Interviewer: {X} {NS} Now your full name is {NS} 748: {D: My name is Boysie} {D: I just put Boysie T, that's what I like} {X} {D: what's my last name?} That's what I like {X} Had my name all through that, while I worked {X} {D: Boysie T} {B} B O Y S I E T {B} {NS} Interviewer: What does the T stand for? 748: {D: Boysie T-} Thomas {D: Boysie Thomas} Interviewer: You were born here? 748: Yep, on up {D: Good ol' down} Actually in Union County Know when {D: that said} Eighteen hundred ninety-two Interviewer: In the state of? In the state of? 748: What's that? Interviewer: In the state of? The state. 748: Oh, Arkansas It was Arkansas Interviewer: Eighteen ninety-two, that would make you 748: Eighty-four years old {NS} Going on eighty-five {NS} Interviewer: Yes sir {NS} Where Where were you born, may I ask, mister? {B} 748: What's that? Interviewer: Where were you born? 748: Up the road and I just don't know, thereabout About seven mile north on the way home to {X} Interviewer: What was the nearest, uh Post? The nearest Where you got your, my letter from 748: Letter? Well I'll tell ya You grew up there, up there in the northern And I don't get {X} Or a {X} Used to get to Norphlet Now I get to go here Interviewer: So you were born in At Norphlet then? 748: So you can say Norphlet, you oughta put about two miles north Or west of Norphlet Write down {X} About two mile west of Norphlet. Interviewer: And your occupation? 748: Well my occupation of preference Farming, then I went to janitor work at the Marysville School A long time Then the Monsanto chemical plant Started work up there in forty one I reckon Working on the {D: H B D} Contractor Interviewer: Yes sir? 748: Then I went to went to work at a {D: cotton uh} plant, um Forty-three, Monsanto Chemical Interviewer: Can you tell me about the first house you lived in? 748: First house? {NW} Maybe come around here and let me see Interviewer: Did it have a fireplace? 748: Yeah First house I was there one winter First house I ever lived in was um Log house Fireplace Interviewer: How'd you How'd you fit those logs together? 748: I would just Knock your logs in there and And and and Put them down in Lay them up on one another and up lay them down Log house And and and and listen Log house and the cracks checked with mud now Had to keep the wind out {NW} Fact Log house, old log house And get them logs out Then you just Cut a little pinch on so it doesn't set up on down that get to be right on up {NS} Lay it down, log house Interviewer: And the fireplace 748: Got firewood in the fireplace Checked and um, that's right Interviewer: Yeah? 748: Checked them old log cracks with mud {NS} Interviewer: Yeah? You call this the 748: What's that? Interviewer: You call this the This right here 748: Oh that's the Fireplace ya might say or {NW} {X} That's a fireplace there Interviewer: Yeah, what is this this Front out here 748: Well that's just out there to keep Uh You ain't say there'd be more wood in it burning? Interviewer: #1 Yeah what do you call it? # 748: #2 Uh # What's that? Interviewer: What do you call it? 748: Oh {D: hearth} I call it Interviewer: Yeah? And this is the What is this here? 748: Well that's just a Might say a thingy but I don't know what you'd call it {NS} Interviewer: A what? 748: Uh Interviewer: This thing here that holds up 748: Like um Kind of a Shelf I would even I'd call it A shelf got things sitting up there Interviewer: Mantel? 748: What's that? Interviewer: Mantel shelf? 748: See things sitting up there? Interviewer: Uh-huh Mantel shelf? 748: Yeah yeah go ahead Interviewer: Yeah What do you use to start a fire with? 748: Well tell you what'll start it, with fire {NS} Um We didn't have no matches Take clap rocks and beat them together with some cotton That's {X} When you kick up in there I've done that. Interviewer: #1 It'll # 748: #2 Clap # Rocks and beat them together, you you've seen You you you can be learning things, I know You've seen {D: phosphor.} Can't you You ever done it? I have Interviewer: You you you got that kinda wood that was light enough to Rich enough to Just #1 Light it # 748: #2 {X} # Pine, pine wood Pine and then like them splinters you see Pine you know Pine splinters I got some in yonder now Interviewer: When you got that going you'd put on a big 748: Yeah when I got that burning I'd just put on a big Big batch, {D: it} Put more wood up there is on And then uh Stick some more pine on a that and You got a fire Interviewer: You have something you laid the logs across? 748: What's that? Interviewer: What were those things in the fireplace you laid the logs across? 748: Those are dog irons I got some in there now, dog irons Interviewer: {NW} 748: Now there's some in right now Dog irons, you called them Interviewer: Yeah And the smoke goes up through #1 The # 748: #2 Yeah go # right on up through that chimney Just so Interviewer: You had to clean out all the You ever have to clean that chimney out? 748: Well um No sir I haven't had to clean it out Once in a while I'm I have to do a little work down here In the front but These things you gotta keep Got gotta keep burned out Interviewer: What? 748: Up, your ashes you'll get smoke and things, or keep burned out of there. Interviewer: Oh that's a, a what? #1 What? # 748: #2 Smoke # Smoke all on it And on that outer, smoker, keep that out. Interviewer: What's all that black stuff that gets up in there? 748: That's smoke Soot Soot That's what I'd call it, soot. Interviewer: Yeah Uh huh And that's how y'all built fire? 748: That's how I built fire, yes sir. Built fires in the fireplace Put some wood up there on them dog irons Back of the iron and you took some lump Splinters Pine splinters And light them and stick them on there Interviewer: Uh huh When you got, you had to chop it didn't you, I bet #1 Tell # 748: #2 {X} # Interviewer: Tell me all about the how'd you get it up How the wood, I'll bet that was 748: #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 Oh # 748: Oh how'd I get that wood? Sometime Take a axe and go cut it Cut it down and then you stack it, you cover it. Cut it down and stack them, cut them up into In in you in the Two and four foot Hunks {NS} {C: NS from 8:13 to 8:26} long {NS} Cut it in two and four foot, two and I I say two foot pieces Long, that long put them up and then bring them here for {X} How I got to cut down a tree Interviewer: Where would you keep the wood? 748: Well, just, we had a wood pile, just throw it out the front, yonder. It's a big, big pile of wood, throw it out the front where we kept it. We always kept mine Out to the front, just out there where I can get to it any when I want some Want some wood, just go out there and get it. Sometimes I'd have um Had {D: poles holed} there, listen And take my axe And chop down them pieces real nice Then I have sawed them, that wood in Two and um, say in two foot pieces With a hands-, with a crosscut saw. Interviewer: What color were them ashes? 748: What's that? Oh ashes would be Well about Real light color, they ain't be a they ain't Another wood {NS} We get about the color of top of that thing, now, they might have It's about that color. #1 But the ash would be # Interviewer: #2 White # White? {NS} 748: Look, if you want to call it white, then perhaps Interviewer: White ashes? 748: Yeah Interviewer: Now, all the stuff you have in the house is your This is all your 748: All mine Interviewer: All this stuff? 748: Yes sir Interviewer: You call this your 748: That's right Interviewer: #1 I'll tell ya # 748: #2 What # I'll tell ya something else, we cooked on the fireplace, we didn't have a stove Make a big fire in that fireplace now listen Make a big fire in that fireplace and that wood burn down into coals See? Interviewer: Yes sir 748: All that? We had a big skillet And a lid on it You understand that? You'd put them live coals Coals up on that skillet And baked potatoes, anything that you want to bake Now those things would get done Pull that pull them ashes about, out, dust all them ashes out Make a little corn corn or a corn meal up {D: Corn belt} Grab it up, stick it in that, and and And roast it We call that ash cake. {NW} Ash cake. Ash cake, cornbread. Interviewer: Yes sir. 748: Then we'd roast potatoes out of it. Interviewer: Yeah? 748: I'm telling just about the way of doing it. Ash cake {C: NS in previous line} I don't know anything else on else about that, you understand how that going down? Interviewer: What sort of things did you have in a house, just #1 Sitting # 748: #2 What, what's that? # Interviewer: What sort of things did you have in a house to sit in? 748: Sit in? Interviewer: Yeah 748: Well Imma tell you what we had We had um Some um wooden chairs I have seen, I mean wooden benches A plank And some pieces here on the side of it I know when I started here, I I had no, no uh Plan uh thing out there now, but I'm So we wouldn't shake or we'd just sit down on it Sometime we had chairs You know, chair would be Um Guess a Cane bottom chairs Sometime we um Uh Cut 'em into shucks Take shucks and pin 'em together, that's just you cushions Just you cushions wrap around there and make a chair. Make a, and keep wrapping around to make it go Interviewer: Corn shucks? 748: Corn shucks, yes sir Done that a million time Corn shucks. Just keep this, get your chair right there And start you on, let's roll you out a {D: wetted roll} Wet them shucks And roll them shucks together {D: dadgum} Roll some ones and roll just keep on yeah keep on going On on on Tie it up and get your chair Roll some across this away then turn it, some across that away. Interviewer: Something you uh Put your clothes in 748: Well Way up back then we didn't have 'em Til we hang 'em up side the wall Course now we got clothes to put I've lived in a house that didn't have no closet to put your clothes We just hang them up side the wall or over a chair On feet head down #1 Your dirty # Interviewer: #2 Well # 748: Your dirty clothes Um have a little box throw it in there Hang your clean clothes up Side the wall Nails up side the wall, you hang them up there Interviewer: Yeah Now something that has drawers in it? 748: What's that? Interviewer: Something that has drawers in it? 748: Not {NW} Wash and hang your clothes up side the wall just hang {NW} Drive a nail and hang them up there No drawers in it Interviewer: Yeah something that has drawers in it though, would you have them now? Do you have those things that have drawers in them? 748: Well I have had Dresser, an old dresser, an old time dresser, yeah Interviewer: Yes sir Uh And what about those big ones that stand up real tall, maybe and You can hang your clothes up in them they're They're not built in they're just a piece of the, you can move them around 748: Well, we call that a Um {D: Kitcheneir, nail 'em together} It's what you call it And uh I we didn't have none of that, no We didn't Interviewer: It wouldn't have, if you didn't have a built in closet, this was another kind of thing 748: {NW} Built, built in closet Didn't have a built in closet In the house I lived in a long time As I told you, nothing too Had some clothes, just hang them up side the wall Just nail a nail in then hang them up. Interviewer: Yeah 748: That's all. Interviewer: Did you have anything with drawers in it that you'd put your clothes in? Uh or hang them up in? 748: No, just hang them up side the wall Not way back yonder, I'm talking about in my boyhood days, I lived boyhood days Interviewer: Yeah 748: Course you know it's time for growing and developing, developing, had some, made some Interviewer: What? 748: Well uh Interviewer: #1 When you # 748: #2 Made, made # Closets Hang them up here Your trousers, hang them up here Interviewer: You ever here of an armoire? 748: Huh, how you say it? Interviewer: Armor? 748: Armoire Interviewer: Or a wardrobe? 748: Wardrobe? Yeah I have had them, yeah wardrobe, I told you, we called it Yeah after I grew up in them Good old Interviewer: Yeah Now, that's a 748: Studio couch, we call it Interviewer: Um {NW} Now the couch and the chair and the That and all this, you call this a You call this all your Your your what? 748: Might say living room furnishings, or what you want to call it Interviewer: This is a 748: This table and all this stuff in there, you know, keep it in the living room, that's all I know how to call it Interviewer: This is your living room? 748: That's a bed room Interviewer: Yeah Uh And that room in there 748: I call that the dining room Interviewer: And then, that one back? 748: The kitchen Interviewer: And that one? 748: That's another A bedroom down there and back yonder I got a little old uh Little old Uh just a little old kind of a Storage room Interviewer: Yeah 748: #1 See # Interviewer: #2 You # 748: You can see plumb through the house way back yonder Where I got them uh deep freeze everything in there. Interviewer: What do you keep back there? 748: What's, what's that? Interviewer: What do you keep back there in the storeroom? 748: I keep that Store room I'll tell you now um Interviewer: Um Yeah, yeah What do you call a lot of old worthless things that you're just about to throw away? 748: Well Imma tell ya Haul out old worthless things just about so week Sometime I Sometime old home made beds, I slept on home made beds, they just just take some things and make a bed Interviewer: What do you call that? 748: Bed, just make you, take you some things, make you a bed and You put some flat straws there Interviewer: On the floor? 748: Want to make it up high Oh you make your bed too I've had to make my, had, I've had home made beds too Put them flats across there up {X} And then Put your mattress on top of that and sleep Interviewer: Just a Yeah Would you ever just throw something on the floor and sleep on that? 748: Yes sir, I sure have Pallet we called it. {NW} Interviewer: Shakedown? 748: Yes sir, beds some down on the floor. And uh Get some cover, lay down and that's a pallet, we call them pallets Interviewer: You put your head on a What? 748: What's that? A pillow? Interviewer: Yeah, you see one that went All the way {NW} That went all the way across the bed? 748: I've called them, call them uh Bolster That's a pillow jacket Interviewer: A bolster went 748: Mm, bolster went from across the bed to pillow Just went farther {X} Interviewer: What would you put on a bed for warmth? 748: To get warm? Interviewer: Yeah 748: Well I'll tell you I put quilts on there, blankets Quilts and blankets #1 Things like that # Interviewer: #2 Yeah # 748: All I had to put on there Interviewer: The fancy top cover you might put on the top of your bed, that's your 748: Now sometime we had a Used to have, they were called bedspreads We cover up the bed {X} I got a got a, just got a bedspread in there now On that bed Bedspread Interviewer: Yes sir Now um What do you call the little room 748: New room? Interviewer: Have you got a little room off to your kitchen where you might store 748: That's like, that little storage room back yonder I told you I had a storage room back yonder where I deep freeze things. Storage. Interviewer: Well maybe you might have a little room off to your kitchen Where you store canned goods or extra dishes or 748: Well I tell you Uh I got some, closet is all I got in there But I got some uh Some uh shelves and things where I Put my dishes and things in there Now I put other things in that bigger things in that Big old room way on back there where my deep freezer and everything is Storage room, anything else I want to put back there Take anything back in there And I got a little closet in there In that room, back room way back yonder Where I put things in Interviewer: Is it a kitchen closet? 748: That's right, the kitchen closet {NS} Interviewer: Um Now what would you be doing if you were sweeping the floor? 748: Well {NW} If I was sweeping I'd just go on and say I'm cleaning up the house. Interviewer: With a 748: Broom {NW} Or with a broom like that Now I tell you something else I've seen times we've had um Go into the woods you seen that stuff called uh I'll just show it to you, I'll try, broom sage? Get a bunch of that You see Tie it together You sweep with that, I've swept house with that, all I had to sweep with Broom sage {NW} Sweep the house Broom sage Get some of that out, broom sage out there now Interviewer: You keep the broom where? 748: Well I keep the broom in the closet Interviewer: Well right now it's where? 748: Well uh Course it's there behind that door now, but I keep it in the closet most times Interviewer: Um Now years ago on uh Monday women did their Remember, it was on Monday, was it on Monday when women did the 748: Laundry? Interviewer: Yeah 748: Well some of them did and some of them didn't, they just did it any time during the week Interviewer: Yeah? 748: {NW} And I can tell you I'd have done that Interviewer: Did they do it all on the same day? I'm sorry go ahead 748: Did what? Interviewer: Did they do it all on the same day? 748: Yeah I said Do it all on the same, wash it, big string of Clothes, oh, big as you like and hang them up {X} Interviewer: Washed them in a what? 748: Wash in a Tub Used to have wooden tubs Take a barrel Saw it in two You got two tubs {X} Puts the water then you rinsed them thing, and then washed them up, half pan of water using a wash board And then We had {D: Bending} Blocks For your dirty clothes We layed them clothes on a on a, on a block And just beat 'em up. Have them wet to run and beat, {D: bab 'em good} Then when ya, then uh Boil 'em, put them in the pot {D: When the wash block in and} Boil them Then take them out and rinse them Then when ya rinse them, hang them out {X} Interviewer: Um {NS} Now, did you have a room up under the top of the house? 748: {NW} Uh Old house just like it didn't have no loft and I don't have no loft in this house Interviewer: You don't? {NS} 748: I mean nothing you could do, put up, you can get up in that loft all right but As far as keeping in things, showing things I don't store nothing up there Interviewer: Yeah The place you cook in 748: What's that? Interviewer: They used to have a place that you cooked in away from the house, didn't they? 748: Yes they did I tell you I had, used to have a little log house off from the house {NW} {X} Off of the main house Cooked in And I done told ya how they cooked now, c-c- uh Cooked I mean, at that one it got stove, but if we didn't have no stove Had to cook in the house Cause we had to cook on the fireplace In the summer time when it got hot Weather We cooked outdoors Made a big fire outdoors We burned some ashes You could roast anything in it And uh burn down some coals, you take that old skillet, that portable skillet with a lid Put a Set it up there, put, let it place Place a little coals on it Then put some, set, put your bread in there, cake or whatever you want Then put that lid on top of there and put some coals live, oh uh Coals on it, hot coals on it, let it sit there and bake Interviewer: Yes sir 748: See, and we done that now in the summer time now In the winter time of course we done it, cooked it out Interviewer: Um Well Let's see, how did you get up, maybe In a two story house, how would you get up from the #1 First floor # 748: #2 Well # You see we had stairs And stairways Go up there And stairs like if I want to go in this house, up in this house, now I could go in that storage room, I got a little stairway I can just climb that one up and go on up in there. Interviewer: Would they have anything on the outside in some houses? 748: Well #1 Not # Interviewer: #2 Some houses # 748: Not to get inside, not to do nothing inside The only way you had a ladder on the outside was just when you want to go up on top of the house, maybe say You needed the top and uh Cover or something Interviewer: Have you ever seen something, that, you know, might somebody might have a bottom floor of their house and then {D: They have the top floor ridded out, they'd have an outside} Stair An outside place to get up? 748: Well, two story houses I've seen that That a way now to have a two story house, like have to stand outside to get up, I've seen that, yes sir I've never lived in one with it, but I've seen that, when ya have a two story house Then have a A a stairway built Start down here Go out there and go right on up To that next room, open the door and go on in {NS} I've seen houses thataway, never been in houses thataway, but I never did own one like that. Interviewer: Yeah Now you've got a Front Up out here Just outside the door and you Put chairs out there, and 748: Yes sir, said I've put chairs out there, one or two Been through some time, one of them is out there now Got chairs I want out there in the doh- time In the day time When it's warm enough Interviewer: Yeah 748: And um Course when it gets cooler I have to come in the house Interviewer: Have you got a back Have you got anything out back? 748: Back? Interviewer: Yeah, like this 748: You mean, no, I don't have a back porch They used to have, back porch, I got a little back hall, of course, back there Interviewer: Back hall? 748: Yeah, a little hallway Got a little room on that side and one on that Just you go out that door there Little hole {NW} Now door down end go on out the door Interviewer: Yeah? Is it covered, the hall? 748: Well, yes sir, piece, it's uh built over it and the house together Interviewer: Oh I see Is that a breezeway, or a dogtrot? 748: A what? Interviewer: You ever hear of a Now then Out in the back, do you have a place out in the back where you step down? 748: Cut down? Interviewer: Step down 748: Oh yes, steps, yeah steps, that's right Interviewer: Yeah 748: Yeah steps to go up and down the steps, yes sir Interviewer: You call that the back 748: Back steps or front steps I have them on the back and front, you know Interviewer: Back stoop? 748: I've got front steps out there now {NS} Back there I don't need no back step because it's right down to the ground, all I've got to do is step down to the ground Interviewer: Is it covered? 748: Uh Well It's, it's built over in that house there, it it uh Just step out on the ground, it ain't covered, you just step out there Step out that Step out that {X} Interviewer: Yeah 748: If it rains, you'll sure get wet No I ain't got no cover over them steps back there No I've only a little platform back there Got no cover on them steps out there Interviewer: If the door was open and you didn't want it that way you'd tell somebody to You'd ask them to If the door was open, and you didn't want it that way What would you do? 748: Nah it wouldn't If a door was open now I'd get, I want it standing right now Interviewer: #1 If you # 748: #2 Now # Interviewer: Didn't want it open you'd go over 748: Oh if I didn't want it open I'd shut it Interviewer: Yeah Um You, you know those things, sir, that go over a house like that To They They fit over the outside of your house What are they? 748: Well I'll tell you about that now Or well I know, we used to put I've known {D: pork and ribe} out some boards Long boards {X} And put 'em down the side of that I've got long pieces Interviewer: Mm-hmm 748: My mother tell me all this Take that old, old thing and just Hit on down that thing She Interviewer: With a froe and a what? 748: Uh mattock mattock and a froe, yeah sorry {NW} Froe and mattock That's what you had uh boards to cover our house, yeah we used to cover Didn't have nothing to cover our way beyond what boards That's how we got the boards, you see {X} Cut you down a tree You got your tree cut down Split it up Pull it onto the house Then you see it's, it's set that And uh take that mattock And your froe and you uh have Froe and your ma- and uh a mattock and your froe And See House covered with boards {X} All old boards to cover this house with First time this {NW} House was covered it was covered with boards and I rolled boards all day One day for a white gentleman, lived here He got right down, this Was being built For him I rolled boards all day Yes sir Cypress boards here And you get um Good straight grain cypress, now the boards will lay straight and then Sometimes folks would get uh {D: Timber that wasn't straight grainage, you know} It'd be crooked but I tell you what, I've laid my, I've laid in my bed a lot of times in some of the houses I've been I could see the moon through the cracks {NW} {X} See the moon through the cracks. Interviewer: Up on the what? 748: What's that? Interviewer: You could see up through the 748: Oh up through the, up up through the roof of the house Didn't have no loft in it I've stayed in houses that didn't have no loft Now the thing about {NW} Uh Uh {D: Jar spool} And then them boards nailed on Corner up thataway And if it wasn't uh, if it wasn't straight boards A lot of times, as I said you could see the moon through the cracks And come the snow A blowing snow It would just blow in and I tell you what Um Folks didn't know that I understood cover now they could cover them cracks though up So that the water would always run the other way, it wouldn't run down in that crack See? Interviewer: Mm-hmm 748: Weren't no water running in there unless a wind come, now a wind come It blow in that just like wind would Wind blows in the crack now And then, come a blowing snow A blowing snow even with them boards covering the houses now Blowing snow, I've seen, I I get up and sweep snow Sweep the floor, get it {NW} Covered with snow, I I've slept in beds And uh Come a big snow Had to climb out of bed, had to shake the snow off the bed, to get get into bed Interviewer: #1 Um # 748: #2 Woke up # Interviewer: Now alongside the roof some people have those things that carry water off 748: I've got that, I've got a gutter out there, gutter they call that I've got a gutter on that house That side that house, that one right there It'll catch the water And run it back there and then I've got On down there and run it on all way on over down yonder Interviewer: Um Up on a house you have a Say You have a house and an L to the house And uh A place where Uh the two come together is a What? 748: Well where the two come together #1 And uh # Interviewer: #2 When the # Water comes down 748: Water comes down, what do we call that, a {X} Did you hear me? {NS} {D: Sleeper} It pour on down thataway And them boards, whatever you like to call that Just like I got out there now And uh In that You you have cut them to make them fit, though, to do that And then uh the water comes down Through that {D: shit it} come It just run right on off Down that and all through that just like that is out there {NS} Interviewer: Yeah Do you have a place outside for storing your stove wood? 748: I got a little one, yeah, I got a little storage room out there Interviewer: What do you call that? 748: Well I just call it a {NW} Call it a junk house, all I call it Interviewer: You keep what out there? 748: Well I keep my ply strings when I was plying Keep my hoes and shovels and things like that Interviewer: It's a junk house? 748: Junk house, aye that's right, junk house Axe and everything I want to put now in that junk house, I I just put it, go to that junkhouse then I get it Interviewer: Have you got running water? 748: Yes, I got running water now How I used to get water, I'll tell you how I used to get water Dug well A bored well Two ways, uh Two ways a for well A dug well, a bored well I can show you out there now, I can show you a b- a dug well out there now, I got water in it I can show you where I had a bored well And where I had the bored well {NS} You bore them well And uh You cover them with about seven inch Plank, it take About four pieces of plank, nail 'em together Stick them down in that well You see Bore some holes in the bottom of it The water will run in there And then uh Just keep on up 'til you get Keep on uh adding to it, adding to it, 'til it come on out the top Bored well was We used to do bored wells the same we just bored well to get to the um Dug well we used to used to make it as a square place I mean that's Dig the well square You'd make a square box thing like To put down in there Course now round well, I've seen round wells cut uh dug got to be too c- You can take a round, round well, covered with boards, planks, Same way you do that You uh You just You have to saw the end of them planks So they'll fit a little bit kinda that a way Little bit on there keep on that going around Nailed together Had to cut a little edge in that plank, little edge so them planks would Would crook just out {NW} Then just keep on {NW} Til you got to come on round And uh You make you a curve, a curve that a way A round well curve and not a plank {X} {NS} Both ways work but If your well was dug round you could dig you a round well curve and not a plank And if it was a square well You could make you a square, uh make you a Uh uh uh with cribbing With plank Scrap Saw your plank longer than you want it And you say maybe take Take take out two or four or something Keep a nail them up, nail them up pretty good on up to the top Interviewer: What do you call outdoor toilets? 748: Outdoor toilets. {NW} Well I remember going What they only just call them a, a breeze toilet So I don't call, I mean we used to have one here, before I had, before I got running water. Uh We had to go in outdoor restrooms I never called it, we just said a toilet outdoors Interviewer: Other names? Joking words? 748: What's that? Interviewer: Any joking names folks had for them? 748: Yeah You mean uh When you went to go down you You uh you had a little house You made a little house, with a shack And Made you a little plank thing around and sat around it and um {NS} On the little top build it up, and put your little top thatch to it Top over it Then cut you some little holes Cut you some big holes I mean So a boy could sit on it when his bowels would act You see? And um And then have it up off the, on the back now, on the back side Didn't have it Count on that sewer, want it to break out When they go back down just Break out by it Interviewer: Yeah Now you live in a 748: This is what you call a box type house This ain't a log house, this is a box type house Interviewer: #1 Did you # 748: #2 Frame a # Frame house Cause frame building up Another with a frame building up, this ain't a box house A frame will not box house {NS} Um Say I take After you got your foundation laid Then you put your Stud it around like you want Then you cut some plank, long as you want it to go from top to bottom, see? Wide plank And then how you stop that Then you add some nail planks Nailed with them holes In the cracks They keep the weather out That's what you call a box t- Box type house See? Just Up that a way just lay, just lay it a little less Nail them planks up Up that a way up Now you got your frame made up Nail them planks up there. When you got your planks around then you get you some, some more narrow pieces Where your planks come together {C: Noise in previous line} You take a piece of wood {NS} Interviewer: What do you call them? 748: {NW} We just Interviewer: #1 Siding? # 748: #2 Um # I just Interviewer: #1 Siding? # 748: #2 {X} # Interviewer: Weather board? 748: Yeah that's right {X} Interviewer: Um Now There are a couple of A couple of buildings Here around you 748: What's that? You had, there's a couple of buildings around me? Interviewer: Yeah 748: There's one, right up there And the other one, I ain't got none other one Not nobody living in Closed that road there Say about two hundred yards, though Interviewer: Yeah There's some up on the On the hill there, aren't there? 748: Up there on? Interviewer: Yeah 748: Oh there's several, yes there's some up there, I was just talking about close by Yes there's some close, across that bank's there now Across that bank There's one, there's three or four houses Up there Where you just, way up yonder Before you get up to that store, anyhow Interviewer: Yeah? 748: Now I don't mean up on where that's uh Where they got that uh {D: Center got a place cut out there on Whitehouse} Interviewer: What uh What kind of buildings do you have on the farm? 748: Buildings? Well just have uh nothing but an old log Building We built them log, just build them out of log, just cut you some log And you cut Cut a little trench in there Lay it down to where it's, to where it's Til it just lay down thataways, see that? Come on up, and you got it built up Put a top of wood get you some uh Joist {X} Nail them together Up on top of that You uncover it See Interviewer: What's it used for? 748: Well you, you put, we'd put cotton, corn, anything we wanted You know Interviewer: The building where you store corn is a 748: Well that's right, store corn Store corn in it, store corn Cotton anything, I put cotton in with corn Interviewer: You Put cotton in where? 748: Put cotton in that building Take care of it 'til you got to wait to haul it to the gin Corn put in it Using it, now the building's help We had {NW} had it up {X} Interviewer: Corn Put them in a 748: Nothing, just take that corn you haul out the field Interviewer: In a crib? 748: Just throw it in that crib. Stay out there 'til you used it up Corn crib, we call corn cribs. A cotton house Interviewer: Did you have a, did you ever eat oats or anything? 748: What's that? Interviewer: Oats? 748: I've never ate oats. Interviewer: W- where was a uh place where you might store grain? 748: Grain? Well Imma tell you Um we don't have no, no {X} Grain around here, we don't have no place, now the only thing I know is, well I stored Uh In the way of grain was corn Interviewer: Wheat? 748: I've never seen no wheat, never grow no wheat around here I've never seen no wheat But one time I, now I've seen some rice, one time, growed here at In Union County at about Four or five miles north of here Interviewer: Mm 748: And how that rice that grew here up And it cut that rice down I was living on the man's farm Tie it together And the way he got it, Or where he got it, Oh he'd whip it out, just take it there, {NW} Whip it over something Interviewer: So they were doing what? 748: Whip it over a barrel, and catch it too, whip it over a #1 Barrel, {X} # Interviewer: #2 Thrashing it? # 748: How some mans catch it Interviewer: #1 Thrashing it? # 748: #2 In, in a # Box, whipped in there Interviewer: Yeah Rice is Thrashed, or? 748: We made baskets, we had baskets now, but that's Baskets to pick cotton in, put cotton in when you pick it. If you want to Use a basket for the corn, just go out there and pick it up, basket full of corn. Stick it on the shoulder {X} Interviewer: Now, the upper part of the barn is the 748: Loft. Loft, and you put fodder up there. {NW} Interviewer: Would you store, would you store hay anywhere else in the barn #1 Or # 748: #2 What's that? # Interviewer: Would you store hay anywhere else, or? 748: Well, there's uh I'd always just try to make my barn Big enough, enough barn, big enough to ha- hold my stuff, see. Then I'd just make me another place out where the one I have is Interviewer: How would you keep it outside if you couldn't get it all in the barn? 748: Well I've never tried to keep none outside I always put it in that barn, I guess Interviewer: How'd you keep it in the barn? 748: Just put it in there I guess Tote it there, I haul it where I want, throw it in there. Interviewer: Was it bundled or? 748: What's that? Interviewer: Was it tied up or bundled, or? 748: Well I tell you, corn wasn't tied up, corn you know you put it all together, that's all you have Batch full of, basket {X} Now fodder Put that fodder over them stalls You tie that fodder up in bundles You see? Put it up there and you can feed your horse fodder Interviewer: Well what about hay? 748: Well uh If you had some hay you could put it in the barn too But I've never grown no hay Interviewer: Yeah 748: {NS} Go out there, just go out there in that field All the {D: crop's} ready to {D: peel} {NS} Interviewer: How'd you store it? 748: Well, store it in the barn if you want to keep it, you know {NS} Store it in the barn Interviewer: #1 Bundled up or # 748: #2 Keep it # Bundled up, hay, if you want to keep it Bundled up and if you want to keep it so you can use it as you get to it, I mean use a bundle or two, feed your horse some {X} {NS} Interviewer: When they cut rice they sho- they put it in what? 748: Well when they cut, that man up there now, he He uh he just cut his rice Just whipped it out and stored it out there in the little house he had down so I don't know what Nothing else about it, I don't know Interviewer: You ever see wheat? 748: Never seen no wheat growing Interviewer: Well when they grow it, they cut it in Put it in bundles or 748: Yes sir, wheat, you cut it and grow it in bundles, but I've never seen no wheat do it #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 Yeah # 748: Anything you do it {X} You cut your corn Interviewer: {D: You ever see a stook?} 748: Cotton Interviewer: Shock? 748: And uh Potatoes and things like that's about all we raised around here Interviewer: Yeah Did you ever see hay left out in the field? 748: Yes sir Interviewer: They'd break it up into what? 748: Well I tell you what I've seen hay left out in the field now They break it up in great big piles, shovel great big piles And then uh Have a stake there See? Interviewer: Mm-hmm 748: And take that hay And just keep piling it around that stake, just keep piling it around that stake {X} Got way up there Then we made what we call a cap Took some Maybe some grass Tie it together And slip it down over that And uh Hat over that hole what you put it up on Slip it down over that and see that grass Done that a way After on, after on the water all {NS} Stick it one in right down in hay Interviewer: What was a hay cap? 748: Yeah, hay cap Interviewer: Did you ever see any that were covered, maybe had four poles and a sliding roof on it? 748: See what? Interviewer: You ever see any covered hay stacks? 748: No I never seen one Sure haven't Interviewer: Where do you keep your cows? 748: Well we keep the kine Just keep them in the pasture Fenced up I have fenced them with rails Have fenced them with wire Now what rail, with rail fence like around {X} We just, {NW} Have a big Have a farm, just a big old farm And uh Split them rails And just build a fence, build That a way, that a way, that a way, just Go on around the farm Interviewer: They didn't go straight? #1 Did they? # 748: #2 No then you # You couldn't, you couldn't build them straight so you had to have lay them this way and that a way and that a way Interviewer: They were zi- uh 748: That a way I keep them from {X} Zig zagging all around the farm Whenever you They'd stay there and won't a thing that bother it unless {NW} I've seen storms come now Though they bring it down, what you can't help Interviewer: Would you ever just put it kind of low to save wood and then have a Maybe an extension up on the top of the rails? Or something like that? 748: No sir just, normally just the rails, that's all, just Interviewer: What kind of wire? 748: Well, when it come to wire We just bought this common fence wire and {NS} Put some around then Some barbed wire, we'd call it Just stretch that up there too, you know, we keep the things in Interviewer: And you'd dig a, dig holes for the 748: But I'm talking about I mean you had to put poles, you know Interviewer: Yeah 748: Dig a hole and put your pole, stick poles in the ground Nail that wire on them posts And uh Interviewer: How'd you dig them? 748: With posts? Well I'll tell you, with the pole had to get a wooden cover Interviewer: Yeah, but you dug them with a 748: {NW} Wood and put up Now listen you got a wooden cover Then You had to take a post-hole digger Push that in and dig a hole To set that post down in See? Dig a hole, set that post down in that And uh You could nail your wire onto anything you want Gates, you know I've seen plenty gates, you know Regular old Wooden posts Mounted up there and got a homemade gate Made out of wood And uh And Have some hinges to put on it And uh Uh shut that You could just uh Open that gate, shut it back, open that gate, shut it but now another thing I have seen times we have bars, what you call bars Instead of having a gate you know, you have your You have uh You cut your You have your Your post, your post made so You cut some little gaps in it Then Put that on And nail some over it, in the gaps Then you slip a Plank up and down In that board, don't you see, slip a Slip a plank up and down where it want to go in that and then slip them Plank back Get, when you get out But just slip that plank back in there the way you had it That's what we call bars now That's what we call bars {NS} Wooden bars Interviewer: Yeah Did you have a place where, how your, a way your cows could get Your cows could then get down to the field? 748: #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 Down to the # 748: Yes sir that's a fence, we have a fence to make them down To the field If you want to make a field And so they'd come back more than a couple, build, build a Two uh two way lane I made uh two straight fences A lane One to go down, and come back up Down, we call that a lane Down the lane Interviewer: Yeah In the Now {NW} Your cattle, did they uh The place where you kept them would, did you have a place they could get under when it rained? 748: Well yes sir Have a little old cow barn, fixing to make us a place out there I had no barn at that, torn down that house now, no And uh so if the rain and lightning come in, you know, in the barn Interviewer: #1 And where'd your horses # 748: #2 On, on the # Shed I mean Interviewer: Where'd your horses go? 748: Horse? The same thing about the horses A place for the horse to Horse shed, they can make a shed for the horses, want to Keep them from getting rained on and everything Make a stall they can go in, you know? Interviewer: Mm-hmm 748: Shut him up in that stall, if you want Interviewer: Yeah 748: {NS} {NS} Interviewer: Did you ever have a place where you'd milk the cows outside? 748: Yes sir Got to have cows out there I have in my little barn, I just have a, in my Where you're out right there now, where I had a fence, but {D: old} {X} {D: over there} Nothing but a cow pen The cow pen, build it with rails or plank or whatever you had by And uh Let your cows in and out A gate to let your cows in and out Gate to let your calves in and out Interviewer: Where'd you keep your hogs and pigs? 748: Hogs and pigs? Well you Didn't have no place to store the pigs, we didn't have that {X} Way they gone they just Got out there in the woods and made them a bed You know, a bed out of straw Interviewer: You let them stay out on the 748: They stay out there I've seen the hogs make a You know a big pile of straw Straw bed, crawl up under that straw when it's cold Interviewer: Did people used to keep their milk and butter, where'd they keep that? Their milk and butter 748: Well I'll tell ya about that now To keep it The best place We had, best place I know to keep it In the summer time When it's hot weather We had these wells, we dug wells, you see And we'd put that milk in a bucket And let it down in that well To keep it cool Butter or anything, we'd get ready to draw it up and use it Now in the winter time all you had to do was set around the kitchen But I'm talking about summer time, now that's the way we kept it cool Let it down in the well Interviewer: When When you wanted some you just went over and 748: Uh when you when you want it when you Say it's some milk Well I want some milk Go out there to my well, got a well, it just go out there get it with that rope and pull that Bucket up Get what I want out of it If I want it all Empty it out and just have it to put some more in, if I don't want it all Pour what I want and then let it dangle down in there That'll keep it I've I have kept milk and butter, and it's so cool there on the way up Interviewer: Do you remember a trough near a stream Or near a branch, maybe? Where You'd set a jug or a crock of milk? And keep it, the water would keep Keep it cold, the water flowing through? 748: Well I haven't ever done that Haven't ever done that We'd have some good springs, now, we had springs around We had water and things but we never did Keep no milk in them, I never, no, I, these wherever I lived, I've never seen no milk kept in those springs The only place I see milk preserved in the summer time What let them down in old dug wells Let it down in old dug well If you didn't have no dug well Why No sense in it You knew that pretty quick it would sour in there Interviewer: How would it get? 748: You mean how milk Interviewer: Did it get what? 748: Sour Sour {X} Sour and when you get sour It would uh There'd be a setting in You had to pour the quart in The uh Top of it over, I don't get what you call it Interviewer: Clabber? 748: But anyhow uh and Sometime it's just a clabber, when it turned, milk would {NW} Turned We eat milk when it turned You'd be able to churn, you know Or you just pour it in your churn, then And you go We had these old churns {NW} Churn, when you got through churning Got some, butter comes Pour a little oil in there once in a while When the butter come, by just Take that Lid off Take that dash out of there Reach down in and take that butter up Interviewer: When you left your milk sitting out, thick sour milk that you'd keep around You'd call that 748: Well, sour milk when, when you got sour, you you can just Feed that to the hogs Have a trough Sometime trough Made two ways, sometime make them out of plank Then I have took a log And uh just Not cut plumb in it, you know, just keep a cut and cut and cut and cut cut up a long trench in it Make you a log trough I've seen them Log trough You could put water or anything in there Though sometime make a {C: Loud sound in previous line} Trough this a way Course you know a hollow tree Get you a na- hollow tree You cut you a piece off of that hollow tree, you see And you have nail you some boards on each end And cut out a Space in there so he can get in there, that's Keep water in there or you Keep or you feed your horse in there, you can Keep water in there If you fix them up {NS} Interviewer: Would you ever see some sort of barrel? 748: Barrel, yes Interviewer: #1 It was # 748: #2 Sir # Interviewer: Made out of a tree? Hollowed out of a 748: Well I'll tell you what Yes they're made out of um We used to buy flour in barrels, you know, made out of trees {X} Interviewer: What do they call that? 748: Just call it Oh well I know, they called it, uh A stave ma- I'll tell you, they made them barrels Made them, made them out of staves Interviewer: Yeah, did you ever see a gum? 748: Gum? Interviewer: A gum? You know what a gum was? 748: Mm I Interviewer: Well, it was just a hollowed out 748: Log or something? Yeah {NS} Interviewer: Well the barrels are, made them out of staves, right? What went around the staves? 748: Well I'll tell you what went around it {NS} Uh When you made that stave around that a way you just had to put your Uh Uh Some wire, something around there to hold it Interviewer: Metal hoop? Uh 748: A metal hook if you have a metal hook Interviewer: Metal what? 748: You know, a hook, you know, you could just slip down in there Interviewer: Around what? 748: #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 {X} # Them round things, you call them metal 748: Yeah Just slip it down over the top of it Interviewer: What? 748: Over the top of your barrel You make them get together and you just I mean you Might slip it on Down in there, keep it on down and slip it Another Piece about the middle of it, then up at the top Interviewer: The metal hook? Uh 748: The metal hook {NW} You had it Wire, something Interviewer: Um Did you Now where do you buy milk from now, uh a place where they, where they Raise a lot of milk cows now is called a 748: A dairy Milk dairy Interviewer: Mm-kay Did you have any, did you have anything like a dairy? 748: No sir I never had no dairy, I never, just had nothing but just Cows running around there in my pasture and then when they come up Milk 'em Go back Well then sometime Cows just run outside before the stock dog come in Interviewer: #1 You let them out # 748: #2 {X} # {NW} All you had to do You kee- You just have a fence to keep your calves in Interviewer: Yeah? 748: Had them before a stock dog come in Cows just run out all over the woods I've had some of the best cows I've had get killed They've had these cars coming in Interviewer: Where would you lead them grazing, just Anywhere? That you could You say you let them out on the what? 748: Well they um When uh When uh When we didn't have no stock dog {D: didn't know if that old} Old old gate to cowpen they were going out On up and what they wanted They would come up Come up the next morning, whether or not you see them, the come up the next morning Interviewer: How do you call them? 748: Sook sook sook {NW} Maybe That's all Interviewer: Sook And a calf, when you call a calf 748: Well sook-calf sook-calf sook-calf Interviewer: Sook-calf, sook-calf 748: That's right Interviewer: Yeah Uh Now the place around the barn where you might let the cows or mules or other animals walk around 748: They, that's right, when we had a barn, yeah that's right, let them walk around Interviewer: Walk around where? 748: Walk around the barn, they could walk around the barn, sometime we had Interviewer: What was the place they could walk around, you had a what? 748: Well, had to have a, uh uh, a horse {D: Lot} See, or a cow pen Now that'd be, we, we built that out of rails Before we got wire, around here Interviewer: Yeah You ever seen them little old fences that they build around a Your house, or a garden or something? 748: Well they call them um Um Yeah I've built Uh You ride you out some boards #1 Long boards # Interviewer: #2 Yeah? # 748: In little long pieces As high as you want it You want to keep Get high enough so a chicken won't fly away Palings, yeah palings, yeah fence palings, that's right, {NS} yeah palings, we call 'em palings, that's right Call them palings, you just ride them scoundrels out And um {X} And then um Or we had lumber to do that, we just had to {X} A good big header piece Nail it on the porch head, nail it on the porch down in Then nail in pairs of these, start at one end, down down down, {D: going around} Interviewer: Would they Woven or they were nailed, right? 748: What's that? Interviewer: They were nailed, you you did what #1 You you # 748: #2 You nailed, no # Just nailed Interviewer: You had to 748: Take a hammer and nail them in there They'd stay up, nail them up there, they'd stay {NS} Interviewer: Um Were they sharpened at the end? 748: Well Interviewer: Or were they flat? 748: Well they were flat Course some people, you know, sharpened some The only thing people sharpened then maybe Have paling around uh, paling fence around their house I've seen pens Pens just around the house Interviewer: Picket? 748: Made out of pen, them pickets You see Now in the house, sometimes they'd sharpen them, you know Interviewer: Yeah 748: But just otherwise, just anywhere, just grab 'em by you Make it Interviewer: You grow cotton? 748: {NS} Not now, I have growed it Interviewer: Tell me about the work you did 748: What's that? Interviewer: Tell me about the work you did 748: About the work? Interviewer: Yeah Please, would you? 748: Well I'll tell you what I've sold cotton as low as Five and six cents A pound Interviewer: Mm 748: Then I've sold it, it's come in one year, we round that cotton up Fifteen, twenty, twenty-five cents a pound Know all I got, got to have a ticket to catch a gin, you know Pick your cotton and haul it to the gin Gin the seeds out You see They bale it up In bales And you take your cotton and sell it And I said I have sold some cotton When, way back yonder during the Panic Five and six cents a pound Interviewer: When you getting the cotton up out of the ground you say you When it comes up out of the ground, what do you have to do? 748: Well I'll tell you what you have to do, when it come up out of the ground Up out of the ground, got to go down and And uh work it out Keep the grass out of it Sometime we'd board it off So we could work it out Take a plow, going this, up and down the row with a Fork and a plow Board it cutting off Then take your hoes and go in there you see and chop it out Then you thin it out See? Alright? Then we could uh We have a sweep and a shovel {NS} Then Go in there want to sweep up with, what we call sweeping up cotton {D: then} Get, put a little shovel And a sweep on there Go up and down rows, you got to, go {X} Bring that {X} {NS} Cover up that little place Interviewer: Now about mid July Was when your cotton was 748: Well I tell you, we usually laid by cotton in store, long in July Then about September, last August got to go picking cotton Interviewer: Yeah What kind of grass would come up in your Field in your Cotton field? 748: Well more or less, we had, you know, used to call it, call, we called it cotton grass We didn't have much of a mood on stuff like that Back in them days like We called it crop grass, weeds That's the grass that I told you about I have seen pulled Pulled some of that And used it for hay Interviewer: Yeah Um Did uh Now Um The The type thing you break ground with in the spring Would be a what? 748: Well Um We had um We had to turn it around {X} Had old heavy plow get your horse fit now to break it, then have Georgia stock Put a ton plow on there And you break it that a way Interviewer: Did you have one #1 One # 748: #2 Big big # Beds now, you make bed with a ton plow Shovels you know, you just {X} Interviewer: The turning plow