The John Burrison Georgia Folklore Archive recordings contains unedited versions of all interviews. Some material may contain descriptions of violence, offensive language, or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. There are instances of racist language and description, particularly in regards to African Americans. These items are presented as part of the historical record. This project is a repository for the stories, accounts, and memories of those who chose to share their experiences for educational purposes. The viewpoints expressed in this project do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the Atlanta History Center or any of its officers, agents, employees, or volunteers. The Atlanta History Center makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the interviews and expressly disclaims any liability therefore. If you believe you are the copyright holder of any of the content published in this collection and do not want it publicly available, please contact the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4040 or reference@atlantahistorycenter.com.
This is the second part of a three part interview. It begins with Thomas Man Son Williams, an African American, discussing working for the interviewers family as a farmhand. After explaining how he plants crops according to specific weather and moon signs, Williams shares stories about working for a white family. In one story, a Black coworker mistakenly attempted to receive his pay from the front door, violating contemporary racial etiquette. He also briefly alludes to the Civil Rights Movement and the history of race relations in Baconton, Georgia. Next, Pat and Bob Pinson join the interviewer, asking Williams about superstitions, including how they carried sulphur and molasses to keep the spirit away. Williams responds by sharing additional superstitions; for example, he recalls that new parents used to place small bags of asphittiti around a babys neck to encourage a healthy appetite. Williams also explains various remedies he uses to cure colds and the underlying meaning of certain dreams. After sharing how his family celebrated Christmas when he was a child, Williams discusses his experience working at family barbecues held by his employers. Finally, Williams talks about his parents, who were employed by the same family that he worked for starting when he was a young child.
Ruth Johnson Jones (1906-1979) was born in Georgia to Isabella and Dan Johnson, both of whom were born enslaved. Jones was an active member of her church and worked as a housekeeper for the family of the interviewer, Carol Hess. Luella Bradley was the granddaughter of America Bradley, an enslaved woman on the Bacon plantation. Thomas Man Son Williams (1905-1983), the nephew of Ruth Jones, was born in Georgia. Bobby Pinson, a relative of the interviewer, was his employer. Patricia (Pat) Pinson (1939-2006) and John R. (Bobby) Pinson, III were married for 45 years and had four children: Tim, John, Tom, and Mary. Pat was involved in a number of community organizations, and Bobby owned a real estate company in Camilla, Georgia. Their son, Tim Pinson (1961- ), graduated from the University of Georgia in 1983 and became a business owner. Annie Will Massey (1898-1999) and Madelaine Peters (1903-1975) were the daughters of John R. Pinson, Sr. and Annie Will Massey. Annie Will married Ira Massey of Barwick, Georgia; Madelaine Peters married J. Smith Peters and lived in Lakeland, Georgia.
AHC Oral History Cataloging Worksheet File Information Catalogue number ~A~ lOO2l. t)\~ ,V\ Source Field* (ContentDM) Release form Yes or No . Transcript Yes or No scanned: From Yes or No Default text: Contributed by an OR: Donated by individual: individual through <your org. name> Georgia Folklore Collection through <your org. name> Object Information Enter information about the Title "k" l.v-rll" (interviewee . name and date of interview) Description (bio on interviewee) 1 Creator (Enter either an individual's name or an organization) Collection Name (within the organization) Creation Date (use only one) Object Type Media Format (VHS, reel to reel, etc Recording extent Burrison Folklore Class Georgia Folklore Archives Exact Date (yyyy-mm-dd) Year (if only the year is known) Circa (4 digit year) Year Span Image_ Text Text and image _ Video and sound Sound onlY4 Reel-reel Hours: 01 From To Minutes: Derivatives Access cop Access copy format: C:c) Recording clip Yes or No Clip extent: Time code for clip (h:m:s) Beginning:_2 L )7L:",DL I __ End:-----'-=..J..-'--_ Notes (interview summary) :1',,11\ ,/1,: < \.\f~k\v,__ ,.J\ " \j 1k\<I"4\C: l',"~i M r> I", . H"%t" 1 1.1 i i"'! I }IlS1UT/ f 1'\ ,2 Recording issues (background noise, echo, static, etc,) b,\JCI~t\"\ (\(~bC-' J "'\"'" p",,,.;;,,')! 1/ Subject Information Enfer 'fIn ormafIon ab t ou the cont t f en 0 theob'llect here: Subject Date Exact Date (yyyy-mm-dd) (use only one) Year (if only the year is known) Circa (4 digit year) Pt(a'::' Year Span From To Subject Who Last Name First Name MI ~l\ \ 12 ~, ~\~\)( ) 1'11)':1)\\ John (~d J~MJ)":> iolld\ Subject Country State County Town Local Name Location U~\ (,A Pldd'd\ :6<,'(0;'\\1)/\ Subject What AHC Cataloger will complete this for you, (LOC subject headinas only) Keywords Burrison, John Personal names See subject who for additional names 3 Corporate names Geographic locations Topics Ch\N/...\''<- ((_~,!\VI""-\~ '-)(J\-J..,;\'\ ]'t;.u {\~. t'1-/\ -hlR" f)hv~-s \ (j 6'IA'Z'''' BACONTON ITS CUSTOMS, BELIEFS, AND TRADITIONS by Carol Hess English 307 John A. Burrison OUTLINE I. Historical Background A. First Community B. Line of Descent II. Characteristics Indicative of the Community A. Religious and God Fearing B. Why the Community was Bound Together C. The Negroes and the Community D. Tape No.1 - A Visit with Ruth and Luella III. Use of Proverbs, Weather and Moon Signs, Superstitions and Traditions A. Sayings and superstitions that have always been around Baconton B. Tape No.2 - A Visit with Man Son IV. Education and Social Life in the Town A. Tape No.3 - A Visit with Annie Will and Madelaine B. Social Gatherings C. Games for the Children V. Food, and Important Part of Community Life A. Typical Menus for Breakfast, Dinner, and Supper VI. Popular Traditions and How they were Celebrated VII. Life as Remembered by Mr. Frank Brooks VIII. Popular Home Remedies IX. Conclusion\ ",I,.,a"ve """"'tPw I he..\f'''' 'iT'. nc<'44~ DU~ <:.ltv A Picture of Mt. Euon Church taken in April, 1968 A Picture of Mt. Enon Church taken in April, 1968 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Gum Pond was located near the old stage coach road about five miles from the present site of Baconton in Mitchell County. Families living in Baker, Mitchell, and Daugherty Counties called themselves part of that community where stood a Post Office, a country store, a Church, and an academy. Some of the families came to this country prior to the Revolution and others came at various times. The early settlers were of English, Scotch, Irish, and German descent and many of their descendents are still living in the same vicinity. There was a large family of Jacksons but two of the most colorful figures were Greene Smiley and George Thomas. The story goes that one of them was quite religious and the other - well, he was a little on the wild side. Once there was a new preacher who had not learned them apart. Seeing one of them present at the service he called on him to pray. Whereupon Mr. George raised his voice loud and clear saying, "Preacher, I'm not the prayin' Jackson." This story has been told many times during the years and always brings a laugh. James Shine Miller and his wife and children came from North Carolina in an ox cart bringing with them a handmade chest, a four-poster bed and some pots and pans. They settled in Daugherty County. James Shine was much interested in the religious movement of Methodism. In the family history there is an item that states "all of the family were of the Methodist faith but there was one boy, , who joined the Baptist Church when he was eleven years old and was struck by lightening immediately thereafter. " John Pinson's father was killed during the civil war leaving a widow and many children, one unborn. When his home was burned the neighbors got together and built her a little log house for they had nothing left. Times were hard and even the little ones had to help to make a crop. John settled near the Gum Pond community when he grew up and married Mary Miller. CHARACTERISTICS INDICATIVE OF THE COMMUNITY The people of the community were religious and God fearing. They had built a Church in 1850 and named it Mt. Enon. It was attended by the entire community regardless of faith. It stands today, a symbol of their heritage and services are frequently held in it. A notice of interest in the register of the Church was that"a member who does not acknowledge his transgressions is expelled from the Church. He can later be reinstated if he repents of his sins before the tribunal and makes a public confession. " In 1869 Major Robert J. Bacon who owned 4,000 acres of land from Horse Shoe Bend to the present site of Baconton gave a right of way for the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad and the community shifted from Gum Pond to Baconton, the town being named in his honor. After the civil war most of the Negroes who had been slaves stayed on in the same vicinity. As time passed and the families gradually moved into town, they brought Negroe families in. Others moved in to go to work in turpentine. In general the ratio of black to white was more black than white. These people were bound together through religion, marriage, and their common interests of farming, sawmilling, timber and turpentine. Times were hard after the civil war and the people adhered to the strict rules of the Church. Much of the social life too was centered around the Church. There are others of the early families whose family name I have not mentioned but who are no less important in the town's -2- history. There has been little change in the number of people, white and colored, whose total is approximately 500 but many changes have been made in recent years. When the town was established, Negroes worked in turpentine, did sharecropping, and worked in the homes of the white people. Three Churches were established, a Methodist and Baptist Church for the white people and the St. James Baptist Church for the Negroes. Many of the Negroes lived in the quarters. These were rows of houses which were unpainted of about three rooms each with shutters and were provided for the Negroes who worked in turpentine. At four o'clock each morning the still bell rang and the men would get up to meet in frontof the commissary to go out to the timber land to chip or dip whichever was the season. They left early in the morning and came back at sun down. The sound of the still bell was something that everybody grew up with as long as there was a turpentine still there. Since the still burned and has not been rebuilt, most of the quarters have now been replaced by housing projects. Many of the Negroes now own their own homes. The first pecan tree was planted by Major Bacon and stands today back of the house that he built which is now owned by LeRoy and Eulalia Thomas. The pecan industry thrived and a pecan crackery was opened and this gave more work for the Negroes. Any time one passed through town the sound of spirituals and gospel songs filled the air. The singing was usually led by one person and the others followed. James Shine Williams was one of those who used to sing and Amy Thomas was another. Both have been dead for several years. Now there is no particular person hired to "raise the singing" but still they sing. The following transcription was taken on tape at the apartment of Ruth Jones. Ruth was the daughter of Bella and Dan Johnson, slaves. She was raised on the Pinson Place. She is more than sixty years old. She had with her that afternoon a friend, - 3 - Luella, who is some older than Ruth. Luella's grandmother was America Bradley and was a slave of Major R. J. Bacon. Her mother was one of three children freed at the time the war was over. Once when I was a small child, Ruth was cooking for us and she took some warts off my arm by sticking them with a needle until blood came and then hiding the needle. They never came back. Ruth's mother, whom we called Aunt Bella, did the washing for our family where we lived with our grandparents. The washing was done in a big iron pot. She used homemade lye soap. The clothes were boiled and those that were real dirty were lifted from the pot with a big wooden paddle and placed on a stump and beaten with the paddle then returned to the pot to be boiled again. Ruth went to school and she is very active in her Church. She clings to many of the old traditions just as many of the other people do who have lived with certain beliefs all of their lives. -4- The First Pecan Tree Planted in Baconton Major Bacon's Bouse The First Pecan Tree Planted in Baconton Major Bacon's House Tape No.1 Ruth and Luella are seated in the living room of Ruth's apartment. Ruth has been ill and she was telling me about her illness. She said that a few months ago she went to Dr. McKemmie and he told her that she had a tumor. It was going to be necessary for her to have an operation. She was scheduled to see him again in about three weeks and at that time he would make the necessary arrangemert s for her to go to the hospital. One night prior to the three weeks she waked up in the middle of the night and there beside her was a hand extended holding out two pills. She said it was not attached to anything. She took the pills and even took a drink of water from a glass beside her bed. Then she went back to sleep. The next morning she remembered her dream or experience or whatever it was but tried to dismiss it from her mind. When she went back to the doctor, he told her that for some unknown reason there was no tumor. He couldn't explain it. RECORDING BEGINS HERE Luella: Major Bacon give that Chuch to Baconton .... Collins James. He give em that that Chuch and he named th Chuch St. James cause he'd found it.. St. James. Major Bacon give it to 'em and this town Bacton whose named in his honor was named fo im, was named Baconton was named fo him and my granmother was a slave on his place. My mother's mother, America Bradley, and uh she say on the firs, you know they wuz set free on the firs day of January, of cos they wuz set free for that but thet wuz when it wuz known, when it wuz known unto them that they wuz free - she aways uh she had thre\i.chilren? she tol me all about that story and I never have forgot it, I guess all the uthers have but I habn't. She says she went up, she say thet day and say to Mr. Major Bacon, he tol her and he say, "America," she was named -5- America and I never hurd of nobody ese named America but she was named thet, and he say, "America, you are free, he say, you are jes as free as I am, says, you can move or you can stay here, says you are free to move anywhere and she had three little chilren and Sara was the baby and she stuttered and one wuz my mama and she say he says and these chilren ain't never done me no good and she said, you know my granmother was fary, and when he tal her say 'America you have three chilren' and ended up by saying - now in slave tim maases take yo chillun from you and sell em or anything jes like some pigs. He say' you have three chilren what had done me no good' and fore he cud get thet out my granmother stepped out and she say, 'No, Good God, no, and they never will' and she went right now and tal to her husband 'let's move, we're free' and they moved that very day and when he tal her she wuz free she moved. Ruth: Man Son Tal you bout our daddy, didn't he? Carol: No. I just asked who he was. He was asIa uh ... Ruth: Yeah, he wuz a slave. My daddy wuz bown in Richmund, Virginia an he wuz sol to Georgia in Baker County. Now he was brought to Georgia as a slave when he wuz a young man. They stayed in Newton. My mama lived on this side of the river and he lived on the odder side. He stawted coatin her by looking at the people in the fiel and stawted comin across' to see her. My mother wuz raised by her oldest sister and she din't want her to marry my daddy. 0 course they run away and married anyway an so they lived together forty years. I started to working for the late Mr. and Mrs. John R. Pinson, Sr. when I was eleven years old. Me .. she fixed our meals, we went to school together and me and her baby daughter, and we played together and we lived together and when I got married she baked the cake, made the bouquet and -6- gave me a set of knives an forks an a white linen table cloth like she did all the people on the plantation, the place, when they got married which I have today which has been 42 years ago and I still have the table cloth that she gave. (I soun so stupid ... ain't it crazy?) Carol: Ruth, let me tell you something. Did you all ever tell ghost stories when you were little? Ruth: Oh year! ! ! Carol: I was telling one of the professors about a ghost story I remembered, "Who's Got My Golden Arm" the other day and I couln't remember any more. Ruth: Uh Uh (She shook her head) Carol: Do you remember any at all? Ruth: Uh uh ..... uh uh ... I can't think. My min is plum blank Carol: That is the only one I could remember. Ruth: We use ter tell ern and everbody'd be running. Carol: I know it. Ruth: Man Son ought to have been good at that he wuz aways the firs to start somethin after dark and then take off and leave you. -7- Carol: We used to play "Ain't no buggars out tonight. " Ruth: Yeah, now that rings a bell. Carol: What was the rest, "Ain't no buggers out tonight and one Ruth: One would be the bugger man and the rest .. others would go out and then the bugger man would come out and try to - and everybody'd take off. You should ought to have a good bit, I mean to select from, you been talkin' to Auntie and Mally. (Note: She is referring to Annie Will Massey and Madelaine Peters, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Pinson, Sr.). Carol: What about family barbeques? Do you remember those? Ruth: Oh yeah, for 40 years, 30, yeah it is been 40, longer maybe, the Johnson family has never missed a family reunion and that was on Mother's Day \ I\~ t> -\'3.. and that wuz a ~1< < . They was eight girls but only five now but comin' up this Mother's Day there are only five but we are thankful for those five. Carol: You have a seventh ..... Ruth: Yes, my sister Kate in West Palm Beach who is the seventh daughter. I am the tenth daughter and Sue wuz the eleventh chil'. She had eleven children and two were boys and me and Sue was the last so that makes us the 10th and 11th. Carol: Now your sister, the seventh daughter, had special powers .. Ruth: Yeah, she could rub away a pain and just stay in a stream of luck. She has been married three times and all of 'em dead and gettin' all three of 'ems money and the last husband came from Honduras. I believe I ain't showed you her picture. A little later Carol: I never have heard of a string quilt. Ruth: You haven't. They are pretty. You know I can give you an idea how it goes. -8- Just like you take a pencil it goes like this. You go across here to here, understan make a cross, little bitty here, start that string, get a little longer and a little longer til you get to the end there. (Note: She used her fingers to show the points of coming back to the base with the string). You go down four blocks til they join together. You had to make them hit like that block an it looks like a triangle. When people used to quilt you didn't hardly see the stitches. You didn't mess up they quilt with long stitches. You pulled those between the lining and the quilt and pull it in there with the cotton. ----------- Irrevolent ..... Carol: You remember they used to sing at the crackery? Ruth: They still do. Carol: Were those work songs? Ruth: No, we don't classify our service with work. Anywhere we give out forth to a hymn it is not to be classified as a work song or a folk song, it is a spiritual hymn. You open service with a hymn, the preacher does and then two prayers and more sometimes than that, at the beginning of service and that is when those hymns are sung. Carol: What kind of songs do they sing at the crackery? Ruth: Same kind. Just make you feel so good you couldn't hoI' your peace so you don't sing 'em much. All of the gloom leaves you. They jus make you feel so good. When I am at Mrs. Jackson's I sing 'em. Like "It's all on the altar be laid. . .. in the book, do you know? Carol: Can you sing it for me? ..... , Irrevolent - Ruth just remembers when we were little and remarks about it. She goes to get her book and remarks on the way out that Luella " ought to sing it since she is a member of the quer (choir). "Quer is what Miss Noots used to say," said Ruth. -9- Luella: I love my kingdom, Lord - The house of thine abode. That's the song I used to sing when I used to lead prayer meetin. It goes like this - "I love my kingdom Lord, the house of thine a .. bode. " That's the way it goes. Carol: That's pretty. x Ruth: I would be singing one of them to sleep and she would say'that's so sweet." Carol It is. Ruth: This is a hymn book, Tar. Note: See what I got wrote in it (of no consequence) Carol: It just has words and no music. Ruth: This is a dictionary out of the Pinson stuff, she thowed it away. That is my individual hymn book. I paid a $1. 50 for it in 55. I have my name in it in case I lose it but I don't guess anybody would ever bring it back. This is Ain's literature boook came out of the stuff she thowed away. (Note: Ruth had reference to Grandaddy's second wife whom he married when he was 75 years old) Carol: How do you know what tunes to sing to those? Ruth: Here, lemme show her. See dis right heah. SM is shawt meter. Bless Be the Tie That Binds, our Hearts in Christian Love, the fellowship of Kindred minds is like to that above. Shawt Meter. Bless Be the Tie that Binds Our Hearts in Christian Love The Fellowship of Kindred Minds Is like to that above. -10- Carol: Ruth: Luella: Carol: Luella: Ruth: Ruth: Carol: Ruth: Carol: This is Common Meter. CM is Common Meter. How Sweet de Name 0 Jesus. Now how does that go being on Common Meter. Some I raise an some I don't Now LM is long meter. I can't sing Long Meter Go Bring my God To fess dea Lord Be it ever on my grave Gracious Lord That's right pretty . This is the hymn my father use ter sing , Dark is the night, cold the ground in which my Lord wuz laid. ' I can't sing it. I said I didn't never want to hear it afta my father died. But when he say amen and get up off'n his knees he'd start 'Dark is the night ... They have heah hymns for de funeral and for yore Chuch. Dis is one: An mus this bided down Dis mortal frame a clay An mus these achin lims 0 mine Lie mouldin in de clay Corruptions, earth and woims Shall be refine the flesh Til my triumphant spirit come To put it on a fresh. I don't like to heah too much of thet. This is my favor - ite. Common Meter. (Here she quotes a song which I didn't get) You know any happy songs? Mmmmm now my sister Kate sings "All on the altar laid" she could sing that evey Sundy. I'd sing it if I had a book wid it in it. I'll buy a book. I's sweet. Ain't you tied 0 us? Now we enjoy you too. I'm not runnin you away. Look, what is a work song? You say don't get mixed up with a work song. -11- Ruth: I mean that is what people want to sing now, Tar. Christian people don go around singing the blues and things like that. So ended an afternoon in Baconton with Ruth and Luella. Before I left, Ruth gave me a quilt. It is hand made and beautiful. It has candles in the squares. It is quite colorful. The reference to "Tar" is to me as it is a childhood nickname that has stuck through the years. USE OF PROVERBS, WEATHER AND MOON SIGNS, SUPERSTITIONS AND TRADITIONS In the early part of the century and even today, proverbs, wise saying and superstitions are quoted. Some of them were of a moral nature while others were superstitions at one time believed and gradually remembered but not believed. The planting and weather signs have been remembered longest and many people still use these. Listed below are some of the sayings together with the source. If no particular source is shown, that particular saying is one that is known in general and cannot be credited to one person more than another. The children and grandchildren of Mr. J. R. Pinson, Sr. remembered his constant use of "A whistlin' woman and a crowin' hen never come to any good end." His wife, was quite a believer in proverbs from the Bible and other sources, never believed in turning anyone away from her house hungry and was a believer in "Better to Give than Receive" used to quote this: "Cast your bread upon the water and it will come back to you buttered. " Daisye Miller says: "Never start anything on Friday that you can't finish that day or else you'll never finish it." She added that even now if she has anything big to do, she begins -12 - it on Thursday night. Other sayings in general knowledge: "Laugh before breakfast and cry before dark" "Drop a dish cloth on the floor and somebody is bound to come" "Take a biscuit when you've already got one and somebody is coming to your house hungry. " " When you forget something and have to go back, be sure to make a cross sign, spit in the middle and then turn back or it is bad luck. " "Never step over anybody lying on the floor or the ground not even a dog, or something will happen to them for sure. But if you should, go back and step backwards over them. " "An owl a-hootin' at night can be stopped by tyirig a knot in the corner of a sheet or pillow case. If you can't stop him, it's a sign of death." "Never tell a bad dream before breakfast. " Betty Kendrick (Grandaughter of J. S. Miller) remembers this one: "The stitches you sew on Sunday, you'll take out with your nose after you die. " There are many , many more that are not given here; for instance, the black cat, the ladder, spilling salt, passing a funeral procession. Mrs. J. R. Pinson, Sr. used to tell this story to her grandchildren: "I never did know the man and my mama didn't either but she knew someone who did and she said that one time there was a man who always went fishing on Sunday. Now it is wrong to fish on Sunday and they kept warning him and warning him not to go fishing on Sunday but he kept on going. One time on Monday nobody saw him around anywhere and after a few days they began to look for him but they never found him. All they found was a big rock there by the pond where he always went fishing and -13- there was a fishing pole lying there by the rock. Now nobody knew for sure that it was that man but they had a pretty good idea." Note: This is the way it was told to me many years ago. "Dream of a wedding and for sure there'll be a funeral soon." Sunday was a sacred day in the lives of the community. Children were not allowed to use the scissors to cut out paper dolls and there was no working in the fields or in the yard or sweeping or cleaning. If there was a Church service everybody went to Church and on the days that the Negroes had a Church service they did not do any work either. Before the Churches were established in town and everybody went to Mt. Enon to Church, they carried dinner. They say that my Grandmother used to take her dinner for her family in an oval trunk. She had a large family and she took a lot of food just as all of the other people took a lot of food. The people cooked for days for these all day meetings and they loaded down the tables with food. The preachers were the "Hell Fire and Damnation:'IType of preachers and after dinner there was more preaching. When the Negroes had Church, they took dinner to their church also and stayed all day. The preacher always went home with a member of the congregation and many of the members of the congregation had what they called a "Preacher's Room. " The following transcription is of Man Son. His real name is Thomas Williams, grandson of Bella and Dan Johnson. Both of them are dead now. Dan was a Negro slave from Virginia and was bought by a man in Newton in Baker County. After he was freed some years later he went to work for my grandfather, John Pinson, who later moved him to town. They lived on his place and learned many of the planting signs and superstitions from him bringing along a few that they had learned through other sources. Man Son now works for Bobby Pinson, grandson of John Pinson. He lives on the old home place and share crops with Bob. While he told about the -14- Man Son and Tim taken in May, 1968 John and 1I1ary MilJer Pinson Note: In addition to the children present at the interview, Bob and Pat Pinson were al so present. Man Son and Tim taken in May, 1968 John and Mary Miller Pinson Note: In addition to the children present at the interview, Bob and Pat Pinson were also present. signs, Tim and John (Bob and Pat's little boys) listened wide-eyed. They adore Man Son. Bob, Pat, and I all asked questions and once or twice the baby got fretful and you can hear her cry out. The Tape No.2 (a 5 in. tape) Carol: Where did you learn about the weather. (Turn it back on). All right just tell me all you Man Son: Whut I luhned about the weather, uh when you plant you !Tean? Carol: Yeah Man Son: If you plant on de East Win insecs eat up the stuff, cown or anything you grows the insecs eat it up if the win is in the East. I have tried that, see, I tried it, it'll do it, if you try to keep it or anything and you cair it on the East Wind, the Worms '11 get in it. If you kill on the west wind won't nothing ever bother it, flies won't bother it. Carol: Where did you learn that? Man Son: I learnt it from my grandfather and from your grandfather. They used ter do it. Keep anything the year round. I'd see 'em do it and thas how they wuz doing it and I watched em for 50 some odd years and I do the same way, see, everthing they ever told me I found that it wuz jus as true as they were looking at me cause I tried it. That's how I found it out and I go on them plans just like that, see. You can plant it on the East wind. I used to tel~ore Uncle, Mr. John R, I tal him about it, Bobby's Daddy. We planted on the West wind and I tal him you can keep this';ear of corn for 5 years and won't a weevil never bother it and he put it on his desk down there and jest kept it on the desk jes to see, for years and years and no weevil ever ate it. It'd be just as solid as it wuz when he took it, see, out the fiel. But you can plant on the East wind and they'll eat it up in six months. Just eat it up. Weevils will. -15- Man Son: Uh huh. I learned all that bout it. Peas the same way. It wuz wich yore killing your meat. It won't keep if you kill on the East wind. It's a poison wind. Carol Is that right! Man Son Das right. You can let de wind blow on you from the East and it'll gi you a col. Carol: I sure didn't know that. Man Son: It'll give you a cold .. Nowth win won't neither'll the West wind. I tried all 0' that. So I learned it frum my fore parents. Yore grandfather raised me. Cause I member when I was nine years old, the fust thing I done was to hole a calf with a string for yore grandmother to milk a cow - four cows. Carol: O. K. you were going to tell me about planting on the moon? Man Son: Ye'm Let~s see now - Whut do the moon signs mean? The moon signs mean dis The moon signs mean dis - on a new moon yore stuff'll grow tall and slender, your stuff will, plant on de waiste a the moon, it'll bear low to th groun, make a small bush on the waste a th moon, make a small bush, on the full moon, see it make a big bush, see. An the fust quater, the fust quater is a hay month - you make hay. You don't make no feed on the fust quater a the moon . . . .. . . . . 3" from the groun, the year wuz, I won't do that no rna when the moon was in the bed. Cown just stayed where I planted some out yonder. -16- Bob: Don't you plant peanutsin the dark that way? Crops that are in the ground? Man Son: Dat's right. On de dark night, dey make in the bed. I make some crops now. I plant some cown now on a Thursday, moon full on a Friday and I notic on de back side they ain gon be as big a stawks as the other is on the front. I hit the other on the full and fore I could git though (through) it wuz a-waistin away on me - a - smaller stalks - ears are gon be closer to th groun, closer to the groun. Carol: Have you ever heard anything about planting things on good Friday? Man Son: Yea suh - Good Friday is all right. Friday fore Easter is all right. Moon mighty near to be full in and it's full on a good Friday - good comin up to a full moon. That's whut a good Friday means - coming to a full moon. You can notice on the almanac now how the full moon wuz. Bob goes over and checks the almanac. Man Son: Good Friday commin up or even on a Thursday. Bob: Good Friday on the 12th and full moon is on the 13th. Man Son: Yep that was coming right up to it. Thas why they call it good Friday. It make a good crop. You can plant anything then, peas or greens, cown, Carol: Man Son: or anything on a good Friday. Full moon see. 3 days fore the moon full or 3 days after thas all right. Then six days - 3 before or 3 after is time to plant. them 6 days. You catch the full moon. But after them 3 days it start to decrease like you pull off like your finger here. It start decreasing evey day and thas the way that is on a full moon. Are there other things you do or don't do. I know there are some things I have heard my grandmother say - there are things you aren't supposed to do - Well uh one thing that they taught me, I member when us wuz a chil -17- I never did do that - uh I never did like to do dat uh yore grandfather he uh wuz working a bunch 0 us one time - he wuz working us one time he and there wuz a fellow on the place - he wuzn't on the place and I say he worked him a day or two and we ain't never be that way and he came to his front door and he's named Jordon Oliver - 01' Jay Oliver he's living now and he ain't never forget it and he tawk about it a lot and he a laugh about it and he went up to Mr. Pinson's front door atter his money and he wuz on de porch and he said, 'now Jay, you know better than that, say, you n know a nigger ain't sposed to come to a white man's front door. You go to de back to get yore money'. And we laugh about that til yit and lain't never like to go to they front door from that day to dis un neither - - I like to go to de back .He ain't never had to tell me that if dat's de way he want it done and I teached my chillun that til yit. Dat's where dey belong. Carol: Shoot! Man Son: I don care whut they say bout these equal rights or civil rights, I don know whut they call it - somethin like rights but I told em the other day to some people that the fust church ever bought in Baconton which is 98 years old tawking about the white foks didn't like colored peoples. I says, well, I says, theyallus liked you, I says, they bought you and they brought you over here and if they didn't like you they wudn't a went and got ya, say, you didn't ask 'em they came and got you and give you a Church. I say, that Church was give to us special and frum a white feller. We didn't buy it, didn't buy de land and didn't build de Church. Bob: Who gave it to you? -18- Carol: Man Son: Mr. Major Bacon. 01' man Major Bacon. Give it to Collins James. He was working for 'im. He say, "Collins you are a good feller;' say,"you know how to talk" say" I'm gonna build you a Church so you can teach these people'and so he build us that Church and he pastored there 50 years and after another generation came up and wanted to be a little smart. He got old and they wanted to turn him off and so he went back and told Mr. Major Bacon about it and uh he say, they wanna turn me off and he say, Well if they turn you off, say, you lock up the Church and bring the keys to me, say, I give that Church to you and you jus lock up de Church and bring it to me, say, you can tell the niggers all that they need to know. (Man Son Laughs loudly here.) He stayed there til he died too. Dey never did turn him off and he pastored there 50 years. Nex pastor that came wuz Candler Williams and he stayed there 20 years and he died and we been gettin rid of em every 2 years cause we coudn't get nobody to go on them back grounds but we can fine (means fire) em tho. All of dem that don die. Pat: She wants to know something like superstitions. You know that have always been around Baconton. You know something like, I am not sure but is there anything by carrying sulphur with you the spirit won't bother you? Now we used to have to take sulphur and molasses every spring. We always had to do that. Did ya'll ever have to do - to take sulphur and molasses? You didn't have to take that? Man Son: No'm -19- Bob: What is this little 01' bags these little bags folks used to wear around their necks? Man Son: Asphittiti. They used to wear asphittiti around baby's necks and say it made em healthy and give em an appetite, see, asphittiti will give you a appetite. You can take some of that and it will give you the best appetite and it's good for gas. Yes I used to use it. It's one of de bes medicines out but you can't hardly stand it. Bob: Tell about your rabbit tobacco and turpentine cold remedy. Man Son: Used to use way back when we didn't have many doctors. Mama wadn't able to get a doctor most time. I'd go out and get rabbit tobacco in de winter and kept it by de bag full and anybody got a cold we'd put it in a kittle and boil it and drink the water off'n it and it'll kill a cold. Bob: Did you put some fat light'ood in it? Light'ood splinters? Get the turpentine out of it or something. Man Son: It'll draw into it by boiling it, it'll seep into it ch know, fat light'ood splinters. Carol: Yeah. Man Son: Rabbit tobacco and I have caught a cooter when you have somethin like the Whoopin cough. Call it flu now - it used to be whoopin cough. Us would, I have known us to catch a cooter and cut'his:head'off and take de blood and put it on sugar and us's take that and it cure it. Sugar and that. Carol Ya! Man Son: So we used to do all that for colds and things - colds - way back - fat light'ood splinters, rabbit tobacco, asphittiti, thas for worms and things like that and give you a appetite to eat. It'll give you a appetite now if you take some of hit and it will clean you out, get de worms and things -20- Carol: out 'n ya and it'll give you a good appetite to eat, grow a healthy chile too. Did you ever hear your mama or grandmama talk about dreams? You know our grandmother was a seventh daughter. Man Son: Das right. Carol: And so she was able to interpret dreams. I did not know about that for a long time. Man Son: Well young foks has dreams and old peoples has visions and be a diffunce in that. Carol: Oh Man Son: Young foks has dreams and old foks has visions. They see things and they can outline it and bring it to pass but young foks coudn't. They jes dream about it and forgit it. They can't intepetate it like old peoples can. See, when they is old they know what it means. They see things in their sleep - otherwise sulphur or bag totin that ain't nothin. Bob: What did it mean when you saw Daddy after he died? Man Son: You can see a man after he died and thas a sign a rain. When you see im thas a sign a rain. Ever you see a dead person in yore sleep, thas a sign a rain. Carol: I didn't know that. Man Son: It's a sign a rain. You can see em and it will rain somewhere 3 days after you see em. It'll rain ever time. Carol: Tell me about the cane grindings they used to have? Man Son: Now when we used to grind cain, see, they grind it. They squeezes it and run it through the mill and get the juice outern on it and then you make a fire and put it in a kittle see, in a kittle and when it got hot it'd foam -21- would come a foam on top and go to foaming and all the sugar'd come up there, the sugar like on top there and youud skim it off, have a dipper with a hole in it an you ud dip it up and skim it off and uh the juice ud run back into the kittle and the skimmins ud go into a baall there - and you'd put some plummins and some water, some of de cane plummins and some water in that baall and you ud skim that foam off and you put it in there and put some juice along too and it'd go in there and then the nex monin' like you done like today like that now and the nex monin it ud be like cJn juice. It ud be sweet but be like cane juice,. see but let it stay two or three days and it ud have a little whang to it and then you ud call it buck - cane buck, see, and people uset ter take it then to make whiskey and run it. Carol Vh huh Man Son: Put sugar wid it and make whiskey wid dat - cane skimmins whiskey Then they quit doing that so much they used corn making whiskey out of'n corn and wheat all like that. Carol: What we used to have with egg nag on Christmas. Man Son: Dat's right. Egg nag. They run it and we'd make our egg nag and it be good whiskey then made outtern corn then n de bes whiskey you can make now is outern wheat. Bob: Out of wheat. Man Son: Wheat Bob and Pat in unison: Been wondering where all that wheat was going out there - you ain't been selling . Man Son: Ain't nobody this part of the country make none - they make it out of wheat - 22- the best kind. I know somebody over at Doerun who make it out a wheat an he say it's de best kind. Bob: They don't make it around here. Carol: How did you celebrate Christmas when you were a little boy? Man Son: When fust started didn't have anything but oranges, candy an things to eat at Christmas, may get a doll way back when I was a boy. Carol: That is what I meant, way back. Man Son: Well had candy, oranges, raisins thas all they had way back. Maybe you ud buy you some shoes call that for Christmas s or some clothes thas all you got. Wadn'tno such thing as toys. I member when I was boy you didn't get no sweet crackers til in the fall when you got ready to ginn cotton and things and didn't have but one kind of candy and that was stick candy. John: Man Son's got him sumpin. ( Pat fixed all of us a glass of coca cola and through much of the rest of the tape you can hear the tinkle of the ice. John wanted to know if Man Son had beer and Man Son laughs and says how fine John is and how smart. - He didn't have any beer in his pocket. ..... This is irrelovent) Carol: Did you ever help with any <i the barbeques. Man Son: Yes 'm. I learnt from you grandfather. Him and Sam used to barbeque together. They used to keep me around with em and I can barbeque now good as anybody you ever seen. I barbeque for the county one year ... 22 head a hog. I know I heard peple say it was the best meat that they ever et in they life. I barbequed ever year my memory for him. I know how to barbeque. When I kill a hog I get good firm meat. I like him to be fed oft'n corn. I wouldn't like to ha him be fed offn paster. The -23- meat'll make you sick. Somebody: Uh huh Man Son: Want good firm meat, you kill yore hog but you feed im offen corn and yore meat'll be firm jes as firm, won't make you sick neither. I killed some meat and some white people had high blood last fourth o July and they hadn't et any1Ileat in five years and see they et some of that and see they say it didn't make m sick. An I et some killed like that and thas' c the best time to kill any sort a meat like that and it won't make you sick. Carol: Used to when you had to barbeque, didn't you have to stay up all night? Man Son: All night to cook it. Carol: That is what I remember. Man Son: Right down the lane and right by the lot there and the'd cook it there. They'd barbeque it, your grandfather used to cook for the county. Used to have a County barbeque onct a year. He'd do all that cookin for Mitchell County, see, and we used to go down there and all he done was jus sot there and have us turn it. I member thet, gave him a hunderd dollars one time when he cooked 50 head a hog. That was cheap then to cook 50 head a hog cookin a day and a night. He giv us $2.00 (Man Son laughs here) ..... I wuz glad to@o that. Wuzn't gettin but 25 cents a day. I wuzn't. Uh. 25 a day I made many days frum sun to sun for a quarter. Fust year I started to work for a quarter, nex year he raised me to 30, next year 35 got to 50 and stayed there for seval years. $ .50 a day. My baby get you - I got a daughter gettin $ I. 65 cent an hour to work and I ain't never got a dollar a hour to work in my life and I am 63 years old. I ain't, I don't know how I'd feel getten a dollar -24~ a dollar a hour. I done got too old to work now and I know I ain gon get it. Carol: You won't ever be old. Man Son where'd your, your grandmother was Aunt Bella and she came from out on the farm where Grandaddy and them lived ... Man Son : Das right. Carol: And after they moved into town Man Son: Das right. Carol And her husband was Unca Dan? Man Son: Das right. See they liveded den, see I was bornded there at dat pear grove dere in 1904 thas where I was born and dats where I liveded at right where de pear groves at right dere in front of my house now. I was born dere and when I moved down here I liveded up there where Mr. Glasses liveded, up there in de big house. Up there above me? dat's where Note: he liveded at. He' sold dat place to Mr. Pierce and bought down here (Man Son is now talking about Grandaddy that is Mr. Pinson) and sold dat acre lot up dere to Mr. Pierce and dem. Carol: I didn't know that. Man Son: Yeah dat was his house dat's where he liveded at. Mr. John R. and dem liveded where Mr. Glass house is now - big house dere like that bigun down there. It got burnt down and they builded it. That's where he liveded at. Herunneded, course he owneded all that place whut de Jackson's got o the old still quarters and the Winchester Place. He owneded dat place at that time. Its called the Pinson Place now. Dat's whut dey caled it the 01' Pinson Place. The Winchester Place was the 01 Pinson Place. That used to be they land but he sold part of that and bought down here. I -25- think he wuz the fust man that bought a piece of land frum Major Bacon down here was him. Bought that 125 acres. His wife done it. He didn't have no money. Miss Mamie done it. He didn't have nO money. She done it. Carol: Yeah I know. He didn't have but $3.00 when they got married. Man Son: Yeah he didn't have no money. She had some money and she was the one that bought that place down there. That was his 'n out yonder. I member he used to he got when he started off, he started off working with Papa and then a half crop and he would work right along in the fiel wid em and he could borrow de money to run the crop with em and he worked ever day right along with em lead hand and then he charged em so much a day for whut he done, see. Then charged em for what they made, see, and the deal at the end of the year, he had some money cause he wukeded. He did'n sit down. He wuked right in the fiel. He plowed, he hoed, he come roun and hoed cotton. He wuz de lead han, he hoed all day long. He led dem foks and he made money. Carol: Dh huh Man Son: So I know that bout im and they wuz mighty fine people as I ever met in my life. When us come in we had suwp and Mis Mamie ud aways cook suwp bread. A big 01 pan uv suwp bread bout onct a twicet a week she give us a slice of suwp bread and miuk. Suwp bread. We di ent know nuthin bout makin no cakes a things but Mama and them wud make cakes on Sunday sometime. She'd cook thet suwp bread outon suwp you know and give us suwp bread and a glass uv mink. Thas the end uv the week. - 26 - We'd go by de house and get thet and be ready for Monday moning. (Man Son laughs here) Man Son: I member one time he (Mr. Pinson) say, "Mama", some hungry ones come by and I never known nobody to ast her for sumpin to eat she wudn't give it to em. She'd a'ways keep sumpin like bread and greens or sumpin. He say, "Mama, you go give all She say, i's mo blessed to give than receive. He got mad sometime but she a'ways give to everbody . The rest of the record is irrevolent. John isfou-L years old and wants to show how he can read and then says part of the Twenty-third Psalm. Tim is six years old and tells what he has been doing all morning. He has been out at the farm with Man Son and came in for Man Son to tell about the old days. EDUCATION AND SOCIAL LIFE In 1865 there was an academy near the community of Gum Pond but evidently for the lack of funds it became non-existent. Later after the town of Baconton was incorporated two schools were opened, one for the white and one for the Negroes. Mrs. John R. Cole recounts this item of a social nature that took place about the turn of the century. It was told to her by her aunt, Lena Jackson Dean. "The Shakespearian Club, a literary club of the community, was organized by Mrs. R. J. Bacon, Sr. Monthly meetings were held in her home in the evening during the years 1902 and 1903. Mrs. Bacon served as instructor of the class in Shakespearian plays and the membership participated in the study. At the conclusion of the meetings light refreshments were enjoyed during a social hour. A few times, as an outgrowth of the study, the group produced one of the plays in the Mt. Enon - 27- Carol: Baptist Church." I asked Madelaine Peters what they used to do for entertainment. She said, "One of the things that I remember most was goin' to Camp Meeting. There was camp meetin' at Indian Springs and one at Sales City and we'd go in the summer time. We went even before they had automobiles and before there was electricity. Would you like me to tell you 'bout it?" The following recording was made at the home of Esther Koopmann in Doerun, Georgia. Mrs. Madelaine Peters formerly of Baconton, now of Lakeland, Georgia, was spending the day with her neice. Also present was Mrs. Ira Massey of Barwick, Georgia, formerly Annie Will Pinson of Baconton. Esther and Annie Will are in the Kitchen washing dishes and the noises were picked up on the tape recorder. Tape No.3 Madelaine: I was eleven years old first time I went to Camp Meeting at Indian Springs. I went with an aunt of ours and her grandson who was my age an he was bout ten. We stayed in this big hotel I guess ... uh it was a hotel or rooming house. We ate there and uh slept there. But I rememer so well on the camp grounds these little wooden cottages .. that's what they called them . They had these little front porches ... you can't imagine that exactly what they looked like. They looked like the porches were walled up. No it wasn't a bannister just walled up and the windows had shutters they called them like doors except they were little. They opened and closed like doors. They don't have them now they were replaced by buildings. Were they logs? Madelaine: No, they weren't logs they weren't painted ... none of them were painted. They had lamps and some .. lot of people had lanterns around the camp. I never did stay in one of them as I said we always stayed in the hotel. - 28 - The preaching was in a tabernacle and it had straw on the groun. It didn't have a wooden floor it was jus the groun but pine straw on it and uh it would hold several hundred people and some of the benches, some of them did not have backs jus the benches. They always had singers. Charlie Tillman was there when I was there. He's been dead a number of years. Bishop Moore who was Arthur Moore then, our ex bishop was Arthur Moore and I love to hear him an I still do and I'd go .... That's the effect he had on me. An I still would go a long ways to hear him now and that was the first time I ever heard anybody shout was at Indian Springs. The preacher had what you call altar calls. I don't guess they had altar calls when you came along, as people were led to this they went. I remember there was an old colored woman - not old though. She was always under that tabernacle at a service. She did a lot of shoutin' and sh'd grab a post and swing herself around that post. When d. she did, a lot of others would too. First time it scared me cause I had never seen anybody like that and I got accustomed to it and we stayed bout two weeks. Now Indian Springs is called a Holiness Meeting but they had different preachers of different denominations preaching. I remember telling my mother that I was walking on holy ground when I went to Indian Springs that I felt like I was on holy ground. I do, I remember telling Mama that. You want to know some of the things about what I did as a little girl? This little girl, she and I played together, we used to buy a bag of peaches for five cents a dozen. Now that is interesting - five cents a dozen. We'd buy them every day. We would hide up stairs and after we'd -29 - Carol: eat the peaches we'd drop em down on people's heads and then hide. r know that if Aunt Fanny knew r was doing that she'd of spanked me, r don't know whether she'd have spanked me or not but she wouldn't have liked it if she'd known. And one night we went hom an Aunt Fanny and r went home from Church and the little boy was named Carroll, he was a cousin of mine, an we coun't find him an she sent me down stairs to find him but r coudn",t find him and she sent somebody else an' an' he was down on the pine straw sound asleep. Do you remember where Sam and Noots and Aunt Bella and them came from, Ann? Ann: Uh, Sam .. uh Papa moved em from the Country where Papa used to live. Papa brought him from out at the farm and he married Noots after he moved to town. Noots was Taffy Child's daughter. We thought the world of her. She was one of the best cooks in the country. She could make the best pound cakes and Mama used to send for her to beat up the pound cakes. She'd make tea cakes for the children an Papa told Sam that if he'd come in that when he'd been there twenty-five years that he'd build him a house and sure enough when the twenty-five years rolled around he built a pretty house on the corner and Sam said' Come on chillyn and see my house - it's a glass house .. jes ought to come see it' and tha's cause he never had any glass windows in his house just wooden shutters an' when r go on a visit you know I'd carry the nurse to hold the baby you know and it had a company room where she kept the organ and Noots would send for em to come spend the night at her house and as my children grew, when Deryl grew and sh'd -30- Carol: Ann: want to go to Noots and play the organ and she'd always go down and play the organ and Noots thought that she was the most talented thing. An uh when Deryl found out that Sam could pa . play the juice harp we hadn't heard him play in a long time and we found one in town an we bought a juice harp. He really could play. What land of songs did he play? I don't know. Just sacred songs I guess. Hymns. I don't remember. I really don't know what they were. Carol: Now Mamama was the seventh child ... Madelaine: Mama was the 7th daughter Ann: She could Madelaine: She could interpret her dreams that is what she always said Ann: Born with a veil Madelaine: I well remember her telling about when Jessie was so sick and Mama went to sleep, Jessie was the little eleven year old boy that she lost, andMama went went to sleep she dreamed that she lost her ring Ann: That's always bad luck Madelaine: and she didn't find it and when she woke up she told papa that Jessie was not going to get well. And he said how do you know and she said' because I lost my ring and didn't find it and if I had found it he would have gotten well. .. She was the seventh daughter - but he's not going to get well. An he didn't get well. Ann: You know Deryl felt that she inherited that dreaming from Mama. Of course she is not the seventh child. -31 - Madelaine: Mama was always telling us about dreams and it would come true. Ann: Oh yes. She'd dream that I was comin that we were comin over and she'd say, 'Well, Annie Will and Ira are comin over today and she'd tell us what she dreamed Madelaine: She'd tell us what it meant and she'd interpret it - jus like that ring. Ann: Well you know Beulah would do that too. She dreamed one night that she lost her ring an it worried her so and Papa called her real early nex morning an said you'll have to come on home, Mama is sick. The rest of the tape was concerning other dreams which get rather personal and I have therefore omitted them from the transcription. - 32- Raymond Miller lived in Baconton and grew up there. He is now living in Albany, Georgia. He said: "I remember, oh it's about a half a mile from town I guess, maybe about 3/4, that us boys, Charles, Frederick and James .... I don't know whether Owen went with us or not but Joe Rucker and Big Man Watson and all us boys used to go to the 01' suck hole and we'd go swimmin in the buck. We'd slip off an go. Sometimes the water wasn't too fresh. You see it was a lime sink and sometimes we'd go and there wouldn't be any water at all cause it wouldn't hold water. "We used to go fishin' too, at Miller Springs. Sometimes just us boys but sometimes there'd be fish fries and the whole town ud go." Barbeques and family reunions were two real big things in those days. Most of the time when there was a family reunion there would be a barbeque. The Pinsons had two reunions: one was tIE Pinson reunion at the old home place at Acre on the birthday of John Pinson's mother and they'd go every year and the other was the Miller reunion which he had at his home. Leola Miller Lassetter recalls that there would be about a hundred people there. Everybody who had a drop of blood kin would go and some who maybe weren't kin at all. People came early and stayed all day. All of the Negroes on the place would go also. They would be there helping and serving and then they'd eat. Other families in town had reunions too and when people met their kin folks they always kissed. Everybody in town kissed a lot. I asked Daisye Miller who for the past forty years has been and is one of the best court reporters in that part of the country, what she remembered most. "Oh, honey, we used to have the best time, I remember over at Unca Johnnie's how we had candy pullins' and cane grindings. Used to grind the cane on his place with an 01' mule who went 'round and round turning the mill to grind the cane and the juice came out and was strained through a croker sack. We'd stand around and taste -33- the skimmins with a cane peelin. "1 remember, too," she said, "on Hallowe'en we'd spend weeks before hand dressing up a dummy in a pair of pants and then everybody would try to guess who the dressed up dummy was. One time we used Mr. Bass Mullins' pants. You see you tried to make it look like him except we wouldn't put a face, of course." "People always had a lotta company, too, back then, " she said, " and the children slept on palates on the floor. At night we'd tell ghost stories. All of the old folks used to tell lots of tales that made the children scared to go to bed. " The young folks had syrup pullings and boys and girls had partners to pull the syrup candy. "There was one thing we all used to do, " Annie Will Massey said, " and that was to gather around the organ or piano and sing. We'd all sing all of these old songs. Some people objected to dancing but nobody objected to singing." There wasn't much fiddling going on but Mr. Dean used to play the saw. He played it at Church and on nearly all special occasions. Many people around town played the piano or organ. Many games were played by the children when they got together. Some are as follows: 1. Bugger Man: One child is chosen to be the bugger man all of the rest are just children. This game was always played at dusk. The bugger man hides then the children corne out chanting "Bugger man, bugger man, hind that tree, bugger man, bugger man, can't catch me - ain't no buggers out tonight, Daddy killed ern an last night." The children prance and dance around then the bugger man swoops from behind and grabs a child, making a continuous game. 2. Burn, bum, burn: Divide into two sides with an advancing line in the center. The object is to guess what the other side is acting out and when you guess you run to catch one of the actors and take him horne to your side until all children are on one side and that side wins each side taking turns. In order to advance, one side says "Bum, Bum, Burn, here we corne. "Other side: Where you from? First side: Pretty Girls Country. Second Side: What's your trade? First Side: Sweet Lemonade. -34- Second Side:" Show us some." Then they begin to act out whatever they have agreed upon like climbing a rope or milking a cow etc. 3. We're Marching Round the Level. This is a singing game. Children get in a circle and one person is it who stands in the center. Each stanza ends with "For we have gained today." Each stanza has four lines and the first line is sung three times. Below is the first line of each stanza which ends with "For we have gained today. " We're marching round the level Go in and out your windows Go forth and face your lover I measure my love to show you One kiss before I leave you Other games played were "Going to Jerusalem, " "Clap in, Clap out, ", Kitty wants a corner," I Spy" and"Blind Man's Bluff." Children made penny peep shows by digging a hole in the ground and decorating the hole with flowers and then covering over with a little piece of glass. Grown -ups came out to admire the peep shows. Small children played"Ring around the roses Pocket full of poses Big guinea, little guinea Squat. " FOOD, AN IMPORTANT PART OF COMMUNITY LIFE One of the most important social factors of community life was food. If visitors came in the afternoon, refreshments were served. These were farmers and used to setting a good table. Typical menus were something like this: for breakfast - ham or sausage or home raised bacon, grits and gravy, biscuits and hoe cake, ard eggs. There was always a dish of homemade jelly or preserves and syrup in a pitcher was always on the table. When times weren't hard on Sunday morning there was steak and sometimes smothered chicken for the meat. The grown people drank coffee and the children had hot water tea. Some people called it "Kettle Tea." It was made with hot water with a little milk and sugar. For dinner, one had whatever vegetables were in season with pone bread and biscuits. They had whatever kind of meats you could -35- have out of the smoke house or chicken from the yard then for supper you had leftovers. Dinner was covered up on the table with a white table cloth and then just uncovered for supper. Some people had hot hoe cake with their supper. Most of the Negroes did for the men had been out working and had to eat cold lunches so they wanted some hot bread and side meat along with leftovers. During hog killing time, everybody in town ate well for those who didn't raise any hogs would have hog killings sent over to them and would share in eating sows meat, liver pudding, brains and eggs, tenderloin and fresh sausage. During the fruit season, people made big pans of apple, peach, and blackberry pies bloating in butter. There were always plenty of tea cakes and gingerbread for the children. Syrup was used in many ways. Most of the Negroes worked in white homes and ate from the table carrying enough home for their families to eat that night. Children enjoyed gathering around the fire and listening to stories of olden days of dreams that people had and what they meant. Many of the older people were able to interpret their dreams and some of the stories were weird. Oftentimes at dusk the children gathered in groups and took turns telling ghost stories and other stories that always ended up with screams especially from the little ones. When there was company, the younger children were called in to perform for the older guests. If you could play the piano then you played for the company. Even the tiniest ones could recite some verses. Listed below are a few that all children knew by the time they could talk and grown -ups delighted in having them perform. Here I stand Black and dirty Don't come kiss me I'll run like a turkey -36- Her I stand A pretty little miss Come and give me A sweet little kiss Roses on my shoulders Slippers on my feet I'm my daddy's baby girl Don't you think I'm sweet? Her I stand All dressed in blue If you don't kiss me I'll kiss you. POPULAR TRADITIONS AND HOW THEY WERE CELEBRATED At Christmas time there was always a program at the Church and then a Church Christmas Tree and everybody received a present. Maybe not much but a present. At home most families gathered at the home of the parents and Santa came to see the children leaving candy, toys, and fruit. Some families also exchanged presents. There were big family dinners on Christmas day. Many families had egg nog on Christmas morning, and the Negroes on the place came up to say "Chrismus Gif" and there was lots of laughing. The whiskey bottle resided on the closet shelf all year long only to be used for medicinal purposes (a hot toddy for a cold) until Christmas and New Years when egg nog was made. That was the rule about whiskey but some people didn't follow the rule. At Easter most of the children, white and colored, had new clothes. The bunny rabbit came and left eggs hidden in the yard for the children to find. Weddings took place both at home and at Church. People grew many flowers and the used flowers profusely in decorating. Sara Glausier remembers how when a couple got married the young folks in town used to serenade the couple. Then after the serenade the bride and groom would come out and serve refreshments. There were many celebrations in the community: the Fourth of July was for picnics or barbeques, Thanksgiving, birthdays, May Day, Quarterly Meeting at the Church. All of these called for much food and everybody getting together. -37- LIFE AS REMEMBERED BY MR. FRANK BROOKS Bob Pinson (Grandson of John Pinson), his wife, Pat (great neice of Mr. Brooks) and I went by to see Mr. Frank Brooks on a Saturday night. We had had a real downpour in the afternoon and it had hailed and the lights and telephones were out. Mr. Brooks is in his eighty's and is very alert. He lives several miles from town. As we came to the door, he met us . "Right smart rain we had this afternoon, " he said. Before we left he remarked about the hail. He said, "You know, I remember back in 99 we must've had this much hail (holding his hand several feet from the porch) .. I remember the creek was dry and after that hail some of us went went swimmin. " We told him that we had come to talk about old times. We sat around the fire and listened. He was sitting in the dining room and he had just poured some water on the fire because it was too hot. The fat light'ood knot on the fire had made a good sized blaze. It felt good for although it was the last of April, the hail had cooled things off. The black iron andirons held the wood in place. Folks who live in turpentine country can't appreciat a good light'ood knot, fat splinters, kindlin' wood, and chips for these things are taken for granted. Pecan wood really makes a crackle but it doesn't burn long like oak, keeps it going though pine is better and the oak logs just simmer along. "Does that windmill still work?" I asked. "Guess it would", he said, "if I put a new part in it. 01' man Garrard put that well in. Ought to be a monument to him cause he put all these wells in. All the wells around here. " This reminded me of a story I have heard my grandfather tell and I told it then. My grandfather said that the Garrards lived around in those parts. They pronounced it with the emphasis on the first syllable. He had a daughter and they sent her off to school. Now she thought since she had a little "learning" that she would -38- change her name and pronounce it with the emphasis on the last syllable. She was home for summer vacation and her boy friend (they called it feller then) came to see her. He stopped by the side of the road to find out where she lived and he asked a colored fellow, "Do you know where Miss Garrard (emphasis on last syllable) lives?" The colored fellow thought and thought and scratched his head, then he said, "Oh you mean 01' man Garrard's girl (emphasis on first syllable). Sure turn right, after you pass the next cross roads." We all wondered if that was the same Garrard. Mr. Frank enjoyed telling how they "always had a town picnic every May. We'd have it at one of the ponds or maybe at Bacon's Lake. We'd ride around in a bateau; that is, the young foks did. The children all played and the older folks fixed the dinner and sat around and talked. " "There's one thing I remember," he said, "Mr. Pinson would let you have money if you had to have it but he wouldn't charge no interest. Didn't even have a note. I remember one time I went over and he was working in the garden and I says, 'Mr. Pinson, I need $40.00 to run my crop.' And he says, 'I'm not going to let you have $40.00. ' And I says, " I sure need it and I'll pay you back. ' Then he says, 'If you really need it, I'll let you have it. ' Then he went right in the house that minute and wrote me a check." "And did you pay it back, Uncle Frank", said Pat. "Sure did. Came next spring, I had sold my crop and he came over and said, 'Did you make your corp? ' and I said, 'I sure did' and I paid him back right then." "He let a latta people borrow money like that and didn't charge em any interest either and some of 'em didn't pay him back but most of 'em did. He worked hard but he'd help you out." Bob Pinson asked if I had ever heard the story about a man in town whose barn -39- burned. His grandfather told his daddy and his daddy told him. "They were collecting money for the Church and I believe it was Grandaddy who was doing the collecting and he went to one of the men there at home who was in the Church to get some money. This man said he didn't have a bit of money. About a day or two later the man's barn burned and first thing the next day he came to see Grandaddy just begging him to take some money for the Church." This goes along with the idea if you don't give it to the Lord he will take it from you. POPULAR HOME REMEDIES Many home remedies were used for it was hard to get a doctor in those days. The local druggist Miss Rose Greer, whom everybody called :'Doc" prescribed from the drugstore but there were still lots of home remedies used. A few are listed below: Patti Pinson said, "Turpentine was one of the best medicines. If you had a cut, use turpentine and turpentine on sugar would stop a cough. John R. 's mother used it for many things because it would stop infection. " Raymond Miller said, "The folks working at the still didn't have lung trouble. Inhaling the turpentine was thought to be healing." Esther Koopmann remembered "Grandma Pearson used to boil the bark of a Cherry tree and made a real good tonic. Also, sulphur and molasses were good for children as a spring tonic. " CONCLUSION So it was in the olden times but not too many people are around anymore who remember that at night around the fire older people talked about dreams and strange things that could not be accounted for while wide-eyed children listened burying the knowledge deep in their brains and only rarely are these things recalled and then only for a little while as if those sacred days are gone and must not be disturbed. -40- INSTALLATION SERVICE for the REV. R. B. SMITH, SR. /Da.4tM QI tlte St. James Baptist Church BacoIltuIl, Geurgia REV. I~. B. SMITH. SR. To. 13e Held ?hoKda'f ?Urp~t. f"In-r-d 22. f96ff 7:30 P. M. I\AI'TIST MINJSTl~r(s' C:ONFERFNCE IN CIL\F(jl' Dr. E..Iames Craill. Presidellt Thetlle-We arc I~bollrers t.ogethel' wilb God. ~)C:T VI ce"Ta \?e d l~y\'\( PI I i/,dl \1'10+ --I'u<\,eJ I';, (j S +(j~,?~ LcJ'':-'''' ,',] lr",cck Of' Ioo~h <; Ides - ':> scoo \'
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Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions.
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