Kathleen Kelly interview with Elizabeth Patterson, James J. Patterson, and Olene Woody

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. In this recording Kathleen Kelly interviews Elizabeth and James J. Patterson. After Kelly introduces the interviewees, Elizabeth Patterson explains several games that they played as children, such as Jakes Grinning, Kitty wants your Corner, Monkey, and Jack up the Bush. At minute 8:45, James J. Patterson tells the legend of Trahylta, who fell in love with a Native American prince from an unidentified tribe. When they could not be together, Trahylta died by suicide at Cedar Mountain, then was buried at Stonepile Gap in Lumpkin County, Georgia. At minute 9:38, Kelly interviews Olene Woody. Woody describes the ingredients in, and the process of making, homemade soap, then explains its medical usage and compares it to modern soaps. She then recalls living in a log cabin in Towns County, Georgia, located at the head of the Chattahoochee River, before her family moved to Helen, Georgia. She describes the cabin and family chores including, churning butter, drying and storing food, cooking cracklins and sausage, collecting cattle bones at the mill companys slaughter pen for buttons, thrashing beans, and milling corn. She ends by telling two stories about Christmas, one in which her father and brother brought home oranges, and the second in which she received a doll. Her family celebrated Christmas by square-dancing. James J. Patterson (1896-1985) earned his Bachelors of Science in Education (specifically History and Science) from North Georgia College. After graduating, he taught at Woody Gap School in Suches, Georgia. He married Elizabeth Jarrard (1900-1994), who was from the Suches area. She attended Oglethorpe University and University of Georgia, and likewise taught at the Woody Gap School. Olene Woody (1908-1993) was born in Towns County, Georgia. When she was about two years old, her family moved to Helen, Georgia. They later moved to Texas before returning to Georgia. She married Clyne Woody (1905-1984) in 1933 and had two children, Emmalou (approximately 1935-) and Barbara (1939-2020). She worked as a substitute teacher at Woody Gap School. Stone Pile Gap AHC Oral History Cataloging Worksheet File Information Catalogue rvj ().) /OQ:,' e- li number t , i: Source Field* (ContentDM) Release form Yes o(!:J~) Transcript Yes or No scanned: ~ From Yesor~J 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 (interviewee name and date of interview) \ Hr. 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Local Name MI County Town First Name See subject who for additional names Burrison, John State (~f\ Last Name c\-*.:~t ~'~C) (') Country \)~)f\ Personal names Subject Who Subject Location 3 Corporate names Geographic locations Topics C\ " \ 1'( "i. ,(-,,_ 1,\ n I (v1 nn -It) ~OfV' DOVWQ 4 GOLLEG'rrNG PHOJECT FOLKLOHE 300 ]Cathleen C. Kelly Deoember 2, 1968 Niy colleoting on this tape was done on November 10, 19G8, in Suches, U.vl (/iJ Georgi.a, a small community in G:~ County near the junotion of highways 180 and 60. We ber;an with a name sugge"ted to Mr. Burri-son by Don Miller, a part-time resident of the area, and from there were led to t\\10 other souroes .. I'Jlrs~ Vifalter Woodie who lives next door to the service-stationcountry store was the first nerson we spoke with, but she could provide no information other than suggesting other people to interview. She, like the others, repeatedly suggested that I see Joe Holloway, a resident of Suches who had been interviewed by the newspaper previously. After talking with our informants a while, however, it beoame clearer to them what we were interested in hearing" Since Mrs .. Woodie's husband was' ill and since she felt we would do better by visiting a friend of hers, we drove north for about a half-mile and turned right, putting us on the road where Mr. and IvIrs .. James Patterson live. Mrs. Patterson immediately saw what we were looking for and called her husband who was at the general store. Mr. Patterson is a teaoher at the high school and both are in their late fifties. Mrs. Patterson grew up not far from Suohes and has lived all of her life in this area. She and her husband received us warmly and were very open to our use of' the tape recorder. The Patter-sons have a oomfortable horne with a large pot-bellied, wood-burning stove in the oenter of the Iiving room, and both dress conventionally. Mrs. Patterson, who is the si ster of Jim Jerard of Suches. another inJ formant suggested by],o1r. "Miller, sent us to visit Mrs. Kline Woodie. Mrs. lNoodie is the sister-in-law' of Mrs. Walter Woodie and lives !":1.cross the highway from her. Mrs. Kline Woodie's home is very modern and well-furnished. -3- She proudly showed me all the oanned goods she had put up this year (white oorn, green beans, apples) as well as her well-stocked freezer. She also had jars of "leather breeches" strung on regular string which her family enjoyed. She grew up in Helen, Georgia, in a two-story house with a ladder 2 between the stories. Her family raised nearly all of their staples, as she describes on the tape" j\lr811 Woodie is in her early fifties and is well-spoken with very little accent. This is probably due to the fact that her family moved from Georgia to Texas and baok again vnlen she was a child. She, too, vms very friendly to us and enjoyed our interest in her back[~round.. Both informants asked us to come again and appoar/'.ld very- sati sfied with themselves for the information they shared i:'Ilith us" lvfrs .. P. -4- TAPE Kathleen Kelly and Mrs. James Patterson (Tape begins here 1:'9:l:;h01" abruptlyt 80 monolo(~ue is ohoppy).. Mrs .. Pe.tterson leo_rned the ga_mes from her father who often played with the ohildren. And he says, llJake IS a_grainningll -- Oh" yeah, on6 of '8m has to be (Jake, and uh e"" K. Okay ... (Baokground, "She can't ") K. Mrs .. Po We're here in Suohes, Georgia, talking with Mr. and Mrs Tames P!1tterson. i1rs. Patterson, would you tell us some abeut the ill, games you were telling us before, ffJaokts a-grinning"'? (Pause) Jake's grinning? Ah, to play that game you have uh uh large man's handkerohief, and uh knotted at one end, and you have eh have your group of plaY'ers seated around and you have one stand wi th that knotted handkerohief and[{':ive eiJyou name one Jake! Well, er, then you name all the otherssome perfession like farming er or teaohin~ or uh la~~er or uh the teacher" the preacher, Or the singer, or the pianist, or the or drununer, or but all the diff'rnt perfessions that you Oan er as many as you h"_ve, uh there in the group, aotohully. Well, this one's that's standing with the handkerchief, you know, he begins to beat on Jake, on his head, with that knotted handkerohief, you kndlw, and er that's, t(8\f)It's Jake's, Jake's grinning. Somebody says "Jo_ke's g;rinning." So uh, you er he goes and beats on him until he oan think What, er, someone else is over there. And then he'll say, "The lawyer's not pleading!" And, of oourse, the one who has the handkerohief goes to the lawyer, right quiokly, y'lmow, and uh, beats on him until he has, "the singer's not singingll or "the preacher's not prea.ohing" or whoever's not doinl, their duty, you know, and that keeps that one on K. Mrs. P. the g;o g:t>, in there, so uh, ... " I' \~)I And all all the time Jake's beating on some one else, there other people are singing or whatever they're supposed, their profession is? If someone oan't uh think of what somebody is, y'see, they've got to remem- -5- ber V\Jhat everyone IDS Oh-h "" .. ... Mrs" P .. K. M.rs fl P. K. Mrs. P. Mr. P. Mrs. P. K. Mrs. P. You see, so uh, if they can't they go back and go to beating on ,Jake (laughtel" in baokground) and he, 81", he'll, er, he's always uh a iNise folIa that ~t( remembers all their names, =d" I ever's played Yeah . So that's quite a good gume and a good bit of er, activity in't. Did you .e. Then, then another game we played was, oh, "KItty wants, er, wants your corner" Br-r that's kinda Uke upsottin' the fruit basket, y'know. Iei tty wants your corner, uh -- your "up", I reckon that's the kItty, and That's right. Somebody, ~eah, somebody says, "KItty wants your oorner and they say "Kitty oantt get it," well, you gain to someone else, then.. But they change seats, y's"", and you're supposed to crowd 'em out. It's kinda Uke upsettin' the fruit basket, you've played that, have yeh not (miorophone noise) Yes, I have. " Well, "Kitty wants your corner's similar, vory muoh like it. And then, er let's gee (micrqhpn8 noise) ... think of some games that we was "Monkey." If they don't know how to play it, you have, played. rJ\ "h er, or, Uh one all of 'em gathered around, you know, and you go 'round and and name oaoh one of 'em, er, they think you're naming 'em some animal but you're naming them all llmonkey, \I see? So, tt)1, then JOu ?~et up to make a speech, you know, -6- and eh, you're going to name the animals and thoy all run, y' ses , so, oh, when you, when you get to the plaoe you say, oh and "And there I oame across a monkey!" Well, they're everyone named 1fMonkeyll yt see , they're tryct , ing to sk'I"'lid, they're trying to get out of there. So it s a terrible, er, stalllDede. (Lauf~hter in baokt~rotlnd). Now there IS a latta fun in thato But, uh, 'cassionally you got one hurt, thoug:h, in all that stampede, so (laughter) so ya had to be kinda oautious. K. Did the oues who already knew, er that evcryone clse was named "Monkey", did they run, too? Mrs. P. They're always sports, yes, uh-huh. Yeah, you jest like to see that one run. (Laughter). Then another ~mne is, uh, let's see, ~1at do they call that, that we played uh played alot? Ehh, but you have to have somebody I And 8.h" you ~ e, you in there who dudn't know how to play it, and,, oh, now you go, ah, you go 'A ~,~1(\1 name all of ' em a R~, you see, and you tell 'em, er, you, you make your speeoh, the one '\Jvho is, 81', direoting it, they, eh, they tell 'em that now when, when I oall, or, yer name, or, the name of what you are, you do whatever yer suppos'd to, just as loud as ever you oan. (Laughter) ~ell, you go 'round, toll 'om all what to do, and you toll one, the one that you're playin' that joko on, tell him (sho laughs) Orow just as loud as he oan. Well, then you go 'roJnd, tell 'em all what to do, soe, you tell '0m all to stand still and say nothin', oxoept that one that you're playing that joke on, see'/ And you, and you oome over and they're s'pposed to respond, you know, right quiokly, and, or, lL, so when you, lNhen you oome across oh that, and ah, that or roor3ter or vJhatever it is, he jumps out, on the floor .Mr. Po And orowsl lvII's. p. And orows: (Mr. P. laughs). So that's a lotta fun. -7- K. This must have been fun when you brought your oompany home (laughs) and they didn't know the game. Mrs. P. That's really a lot of fun. But, you blOW, if even if everyone else would Imow how to play those games, why, they were just good sports, and it was a lotta fun, but :,0 ahead and er play that joke on 'em. And most of the time they didn't mind. But onoe in a while you'd find one that resented it, but not muoh. And, let's see, oan you think of some of the other r;araes? (to Mr. P.). Would you ah repeat it for us, so we oan got it? This is oalled, "Jaok in the Bush"? Did you use this when you taught sohool? She's got s oraa fingers .,. '7'Oocasionally" on, ah.. on rainy days, uh-huh. 1.:111, "Jaok, Jack up the Bush." (Clears throat). Another g~ne that we played quite a bit in our home, A good game to er teaoh numbers. Mr. P. Mrs. P. K. Mrs. P. K. Mrs. P. K. Mrs. P. there was thore oh thore were oleven children of us, on rainy days or ah long nights when we didn't have to study, eh, one game we played, sometime with our daddy'd play with us sometim~ but most of the time some of the old"r ohildren, ",laok up the Bush," You take ah (olears throat) oertain number of objeots, er oorn er, or any) any anything that you can hold, all quite a number in your hand, y'see, say 50 or something, divide t'equally, the 2 players. And, eh, then you hold out you you, what do you oall that juggle'l (Mr. P. says something inaudible). Then hold out your hand l:1c,',j like, see? (holds out closed fist, palm side down). And say, eh, "Jaok up ~ the Bush" 0 And the other says, "Cut him dm1m .. ff You say, "How Viell, he guesses. Well, maybe you' J.l have nothing in that hand holding it as if you had it filled full. So if he guesses, ah, way up yonder, SM, they have to pay ,'{ou -8- and wh 9.t yourI!;" holding ill your hand. So that's a good way to teaoh numbers, to smaller children. That's a, that's a nioe indoor grone. And, uh, ... out it off. (refers to tape reo order ) (4~ minutes of silent tap". W" were talking with the Pattersons and ina.dvertently let the reo order oontinue after pla.ying it back for them evon though we did not intend to reoord the oonversation. Mr. Patterson talked out the legend which follows). J. Mr. n, . K. Mrs. P. Okay, I'm going to let you know, when, when, ah .00 we're ready. Okay, I think that's about it, Jay. Well, they call them legends, don' t they, ,jirmny, but they're supposed to be history, idn't it? Te 1\ II LYil'r Mr .. P. K. Yeah, there's the legend, of ah, Trolita. She's born at, uh, she's buried 8.t Stone-pile Gap. She foIl in love with this In, Indian prinoe and tho old ohief had him moved a.way, to get him, eh (set her, to get him away from her. And she pined away, and, uh, finally, went up on Cedar Mountain, jumped off I, - of a rook oliff and oommitted suioide. And she's buried at the uh interseotion of Route 60 s.nd 119, where the, at the foot of Cedar Mountain. That I S interesting. (Mr. Patterson went on to tell us that a book had been pubH shed about the l~gend, and we talked about sevoral other topios. Mrs. Pattorson said that when she was a girl people often oame to her home where they would sing and the leader would "line out" the lyrics for the rest of the r;roup.. She had never sung this way in ohuroh, howtwer, and was unfamili8.r with the Saored Harp hymnal. Then we talked about the "old-timey" ways of doing things such as making soap, and she oalled Mrs. Kline Woodie, a friend of hers, \W10 had grown up in doing used in the house. Mrs. Vi[. K. -9- many of the things I had asked Mrs. Patterson about. Mrs. Woodie follows on the tape). Now soap Was made in the old times by using the wash pot on the outside, build.- ing the fire, and they used meat skins whioh had been saved from the killing of the hogs and oraoklings that were not usable in bread. Then they r;ot their pote.sh from the ashes from the fireplace which they put in a box, and as time went on they poured water over the ashes, it dripped down into a pan so that (l,.,v,~i? when they were ready to combine the meat with the potash, the water and boil I it, everything would be ready. This soap was boiled until all of the meat Was either eaten up by the amount of potash, I will say, from the ashes that ,vas put in. And then when it was oooled, the water fell to the bottom, the soap oame to the top and it oould be out out in oakes and used for the washing, even .,~, is {I,_- And in time I have 1ev,mj known th soap to be medioati on A. for the purpose of animals at the barns. I myself rode horsebaok and I had a polo pony given to me, at one time, with what we oall soratohes on his baok ".nd-scratohes on his hoofs, exouse me, and saddle sore on his baok. This soap along with the sure oure for any type of anything oured the sores on my horse. It surely sounds powerful. Yeah, well, it was, it really was, and it was really used, and this day and time I have as muoh as told these young people that that in itself, the Ootagon soap we have now is the nearest t> homems.de soap of any soap on the market. And '~hat was one of the oldest ones now that we oould piok up and use here and it's a rl brown oake. Now the oolor i~ the soap--it would aome out a white--but at times I have known my mother 'to soak walnut hulls, pour the little ex'try water in, and it browned the soap. Y'soe you get a brovITl from the walnut hulls or a groen, it's a brownish-green aotually, but that is the way, and I myself have made soap with the drippings. Mrs .. W. K. K. Mrs. w. -10- H"aUy. Here'l Here, with the drippings. But you would use lye and you buy the Red Devil lye at the stores, see, instead of the dripping of the ashes, you would have to buy your Red Devil lye. Did y" all make eandles, when you were J.:lttle, too? Uh, yes, but uh we didn't have too many eandles. I don't lmow exactly; I don't recall that being done very muoh, and I livod s' far baok, I don't uh, I was r p t 'i.'f L o-~~",@L,- just uh maybe two years three years' when we oame from the mountains out to f. " Helen. Now my uh oounty would have been Townes County whioh is near Hiawasse and that is the head of the Chattahooohie River, and I was born in a log oabin at the head of the Chattahootohie River. This is just a little story of the log oabin. I was very small and the olothes that we wore baok then were out of demin (sic).. My aprons when I was a sma.ll ohild wa.s ma.de from demin and my mother tells the story that she put the bedpost on rrw dress tail so that I oouldn't get out, and she had to go down the mount8.in to unhook a buoket that dipped in the spring and brought, you oranked it just like a well to bring it back up, and as she went down she looked up on the other side and hero came a panther after her. So that is how wIil~)rd times might have been baok in my day. But then we moved out to Helen, and as I say when we oame out, I saw a boom town, then I saw the mill go and it go baok to more or loss what it was when we first oame out. You say you lived in a oabin. Uh, oan you remember what it looked like? Yes, this oabin uh they called them a big house and a kitohen. Now the big (t, house was made of logs, but your kitohen WaS what I would call ;G1!le lean-to, now. It was made of the uh pieoes that came off the logs, and it was ,just out here, you see. But the big house would have the uh main room downstairs and one upstairs o K. Mrs. w. K. Mrs. W.. Mrs .. W.. K. Mrs .. W. K. Mrs .. W-. -11- I see. And there were stairs? Yeah. Stairs went up from the uh, up from the uh first floor. Vjhere was the door'! Was it in the middle? 11 The door was in the middle of the--see, it was lo~ger than it was wide. The fireplace would be in the short end and the door would be in the middle of the long side. I see. Was this an indoor fireplaoe or Yeah. Indoor, and the logs were, were chapped with tll clay. That was the seal of them, you know, so, so the weather couldn't get in. But it always got in and blew snow on us (K. Oh, goahl) so they say. But now my folks uh when they went out--they never went out for things to eat more than onoe or twice a year beoause it would take three days to drive from where we lived to Cleveland, Ga., then it would take a week from there to Gainesville. And uh, we ~old, they sold oattle, they soldvsBlcl! hogs, chestnuts, and all of thoso things, were oarried out by wagon. \(, What would you raise uh to for your ovm food on on around there'! Well, we had the cattle, the hogs for the meat and then the wild game, and then they had uh gardens. And each year they'd have to save their own seed, see. I don't know how the first seed get started, but at any rate (Inaudible). No-o-o (laugh) at any rate they had to save their ovm. I suppose that one thing --saving the garden seed--has been handed down to me because I'm a very funny perscn--I save seed, too, from one year to the other of the particular thing5 I Uke to pl,mt. Now if you were to visit my mother in Helen, she just might churn for you" even. vlhat is that? (1 didn't understand what she had said). Over in lie len, my mother, Nlrs Vandiver. She might--she would probably' be-- have milk in the ohurn to ohurn. -12- K. Qh. Churn. Gal-lee. She still lives there? Mrs to "IN. Yeah, and she does it this way. (Gestures like a hand churn). You have seon a churn, haven't you? K. Yeah. Uh huh. Nlrs. W. Well, and then the dasher is just a straight thing with the uh 1Nell, it's like uh maybe that (gestures) and then/dashes up and down, and it doesn't ~!JJL . take long if that milk is warm, and the butter oolleets and then you gather it in with the same dash. And I have a butter mold here. K. Here? Qh, I was going to ask you did you evor have one Yos, we had a butter mold. Everybody had one. 'fell me about, you said, uh in the drippings that y' all were making, uh rjlrs .. W.. 'fho soap? Yeah, the soap out of--you said you used, uh N(rs .. W.. l'ho ashes? lIlt No" the cracklings that 1,1Jere~>'us6d in the bread, how did this worle? Mrs .. W. Well, it's the r,rease, ylsee, you have to have Some fat and then you have to have the potash. Potash comes from your uh ashes (K. Question) Mmm hmm, and those two o Now, if you are going to make uh, they used to use some ki.nd of oils but I don't know what they were. But the only three thin!;s were the Vlater, the potash and the fat. Sn,o ke 30me houses you Imow. They were open where the air just went through. you had a table or anything in your smokehouse. And how did you store the soap? Well. Well, if (J.....{r were notjl\ti ght, You could build them with logs where they open. They had no such thing;s as K. Mrs .. IN. J'reerzers, of course, and uh they hung the meat. Now 'fBo:SrfUi)nOsnt,'ae,n.'oSe--.lf' thoy o{ofkilled a boef, well that beef was out up-as they used it and it would hang; in it the smokehouse so you would store your soap in there just cut/lin squares and Mrs .. W. -13- and laid on the shelf. and piok up a square when yeu needed it. Well, how did yeu store--did y'all oan vegetables? CO.JYIV\ Yes. Uh huh. Db, they were mrt>~elt>, and right now those oans they had then are very popular. They are trying to find them. And I am looking for some, too, even thoelgh I have oanned in them and owned some myself, I expeot, helt just wasn't as oareful. K.. LiY's .. IVlrs .. Do you have some now? of thG , of' tho CB_fls? No. Uh till. I don't. I just havo regular Mason jars. But I notiood the other K. Nirs .. Wo K.. l/lrs. Vi.. K. Nirs ll v'J. K.. Mrs .. W~ day' in uh in the uh Market Bulletin that there's --that they are looking for the blue ones, y'know, they used to have Blue'! I don't think I have seen them. Well, you have seen a regular Mason jar? Hight. 'Well, it's just the oolor of the r,lass. It's blue. And then the other one that they want is uh is used to have a glass top. All you had to put on it was the ru.bber ring and thon it. had "" wire thinii thD.t pushed up on it. And Everybody is trying to find one now .. They uh fill them full of oolored beans or uh just uh an~rthing like that. Anything decorative .. Um-m hm-m. Did y' all-how did y' all store potatoes and uh Yfull, d / Uh, the potatoes were stor"d out in the ~0 ~~r~e VI d~. A hole was dug in the ground and if you had hal' you. laid hay in it. The potatoes VJ8re all put i.n a pi10 and oove~rod up", Same way with oabbage, oollards, turnips 8 .. 8 Gosh I and that' G the way they were stored. I didn't InlOW all those were presorvable o Sweet potatoes o Sweet potatoes were one thing that just might have stayod K. j;ll ).~S. We K. Nh's~ Yr. K. Mrs. 'N .. Ko Mrs" VJ .. -14- bett,w in the ~roul1d but now they havo found that drying them keeps them bette,'. Do you sti 11 ooole any of the foods that you learned to 0 ook? ? V~lel1 you wore littlo? I aook crackling bread 011.-11.. JLv...;L-r' , " have you "hoard of that? Yes, I have hoard oJ' it, I uh, I don't lenow anything about it. Db, it's ,just a regular cornbread, but you'd nut in the cracklings--and you know where you 1 d get craoklings,\l don I t you? :\fell, if you lei lied a hog and you rendered the lard, see, ycu had fat and you put i.t 0]1 to malee lll,rd out of it. Yvhat is left i.s just a orackling. I'll show you some. But what's lef'b is just a crackling. It's just uh--well, it's just the meo,t, y'lmow. It isn't tho skin from what. was flesh 1N8.S--fat, 80e, that was just out up .. Now the skins are rendered separately. Bub this soap business "will eat the skins up, see, tlfYC"Y) and you know the potash will uh and, ,just that makes /,so that we always saved all of the skins and all the drippings and evorything like that ... Mrs .. W. K. NIT's .. lJ'L. K. liThat did you do with the different parts of the animal after you killed it'I Well, uh--no'llVlater on uh my father salted it dOVln, and the way they did that-- they just laid each piece out, just covered it in salt. And then when we made sausage Vie put the sausage in shuoles--do you lmow what I'm speaking of when Corn shuoks? ~ Yes. Take n corn shuck and "'lir put it in water to make it flexible, and then as you make a pattie ouf of tho sausage, put it in that, cover it, tie both ends, lay it out on the meat, and that would last a month or so, It wouldn't get old, you know, Isn't that somethingl Mrs 0 VT ll K.. K. Nix's. iFi. K. K. K. Mrs" \No -15- Well, it was really interesting. And I even did the sausage like that after I married, and I have been married 34 years '" (Laugh) Gol 35 years .0. The old ways stay with you. VUell, really it"IS about as well to preserve that tYlJe of meat as to free;ce it, beoause if you freeze now you can'"t put S8J.t in it, you know, on your mea\; U11 huh. ,q,d .,. it's ,just like taking a fresh pieoe of moat out and the freezer doesn't keep pork as long as it will keep beef. You have to oat tho pork soonor (laughter) than the other. But, now I wlways was real interested in the uh using the shucks, you know, and uh fixin' it. Then another way they learned later on, and I guess this was before I was marded, we 1 earned to wash the ~} entrails, the the guts, you might call '4m, the small ones, and we would turn them wrong side out and they would soak in a salt solution Uh-huh. for a good while. Then we'd take 'em, lay them drip n'dry, and then we'd '. stuff those with sausage. So that that made uh anethor tYlJe ef sausage, and all you had to do Was hang it over A pole? Yes, uh huh, and all you had to do was cut it off. So that'" the way they did with beef, too, baok then and all these wild e.n1ilmals that they ki lled--they wore all ,just hung in pieoes or llleat Turkey, and things like that'! Yes, 1IIell, we never had enough turkeys to actually have to do them like that. There was ,just the one season, you know that--well, you oould see 'em, you know, --L 'me?Sj all the time, but you ,just never--but one timo lllest of these things wore killed ... lvirs. W. :Mrs. \"l. K. Mrs. W. -16- The bones of the animals. Now, this--after we moved out from our--into Helen, and this' mill oame in, my father killed the beef for the oompany. They had uh oamps you know for their hO.nda thRt worked, it W9.S really booming. And he had the slaughter pen. He killed so many beeves a week to send to these different camps. Well, the bones were sold for buttons, don't you Imow you get bone buttons, and the different type of bone made a different type of button, see. And when they'd oome we would be so thrilled. We lcids would get the money for pioking up the bones. So they were sold for buttons. Oh, I S6e. And then he'd really ... Mow if if we farmed, everybody made their own beans, they made their own pe",s, and they thrashed 'em, How did they do that? Well, they had a big--for instanoe, they had a barn/lend there was a .floor in the.t barn, they'd be poured in the middle on .. sheet, a big 01", "ltoJe or sheet or somethin' so they wouldn't go through. When they were real good and dry, you took stioks and beat 'em, And then you'd .. - as they were--you' d bee.t out you'd move the bean husks out "rtj";i-o'N,) and,it finally ended up with your beans dovill 4\. here. Then the vlP>.y they oleaned 'em was when the wind was blowing from a oert ..in direotion and you'd stand out with a buoket and let the beans drip "nd as th~ ~""n:SJ dripped down the winds bl owed the ohaff aw9.Y, So that's how they ye9.h, uh huh. K. For goodness' sake I Mrs. W. K. Mrso W. (Inaudible--9. reference to the Bible). It all oan come from th",t, even soap making's in it. I started to hunt (laugh) Law' I could give you the plaoe, But uh ah now, of oourse, tho it up fed dry K. things that wo have--we still dry apples Oh, reallyl ... -17- I/lrs '" y~. K. Mrs", wr "'~ t,:):. ;.4. iJA'--.-lJ/yj C Well, now, I do, I ~~m'-b_M this year, How do you do that? Well, you, you have a good ":ople that Vlill cook up, and you just out it u.p in small little pieoes and put it out on a pretty, olean oloth and uh uh let it have sunshine maybe one day er so and tt's dry, ready to put up. Leather britches? Leather britohes. That's it. Oh, I'd love to see that. And, 00, let me se" noVi if there's anything else. They used to dry pumpkin Yes .. Yes ... lJfuat do you oall these uh kind of uh green beans? Are they called long Johns? , ., y' all dry and string them out? K. For heaven's sake. Yes. YCJs. I've got that and I'll show you that. Uh, huh, I have got those, too. Q.o4.J.., Do you still ~ those here? K. Mrs .. VI. K. Mrs. vro K. PI1rs co 1,!'-f. K. l\ilrs .. fJ\,!. K, Mrs .. W. for whioh they don't do anymore, and tho way they did that, they'd out it in strips and hung it up. And then how did they oook it afterward? Well, they just washed it, ohopped it up, and put it in the pot and it oooked. K, Mrs. w. K. hitrs. w. Oh, it just dried out? (j.,.L It would dry out, m'huh ... And, uh let me see now if there was anything else. Of oourse I've told you how the potatoes Vlere stored. j,j'huh. Did y' all raise rioe? Mrs Q W. No. No. Huh huh. K. What did you have to buy? Mrs o W. We had to buy--now we raised our own corn 8nd we had water wheel mills 0 K. Did y'all have your own or did you te.ke it somowhere? -18- Well, uh yeah. It vmsn't very far over the lUount.in that we had to take our K. corn, but we had to be sure and we had to shell it by hand How did, how did you do? Would it have to be dried first? ... K. Mrs ... W.. K. Mrs ... Vi. K. JHys ... W. K. Mrs. W. Yes. 11.eal well dried before it can bo made into lUeal. Well, we had our own me(~ / ..mH:"1. And then if we raised uh--at times my father after he oame out of the cnA./t" mount.ins raised wheat and we had our flour for the years. But if we a arne, to the store the things that would be bought would be sugar, coffee and, of oourse, we had no noed for the lard or er M5huh. I don't lmow ,just ;just what else. Little story my brother ,just 'lhinks is perfectly wonderful. He said that my father went out shopping and he got to go along, and it was olose to Christmas time, and he goes to Cleveland, Ga.. And when he starts back he buys a dozen oran!':es. And he knew, at that time there was uh 10 in the family, 8, 10 in the family, and he oame by Grandfather cruMle~ IS c..<.-v,}, which was my mother's parents; he gave eaoh of them one. And he said I shook my head 'cuz there's only 10 left. And then we stopped at Grandfather and Grenillnother Vandive~, and that ,just left 8. And on the way he peeled one, and gave me half of it, SOy there was ,just 7 left. But those oranges after we got home lasted 7 days beoause lily father peeled one at night and gave eaeh ono of us a pieoe ....... Ah-h-h. 'Now, that's ,just a story (lau1;h) of his ... Yeah. But to my opinion it was in a sonse as much true.--,just about as true as could be. Yeah, something really special. M'huh. It was, it was speoial. And loan remember one real Christmas in my life. After we oame to Helen and the new home was built--you know you had a Mrs. w. K. IVlrs. VlJ.. -19- po.rlor and usually that was loolmd up, and there W8.S a great big hall wont through the house, Msually and tho rooms were on the sideS of the hall. Well, one ye9.r loan remember my mother looking (laugh) the parlor, so that year I had a real Christmas. I had a doll; but we always got something together, those of us who were left at home; and it mi.ght probably have bean a little red w!.l.gon (inaudible) stioks of oandy and the red wagon How did y' all oelebrate Christmas? Did you have any Mummers plays or anything ( k~)\i.\ like that? Did y'll11 MUm at all? No. My fmnily was a square-danoing family. Oh, really. Yeah (laugh). But I have B brothers, 2 sisters. And er the boys ple.yed a banjo PJ,nd a violin. So they were the music makers. / e-)(,'.)/ E: S () r ()!C (, /,4 -' 7;, /(oc/C I Ilou/tN/lt! (/;0/ ( ..00.\) !Vf/(..~t-d) i; t6tl!& (go ~_S'~*- JIC 'C/ ,<;;'-J171"J ~l r,)o oj,/ t' S " lil/C E \ Permanent Addresses Colleotor, Kathleen C. Kelly 2003 LaVista Road, N. E. Atlanta, r~or~ia 30329 Informants: Mrs. ~JEHnf3s Patterson Suohes, Georgia 30572 Mrw. Kline Woodie Suohes, Georgia 30572 A PDF transcript exists for this recording. Please contact an archivist for access. 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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