Interviewer: Tape three tape four listen to after tape three tape four listen to after tape three okay we Okay we start back in uh oh I know what I was going to ask what type of operations that you've had and uh for what 703: Well I was I was Telling you about this rage of small pox over in Kingsland. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And they had a black District or negro district Out to itself At the edge of Kingsland And uh then they had the The white people lived in Another part of town you know But my husband Was working at this big drone mill {NS} That I told you about yesterday. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: Just a Young man About eighteen years old or something like that {NS} Well he worked with a A negro {NS} That day at the planting mill And That night he took the small pox and the next day he was dead. Interviewer: Hmm 703: So He went and got tried to be vaccinated Wouldn't take he was so healthy {NS} And strong he was vaccinated about three times he said it wouldn't take {NW} Said the last time the doctor just scratched his arm until it bled and he said now Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: If this doesn't take {NW} You're just immune from it that's all it didn't ever take on him but he never did take the small pox either. {NS} Husband said that {NW} That they put white men out there {NS} To watch {NS} They wouldn't even let a cat come out of that nigger district without they shoot it and kill it Or a rat or anything They was afraid it'd bring the germs over and the white people would get it So by doing that they the white people didn't uh Ever get it not anyone {NW} But being careful They'd take food there to that certain line And Some negro that was well would come pick up the food. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: {NW} And uh {NS} But they kept that watch That line to keep the cats Anything they'd shoot them If they saw one coming or across And uh By doing that the white people never did but the niggers just died It seemed to kill them worse than it did white people anyway {NW} Just lots of them died. Now then go back to what. Interviewer: Oh yeah I was going to ask you about um what operations you had had and what uh had had bothered other people as far as illnesses and things too 703: Well I've had two major surgeries When I was young I had a Surgery for uh Appendix bad appendix And uh An ovary Removed on the other side And uh Then When I was fifty years old I had uh {X} Took out and. Interviewer: That's all right I was just wanting to 703: Another major sur- #1 Gery # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 703: When I had Had the uterus and everything. Interviewer: Mm-hmm um 703: And that's the major surgeries I've had one or two minor but Interviewer: Okay um skipping around a little bit can you tell me about some of the parties that you went to as a child things that you did 703: Well I didn't go to any dances because my mother wouldn't let me But she'd let us go to What they called in those times play parties and And uh Oh just where they played games. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And I went to one what they called pound supper Where everybody'd bring a pound of something {NW} To eat. Interviewer: {NW} 703: And uh They'd uh Had just kerosene lamps And {NS} So Boy and girl and Walk around they'd all get out and walk around the house And they'd they'd have big cake one big cake {NW} And uh {NS} They'd take that cake And You'd walk around the house And you'd hold it as long as they'd let you and then you'd have to {NW} Hand it on to the next couple and the next couple around the house. Interviewer: {NW} 703: And then when they'd shoot a gun or something And the one that was holding the cake When that went off they got to Keep the cake. Interviewer: {NW} 703: And oh yeah entertainments they had what they called entertainments that's where they just played. {NW} A little games uh Of various kinds that uh But uh {NS} She wouldn't even let us go to any Any form of dancing Not even the kind where they didn't have music Where they just had what they called The play parties. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: Uh Before I got married I did go to two or three of them But uh Interviewer: What kind of music did what were the instruments what did they use 703: Oh Violin and guitar Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: #1 For that # Interviewer: #2 Piano # 703: No They didn't well in the country out there have a piano. Interviewer: Do you play 703: There there was one man My sister's I mean my brother's wife Her father and mother had a player piano. Interviewer: Mm-hmm but you said you played the you learned how to play the piano 703: Uh-huh But they only had the organ at home so I I couldn't Play all the pieces that I had Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: Learned Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: But {NW} I could play uh Religious music on the organ. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And mama {NS} Every once in a while that's the only kind of music we had in the home Later on in life they had the for big Radio I guess. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: But not Early There wasn't anything Mama would ask me say Mildred go in there and And play some songs play. Said I want to hear you play {NS} And I would. Because I could play those on the organ without They had plenty of octaves for that but Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: But not for all the music that I Took the lessons for for the piano. Interviewer: Did you uh ever go to any of these candy pullings or anything like that 703: Never did my husband said he did but we didn't have any never had any out there I didn't know. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And my mother never would let My sister or I {NS} Well or Velma Would come to live with us after my older sister passed away when we got older. {NW} She wouldn't let us go by ourselves anywhere. Either one of the brothers had to go along or somebody Some man had to go along at night. When we went Because we walked mostly In the summer time to those things {NS} And Maybe The brother That's next to me Would Go With us But he was young and he didn't like to go too much Then when my husband and I started dating Why Velma'd go with us In the buggy He had a Pretty horse and buggy And she'd go with us And uh the boy that she finally married. {NS} He didn't have anything he was just a farm boy And uh {NW} So he {NW} He'd meet her there and then he'd walk her home Or walk her back to the buggy. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And just be with her At the Party or entertainment And at that time We only had Church Or that is preaching About once a month because there wasn't any preacher who lived In the community. And it was hard to get someone from Camden I think this man Came from Camden up there once a month. Part of the time and preach {NW} Then we'd hold they'd have our bible service in summer time for a week or Or more But uh And uh But we'd meet together at the church just the same. {NS} Some Sometimes they'd set set it in the morning Then they decided to change it in the afternoon maybe it'd be the time of year And uh We'd meet and sing and pray and And have a bible lesson. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: Whether we had a preacher or not And we'd take the Lord's supper. Interviewer: Mm-hmm when you were uh courting what were some of the names of things that you called it besides courting 703: Well having dates Interviewer: Were there any funny names that you called it 703: Can't remember any Interviewer: Um if you were uh 703: I didn't really call it courting I do now. {NS} Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: But I just say that I have a date For this afternoon {NW} And my husband {NW} To be Had this horse and buggy I said {NW} And he'd come after me a lot of times on Friday afternoon {NW} See he'd shift lumber from Rison Arkansas. By the car load He had a Man that looked after it Uh {NW} And all. #1 But uh # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 703: Still He he was down there too quite often And Sometimes he'd come down there on business and then he'd come {NW} Around and pick me up after school And Take me home And then sometimes {NW} It's what he had to do on Monday But if he needed to go back uh Go To {NW} To Rison on Monday On business Why we'd wait to Get up and get up Kind of early And he'd take me back to school on Monday morning But now sometimes he'd take me back Sunday afternoon. With his horse and buggy And uh Come Christmas time one time and he had gone home To see his people {NW} His Mother Sisters his father had been dead I never saw his father Since nineteen nine And uh Then he'd gone on down to Magnolia where he worked down there and boarded with these people He'd had an invitation from this girl that he'd dated down there To come down there and eat Christmas dinner with them . {NW} Um I I missed him so much In fact It he I thought he was kind of peeved at me And uh Because I hadn't seen him since first of December and that was When he brought me home And you know those By that time how short the days were getting And it'd be after dark when we'd get home Especially on those bad roads And uh {NS} I really didn't think my Husband to be Was uh serious He was older than me And I just thought that uh I'd call it flirting. I just thought that he was just going with me to Be going and flirting. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: When he'd tell me he loved me I didn't believe him And that night When he quit when I didn't see him from December until Between Christmas and the {NS} New Year's See we'd get off a week when I went to Rison high school we'd get off just one week for Christmas And uh We'd gone around Another way Because the roads were so bad either way you went And uh This {NW} Man that lived on papa's place had told him to come around Another road that was better Well he knew it But my husband had to be had never been on that road And it got dark so quick he couldn't Even see how to keep the horse in the road And he got out and later And we got lost in that old bottle And uh He had on his best some of his best shoes And through that mud and everything And He didn't say anything Scarcely Until we got inside of home we could see the lights Our home was up on a hill {NW} And as we were going up that hill he reached over and took my hand And I said Uh Let my hand alone will you please He said I thought that uh {NW} Your hand was my hand and your hand was Mine you'd be you were mine I said well that's news to me I hadn't heard that Kind of sarcastic like And I didn't see him anymore then Until After Christmas That's why then I had to come home by myself {NW} {X} Was teaching out there Now this is a repeat at at at my father's and mother's And they told him That he could take the horse and buggy And go home of course he wanted to go home for Christmas And I wanted to get back home for Christmas And He said uh It took him eight hours No it took him four hours To go that eight miles. Interviewer: Hmm 703: The roads were so bad And uh Said as he started to leave said my father said Go pick up Said I had to go by and pick up Miss {B} She'd She was the uh {X} And uh Said I imagine she'd like to go home for Christmas too Frank said if papa hadn't said that he'd guessed he'd never thought about Miss {B} But it took him until After dark to get in there that night And Then I was to take the horse and buggy and start back home the next morning over those roads And Because as I said my husband to be had gone to Kingsland He said that he didn't have nothing to do {NW} He he never did say he was peeved but I know he was because he {NW} He said that Well That he had tried to tell me he loved me And that I would never respond to it And I Cut him off something like that and said he had decided that That if I loved him Really cared anything for him Why that I would uh write and ask him or didn't touch him in some way and ask him to come back To see me And which I did. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And uh If I didn't why then He I really didn't care anything about him and he was just wasting his time and he just left Quit coming to see me And But I I was so stubborn I wouldn't have written a letter if it hadn't have been for my mother and I told her what I said to him about my hand She said why Mildred Said No wonder He's not coming to see you said Any man would get Mad or wouldn't like a thing like that anybody would And that was something for my mother to say as strict as she was on us girls. But uh {NW} And they and she {NW} Her and papa both asked me to write that letter I wouldn't have written. I just wrote a little note down there Put it in the mail And Then he sent One of his men that worked at the mill Up on on a horse we called Dutch {NS} And uh With a note and said I'll be up there in a night That's how anxious he was to get back to see me. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And uh So {NS} From then on then we never had anymore trouble. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: {NW} I mean he never stopped coming to see me anymore {NS} And uh {NS} We got engaged We'd gone together {NS} Or dated On Easter Sunday March the twenty-eighth And we got engaged In April The next year And married in June the next year. {NS} Interviewer: Did you ever have any terms that you called kissing other than just kissing some funny terms or anything 703: He went with me thirteen months before he ever kissed got to kiss me one time I would not let him. Put his hands about me I wouldn't let him even hold my hand See that's what That was about he reached over Took my hand when we got inside the Where we could see the lights there at home {NS} And uh I wouldn't let him hold my hand or anything. When he'd go to take me out of the buggy {NW} Course I He There was just one step And It's hard to get out by yourself but you can you can do it but {NW} He'd always reach up and take me And he'd put his arms around me and he'd squeeze me then And I'd make out like it I I didn't know what he was doing Because I had to get out of the buggy. {NW} Interviewer: Well did you have any uh funny terms for kissing other than just kissing 703: I started to say then Uh We'd been to a funeral And he'd ridden Old Dutch And I'd ridden a horse down there {NS} To the cemetery To a funeral it was on Saturday afternoon I I come at home you see And uh So uh Wasn't any of the other pe- papa or mama any of them going So I just uh Mama'd let me go anywhere like that in day time. She'd let me go see sick folks or anything even let me go into pneumonia it's a wonder I had my But I was so healthy in those days {NW} And uh So uh I rode the horse down there and He rode Dutch down to to the funeral And uh So Then when we started back Why he uh He rode back with me all the way There on home. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And we went in the {NS} Living room What we called Living room And Were standing up in front of the mirror there just standing there Where there was a dresser As I told you we just didn't really have a living room just a ni- {NW} Refers to the nice bedroom. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: Fixed up bed And with the lace curtains and things that they had in those days And uh Interviewer: What'd you keep your clothes in 703: Mama had a special place back there in one of those rooms that she'd put them. Interviewer: You didn't have closets did you 703: No not at that time Interviewer: So what did you what did you keep them in 703: {NW} Just a little uh kind of a side room built on. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: So we were standing in there in front of that mirror {NS} Talking {NS} Just Because he knew he wasn't going to stay long he didn't even sit down. Because He was {NS} It was in March or somewhere along there And uh He reached over Commenced to And put his hand that way and commenced to try Pull me over towards him and my face over towards him I pull back I pull back Finally he He was stronger than me and I reckon I weakened some too And he pulled me up and he kissed me on the cheek I said now you've done enough dirt go on home. You go home {NS} And he laughed And said no I'm not going home until you give me a good kiss And on the lips I said well you'll be here a long time then Because I don't intend to let you kiss me on my lips No You've got I've said you've done enough dirt You got all the kiss you're going to get But he just stood there and laughed and didn't seem to make him mad {NW} Until finally I let him kiss me on the lips and we had been going together thirteen months. Dating But it was just a little smack it wasn't One of those Big loving kisses But that satisfied him for the time being because that's the closest as he got to my Face. Interviewer: Yeah 703: After that I let him hold my hand Wasn't quite so. #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 Yeah # 703: {NW} And Then we were going to school on Monday morning he was taking me to school And he said you know why I quit coming to see you About those three {NW} Sundays I said no I Because when he came back I asked him I said did I make you mad are you mad About anything No No he wasn't mad at anything No {NW} And he brought me The first present he had ever given me A pretty {X} And With real pearls around it It's the daintiest little thing And Mildred Dean wore it at her wedding And I wore it at my at our golden wedding And uh That was just before he started to leave that night He pulled it out of his pocket And before he had gone to Kingsland and on to Magnolia that Sunday he'd gone Got on a train and come to Pine Bluff Get me that present And he got a box of candy for the girl that he had Had invited him to come down there and eat Christmas dinner with him And he So I was trying to Put it around my neck And he said here let me fasten it back here And I let him fasten it because it was such a dainty little thin chain it was {NS} At least as small as that. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And uh So I never At that time I was so happy about him coming back I knew he would have Going to come back Or he wouldn't have Spent that money on me wouldn't have had that present for me And it made me so happy because I really did love him but I just Didn't think that I thought he as I said just Flirting with me because he had gone with a lot of girls you know he was older than me. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And hadn't married him yet And uh {NW} So uh After I was married I told him after we were married I told him that uh I said I wanted to kiss you on the cheek that night for that Pretty Present you brought me He said I wish I'd have known that you'd really got one good kissing. Interviewer: {NW} 703: But said I was afraid to try it {NS} And I wouldn't do it I {NW} Even though I wanted to I didn't. Interviewer: {NW} 703: Then we went together about thirteen dated about thirteen months more and got married. {NS} Interviewer: When you moved into your house did you 703: And then the next time the about a month's time there was another funeral There in the community On on Saturday And I was home And that time He took the horse and buggy Down there I rode the horse And he He took the horse and buggy Because He thought that I might since I had been at the other one And he got one of the hands that worked for papa To to ride my horse back home And he took me and the buggy back home. Interviewer: Mm-hmm uh when you moved into your first home how did you furnish it 703: Well We just lived at the mill where he Owned it Owned part part of it he and E R Buster Of Kingsland. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: Were a partnerships {NS} And it was just a {NS} Three room house we had a bedroom A dining room and a kitchen. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: {NS} And we had an extra bedroom in the dining room the rooms were Large And uh We had an extra bed in there for company. {NS} In the dining And we had nice furniture {NS} For those days Great big round oak table and A dining that would make uh Had so many leaves it would make {X} Good size table {NS} I've always hate Hated I got rid of it it was solid oak. Interviewer: Mm-hmm did you have something to keep your dishes in 703: Yes had a had a cabinet. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: Which was something most people didn't have Interviewer: Did you have um what'd you have in your living room 703: In the bed we Interviewer: Bedroom 703: {NW} Just had a Nice bed {NS} I got a piece of the table after yonder {NW} I kept it out on the front porch oh that it ruined it I shouldn't have done it. It was a pretty round table We set it in the middle of the room and put the lamp on it {NW} And uh Interviewer: Did you have anything like this 703: No We just had a bed Nice bed And a nice dresser with a Mirror that Uh you Full length that you could see yourself all in it was one of those beveled edge Mirrors. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And uh {NW} This little table And then he had a Interviewer: When people came to visit where'd they sit where did they 703: Oh well we had We had rocking chairs Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And then we had Six chairs to our table that was solid oak. Interviewer: Mm-hmm what about that uh piece of furniture that Kit has uh that Claire has in the living room that uh green velvet thing what do you call that 703: Oh that came from {B} Home Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And it came I believe uh they told me that She got it from her brother's home Uh uh Franklin I can't think of his first name But uh Interviewer: What do you call that piece of furniture 703: Called it a Interviewer: You called it something different from what you call this 703: Yes I did Interviewer: What do you call this 703: I call this a A couch or Interviewer: Couch 703: Or sofa. Interviewer: Uh-huh and then you call that other thing 703: I believe they call it a sofa don't they? Interviewer: I don't know I wonder what the difference well you know there's a difference in the shape and everything you know it 703: {D: There's some they call devinettes you know} Interviewer: {D: What's a devinette} 703: I don't know But that one up there that Claire has will open up make a bed. Interviewer: {D: So is that a devinette} 703: No it wasn't de- in those days I don't know what they We had one over there that we got rid of when we moved here. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: {NS} That made opened up Made Uh a bed Interviewer: {NW} 703: #1 Just like # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 703: That big one that she has in her Her den back there you know. Interviewer: Mm-hmm now what do you call that one 703: {D: Well I guess you call that devinette} Interviewer: Mm-hmm because it makes into a bed and um 703: But that was a sofa I believe that that And it came from grandmother Griffin got it from her brother's home. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: {NW} Had it all those years Interviewer: Looks like kind of like a Roman bed doesn't it with the if you see any pictures of the Romans you 703: I don't I don't know I ever saw that But anyway Uh Interviewer: Then uh what would 703: My husband Had made a a nice box To put his Because he down at the mill before we we married He built him a room on the side of the commissary. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: {NW} And uh Because he didn't like to sleep with those Men {NS} At the commissary and they'd have to I mean at the boarding house And so he built him a room On the side of the Commissary And uh He built this box Keep his He had ever so many blankets Nice blankets For his bed And he built this nice box and painted it {NW} And I've still got it out yonder. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: I don't have no place for it in the house But We did at that time Interviewer: Did he build any furniture to put in the bedrooms 703: {NS} No Not at that time Interviewer: What furniture did you have in your uh bedrooms to keep your clothes in 703: Well We just had uh A corner {NW} Of With curtains in the dining room. Interviewer: Mm-hmm then 703: We hung our clothes Interviewer: #1 Did you have any pieces # 703: #2 {X} # Interviewer: Furniture 703: In the dining room Interviewer: No any pieces of furniture that you uh kept your clothes in 703: Well had the dresser The dr- and the drawers Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And we had our trunks in those days everybody had trunks. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: Thought they had to have a trunk because if they went anywhere on a train or anywhere Why you Packed your clothes in a trunk. Interviewer: You didn't have one of these pieces of furniture that you uh hung your clothes in did you 703: Did I have any uh {NS} No {NS} Later on in life we did when we lived here in Pine Bluff we did. Interviewer: What did you call that 703: Can't think of the term Interviewer: Did you call it a um 703: Part of it was book case and part Place to hang your clothes. Interviewer: Was it called a chifforobe 703: Yes Interviewer: Is that what you call it 703: Mm-hmm Interviewer: Now what's the difference between a chifforobe and the other the other thing that you also had clothes in uh it was another one uh it's not called a closet but a um do you know what I'm talking about you just had you just had the chifforobe and that's all you had 703: {NW} Yes {NS} That's all we had here in Pine Bluff. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: When we lived there Interviewer: Um 703: And you know the houses back in those days Interviewer: A wardrobe 703: Yes a wardrobe was a chifforobe and a wardrobe A wardrobe {NS} Was Now grandmother Griffin had a big wardrobe. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: In her home that her husband had built. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: Out of Looked like walnut or some sort of nice wood Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And It had two doors And it was nothing but just to hang up clothes in On one side and put your linens and things on the other Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And the chifforobe Had a place to hang on one side and drawers on the other side of the mirror. #1 Up over it # Interviewer: #2 Oh # Oh I see 703: That's about about the wardrobe. Interviewer: Can you tell me about some of your um outstanding subjects and accomplishments in school 703: {NW} Well {NW} I was the youngest girl That went to Rison high school And The Won {NW} Nearly Won It'd be nearly every Friday afternoon Our superintendent Would uh Give out words To {NW} See how they could spell because we weren't Teach you know we weren't Uh studying any spelling in high school {NW} And I had studied {NW} Out at home And the blue what they called the old blue back speller The blue back speller And uh So I was better speller than most of them because it really had hard words in it And One Friday afternoon he was giving out this word I can't think of what it is now nearly can't And He'd point out this one in the room and that one in the room and none of them could spell it Went around I was toward the last and he pointed me out and I spelled it Course they thought then I was so smart because I could spell that big word But Interviewer: {X} 703: Ordinarily I can When you want to you can And then {NS} The Last year I went to School down there He told us all It was the same Man uh Mister {B} Was the superintendent And he told us that we had to write an essay {NS} And uh A great long one. Well I I I was always good in English But now essays was else something else I'd never written a real essay I'd written stories about this and that Evangeline And things And when I first went to Rison {NS} I hadn't had enough books to read out there In the country And uh not uh The uh Papa while he was director he had bought A Whole Bunch of books and uh And a case. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: But They were Not what you'd call Classical Literature So I'd When we'd have to write about uh Write up something on this Why I maybe I'd have to go buy the little book and read it in one night To be able to Write about it or tell about it the next day {NW} About Romeo and Juliet and Caesar Things like that it was really classical literature And uh Then he told us we had to write this essay Well A lot of the Girls Or some of the girls They just Wouldn't make an effort To try to write the essay And uh They'd borrowed they'd go borrow one from Someone that had been to college And written a essay For college like {NS} Now you have to write a thesis see for a master's degree or something or you're doing this {X} For your master's degree Ann wrote a great long Book For her master's degree And uh {NW} So uh I Said well I've got to I've got to {NW} I went to a Lady down there that Had been a teacher {NW} I couldn't even think of a subject To write on and she said Why not monuments Write about monuments I said uh Well I'll try So There was a Mister Farrow {NW} That had a room Not quite as {NW} Big as this Full of books he just had A real library where the School itself didn't have very many books So I'd go down there after school in the afternoon And uh He knew my husband because my husband had Him had worked together they had a mill at Kingsland and my husband had worked for him there when he was just a Just a teenager Then he'd come on over to Rison and work for him over there {NW} And uh for a while Well {NW} So he knew us Knew me knew {NS} My husband to be At that time {NW} And also I was in the Same grade with one of his sons And uh {NW} The daughter I knew her Next oldest I knew her So I went down there to ask him Would he care for me Going in his library {NS} And uh Looking up things in his library in the books And I had that writing the essay he said no just go right ahead {NS} And uh So I'd go down and just knock on the door Come through the door and I'd just go right on in through it Library And So I wrote this essay it was three or four pages when it was typed. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: About four I think And I got the Medal for it got the gold medal. Interviewer: Oh you did 703: Mm-hmm {NS} Interviewer: Well that was quite an accomplishment wasn't it 703: See Uh Mister Baker our superintendent he sent them off Some place to have them judged He didn't have anyone at Rison because they might be prejudiced you see. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: {NW} And he sent him where they didn't know Any any of them that were sent {NW} Sending them in And when he got them back I was the one that had Gotten the Written the best essay they said And I got a Little gold medal The S I A they called it then School Improvement Association Had this Said they would give A gold medal For that And uh So uh When they got it back I di- I never expected to win it I just never thought about it I just done what he told me we had I had to do {NS} And uh Interviewer: {NW} 703: Soon as he got it back And uh He found out I was the one That won it Why He uh He just come right straight down to where {X} Complimenting me and said he knew Mostly I was going to win it Because I he knew how hard I worked well I let him see it once And ask him {X} Better have it Copy it over before I had I had to get somebody to uh Use the typewriter and type it you see {NW} But I first wrote in long just in Long hand And uh I Let him see it and Asked him about what he thought about it I thought a lot of him and he did of me And uh So He knew I I think he knew all the time that Thought in his mind that I'd win it but he didn't tell me so Until Got it back and I had He said that that was the best one {NW} And he just come down there congratulating me {NS} Congratulating And another one of the teachers Miss Margaret Mosley She came here she come Said congratulations and hold her hand I said what about what have I done To be congratulated {NW} You won the medal she said you won you wrote the best essay. Interviewer: Did you get excited 703: No not Especially I was glad of course for the hard work I put in But Not Especially Excited and you know where that is It's in the vault here in Pine Bluff. Interviewer: It's real gold 703: Huh Interviewer: It's real gold 703: Well my medal and the essay too Is in the vault And the it's getting so old and dry I would like to have it typed again {NS} For the children to Keep and read. Interviewer: Yeah I'd really like to 703: And Every once in a while when I go to the vault I'll take it out and read it again And wonder how I got the much out to write about monuments {NW} But I did {NW} {NS} Before grandmother Griffin passed away {NS} Well I didn't have anything else of her pictures And she {X} Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: And uh Then When I done the Needle point on my chairs in the dining room Then I wanted to Put some Well they said I should have pin pointed it Well I never could find anything even got my sister in Cleveland Ohio to try and find me some {X} It just couldn't be found {NW} Small enough to go in there. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 703: Finally I went to a place that Claire. {NS}