:  Uh-huh, uh-huh.
853:  And there were thirty odd acres. Here.
interviewer:  Um-hmm.
853:  And we built on a la- of John's mother gave us {X} he and his brothers and sister deeded us an acre of land and we built houses.
interviewer:  Uh-huh, uh-huh.
853:  And that was in nineteen seventeen.
interviewer:  #1 When you moved into this house? #
853:  #2 {NW} # Sixth day of March.
interviewer:  {NW} {D: 1950, five years.} Ah And you lived up until that time in Bosqueville, is that right?
853:  Uh Yes. Uh-huh.
interviewer:  How old were you when you lived here?
853:  I was twenty-two and I was married, of course. But uh I moved from Bosqueville in nineteen hundred and four.
interviewer:  Oh, where did you move to?
853:  Moved to {D:Chuckblock.}
interviewer:  Where is there?
853:  And we It's right on the {D: Ethio} Dallas highway and you cut through then an access road goes over to Boston, {D: Chuckblock}. And uh My baby sister was born in nineteen, December nineteen and four.
interviewer:  Um-hmm.
853:  And when she was three weeks old, we had a boat and we lived on the river at farm on that opposite side. And we moved across all the kids and I had a big family.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  There were eleven of us.
interviewer:  Oh my goodness. You did have a big family.
853:  And this baby was three weeks old and we came over in a boat.
interviewer:  Oh dear
853:  And then Of course the furniture and stuff was moved around by a town head came out, you known in a wagon.
interviewer:  #1 Uh-huh. #
853:  #2 In wagons of course #
interviewer:  #1 Yeah, yeah. #
853:  #2 {NW} #
interviewer:  Well, um How long did you live there then?
853:  Uh, {D: Chumpla?}
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  I lived there until from nineteen hundred and four to nineteen hundred and uh, ten.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Then where did you live?
853:  And we moved between here and Waco is what they called the old poor house.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  {D: County} farm.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And they uh The people in the {D: junt} people that they lived there, you know. They, they took them in just like welfare on welfare now you know
interviewer:  Um-hmm
853:  distributed them here there and yonder And uh My father was a {X} county farm until nineteen seventeen when I married and moved out here
interviewer:  Oh I see. Awesome.
853:  And I was, I like from Uh August, I married in August till December being twenty-two when I married.
interviewer:  #1 Uh-huh. Uh-huh. #
853:  #2 So # I did, I've not moved very many times.
interviewer:  That's true. Yeah. That's true. How far from Waco is {D: Chuckim}?
853:  {D:Chalkblock?}
interviewer:  {D:Chalkblock. Chalkblock.}
853:  Ha, It's supposed to be a eight, about eight miles.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  Not very far.
interviewer:  Yeah. It's pretty close.
853:  My husband's buried there and my father and mother brother, two sisters
interviewer:  Is that right?
853:  Nieces and nephews In the white In the more cemetery. I start saying white brow but {B} cemetery.
interviewer:  Is {B} family name and is
853:  Yes. Uh the {B} Uh Owned all that land where the cemetery {D: isn't that gave up} several acres their far of cemetery.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And they named it after the family who donated the land.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Oh I see. I see. #1 Um. #
853:  #2 {NW} #
interviewer:  How many um, uh {NW} Where, where all did you go to school? When you were going to school where did you go school to?
853:  Well we went to my first year was at Bosqueville.
interviewer:  Um Okay.
853:  And I went there Uh Several years, three or four years and then we moved to {D:Chockblock}. And I went to {D:Chockblock} then till I was fourteen and we moved to the poor farm #1 {NW} #
interviewer:  #2 {NW} #
853:  And I went to school in East Waco on Turner street. School.
interviewer:  How many years did you go then?
853:  Oh I went {X} to the eighth grade and quit. That's really now I told you I wasn't very smart.
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  I don't know. {D: You may be smarter than anybody else} {NW}
853:  Well, I'll tell you. All I know came out of a book. I read anything and everything I get in my hands on.
interviewer:  #1 Is that right you've been #
853:  #2 and always have. #
interviewer:  You're a big reader, huh?
853:  Mm-hmm.
interviewer:  Okay. And I, I as I tell them, they used to my teacher in East Waco, when I started to East Waco The principal of that school had fought in the civil war with my granddad. How neat
853:  And he loved me to death, old professor {B} and he take me to Waco high and helped me to diagram sentences and I was terrified.
interviewer:  #1 {NW} #
853:  #2 I wasn't big as a minute. #
interviewer:  My goodness. I guess {NW} My goodness.
853:  And he take me all that to show them how I can diagram sentences.
interviewer:  They're kind of on display, huh?
853:  Oh, yes.
interviewer:  Star pupil.
853:  And he really honest to goodness When he got sick, I went everyday to see that old man.
interviewer:  Yeah, yeah.
853:  He had no children.
interviewer:  Oh, um. Yeah.
853:  And he told his wife one time. He said if, if uh she wants anything in this house, give it to her.
interviewer:  Oh, how sweet.
853:  He really did. And I did him, too. He had a beard. Old, long white beard.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  {NW} And he'd tell me about grandpa and him fighting in the civil war, you know.
interviewer:  #1 Yeah. Did he remember any of the stuff, #
853:  #2 Oh, yes. #
interviewer:  Do you remember any of the stories?
853:  He said one time they uh The enemy then all them soldiers were sneaking up on 'em And they uh were watching, you know and they was gonna charge. And the for some reason grandpa didn't understand what they whoever they boss was the officer in charge and he thought he said charge and he charged by himself.
interviewer:  #1 {X} #
853:  #2 And from there after he said that # regiment or whatever it was was called {B} charge.
interviewer:  {NW} How neat!
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  That's great!
853:  And he'd tell all about that. He'd just die laughing.
interviewer:  Where was your grandfather from?
853:  Missouri.
interviewer:  What
853:  Suda, Sudafed Missouri.
interviewer:  Oh. Let me see. Was it your father's father or your mother's
853:  My father's father.
interviewer:  Okay.Um-hmm.
853:  Yeah. He was a great guy. I can barely remember him. I was uh eight or ten years old when granddad died but I remember.
interviewer:  What uh, What thing, what did he do there? Was he a farmer or do you know?
853:  Yes. He had a farm out at Bosqueville. Big farm. {NW} And when my mother and daddy married my mother lived in Axtell.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. How, how far away is that?
853:  Oh. It's just about seven or eight miles drive straight out the This was called an extra road that led you right into Axtell. When I moved here.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  {X} And I just last year had my address changed and telephone number.
interviewer:  Is that right.
853:  This, this year. It's the first time there has been a telephone.
interviewer:  Is that right? Oh
853:  And it was the old Axtell road.
interviewer:  Uh-huh, uh-huh.
853:  And uh, Mama
interviewer:  Is that where she was born?
853:  No. My mother was born in Houston.
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  {NW} My grandmothers My mother's grandfather
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  Uh was a an engineer that helped build the Panama canal.
interviewer:  No kidding!
853:  And my grandmother was born and grown in England. And they came to America and granddad got her her father her my mother's grandfather got lost in an explosion during the some kind of something and they came on to Texas by boat and landed in Houston.
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  Well at one time my grandmother my mother's mother owned a {D: in the whole} creation where Tom Boyle oil field is and where uh Houston is {D:proper, property} belong to their to the {B}
interviewer:  Uh-huh. That was your mother's maiden name?
853:  Yes. No, no. My mother's maiden name was {B}
interviewer:  Oh. Okay. Your mother's, what was her first name?
853:  Eliza.
interviewer:  How do I spell that with
853:  E-L-I-Z-A. {NW} Um-hmm. Eliza.
interviewer:  And then her uh #1 her mother's name then was Ben- #
853:  #2 What #
interviewer:  {B}
853:  Uh-huh. Moses {B} And my mother's grandmother led the grand march with the uh the governor of Texas, who, who was who was it, first one.
interviewer:  Ah. #1 I don't know. #
853:  #2 Oh, #
interviewer:  #1 We should ignore #
853:  #2 Mercy #
interviewer:  {X}
853:  But anyway,
interviewer:  The first governor of Texas.
853:  Uh-huh. They had a the Inaugural Ball
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And then they read uh
interviewer:  How exciting.
853:  Huh?
interviewer:  How exciting!
853:  {NW} Grandma used to tell me about it and she let all this Tomball oil field go for taxes. She let her taxes go. And she tried to get us save her You know it was just acrid there down in there in the swamp. And uh She told John if he would pay the taxes just owed a hundred dollars.
interviewer:  Yeah. Several years back taxes. Yeah.
853:  #1 And he wouldn't do it and I begged him to oh no I can't do it. #
interviewer:  #2 Oh, dare. #
853:  Now today uh I own fifteen acres of that Tomball.
interviewer:  Oh, do you?
853:  Yes, uh My mother find little squatter's got it. And my brother went down and got a straightened out and mama got quite a little bit back collecting. And uh, then when my mother died, well, we sold it to the highest bidder. And one of our brother-in-laws, our baby-sister's husband bought it.
interviewer:  Oh!
853:  Was the highest bidder.
interviewer:  Isn't that funny? {NW}
853:  Yeah. And uh I've raised her. Nearly, you might say.
interviewer:  Is that right?
853:  She, I was at home, and I was the only girl at home, and I ragged her, I weaned her.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  {X} {D:Head East} and everything and uh when she died uh This August be two years ago.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  She willed that land to me and I
interviewer:  Is that right?
853:  Uh-huh. And I I get to {X}
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Sometimes it's extortionate and sometimes it drops a little. Yeah.
853:  Fluctuates, you know with crude oil and all that kinds of things.
interviewer:  Yeah. When they bought that land, they bought every {X} when they first bought it?
853:  Uh-huh. And uh then you see, my mother's mother before she was born,
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  Married, uh one of the {B} who owned their own half of Houston yet.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  They are the one of the most prominent families, they were from France.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And they used to come up and visit with us. And, and my grandmother, my mother's mother had one son My {B}.
interviewer:  Um-hmm.
853:  And he died with yellow fever during that epidemic when they had it so bad down in there.
interviewer:  Um-hmm.
853:  And they in gro-, they came to Waco, moved to Axtell rather. And my mother, 's mother married {B} and then my mother was born, see.
interviewer:  #1 I see. Okay. And you know a lot about this, I'm having trouble keeping it all straight. #
853:  #2 {NW} #
interviewer:  You know more about your family than I know about mine. I don't think I don't know much about mine.
853:  Oh, I, uh Well, I always liked and I'll tell you one reason. Uh, I probably outside of one sister She's greedy about things like that she liked to hear about 'em.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And uh But my mother lived with me nearly eight years after my daddy died.
interviewer:  Oh huh?
853:  And we'd sit for hours and we read the bible through several times.
interviewer:  Oh boy.
853:  And uh she was a bible student, she taught Sunday school always and
interviewer:  Uh
853:  Yet, uh never got all of the third or fourth grade when going school. Mama would be hundred and eh, she were alive today mama would be a hundred and eleven years old.
interviewer:  Um. Goodness. How, how old was she when she moved to Axtell?
853:  I think she would might have been just maybe four or five years old. I really don't know.
interviewer:  How do you spell Axtell?
853:  A-X-T-E-L-L.
interviewer:  Okay. Um
853:  You know my My mother's mother, my grandmother.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  Uh was the first and the only woman when they left England that had been allowed to go to Oxford college. It was a man's college in a
interviewer:  That gives me cold chill.
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  That is wonderful!
853:  And, but she uh, out grew whatever college of whatever they had there or facilities for education anyway And she went her last year to Oxford college.
interviewer:  Oh, that just thrills me. That is just so wonderful.
853:  She was a smart person.
interviewer:  Do you have any idea what year that was?
853:  Oh, gracious, no. I sure don't
interviewer:  It's been a long time.
853:  Grandmother liked uh I forgot what year she died now she liked uh She like much been a hundred years old.
interviewer:  is that right?
853:  She, I think she was about ninety, S- eight seven.
interviewer:  You come from the long-lived family {NW}.
853:  Uh-huh.
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  But now my mother and daddy, um my mother was uh seventy-six in June and she died in August. And my daddy died five days beyond seventy-six.
interviewer:  Is that right?
853:  And I have a brother lives in Austin and he don't have hardly a gray hair. And he's, uh, he'll be eighty-seven in November.
interviewer:  {NW} That's great.
853:  Where is she told me from is up here is not long back. He wears the same uh, size suit he wore when he was twenty-five.
interviewer:  Oh, I'm so impressed. {NW} I don't know if my husband wears the same size suit he wore when he was twenty-five and my husband's only thirty-one. #1 {NW} #
853:  #2 {NW} #
interviewer:  #1 That's marvelous. #
853:  #2 He's a # He's a dandy.
interviewer:  He is.
853:  He's a a very fine person.
interviewer:  Was your mother able to work outside the home?
853:  #1 No. #
853:  #2 {C: whispering} #
interviewer:  Okay. Where was your father born?
853:  What? Back one?
interviewer:  Where was your father born?
853:  In Sedalia, Missouri.
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  He was uh four years old during the civil war.
interviewer:  Is that right?
853:  And uh One of their neighbors {NW} I'll, I'll give you all to you while I'm at it.
interviewer:  Okay. Good. Do.
853:  One of their neighbors, man deserted the the Southern army and went to the North.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And they lived on a creek. My grandmother. Uh My daddy's mother. And he was four years old as I told you.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  See. And he, his daddy went off to war, see.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And he was gone, and this neighbor man with the northern soldiers came back in. And they cut all their feather beds and let the feathers out and they killed all their hogs and chickens and cattle.
interviewer:  That's terrible!
853:  {D: just you know just for meanness} And grandpa said if I ever come home, I'm going to kill him.
interviewer:  Man.
853:  To, in Missouri.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And that's how I come in Texas, he did.
interviewer:  Oh!
853:  #1 {NW} #
interviewer:  #2 {NW} # Ooh. {NW} {NW} Oh dear {NW} Oh, he killed him and then they had to leave right then.
853:  Indeed, at night. {NW}
interviewer:  Ah I love it. That's the most marvelous story.
853:  #1 Oh no. #
interviewer:  #2 It's fantastic! #
853:  Not really.
interviewer:  {NW} That's great! Well uh, how old was your father when they came to you?
853:  When they came Texas?
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  I think, uh They came as soon as the war was over.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  He was four during He was four before about the time the war broke out.
interviewer:  Yeah, yeah.
853:  And then uh It went on four years, didn't it?
interviewer:  Yeah, yeah. So he would have been #1 eight #
853:  #2 about # nearly four years
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  He was nearly seven years old, I'd say. I don't have no idea.
interviewer:  Okay. How many grades did he go to? Do you know?
853:  I, I imagine fourth or fifth. That was about standard then.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  Way back there. See, papa was six years older than mama
interviewer:  Oh, is that right?
853:  Uh-huh. So,
interviewer:  What, he was a farmer? #1 Then {X} #
853:  #2 Yes. #
interviewer:  Okay. Did he ever do anything else?
853:  Huh?
interviewer:  Did he ever do anything else?
853:  Yes, everything. {NW} He uh, in nineteen-hundred, he worked for the county and he had charge of the counter-road gang, which were prisoners. And he worked all the roads and certain districts, you know like we have now.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  Uh, he worked the prisoners keep the roads up. And then he moved to town, moved uh to Bosqueville. And he was constable. Out in that territory. And then after that he was uh elected I mean he, uh, was a deputy sheriff. For {D: Lester Seagall} And then he got sick and he was getting older you know. And so he was jailer for many years. And he was uh you probably heard of Roy Mitchell killed so many people and they hung him here.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  Well, papa was jailer when Roy Mitchell was in there.
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  And when they hung Roy Mitchell I went out and watched him hang.
interviewer:  No kidding!
853:  And I standing close enough that the doctor, doctor McCormick was the county doctor. And he always thought I was named after my daddy. My name was Essie you know,
interviewer:  Mm-hmm.
853:  And he called me Jessie because papa's name was {D: Jess Abbott}
interviewer:  Oh. Uh-huh.
853:  And he thought that I was he called me Miss Jessie.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  He said, hold it Miss Jessie he was kinda turning, wiggling. And I held his britches while they held, see when he died.
interviewer:  My goodness.
853:  I liked to died after that, too. I never would do that again.
interviewer:  Really was it bad? Was bad to watch? Terrible, terrible. Yeah.
853:  Terrible.
interviewer:  I've never seen anything like
853:  But that was a Ugliest vilest mad person.
interviewer:  Yeah. Probably had it coming
853:  Oh, he was awful
interviewer:  Thing about he does
853:  He killed a whole bunch of people. I had a friend the other day brought me Uh my daddy wouldn't go down watch him hang.
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  Wouldn't go up rather. And uh {NW} Lester Seagall was the sheriff, was At that time and he's the one that pull the thing, but I've got his picture that they brought to me the other day of him being hanged.
interviewer:  Is that right. Did you get the picture?
853:  Huh?
interviewer:  Did you get the picture?
853:  No.
interviewer:  You're just out of it, right?
853:  I was down here and this is up there when they were tying his legs and tying his hands and
interviewer:  Uh
853:  Putting the thing on him and everything.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Uh-huh. You said your father wouldn't go up to see him hanged, what do you mean
853:  Well, they had, they built a platform
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  See, so that he drop through.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Okay.
853:  And uh, we stood down here oh there must have been six seven thousand people that swarmed in there. They curtained it off but they couldn't keep 'em from
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And they came in and saw it. And uh mama wouldn't go, of course of course old me. My uncle, he was a mounted policeman.
interviewer:  Um-hmm.
853:  Papa's brother. And he and his wife went and he stood between his wife and myself and Hung on to it. He said, you girl allowed to faint. I said not me.
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  But I dearly wanted to.
interviewer:  Yeah. Yeah.
853:  It was terrible.
interviewer:  Tell me about your brothers and sisters. Where did you come in and all these.
853:  I'm, there's seven ahead of me.
interviewer:  No kidding.
853:  Seven older than me.
interviewer:  Yeah. How many boys, how many girls?
853:  There was six girls and five boys.
interviewer:  Just about even.
853:  And all lived to be grown and married. Except one.
interviewer:  #1 That's remarkable. #
853:  #2 And uh # she died when she was about three years old of the measles.
interviewer:  Oh. Okay, okay. {NW}
853:  And she was a way ahead of me.
interviewer:  Oh. Okay. Did you did ever, did you know her, you didn't know her.
853:  No, I didn't. No, no. She was born before I was, I mean died before I was born.
interviewer:  Yeah, yeah. What were all their names?
853:  Oh well, the first one she died last year and she was ninety three years old.
interviewer:  Oh my goodness.
853:  And uh, the first one was Lily. Then the next one was Betty. Then the next one was the little baby that died, Mally. And then there's Wills, brother. And then there was Charlie, and Jess and Lee and Essie, and John. John Baker. And Tommy Ree and Velma.
interviewer:  Goodness. That's eleven. Makes you wonder how they ever thought of names for all those
853:  I don't know. But uh, I used, used to just hate my name but I kind of like it.
interviewer:  Ah, I like it. I like it.
853:  And uh I have a sister that willed me that land. My uh, middle name was uh, Dell. Essie Dell.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
853:  And when she was little, she always called me Essie Dell.
interviewer:  {NW} In the whole thing.
853:  And she put that in that will That from that, lawyer. Who got all her pay her estate and everything fixed up. He laughed about her putting all that in there Essie Dell {B}
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  That's where I'm getting my check.
interviewer:  #1 Just that way written all out like - that's funny. #
853:  #2 Good, right. # {NW}
interviewer:  Uh let's see Your um What you said your grandmother on your mother's side was born and raised in England, is that right?
853:  What?
interviewer:  Your grandmother on your mother's side was born and raised in England
853:  Yes. She was born.
interviewer:  were all her people from there before?
853:  Yes.
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  Uh-huh. As far as I know that uh they were the only ones that ever came to America. No, now she had a uh her daddy had a brother that came. He was a a priest.
interviewer:  Uh, do you have any idea what they did for a living? over there? What they did for a living up there?
853:  I don't know. I really don't know.
interviewer:  Uh Do you have any idea where your, uh, father's parents were from before they were in um Missouri?
853:  They was born, raised there. There's still a bunch of their his family there.
interviewer:  Is that right?
853:  Uh-huh.
interviewer:  right
853:  Uh, I used to correspond with him before papa died uh
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  Write for him or Sometimes, well he wrote until he got sick and then I'd write.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Uh-huh
853:  And uh
interviewer:  Anybody ever say where they came from before they
853:  No, no that's all I ever knew.
interviewer:  Yeah, yeah.
853:  Of Missouri.
interviewer:  Um, let's see. {NW} Uh Did you ever, uh, did you ever go to any clubs or anything like that?
853:  {NW} I belong to the home demonstration club. I went two years to a short course at the A and M
interviewer:  Oh is that right?
853:  And I was assistant to the home demonstration agent. Without authority, I guess you would say for the girls club over the county.
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  When they had the girls clubs, you know forest clubs. Yeah. And I taught them basketry and how to can a preserve and sewing Do everything but I took a sh- two years I went to A and M and took a short course. After the school proper was out. And we could use the dormitories. There was fifteen hundred women there one year.
interviewer:  Wow.
853:  #1 {NW} #
interviewer:  #2 That's a lot. #
853:  From all the state, you know.
interviewer:  Yeah. There must be something going on at Baylor right now.
853:  It, they're, they're baptists, the baptist ladies.
interviewer:  Ah
853:  And it sits up state.
interviewer:  Yeah. Well, I'm set besides the, I'm staying at a motel and that sets beside the ninety six one over there and they were talking to them to the waiter, you know, and they had come into somewhere Breckinridge or some place, and they were,
853:  Now I, I kept thinking maybe Uh Let John's niece, he has two nieces that comes every year from out west.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  To that.
interviewer:  Oh, I see.
853:  And I thought maybe they might come out or I'd hear from 'em.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  They might not have come this year, you know but.
interviewer:  Uh How old was your husband when he died?
853:  He, uh Let me, he died the twenty-eighth of June Wait a minute. Let me see now. Uh, he was seventy five?
interviewer:  Okay. Was he a methodist, too?
853:  Yes. He had the men's bible class.
interviewer:  And did you tell me that he was born right here on this land #1 or brought out here? #
853:  #2 No. # No, this, they He was born down close to to the city limits of Waco.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
853:  But they moved out here pretty soon. He was raised on this land.
interviewer:  Oh, I see. Where all uh did you all what all places did y'all visit on vacation, besides Arizona? {NW} #1 I guess that was more than the vacation. #
853:  #2 Everywhere. # I'm from Oregon On. We'd, we visited everywhere.
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  My brother lived in Oregon. He was a traveling engineer. And he's had a his office there in Portland and we went there twice.
interviewer:  Is that right? Have you been uh Have you been east? Like {D: Becky's}?
853:  Been to Ar-Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
853:  Oklahoma.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah. Ever been to Colorado?
853:  Yes, several times.
interviewer:  That's my favorite place.
853:  Is it?
interviewer:  Oh, yes. I wish I were there now. It's so hot here. #1 Oh, it used, supposed to be cool there. #
853:  #2 I know it. # It's really cool.
interviewer:  Yeah. I had a friend who spent three weeks there this summer, she lives in Austin. And she said boy it was really nice.
853:  I know. You know I have a nephew's wife, he died last year in Phoenix, Arizona.
interviewer:  Um-hmm.
853:  And my brother and his wife were up here the other day and they had talked her and it was one hundred and twenty.
interviewer:  {NW} oh that's bad.
853:  Wouldn't you hate to live there?
interviewer:  Oh, yeah. It's terrible.
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  Um Tell me. Uh Where were, where was your um where are your husband's folks from. Were they from right around here?
853:  Uh Well now his, I told you, his people uh came from Georgia.
interviewer:  Oh, that's right.
853:  No, wait a minute, wait a minute now.
interviewer:  All right, all right. {NW}
853:  His
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  #1 His, his #
interviewer:  #2 Or he's just Australian. #
853:  That later generation that we knew anything about came from Virginia.
interviewer:  Oh, I see. Okay.
853:  Uh-huh. From Virginia.
interviewer:  And it was his what, great grandfather who came from Georgia?
853:  He was an, they were Indian.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. I wish I had the picture of his grandfather. Mother's daddy looked just like an Indian.
interviewer:  Was he, do you know what tribe he was? Do you have any idea?
853:  Uh wait a minute. I certainly I do. Cherokee.
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  I'm nearly sure. Oh, Lord, they'd cut my throat if they knew I was wrong.
interviewer:  #1 {NW} #
853:  #2 When they # {NW}
interviewer:  They would!
853:  #1 That's right. To #
interviewer:  #2 They'd come to get your hair. #
853:  Yeah. This uh This sister John's sister lives up the street. And I told us when I said I should've had heard you, you know,
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  But She don't know any more about it than I do and
interviewer:  #1 Yeah. It's all been so far back, you know, or #
853:  #2 {NW} # Yeah.
interviewer:  Well, uh let's see. Which um When you were growing up, let's see. How old were you when you moved away from Bosqueville?
853:  I was um I like a little being eight years old.
interviewer:  Do you remember the house you lived in?
853:  Oh yeah. I've been out there a lot of times.
interviewer:  No kidding!
853:  Uh-uh. {D: Up and back.}
interviewer:  Can you draw me a floor plan? #1 floor plan? #
853:  #2 Oh, no, I # couldn't draw a #1 straight line. #
interviewer:  #2 Then don't # draw a good picture. I just want arrange, the {D:rate of range} arranged.
853:  No.
interviewer:  Like if you take your roof off, you could just look down at it?
853:  Huh?
interviewer:  If you, if you were to take the roof of the house off you know and just look down on the all where the rooms were? One thing we'd like to get is you know the arrangement of a, of,
853:  {D: Isn't she} wonderful?
interviewer:  Is that a mail? That's, that's good. I wish I had somebody to look after me like that. Well, um. What I'd like to know is the way the rooms were arranged in the house you remember best.
853:  Well.
interviewer:  Here.
853:  I, I-
interviewer:  Give it a try!
853:  Huh?
interviewer:  Give it a try.
853:  #1 Try? Oh, I can't draw. #
interviewer:  #2 Oh, why can't you can draw. #
853:  No.
interviewer:  Just, just kind of show me where the rooms were.
853:  Well, now
interviewer:  I won't look till you get through it.
853:  The, the porch was just a little old straight porch at the front.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  This is not writing. Yeah, I guess it is there we go. And then uh y- you went on this into a big, old hall went all the way through there.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
853:  And then the rooms was on either side, you know.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  They had no living rooms or anything, you knew that.
interviewer:  Yeah, well
853:  You had the, you utilized every room for sleeping.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
853:  But you know, you'd go down this hall and oh, wow. Yeah, I guess I am.
interviewer:  So far so good. That looks alright to me.
853:  And then uh you go into a room, see. Here's a room we'd say. Here's a room and same way on each side.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  I was gonna draw that hall down through that, that's all down through there.
interviewer:  Yeah. Okay.
853:  And then, uh You know, I I got to have my glasses changed. I'm not, I'm not seeing, isn't that something?
interviewer:  Oh, dear
853:  Uh
interviewer:  #1 Do you wanna borrow #
853:  #2 And then #
interviewer:  mine? Maybe mine?
853:  No, goodness. I have cataract operation.
interviewer:  #1 Oh well, mine probably wouldn't be #
853:  #2 Then you see # back here on the back end was an old, was a long kitchen.
interviewer:  All the way cross the back?
853:  Yeah. All. You went down these rooms, you know, to sleep in them.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  Clean up, clean up that old big wide hall. Wide as this.
interviewer:  Wow. That was a big hall.
853:  Uh-huh.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And uh Then you went back there into the kitchen and had your own wood stove and everything over here and over in this end a great long table and two benches
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And papa slept, ate at one end, mama at the other. In that big old chair right over there.
interviewer:  Oh, no kidding. #1 You have a #
853:  #2 Yeah. #
interviewer:  chair from that house? How marvelous. That's great.
853:  Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Did you ever sit in one of them?
interviewer:  I bet it's heavy, too. It's comfortable, isn't it?
853:  Yeah.
interviewer:  It kind of slants back or something.
853:  Mm-hmm.
interviewer:  It's comfortable than just an ordinary wood chair. Well-made, isn't it?
853:  Huh, you can't {D: comment} about that.
interviewer:  Now yes I can. That's good.
853:  Oh, I didn't
interviewer:  put in the kitchen. Yeah. That's good. Where did you sleep? Which room did you sleep in?
853:  Oh, I don't.
interviewer:  You don't remember? {NW}
853:  I don't remember. But mama and papa always had the biggest. One of 'em was a great big old room.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And then the boys all slept on they had big beds.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And they'd sleep two in a bed. And the oldest one always had one bed to himself. {NW}
interviewer:  Oh, great! {NW}
853:  And then we girls I had a room one now uh when we lived there of course I had these {D: older sisters white home} And they had their room together.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And then I slept with another two, my next sister.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And a baby sister wasn't born.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
853:  She was born in another place.
interviewer:  Uh, oh.
853:  But in Bosqueville but down on the river. This was up in
interviewer:  Yeah, yeah. What was the house like for you were, were on the river? The next one. The, the the house at uh Chalk Bluff?
853:  Oh, it was a big two story house.
interviewer:  Oh, was it?
853:  Uh-huh. And they had all the bedrooms except one upstairs and we had a kitchen and a dining room separate, separate downstairs.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And then we had a what you would say to them, master bedroom that was papa and mama's.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And uh, then they had a great big l- well they used it as a storage you know.
interviewer:  Mm-hmm.
853:  That's where everybody's clothes hung.
interviewer:  Oh. Uh-huh. In a, in, in a room, or?
853:  Yeah. Just in a didn't have a closet in the house.
interviewer:  Huh!
853:  But now upstairs mama curtained up off a place for the boys.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And the rest of was mama and papa's clothes have, she curtained it off then fixed it so as it didn't show and you had to go out go through there
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  To get out on the back. Get out the back or you could go out to the kitchen out of the back.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. I see. I see. Well, um Did you ever see piece of furniture where you could hang your clothes in it?
853:  No. But we didn't have any.
interviewer:  Yeah, yeah.
853:  I don't know why but we didn't. Yeah those are wardrobes.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Okay.
853:  You know.
interviewer:  Were they very big or were they very tall or were they just
853:  Yeah. They were tall. I've got a a cedar wardrobe that fifty, sixty years old. Did you ever see one?
interviewer:  No.
853:  Cedar wardrobe?
interviewer:  I don't think so.
853:  I'll show it to you.
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  Ah, you uh you're gonna see part of my house {D: sits uh}
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  It's an old-fashioned.
interviewer:  Yes it is {X}
853:  You and I and get some food
interviewer:  Uh-huh. You sleep in there?
853:  Mm-hmm.
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  And then this other room my other bedroom and a dining room was next to the kitchen.
interviewer:  Uh-huh, uh-huh. I bet it doesn't get too hot out here, too often
853:  No no no. Uh, raise that I keep the window up on the front porch
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And I have to have a sheet for a morning.
interviewer:  Yeah, yeah.
853:  It's amazing.
interviewer:  Oh, did y'all ever have a fireplace in this house?
853:  Huh?
interviewer:  Did y'all have a fireplace in this house?
853:  No, there wasn't a fireplace in that one.
interviewer:  Did you have a fireplace at the two-story one?
853:  Uh-huh.
interviewer:  What do you call that, um {NW} the thing that the smoke goes up?
853:  Chimney.
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  Yeah.
interviewer:  And uh what do you call that thing up above the fireplace we put plates
853:  Mantel.
interviewer:  Um, what do you call that open space that comes in front of the fireplace? Oh it's usually brick out
853:  The hearth.
interviewer:  A what?
853:  The hearth. I call it hearth.
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  But uh, a lot of people call it hearth, you know.
interviewer:  Is that right?
853:  Mm-hmm.
interviewer:  Well. I've, I've heard both, you know.
853:  But I think it's hearth.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Okay.
853:  I-I think the correct correct pronunciation is hearth.
interviewer:  Okay, okay. Um What do you call those uh
853:  Andirons.
interviewer:  #1 {NW} #
853:  #2 {NW} #
interviewer:  #1 {NW} #
853:  #2 {NW} #
interviewer:  #1 Gee, I can just sit here and let you talk I wouldn't even have to ask questions. You know what I'm gonna say. #
853:  #2 {NW} #
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  People used to, to build fire with a great big piece of wood in the back.
853:  Oh yeah. Backlog.
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  And um What would you call the kind of wood that you start a fire with?
853:  Kindling.
interviewer:  Okay. What did y'all use for kindling?
853:  Well, uh We usually had a a pasture that had cedars in it.
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  And they'd cut down a cedar tree and it'd be dead by winter and they'd use cedar. Kindling.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Boy there's nothing smells better than cedar
853:  No. That's right.
interviewer:  Oh I love it.
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  Um, when the fire burns down, what do you call that stuff that's left on the bottom of
853:  Ashes.
interviewer:  Okay. And, and that black stuff that that's left in the chimney when the smoke
853:  Soot or soot.
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  What do you call it?
interviewer:  Soot.
853:  #1 Soot. That's what I thought. #
interviewer:  #2 {NW} # Uh
853:  It can be either.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  #1 It's like either or either you know. #
interviewer:  #2 Yeah. #
853:  They, ei- either one's right.
interviewer:  Yeah, yeah.
853:  It's according to where you live.
interviewer:  #1 That's right. Yeah, that's right. And you said the wrong thing for where you live. #
interviewer:  #2 Um-hmm. Okay. #
853:  Yeah. You know, I really got perturbed yesterday and I'm going to write him a letter.
interviewer:  Was it?
853:  Uh Jean Rayburn They made fun of a woman from uh Greenville, Texas.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And she did not talk any worse than you or I.
interviewer:  Hmm. What did she say that it was strange, do you know?
853:  Not, not. It's just one thing she said uh let me see what was he made and every time he'd uh ask her a question or ask the rest of 'em a question he'd use that same word what was it? And he'd When she said uh her home home
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And he'd say home. It was awful.
interviewer:  Just making fun of her?
853:  Hmm?
interviewer:  Was he, well did he make fun of her?
853:  Yeah.
interviewer:  That's nasty.
853:  Well. I I you know. I don't think that that you or I talk enough like Texans to be made fun of.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  But he'd, he, they kept on.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And they uh the group did.
interviewer:  No, I don't like that
853:  It was sickening.
interviewer:  Yeah. That's, yeah.
853:  It was really rude.
interviewer:  Besides that, if if you and I were to go someplace else you know, where they're not
853:  #1 Not that noticeable. #
interviewer:  #2 {X} any of us. # Yeah. Yeah.
853:  No. No. I don't think so.
interviewer:  Uh, let's see. What do you call that piece of furniture that three or, two or three people could sit on, or four people?
853:  Couch?
interviewer:  Okay. You've ever heard it called anything else?
853:  Davenport?
interviewer:  Okay. The same thing?
853:  Mm-hmm.
interviewer:  Okay. Uh What do you call piece of furniture in the bedroom that you fold your clothes up and put 'em in?
853:  A bedroom and what?
interviewer:  Piece of furniture in the bedroom and you fold your clothes up, put your clothes in that?
853:  Oh. Dresser?
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  A bureau?
interviewer:  Okay. Um
853:  Chest of drawers?
interviewer:  Okay. Are all those the same thing?
853:  No. There's a bureau and a dresser's the same thing.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  We used to call them bureaus.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  That was this, that was the first furniture that came out had a mirror and a place drawers, you know.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  Now they call them dressers.
interviewer:  Yeah. What's the difference between that and a chest of drawers?
853:  Well, the chest of drawers don't have a mirror. And it's up upright completely and just drawers.
interviewer:  Mm-hmm. Okay.
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  Um What do you call those things that you pull down at the window there like those green things?
853:  Window shades?
interviewer:  Okay. Uh
853:  I like 'em
interviewer:  Oh, yeah. I do, too.
853:  I, I've got I've got some good Venetian blinds somebody can have, I'd sell 'em.
interviewer:  Is that right? You don't like 'em, huh?
853:  They're too hard to keep clean.
interviewer:  Oh, yeah.
853:  Now I'll tell you about me if I can't keep anything clean I don't want it.
interviewer:  Yeah. Yeah. Me, too. I don't want to have a fool with it.
853:  No. Now my house might look cluttered but it, it has to be clean.
interviewer:  Yeah. Yeah, me too. Except my husband is Well, I started to say he wouldn't much help but I don't know what he He's neater than I am in a way. He leaves his shoes out {X} where fall over 'em.
853:  Yeah. But he puts up things up that I leave out, so I guess it sorta evens out. Well. My husband was a fanatic, I guess. He wouldn't let me put his clothes away he was afraid I'd get 'em wrinkled.
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  And I was glad.
interviewer:  That's great. My husband's that way about ironing. You know, he, he won't let me iron his shirts. He has to iron his shirts. It's great. That's the way I wanna keep it, you know.
853:  #1 Sure. #
interviewer:  #2 {NW} # The other day and he asked me to iron shirts because he was in hurry and I did. And I really did the best I could, I did the best I knew how I was very careful and he wasn't satisfied with it.
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  He had to go back and redo it. {NW}
853:  Well, not many men can iron but
interviewer:  I know.
853:  Anyway
interviewer:  I just seen mine keep on though. {NW}
853:  You see that clock up there?
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  I got to wind it up. Uh John's grandfather and grandmother went to housekeeping with it.
interviewer:  Is that right?
853:  You know that was what a man used to give his wife for uh wedding present.
interviewer:  A clock?
853:  A clock.
interviewer:  That's beautiful thing.
853:  And this one over here It, uh I wouldn't let it run because it needs cleaning so bad but it keeps good time.
interviewer:  #1 Oh, that one's, that one's beautiful. #
853:  #2 But I've been offered three-hundred dollars for that one. #
interviewer:  {X} Wait, did you all get this when you started when you were married?
853:  No, no. Uh That belong to my brother's mother in law.
interviewer:  Oh, I see.
853:  And uh, his wife was their only child.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And when she died, why he gave it to my baby sister and she gave it to me before she died. She said she
interviewer:  It looks old.
853:  Mm-hmm. It is. Mm-hmm. But that one up there is well over a hundred.
interviewer:  Is that right. It still keeps time, huh?
853:  Beautiful.
interviewer:  Great. What do you call that space at the top of the house
853:  Attic.
interviewer:  Okay. And what do you call the, the covering of the house? That uh,
853:  Roof.
interviewer:  Okay. Um What do you call, uh, a little room off the kitchen where you put canned goods
853:  A pantry.
interviewer:  Okay. And what would you call a bunch of old worthless things that you're fixing to throw away?
853:  {NW} Junk
interviewer:  #1 Okay. #
853:  #2 {NW} #
interviewer:  What would you call a room where you keep stuff like that?
853:  Catchall.
interviewer:  #1 Okay, okay. #
853:  #2 {NW} #
interviewer:  {NW} We've got a We've got a drawer. In in the kitchen cabinets right under the telephone we call it the catchall drawer and my husband said the other day, he said did you ever notice how well a catchall drawer works. Just as soon as you call it a catchall drawer.
853:  Yeah.
interviewer:  Everything in the house starts going in there.
853:  Do you call it that?
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  Well, we all so. {NW}
interviewer:  Um What do you call that thing that you, that you sweep with?
853:  Broom.
interviewer:  Okay. And um That thing right there is a
853:  Closet.
interviewer:  Oh, uh.
853:  No?
interviewer:  Just this part of it is the?
853:  Door.
interviewer:  Okay. Okay. Now if, if there was a broom right here, leaning against this, this thing right here?
853:  Mm-hmm.
interviewer:  And uh the closet door was open and you want me to get that broom, then how would you, and of course I couldn't see the broom.
853:  Yeah.
interviewer:  Uh, how would you tell me where the broom was?
853:  To close the door.
interviewer:  Okay. Where would you say where would you say the broom was?
853:  It's behind the door.
interviewer:  Okay. Okay. Uh.
853:  That's a, like I said a while ago and now I say behind.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  Behind the door.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Uh-huh. We get some people who say really strange things like uh hind side of the door.
853:  Yeah.
interviewer:  Ever heard anybody say that?
853:  No.
interviewer:  Me either but But, but it's on here. They say somebody says that.
853:  Mm-hmm. Well, I would say.
interviewer:  Not anybody I've ever talked to.
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  Um If your clothes are dirty, you have to do what to 'em?
853:  Wash 'em.
interviewer:  Okay. And then you have to?
853:  Iron.
interviewer:  {X}
853:  I hate to iron.
interviewer:  I do too. I won't get close enough to iron.
853:  No, never. Again.
interviewer:  Me either.
853:  Mm-mm.
interviewer:  As, as long as Buddy irons his shirts, that's fine. My clothes like this You know it's wrinkled down but I've had it on all day This, I can just take it out from the washer and
853:  Sure. Dried, while it's drying, when it, dry put it on.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  This, too.
interviewer:  Yeah. #1 That's all kind of #
853:  #2 This stuff # dresses old as I am. And uh
interviewer:  Looks good.
853:  Every time it's washed, it's ready.
interviewer:  Yeah. That's, that's best kind of dress ever.
853:  I give a little more from my material, I of course I don't sew anymore.
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  I used to I made this dress and I am it's been seven years since I had my eyes operated on.
interviewer:  Is that right?
853:  #1 So I don't sew anymore. #
interviewer:  #2 Yeah. # Yeah.
853:  And I had a brand new machine it does everything.
interviewer:  Oh, boy. And then you had to have your eyes operated on.
853:  Yeah. And I tried to give that machine to my daughter she has one.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And but the granddaughter didn't. And she sews real good but she didn't want it. She said, no, if I have a machine I'll have to sew. I don't want to. I just buy 'em ready made.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  #1 {NW} #
interviewer:  #2 I understand that. # My mother sews and she made all my clothes when I was growing up and I just never was interested. And I don't have a sewing machine for the same reason.
853:  Yeah. But Eugene uh the granddaughter uh she makes uh she made her some beautiful pant suits.
interviewer:  Mm-hmm.
853:  But and I, I was surprised.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  I totally surprised that she could sew. I didn't know she could sew.
interviewer:  Huh.
853:  And never had.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And uh But she teaches and she don't have time. She trails around after that fourteen-year old boy all everything that happens and
interviewer:  Oh, yeah.
853:  They don't have time.
interviewer:  Well, you know it's nice to able to sew sometimes because you could make things a lot cheaper.
853:  Oh indeed you can.
interviewer:  #1 Especially simple things. #
853:  #2 Right. # And I could always uh draft it. I learned drafting when I went to A and M.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And I could draft my own patterns. I could go and look at an expensive dress and then draft me a pattern and
interviewer:  Yeah. That's great.
853:  Then you see.
interviewer:  Um. Did you have to go to College Station all the way out to the university when you
853:  Did what?
interviewer:  Did you have to go to College Station to, to the university to
853:  Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
interviewer:  They have, you know all these, um {D: Ceters} around, and I didn't know if you'd gone to the university or if you'd gone to one of the
853:  No. No, I went to A and M proper down to {D: Bryan} or College Station.
interviewer:  Whatever, yeah.
853:  Mm-hmm.
interviewer:  We have a I guess you call it uh agriculture extension center.
853:  #1 Mm-hmm. #
interviewer:  #2 right near us. Right near where my husband and I live #
853:  Mm-hmm.
interviewer:  They do all kinds of things there. They even have a they even have a field and they grow stuff and they grow what
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  I don't know if they're testing hybrids or or something. #1 You know, different kinds of corn or stuff that have different kinds of weed and they have a #
853:  #2 mm-hmm.Mm-hmm. #
interviewer:  a patch that's this high and another patch is this high, and another patch is this high, you know right outside each other doing some kind of experiment.
853:  Showing the difference in a growth and why.
interviewer:  Mm-hmm.
853:  Mm-hmm.
interviewer:  Um What would you uh what would you call that thing that you use to get from the first story to the second story in a two-story house?
853:  Stairs.
interviewer:  Okay. What if these stairs were attached to the outside of the house, would you call them the same thing?
853:  Steps.
interviewer:  Okay. Okay. And uh even if they went all the way to the second story?
853:  No, it would be a a stair.
interviewer:  Okay. Okay.
853:  Stairs.
interviewer:  Uh You said you had a porch on that that house there. Uh, would you call it the same thing if it was in the back?
853:  Yes.
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm.
interviewer:  What if it went around three sides of the house?
853:  Well, if sometimes there are around porch
interviewer:  Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
853:  Circles the house.
interviewer:  Mm-hmm. Okay. You still call it a porch though.
853:  Porch.
interviewer:  #1 Okay. #
853:  #2 Mm-hmm. #
interviewer:  What if it was on the second story then what would you call it?
853:  Balcony.
interviewer:  Okay. Alright.
853:  Counter?
interviewer:  If the door was open and you didn't want it that way, you might ask someone to get up and
853:  Close the door.
interviewer:  Okay. Or if you didn't say close the door, you'd say
853:  You'd say, shut the door.
interviewer:  #1 Okay. #
853:  #2 {NW} #
interviewer:  Uh What do you call those boards on the outside of the house that run this way and then kind of overlap each other?
853:  #1 Well. #
interviewer:  #2 {X} #
853:  Weather board. Weather boarding.
interviewer:  Okay. Okay. Uh did you tell me that you still drive your own car?
853:  Yes.
interviewer:  When did you learn to drive?
853:  {NW} I was fourteen.
interviewer:  Do you remember it?
853:  Yes.
interviewer:  Who taught you?
853:  I taught myself.
interviewer:  You're kidding
853:  I was a, my daddy called me cat. He thought I could do anything.
interviewer:  Yeah?
853:  And he was a big, fat man.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And if he wanted anything done and arrange a car you'd oiled your own car then.
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  Way back.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  We had a {D: Lolone Mac} Maxwell.
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  Sheriff down here you know, outside.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And he put me on the data drain that thing 'cause he couldn't get under there.
interviewer:  {NW} {NW}
853:  #1 And we #
interviewer:  #2 Too big, huh? #
853:  W-well, he's stiff you know, I guess and didn't want to. He, he I guess he could- couldn't get under there very easy cuz he was fat.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  But I wasn't fat then like I am now. But uh We had a farm down in East Texas.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  And he went down there one time and I saw him leave the keys on the clock shelf. To the car.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And I'd been watching him drive and riding with him everywhere he went, you know. And I got in that thing, he was {D: swooping down the} county farm down here just trees and trees, and trees.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  Wasn't but one way in or out. And I got in that car and got it started and I began to stay around mango trees, mama ran out hollering Sugar, oh Essie, sugar!
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  Well, I just kept on going just as far as I could.
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  And you know where I went?
interviewer:  Where?
853:  I went all through Cameron park cuz I couldn't stop.
interviewer:  Oh, fuc- {C: voice vibrating with laughter}. You didn't know how to stop it?
853:  No. {NW}
interviewer:  {NW} That's a scream
853:  But I finally found out before I get back and I just drove in there as if as I'd been driving always.
interviewer:  I love it. That's fantastic. Figured out where the brake was?
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  That's great. You've been driving ever since?
853:  Oh, yes.
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  #1 Do you have an #
interviewer:  #2 You know, # I don't understand people who, who don't drive or just uh so cooped up, you know.
853:  This woman next door has been living there forty-one years now and I've taken her every place she's ever been. Until last year two women across the {NW} Excuse me. Across the street. #1 And she go church together, you know. #
interviewer:  #2 Uh-huh. #
853:  Not to Sunday morning church. But women's society and things you know. {NW} {NW} But I take her to get her groceries take 'em to the doctor.
interviewer:  That's really kind of a burden if You have to take some
853:  And take her everywhere she goes, I take her to the fair yeah, I take her every month fair build. Well I pay mine by check.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  Because it's easier for me.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And sometimes I can't drive.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  I have s- dizzy spells, you know.
interviewer:  #1 Yeah. You don't want to #
853:  #2 Since I had that heart trouble, # I wouldn't get in the car dizzy, no way you could fix it.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And she would call and I'll say Ms. William, you have to wait until tomorrow. And she don't have to, she don't like to wait. Not one minute.
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  I'd say I can't go today.
interviewer:  Yeah. You're awful good to take her to {X}.
853:  I don't mind to take her and her husband was a veteran. And uh, he was at Temple In Temple eighteen months hospital.
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  I took her every other day to Temple
interviewer:  Goodness, that's a thirty-minute drive.
853:  Until winter came that winter and it John said well my dear, I think you ought to not have to go down there, it might come up a cold spell and she has an aunt she could stay with, you know.
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  So I told her, I said, I'll tell you Miss Willy, I'll take you to the bus station and she didn't have the money. I said, I've got it. I'll pay you bus fare down and back. And I get her a round ticker. Get her a she'd get her a round trip ticket and I'd go back at eight o'clock every other night meet her.
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  Down. Bus station in town, you know. {NW} And uh
interviewer:  Is it, it's a real I would think it be so inconvenient for her not knowing how to drive, you know.
853:  I don't know how people get along.
interviewer:  I don't either. My grandmother was that way. My mother had to take her when she leave or daddy did it.
853:  My mother couldn't drive either, of course, but you see, my mother has been dead thirty years.
interviewer:  Hmm.
853:  And old women didn't used to drive, you know.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And uh, But she had a buggy.
interviewer:  Yeah?
853:  As long as she lived. She nailed it, she kept that buggy.
interviewer:  Is that right?
853:  She went where she pleased.
interviewer:  Huh.
853:  Phaeton, you know.
interviewer:  Yeah. Yeah, uh-huh.
853:  And uh, nice horse, nice buggy.
interviewer:  Oh, I wish I had horse. Wish I had, wish I had an excuse to get a horse. {NW}
853:  {NW}
interviewer:  Uh wanted a horse all my life my parents never would get me one and, and uh now that I'm married, grown, I understand why they didn't. {NW} They cost a fortune.
853:  Sure.
interviewer:  {NW}
853:  Right.
interviewer:  But one of these days
853:  Well, what are you doing in Waco?
interviewer:  Well I'm just down doing this.
853:  Doing this?
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I've got to find two people
853:  Where is your husband? Is he here?
interviewer:  He's in Dallas. No, I talked to him every night on the phone though for about an hour. {NW} I talked to him last night for thirty minutes.
853:  Oh, I know.
interviewer:  Yeah, we live now, if I live in A suburb just north of Dallas. You've heard of Richardson? Richardson?
853:  Yeah, I know. I have a niece lives there.
interviewer:  Oh, do you? Yeah. Olympus uh is there. We have house and uh he works for Texas Instruments.
853:  For what?
interviewer:  Texas Instruments.
853:  Uh-huh. {NW}
interviewer:  It's a big company.
853:  Yeah. Well, I'll tell you. World's changing so rapidly.
interviewer:  #1 And you don't have #
853:  #2 I don't have #
interviewer:  Go ahead.
853:  I can't uh it makes me mad for people to talk about young people.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  I've always been to where I could identify with them.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And uh You know, I have a two boys and a girl. They know I go, I'm the first person in church on Sunday morning.
interviewer:  Uh-huh.
853:  Because I can read my Sunday school lesson over and get more out of if I get there down the first.
interviewer:  Uh-huh. Yeah.
853:  And I study everyday. Far as that's concerned. But these two boys, grown boys sing in the choir grown men good-looking boys and this one girl they come by my door every morning in the world and come in and sat down and talk to me.
interviewer:  Oh, that's great. I love it.
853:  And whenever they have a project I'll say, stop by now when you have another one. And I'll give them five or ten dollars, you know, for their project. Whatever they're doing.
interviewer:  Oh, that's great.
853:  And when they wash cars every so often on the church lawn, I'll give 'em ten dollars and they just have a fit.
interviewer:  {NW} Yeah, I guess.
853:  They, they wash 'em for a dollar, you know.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And uh
interviewer:  But they're always trying to raise money.
853:  Well, I'll tell you. It is nobody's business and the preacher would die if he knew it I imagine but I tithe.
interviewer:  Oh.
853:  But I don't put all my tithe in that church. I don't have to.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  And that's the Lord's work too isn't it?
interviewer:  Yeah. Sure!
853:  So if I give those kids something that helps them out
interviewer:  Yeah. That counts too.
853:  They went to I'll tell you what I did. They went on the {X}
interviewer:  Uh-huh. That boat?
853:  Uh-huh. And I bought all three of them a ticket.
interviewer:  No kidding. That boat looks like be a lot of fun. Have you ever been on it?
853:  No. I was afraid to. My Kids went and they got me a ticket.
interviewer:  Uh-huh, uh-huh.
853:  And uh I, I had just gotten out of the hospital and I decided I better not, I was kind of dizzy.
interviewer:  Yeah.
853:  I was afraid I'd get sick.
interviewer:  Yeah. You might. If you can {X}
853:  Um-hmm.
interviewer:  Well, let's see. What would you call the little building out back where you keep your gardening tools and stuff like that?
853:  Storage.
interviewer:  Okay. Um Say you've got a house and the house runs this way like this and then this way too, so it's kind of L-shaped house, you know.
853:  Mm-hmm.
interviewer:  And both roofs are peat
853:  Mm-hmm.
interviewer:  Okay. Now then the place where they meet is kind of low-placed. Do you have the name for that-
853:  Gable?
interviewer:  Okay.
853:  Uh, or you know if the valley down might be gable?
interviewer:  Okay. The valley is the low place?
853:  #1 Mm-hmm. #
interviewer:  #2 And the gables are the #
853:  Uh-huh.
interviewer:  #1 Uh, the upper #
853:  #2 Ex- #
interviewer:  Okay. Um Did y'all have an outdoor toilet when you
853:  Oh, gosh, yes I still got one.
interviewer:  No kidding!
853:  {NW} What do you call an outdoor toilet? Privy.
interviewer:  Anything else?
853:  And toilet?
interviewer:  Yeah. Yeah. Anything else? Ever heard called?
853:  They used to call 'em privies.
interviewer:  Yeah, yeah. Okay. That tape's fixing to run off. #1 Here, I got #
853:  #2 No, uh # {NW} I heard last year, I heard some kids out back there and they turned it over.
interviewer:  Oh, no!
853:  #1 {NW} #
interviewer:  #2 Not funny! #
853:  Right against my little old barn
interviewer:  {NW} I've heard of people doing that. {NW} Did you have