579:  {NW}
interviewer:  uh What did people used to use to heat up water to make hot tea in?
579:  To make what?
interviewer:  Hot tea.
579:  That was generally done on the kitchen stove
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  which was fired by wood.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Split and cut in lengths, convenient lengths.
interviewer:  What would they heat the water in? What would they call the vessel?
579:  Most stoves had what we call firebacks which was a cast iron chamber and, um, my recollection is that the water circulated because some of it was hot and some of it was cold and it went into a sort of reservoir so that there'd always be some hot water.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  In fact, we even had some hot water from such a source in our bathrooms after some time had passed. And late at night that would run out. {NW} Wouldn't get a fresh supply until the cook came the next morning and built another fire.
interviewer:  mm-hmm um Did you ever see a a thing that had a sort of a spout to it and a a handle, maybe made out of iron?
579:  A- a spout? Ma- made out of what?
interviewer:  Well, it's made out of iron, it had a a spout #1 to it. #
579:  #2 Kettle, # yes.
interviewer:  What's that?
579:  Cast iron kettle.
interviewer:  uh-huh
579:  That was- very often they were set on top of stoves so that the cook would always have some hot water handy, just pick it up with a cloth and pour some out of the spout.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  For cooking vegetables or making tea or something like that.
interviewer:  mm-hmm um And did you ever see- this may have been before your time, but did you ever see people wash- maybe some of the poorer people- uh, wash their clothes out in the yard and then they'd take a big, um, vessel made out of iron and heat the water?
579:  I never saw them except for many years later. There's one right down this street here. At, uh, another boulevard at a street such as Monroe is. Monroe ran North and South; Jackson street ra- ran East and West. And, in the old days, where that big old pot is now- it's used as a fountain now,
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  the town was pretty well quartered. Oh, it was more than bisected, it was quartered. This street was named South Street because it was the southernmost street in the town. Out there were hills {X} and what not, forests.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And there's one of those there. Huge thing. They were on legs although I believe this one isn't Might have been used for a- for making syrup or rendering sugar or
interviewer:  #1 mm-hmm #
579:  #2 out of # cane and what not. Anyway, that's the only one I can remember.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Now, of course, I never saw it in use. But on on wash days, very often, a huge vessel like that would be out of the yard with a fire- a wood fire underneath it to provide hot water for washing.
interviewer:  mm-hmm You mentioned the syrup. Is there another name for syrup?
579:  Molasses. {NW} Although there's much difference between molasses and syrup. Syrup's thin, molasses is thick.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  There is also a syrup called sorghum. S-O-R-G-H-U-M.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Which is a separate plant, it's not the- not sugar cane. But it's generally similar to it.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And the syrup is right good. I don't know when I've tasted any. Long time.
interviewer:  Did you ever hear syrup and molasses called short sweetening and long sweetening?
579:  No. There is a substance that is halfway or part of the way between the original rendering, after heating the cane juice to the finished syrup or molasses. It's called quete. Q-U-E-T-E. Not much known in this state, but it is in Louisiana.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And it's delicious. It has- it's very thick, and it has gobs of half formed sugar in it. You get some of that on a hot biscuit! Good.
interviewer:  hmm
579:  I haven't seen any in years. Q-U-E-T-E. Quete.
interviewer:  It's between the- the molasses and the
579:  It's between the time when the, uh, juice from the cane is started in the cooking process and the final rendering into syrup or molasses is completed.
interviewer:  mm-hmm um Say if- if you were setting the table, um, for people to eat with, you'd give everyone a next to the person's plate, you'd give them a?
579:  I was yawning; I missed some of that.
interviewer:  Well, the- the utensils that people eat with
579:  Pretty much the same as now. Except, that some of the old cooking implements such as forks and spoons were pretty clumsy compared to modern ones
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  and the tableware owned by the better class of people were made of what is called- was called then coin silver. Practically, the same as sterling silver today.
interviewer:  hmm
579:  Of course, there was plated ware too.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  But the better families had what was called coin silver.
interviewer:  mm-hmm You'd say you'd have a a spoon and a fork and a?
579:  Spoons, forks, knives, table spoons, teaspoons.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  About the same as we have now but not as exquisitely made.
interviewer:  uh-huh To cut your food with you'd use a?
579:  Oh, there were knives.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  They were not as thin and sharp as modern knives and they didn't have as high-grade metal in them.
interviewer:  mm-hmm What would you call that- the big, um, kind that you could use for cutting meat? You'd call that a? Do you remember a really big?
579:  Uh, they called them, uh, I think choppers or
interviewer:  Did you ever hear bu-
579:  butcher, uh, cleavers, that was, uh, a more modern term I think, yes that was a more modern, uh. Now I don't remember what they called the big ones that butchers used. I don't think they called them cleavers in the old days. If they did, I don't remember it.
interviewer:  What about just the- a long one that did that have- did you ever hear that called a butcher?
579:  That was called a butcher's knife.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  It might be, uh, over two feet long.
interviewer:  mm-hmm And say if the- if the dishes were dirty, you'd say I have to?
579:  Wash the dishes.
interviewer:  And you say "after she washes the dishes, then she" what them in clear water?
579:  If they did it properly, yes. There were- came a finer rinsing and then clear water.
interviewer:  uh-huh
579:  Get all the dirt and fragments- get all the, uh, soap and maybe any little fragments of food off that way.
interviewer:  So you say she- she does what? She- she runs clear water over them then?
579:  Rinse.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Rinsed it.
interviewer:  and um What would you call the- the cloth or rag you use when you're washing dishes?
579:  The what kind of bag?
interviewer:  The cloth or the rag you use when you're
579:  Oh, it's just called a dishrag.
interviewer:  uh-huh What about when you're drying them?
579:  What?
interviewer:  When you're drying dishes.
579:  A towel.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Dishtowel.
interviewer:  And to bathe your face with, you'd use a?
579:  Well, they were called wash rags. They were not really rags but they were always called washrags.
interviewer:  uh-huh
579:  They were small.
interviewer:  What about to dry yourself off with?
579:  Towels.
interviewer:  And do you remember, um, what flour used to come in if people would buy about a hundred pounds of it?
579:  In {X} barrels, I think they weighed one hundred and ninety-six pounds. My father had one in the- what we called the store room at home.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  A barrel of flour, a fifty pound can of lard,
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  a wooden tub of butter, oh gosh. Pretty strong by the time it got down to the bottom
interviewer:  {NW}
579:  for the lack of refrigeration. And, uh, big slabs of bacon. Nothing like as good as modern bacon. You had to slice across it and then run your knife underneath it and leave the rind, which was the hogs hide. {NW} And we always had a slab of that hanging up in this store room and the store room always had bars on the window. That was to prevent colored folks from getting in and stealing your food. All old houses had barred windows in the storeroom.
interviewer:  Was the storeroom kept locked?
579:  We locked it, of course. Mother was very careful. When she was upstairs she locked the store room. Oh, it was obviously {X} We didn't pay them enough. It was outrageous. True, it didn't cost them as much to live then but still.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  We didn't pay them enough.
interviewer:  Do you think most Southerners would agree with you about that? I mean you
579:  The better class, yes.
interviewer:  uh-huh Who do you think was- was the most, um, do- do you think the better class of people generally treated negroes fairly well except for not paying them enough? but
579:  I think that they treated them well. My mother used to tell me about that. Her mother would- if one of them was sick, she would go and take care of a negro just as much as if it were a white person.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Not all of them, but the better class took good care of their slaves.
interviewer:  mm-hmm So you think it was just the- the lower class of white people that that really were the most racist and most?
579:  There's an interesting side light on that I've had charge of our church records for fifty years or so and I've had access to old minute books and record books. And years and years ago, before the Civil War, of course, slaves were received into the Church under the names of their owners.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Well, say that, uh, a man owned a a male slave named Ben and his family name was Jones. Ben Jones, slave of Mr. Benjamin Jones, was received into the membership of this church upon profession of faith.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And they had uh their own place to sit in the Church. I think it was in the balcony in our old church, down there where the hotel is now. And, uh, the minutes showed that one time a negro applied for membership in the church and he was examined by the church board. For some reason, I don't know what, the Church board having charge of that sort of activity in our church is called the session.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  The session is composed of the elders, of which I'm one, and the minister. And he- he appeared before the session and, of course, they questioned him about his convictions of what he believed why he felt impelled to join the church and they concluded that he was not yet ready for it. So, they did not receive him.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Now, whether he came back later and qualified it would take a great deal of searching to find that out; I didn't care that #1 much #
interviewer:  #2 mm-hmm #
579:  about it.
interviewer:  Would they used to have integrated churches?
579:  It had what?
interviewer:  They used to have integrated churches
579:  #1 No, no #
interviewer:  #2 way back? #
579:  indeed. I still don't like them; that's between you and me. {NW} uh No, they had their own churches. Mostly, which is still true, the ministers were illiterate.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  They couldn't compose or deliver a really elevating sermon. They just hadn't had the education. Don't have the intelligence. But most of them love the churches. They like to get in there and, uh, get emotional about it and get to moaning and groaning and yelling and what not. Not as much of that as formerly. There's still a little especially at funerals.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  I've gone to one or two of them. The, uh, porter in our ch- in our bank died and I went to the funeral. And it was- it was enlightening to me. They wanted or they- or rather, they liked they liked to have letters of praise for the deceased and tributes to them and so forth and, uh, this person here would have one and that one there would have one and they'd stand up and read them. I had one for our- our porter. He was really a superior negro. Much more intelligent than most of them. And I went into the back door of the church and gave it to an usher, I said "Give this to the preacher and ask him to read it at the proper time."
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  I was petrified, I came back in about five minutes said "Mr. {B} we have a seat for you on the platform." So I had to go up there and read it myself. {NW} But they every now and then said "Yes, Lord" "Ain't it so, Lord" and so forth The- they like to let them go at this- at the funerals.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  There's not as much of that as formerly; they're a little more sophisticated now.
interviewer:  Yea. um If you wanted- in a- nowadays you'd have a kitchen sink and if if you wanted to turn on the water you'd turn on the?
579:  Faucet or spigot.
interviewer:  uh-huh Which- which word to people used to call it?
579:  Faucet.
interviewer:  uh-huh What about, um, out in the yard? What you could hook the hose up to, you know? You'd turn on the?
579:  The hose came much later. We'd have an outlet in the yard and hose. By that time of course, we had waterworks indoors.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  But before that there was just the cistern, generally in the side yard. At our house, we had had a long handled pump I was talking about right at the edge of the back porch.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  So, my older brothers could stand on it; it had a long handle. Both of them put their weight on it together and forced water up to the tank that fed the tin tub in the bathroom.
interviewer:  {NW}
579:  But, generally, the the- the cistern was in the side yard and had a cistern house built over it, mostly covered with vines to keep the sun off and keep the water fairly cool.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And it was pretty cool, too, down there in that, uh, underground cistern.
interviewer:  mm-hmm What- what would you have nowadays for turning on the water outside?
579:  We would have, uh, a spigot or a faucet outside.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Part of the pipe.
interviewer:  mm-hmm What about, um, on a say on a water barrel what you could turn and let the the water out would you call that a faucet or spigot too?
579:  Oh, you mean in the tub?
interviewer:  No, on- on a barrel.
579:  Oh, a barrel.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Very few persons had just barrels, they had cisterns. The barrel didn't last long enough.
interviewer:  Well, di- did you ever see a container though that had water in it and do do- you remember what the thing was called that you could turn and let the water out?
579:  We generally called it a faucet.
interviewer:  uh-huh What about the things that run around the barrel to hold the wood in place?
579:  Hoops.
interviewer:  And, something smaller than a a barrel that maybe nails used to come in?
579:  Keg.
interviewer:  mm-hmm and say nowadays if if the, um, light wasn't burning if the electric lamp wasn't burning you'd have to screw in a new?
579:  Still do, except for fluorescent #1 tubes. #
interviewer:  #2 uh-huh #
579:  #1 #
interviewer:  #2 # What- what do you have to screw in?
579:  What?
interviewer:  What do you call that? You have to screw in a
579:  #1 So- #
interviewer:  #2 new? #
579:  The socket.
interviewer:  uh-huh
579:  They were threaded in on the bulb and you screw that in to the socket. Still do.
interviewer:  And, um, if you were carrying wash out to hang it out on the line you might carry out in a clothes?
579:  Basket. Big clothes basket.
interviewer:  uh-huh And if you were driving horses and wanted them to go faster you could hit them with a?
579:  Oh, I don't know anything about that.
interviewer:  Well What'd you call that, that you could?
579:  A whip.
interviewer:  mm-kay and nowadays if if you, um, went to the store and bought something the grocer would put it in a?
579:  Paper bag.
interviewer:  mm-kay Did you ever, um, what about something that flour used to come in, maybe 25 pounds of flour or so?
579:  The cloth sack.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And most housewives found some use for those sacks when they were empty, cleaning cloths or something like that.
interviewer:  mm-hmm What other kinds of sacks or bags did did there used to be maybe made out of rough material?
579:  No, those thour- those bags contained flour or sugar or a fairly closely wool one.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Oh, I guess you'd call them, uh, oh, domestic maybe.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  and I'd {X} muslin, muslin.
interviewer:  mm-hmm What about that, um, kind of bag or or sack that feed used to come in? That rough brown cloth, you know?
579:  We called it sacking.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Or burlap.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Did you ever hear any other name for that? Tote sack or gunny sack or? croker sack?
579:  Both, gunny sack and croker sack.
interviewer:  uh-huh And say if if you wanted to take some corn to the mill to be ground do you remember the- what they would call the amount that they'd take at one time?
579:  Don't know about that, I never lived in the country.
interviewer:  Well, say if you went out and got as much wood as you could carry in both your arms and say you had a?
579:  An armful.
interviewer:  Mm-kay. Did you ever hear the expression a turn of wood?
579:  A turn?
interviewer:  Uh-huh
579:  No, the neighbors all called turns two thousand p- pounds. A turn.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  That's the only way I ever heard that used.
interviewer:  mm-hmm And if you opened a bottle and then wanted to close it back up, you'd stick in a?
579:  Well, that has changed over the years. It used to be a cork stopper.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Now, of course, they have, uh, caps that screw on.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Was just a cork or a cork stopper.
interviewer:  mm-hmm And, this is a musical instrument you'd blow like this.
579:  Mouth harp. The- the real name is harpsichord I think.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Or or we just called them- there were also- no, there was another thing that required both hands. It was shaped like- rather pear shaped
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  and had a flat blade in the center and the blade stuck out beyond the frame about an inch, I suppose. And I have seen boys
interviewer:  Playing it?
579:  Flip that thing with their fingers
interviewer:  uh-huh
579:  and shape a tune wi- by the mouths, the way they shape their mouths.
interviewer:  hmm
579:  They called- we called it a Jew's harp. {NW} But it, uh, there were not many of those because not many boys were skillful enough to shape their mouths to make a recognizable tune.
interviewer:  {NW} um And you mentioned you had coal. What would they carry coal in?
579:  Hods or coal buckets.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Was that the same thing?
579:  Same thing.
interviewer:  Did you ever see a fancy thing that would sit by the stove to to hold the wood in? #1 You wel- {D: words} #
579:  #2 Lay them {D: words} # They are largely modern. We just had boxes for coal and wood.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Some of them were fancy, overlaid with brass and had lids on them. And, uh, in the early days, the coal buckets were swung in a frame and the the axle, the pivot- which didn't go all the way through, it was just sticking out one on each side- was near the top and you would tilt it to get some coal out of it to put on the fire.
interviewer:  hmm um And what runs from the stove to the chimney?
579:  A stove pipe.
interviewer:  mm-kay
579:  Always a sort of blue-steel color.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And they were very durable, too. They lasted for years. They got full of soot sometime.
interviewer:  mm-hmm What about, um, this is something you could use if you were going to move bricks or something heavy? It has a little wheel in front. Two handles.
579:  Truck.
interviewer:  Or-
579:  We call it a hand truck.
interviewer:  uh-huh Well, this has a- one wheel though, in front.
579:  Wheelbarrow.
interviewer:  mm-kay The- the truck and the wheelbarrow are different aren't they?
579:  Quite.
interviewer:  mm-hmm and, um, you mentioned, um, plows a little while back. Do you remember there being different names for different kinds of plows?
579:  Different what?
interviewer:  Plows. That you could use to plow up a field.
579:  Pile?
interviewer:  Plows. P-L-O
579:  Plows! Oh, they're all called plows. Although, later on some were called harrows
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  and some were called disk harrows.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  They were quite different. There'd be a row of six or eight of them and then circles with sharp edges and they would have different functions from plows.
interviewer:  mm-hmm and You remember on- on a wagon did you were you- did you ever?
579:  If it was a two handled wagon it had a tongue
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  right in the center, one animal on each side. If it was for one horse or mule, it had tongues and, uh, the animal would be right between these two tongues. one on one side, one on the other, lightly built.
interviewer:  mm-hmm What about, um, on the wagon wheel, um, on the inside, you know, you'd have the- the hub and then the spoke would come out from the hub and that'd fit into the?
579:  Rim.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Wh- Go ahead.
579:  The, uh, the wooden wheel- the wooden part of the wheel wa- was what the spokes fit into and that was covered with an iron tread.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Before they got rubber tires.
interviewer:  What did- the rim was wooden?
579:  It had to be because the wooden spokes had to fit into something that would hold them rigidly
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  and they could cut slots all around this wooden rim for the spokes to fit into.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Then, the iron rim covering the wooden part
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  would be fastened with, uh, bolts or nails of some kind so it wouldn't come off.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Did you ever see, um, on- when the horse is hitched to a wagon the things that the traces hook onto?
579:  The- the traces oh they were fastened to a collar on a horse or mule and it came back to what was called the singletree.
interviewer:  uh-huh
579:  A singletree was a- a- approximately the same width, a little less, just long enough to fit between the two tongues.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  and, uh, shafts rather, shafts and, uh, Yes, {NW} there was a singletree #1 at the back #
interviewer:  #2 mm-hmm #
579:  just beyond the seat of the driver
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  fastened in the middle with a pivot so it could turn as a horse or mule turned to go around a corner.
interviewer:  mm-hmm What about when you had two horses?
579:  How many?
interviewer:  When you had two horses? You'd have
579:  Well, most of them that did use two horses or two mules, each one had a separate singletree.
interviewer:  And then what would hold the two single trees together? It would be the?
579:  Oh, uh, a cross member there. I don't know what they called it now. But they were pivoted on that.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Big bolts would go through the singletree and through this which was fastened securely to the shafts for a single one or or to this member that went across which was centered by the tongue.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And one tongue that went out. Oh, they called- they called the one for single animals shafts on each side
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  and the tongue was for two animals.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Did you ever hear of a doubletree or?
579:  #1 Yes #
interviewer:  #2 {X} #
579:  That's what I'm talking about now. If the animal was the only one drawing the- the vehicle the traces wait a minute now- is that- the side straps? What are they called? were fastened to a singletree.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  which would turn as needed and for a two team outfit there were two singletrees.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Each one about half the length, a- a doubletrees rather, about half the length of a singletree so that they could move independently {NW} as the horse went around the corner or what not.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Say, um, if there was a log across the road you'd say I tied a chain to it and I what it out of the way?
579:  A log across the #1 road? #
interviewer:  #2 Yes. # Say if there was a log bl- blocking the road you'd say I tied a chain to it and I?
579:  Oh, sometimes they dragged logs for something. I don't know what that was.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Something I never saw.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Well, talking about doing that, you'd say, um, they have what that log out of the road? They have? If they did that, how would- how would you say that? They have?
579:  They pull the log out of the way?
interviewer:  uh-huh or talking about dragging it you'd say they have?
579:  Well, there were some things they called a drag.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  What they did with them, I don't know. But I I know they have them; I've heard of them but I don't know what the function of them was.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Say if, uh, what would you say someone was doing if he was filling up his his wagon at the wood lot then driving back to his house and unloading it driving back again and filling it up? What would you say he was doing?
579:  Don't know about that.
interviewer:  Well, if someone had a load of wood in his wagon and was driving somewhere, you'd say that he was?
579:  Well, he would- he would just be delivering a load of wood.
interviewer:  uh-huh Would you say he was hauling wood or drawing wood or carting?
579:  Cordwood.
interviewer:  hmm?
579:  Cordwood. mm-hmm Or else stove wood.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Cordwood was a pretty uniform length and so was stove wood so it could fit into the fire box on the stove.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  They were quite different.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Did you ever see something, um, an X-shaped frame that you could lay a log across, um, if you were going to chop it?
579:  No, never saw that.
interviewer:  What about something that carpenters use. It's it's built like sort of like that A-shaped frame. You'd need two of these and you'd you'd lay a board between them.
579:  Don't know. On- on most plantations in the old days they had what's called sleds.
interviewer:  uh-huh
579:  Well, they were just that. Two runners and, uh, to save the expense of buying a wheeled vehicle and also because they had long lives and it had a platform between the two sled- uh, runners and they would haul things on the dirt roads on plantations on a sled.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  It served the purpose alright.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Did you ever see something called the sawbuck or sawhorse or?
579:  #1 Yes. #
interviewer:  #2 rack? #
579:  #1 #
interviewer:  #2 #
579:  It's made Where were you drawing that picture?
interviewer:  that?
579:  Well, now, if you, uh, if you turn this I don't know how to draw the, uh, the angle but the the sawhorses were made just like that and, uh, there was this piece at the top then down here there'd be cross members
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  but you look at this right flat in front, whereas in order to get the cross-eye that I'm talking about you would be facing the edges of these triangular things. And, uh, usually always the tops would extend beyond like that so you could put a board across there to saw in two.
interviewer:  So you'd just need one of those?
579:  No, you'd need two. One on each one. Uh, where the- where the legs crossed that made a notch.
interviewer:  Oh, #1 it's #
579:  #2 and #
interviewer:  sort of X-shaped where it crossed?
579:  Yes, the- the- the sawhorses would be X-shaped and the edge of it would go beyond so as to put a piece of wood
interviewer:  uh-huh
579:  in there.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  #1 but #
interviewer:  #2 Oh, I see. #
579:  you looking at it from, uh, in front and I'm talking about it from the side.
interviewer:  mm-hmm I see.
579:  Same thing but from the side.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  I wouldn't know how to draw it.
interviewer:  And a woman would- would fix her hair using a comb and a?
579:  Comb and brush.
interviewer:  And if she was going to use that she'd say she was going to what?
579:  #1 Comb her #
interviewer:  #2 {X} #
579:  hair, brush her hair.
interviewer:  uh-huh
579:  No change in that.
interviewer:  And you'd sharpen the straight razor using a?
579:  I use them. I have one for every day of the week. And you can use what's called a hone which is a form of stone. It has to be a different texture from an ordinary honing, uh, sharpening stone.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  and a strop S-T-R-O-P not a strap but a strop.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  which generally has one side for beginning to sharpen the razor and the other side for finishing it.
interviewer:  mm-hmm What else did- what did people have to sharpen their knives on?
579:  Butcher knives- not- I- I mean carving- carving knives were always provided with a long narrow stone and if you knew how to handle the thing properly you would rub it up and down both sides of the, uh, knife and sharpen it- the blade that way.
interviewer:  What would they call that stone?
579:  They just called it a sharpening stone.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Did you ever hear whet?
579:  What?
interviewer:  Whet rock or whet
579:  #1 Whet stone. #
interviewer:  #2 stone. #
579:  That's a little different. Uh, sometimes, they were grindstones and sometimes they were flat ones for finer work like sharpening pocket knives or or table knives, that would be a whet stone.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  and they the other would be a grindstone and would be a disk of coarser stone and it'd be used to sharpen, uh, hatchets and axes and things like that and it sometimes was operated with a foot pedal.
interviewer:  mm-hmm and what would people- what would you put in a pistol?
579:  In what?
interviewer:  In a pistol.
579:  Iced tea or iced
interviewer:  #1 or #
579:  #2 water or #
interviewer:  No, a pistol that you shoot #1 with. #
579:  #2 Oh, # pistol
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Oh Well, back then in the Civil War days they used paper cartridges. I never saw one of them. But within my time nothing but metal cartridges with the powder inside and a bullet on the end.
interviewer:  mm-hmm and This is something that children play on. It's a board and it you lay it across the trestle.
579:  Uh, We call that a seesaw.
interviewer:  uh-huh If you saw some children playing on that you'd say they were doing what?
579:  Oh, just playing on the seesaw.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  We also have what we call joggling boards. which were about, uh, fifteen feet long. and on uprights, not like that. Flat. They, uh, the side members did not cross each other like that. They were apart. And stout pieces ran across and the board fit inside of that and you'd get in the middle and jump up and down and get some pretty good exercise and fun out of it. They were called joggling boards.
interviewer:  The board was fixed down at both ends now?
579:  The board was what?
interviewer:  The board was fixed down at both ends?
579:  #1 It- it was #
interviewer:  #2 Not like the seesaw. #
579:  It was, uh, it was they slid they slid the board between these two upright pieces holders which were stout and well made and the board fit between two cross pieces at the top.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  So, it wouldn't just fly off.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And they were always called joggling boards. We joggled on them.
interviewer:  #1 mm-hmm #
579:  #2 up and # down and
interviewer:  That's kind of interesting. That, um, I didn't know they had those in in this area. I know they had them in Charleston which is- is where you said your
579:  #1 Oh yes, we had them when we were boys. #
interviewer:  #2 your mom was from. # Did most people in this that was pretty common in this in Vicksburg?
579:  #1 Yes #
interviewer:  #2 Joggling # #1 boards? #
579:  #2 Quite. # mm-hmm
interviewer:  Huh, that's interesting. Um, do you think your- your mother had them when she was little? or would you know?
579:  I shouldn't be surprised. I don't know.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  But I can remember a good many when we were boys.
interviewer:  So- so it wasn't just your family? It was
579:  What?
interviewer:  Most of the the children in the neighborhood played with
579:  No, I wouldn't say that most of them had them. Sometimes, the yards were not large enough. Although, in some cases they were so large that cutting the grass in the summer time was quite a job.
interviewer:  {NW} What about something that you'd play on that'd, um, spin around? Take a board and
579:  I don't remember any of those. They came later. Merry-go-rounds, I believe they're called.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  But there- there were very few of those.
interviewer:  mm-hmm And you could take a a tie a long rope to a tree limb and put a seat on that and make a?
579:  Swing.
interviewer:  uh-huh
579:  Usually there were two ropes and a seat between them. Very popular. They still are at the Catholic Sister's school up here a block and a half away. That's one of the most popular things. They get in those seats and swing way up and they seem to enjoy it hugely. Sometimes, there's only one rope and the seat had a hole bored in the middle and the rope goes through that and is knotted or something.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  But they prefer the ones with two ropes and a seat that doesn't require so much skill and balancing.
interviewer:  mm-hmm and the thing that- that people drive nowadays they don't drive horses and and wagons they- everybody has a?
579:  Car.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Any other name for car?
579:  No, just auto or automobile.
interviewer:  uh-huh And, if something was squeaking and you wanted to lubricate it, you'd say you had to?
579:  Oil or grease.
interviewer:  hmm?
579:  Oil or grease.
interviewer:  But what if you put the grease on it you'd say you?
579:  Oiled it or greased it.
interviewer:  mm-kay and um if, if your car needed, um, to be greased you'd you'd ask someone to take it in and and you'd ask them to do what to it?
579:  We'd take it to a service station and say give it a good lubricating job.
interviewer:  mm-kay or and if grease got all over your hands, you'd say your hands were all?
579:  Greasy.
interviewer:  mm-kay and what did you used to burn in lamps?
579:  Kerosene, although we usually called it coal oil.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Did you ever see a, um, someone make a lamp? themselves using a rag and a bottle? and some of this kerosene?
579:  Make a what?
interviewer:  A lamp. using a rag #1 and a bottle? #
579:  #2 No # I'm told that colored folks used to do that and here's an interesting little item on that. We had yellow fever here in the South oh, for years. I don't mean year after year but just crop up every now and then. And, uh, it was not known in those days that a certain species of mosquito transmitted yellow fever.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  So, everybody who could just left town and went somewhere else where there were no mosquitoes and they stayed there until we got word from home that the yellow fever had died out. And why did it die out? Because the cold weather killed the mosquitoes.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  They just knew that after two frosts say, or three the yellow fever died out.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And the colored folks would burn rags or paper, generally rags because it burned more slowly, in their yards and uh they didn't know that it was because it killed the mosquitoes. The smoke killed the mosquitoes or drove them away.
interviewer:  hmm
579:  and it was not until uh, uh, oh, a government doctor. {D: G- Gallus?} um Don't know who he was. He experimented with some soldiers in Florida or the canal zone. I think it was in the canal zone. And found out what caused yellow fever to be transmitted. It was this mosquito. He would bite a person who had it and then go and bite another one and then that person would have it. So, from that time on houses were screened and, uh, if they were not screened then mosquito bars were used. And, in time, they made a great deal of progress in coating ponds or ditches with some kind of, uh, generally some kind of petroleum based preparation
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  in which the mosquitoes could not breathe and live.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And that was when we began to control yellow fever.
interviewer:  hmm
579:  But up to that time we just knew that after two frosts or so it died out, but we didn't know it was because the mosquitoes were killed.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Where would you go?
579:  Where did we go? Well, we went to, uh, Danville, Kentucky, my college town one time and Elk Park, North Carolina another time and Clarksville, Tennessee another time.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And we just stayed until the mosquitoes- until the yellow fever died out.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  In one of our church minute books, eighteen forty something the minister preached a historical sermon one time. It was in the eighteen seventies that he preached it but he referred to this terrible yellow fever epidemic of eighteen forty-something. And he was very flowery about it. He said "for six long and weary weeks we bore the dead to their graves in an almost unending stream" uh, "the heads of families perished the eloquent orator and the learned lawyer the" can't remember- "the the maiden was cut down in the bloom of her youth and beauty the heads of households were swept away leaving weeping widows and desolate orphans." Now he- he spread himself on that. It was interesting. But at that time, nobody had any idea that mosquitoes were transmitting it.
interviewer:  mm-hmm um this- this lantern or that, um, the colored people would make, did you ever hear that called a flambeau?
579:  No, a flambeau was for light as I understand it.
interviewer:  What- what was the flambeau like?
579:  Never saw one. But another name for it would be a torch.
interviewer:  mm-hmm Do you- wha- how do you- you picture that? You say it was for light?
579:  I just guess now that it was cloth or cotton fastened on the end of a pole or an iron rod moistened with kerosene, petroleum, some kind of oil that would burn
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  and it was set fire and that would create some light. Flambeau is a French word I believe.
interviewer:  mm-hmm um and inside the tire of the car you have the inner?
579:  The what?
interviewer:  Inside the tire of the car you have the inner?
579:  Tube.
interviewer:  mm-hmm and if someone had just built a boat and they were going to put it in the water for the first time, you'd say they were going to?
579:  Launch it.
interviewer:  What different kinds of boats did people have for small boats for fishing?
579:  Usually skiffs or bateaux. Bateaux is a French word, too. B-A-T-E-A-U-X.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And, uh, most of them the large- all the larger ones had seats and oarlocks for two sets of oars.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  If you- especially if you got to the curb {D:Words} You would need two good stout oars. One to buck that curb.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  The boats were usually flat-bottomed skiffs we called them. Later on, two pretty well-to-do men here built a- had built rather a steam launch. It had a little upright boiler and a steam engine in it. It was pretty large by that time And they would go up and down the river in that and go over to, uh, Bear Lake in Louisiana for hunting and fishing during season.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  and uh I recall only one, the Rambler.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  Some friends of mine that lived around the corner were interested in it {B} and mistook {B} Mister {B} son is down at - grandson- downstairs at the bank there.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  But that was the only one I can recall around here.
interviewer:  mm-hmm This- this bateaux, was it pointed? at each end or?
579:  #1 No, square. #
interviewer:  #2 flat or? #
579:  A skiff was pointed at the front end but not at the back.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  But bateaux was square at both ends.
interviewer:  Did you ever hear of a pirogue?
579:  Yes, I've heard of them only in use down in the Louisiana bayous. I don't think I ever say one.
interviewer:  mm-hmm say um if a child was just learning to dress themself the mother would bring in his clothes and tell him here?
579:  I don't know. Never had any children to dress {NW}
interviewer:  Well, would you say here are your clothes or here's you clothes or? #1 How would you say that? #
579:  #2 I don't #
interviewer:  #1 #
579:  #2 # Don't know. I suppose eventually said "now, it's time you learn to dress yourself."
interviewer:  uh-huh and say if- if you went in to a food store and they had a new kind of cheese and they wanted you to try it, they'd offer you a free?
579:  Very often they would cut off a piece and give it to you to try it.
interviewer:  and they'd call that a free what?
579:  um, um No. I think it's just called a sample.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  But way back yonder when I was a small boy they used a French term, lagniappe. L-A-G-N-I-A-P-P-E. Which was something that they gave you as a gift in addition to what you bought.
interviewer:  mm-hmm
579:  And it got to be a custom, especially in Louisiana and particularly in New Orleans. People expected a lagniappe of some kind or other.
interviewer:  Did they use that term around here in Vicksburg?
579:  They used to when I was a small boy. the custom died out.
interviewer:  hmm