James Johnson interview with Helen Noble, Mr. Noble, Joe Bushfield, Allen Williams, Carrie Williams, Mattie Singleton, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jenkins, Ralph Ridley, and the band The Sheriff and the Deputies (part three)

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 third of a three-part interview. In this part, a music group called The Sheriff and the Deputies, led by Sheriff Ralph Ridley, perform about 40 songs. Ridley explains that the group takes old folk songs and changes them to suit their purposes. He describes their music as bluegrass or just hill-billy. The band includes two mandolins, a guitar, a fiddle, a banjo, and a bass fiddle. They perform songs including You Dont Love Me Anymore, Little Darlin, I Need to Hold You in My Arms, The Cabin on the Hill, Goin Down that Road Feelin Bad, and Goin Up Cripple Creek.
Helen Noble and her husband, Mr. Noble (1901-?), lived in Aiken, South Carolina, on Abbeville Street. Allen Williams grew up in Allendale, South Carolina. He married Carrie Williams, and they lived in Aiken, South Carolina. Mattie Singleton (1912-?) was the daughter of Martha Morgan and the granddaughter of Reverend George Morgan. Mrs. Jenkins (1944-?) lived in Aiken, South Carolina, and was a neighbor of the Noble family. Ralph Edward Ridley (1920-1979) lived in Dahlonega, Georgia, and served as the sheriff. He led the musical group The Sheriff and the Deputies. Additional biographical information has not been determined.
This paper is an attempt at reporting on folklore as it was collected from the Negro inhabitants of Aiken, South Ca;olina, on the day of February 25,1'967. The main informant was Mrs. Helen Noble of Abbeville, street, in Aiken. It must be explained that Mrs. Noble is an old friend of the collector, and she appears to have tried to suit her con- versation to the collector's purpose in a sincere effort to help. It is not the opinion of the collector that this attempt was harmful. to the quality of the material collected in that no falsification ,on the part of Mrs. Noble, occurs in the context of the pertin:t~ material which she offered. It must also be explained that the electric guitar which is audible during the greater portion of the first side of the tape, is the product of Mr. Joe Bushfield, who, at the request of ~s. Noble and some of the other informants, went along during the collecting. The tape begins with Mr. Bushfield's rendition of' Hr.~istylf. For the convience of the listener, numbers indicatinG the position of any important selection on the tape, will be included in this report. 0020- Mrs. Helen Noble singing "Nobody Knows" in C. maj or. Nobody knows the trouble I've see, Nobody knows but Jesus; Nobody knows the trouble I've see, Nobody knows but th~ Lord. I'm sometime up and sometime down, ye~ my Lord; I'm sometimes almost level with the ground, yes, my Lord. Nobody knows the trouble I've see, Nobody knows but Jesus; Nobody knows the trouble I've see, Nobody knows but the Lord. Collector: "Where did you learn that?" Mrs. Noble: "Well, um, a long time ago my grandmother used to sang that song." Coll.: "Did she get it out of a book?" Mrs. N.: flAb, I 1t Coll.: "I know she didn't get it off of a record." Mrs. N.: "Well, it was jus' a old family tradition, I would say, but they set around the fireplaces those days an' they sang those songs, y'know, those the kind of songs that they sang back there in their day, y'know." CoIl.: "Did you sing them in church?" Mrs. N.: "Yes, that, uh, so many that I'm sure that it was sang, uh, sanged in church, an', ah, they would have all these lil' spirituals an' I think on Saterday nights when families had nothin' else to do, they woul' sit around fierplaces an' sang these 01' songs, jus' like, ah; Go down Moses, way down in Egypt land; Tell, tell, oh Lord, to let my people go." [At this point Mrs. Noble began a lengthy discussion of life on her grandmother's farm. She describes the house, her grandmother's bed, the division of labor among the children, the planting, and the harvesting2! Mrs. N.: "We, ah, woul' go an' get watermelons out de fiel' an', dig sweet potatoes, an' she say don't dig aroun' a plant unless you see the groun' crack, if de groun' crack dere was a p~tli.to " dat's how you coul' tell." ,[lVIrS. Noble tells about planting and some weather signs:) 00120- Mrs. N.: "Iiell, my grandmother used to tell something about, jus' like a moonshiney nights, o~ somethin' like dat, she say she see de man in de moon an' he burnin' brushes an' I coul' never see d~ man in de moon an' I coul' never see de brush bein' burned, but she had a way of tellin' dat, y'know, an' she 2 woul' teach it to us - lot of 'em caught on, I guess I was the dum' one an' I didn' ketch on to that." [Mrs. Noble describes more farm life. She talks about Thanks- giving, her grandmother, cooking, and children's partiesJ 00193- Mrs. N.: "Doin ' doodles, y'know, you never, sure you never seen those, yeah, y'see dese lil' 01 ' things an' ya say, 'Doodle doo some bread and butter, doodle doo, come get your supper,' an' here's a lil' 01' bug woul' back out dis hole, an' we woul' collect doodles." This ends the interview with Mrs. Noble, but she will appear actively in every other interview on the tape. This interview took place in her home. It was interesting that only the dining room and the kitchen of her home were heated, even though it was extremely cold that day. There was a fire in the fireplace, but there was also a gas heater present, right next to the fireplace. The next informants were Mr. and Mrs. Allen (and Carrie) Williams. Much like the Nobles', house, only one small room of the Williams home was heated. Mr. Williams is blind but his affliction is noticible only to those who know about it because he has become so expert at hiding it (when asked about the time, he looked toward the clock on the mantle and then made a surpris- ingly accurate guess). Mr. Williams is from Allendale, South Carolina, and his first recollections are about this town in the first part of the century. He describes the "Frolics" that took place almost every weekend. 00263- Mr. W.: "Naturally, used to give what you call Frolics at that time, yeah, dey call 'em Frolics. De grown folks'd go from one house to the other, on Sa',urday night, proba' ly if you give one this Sa'urday night, next Sa~urday night probably some- body else nearby'd give one. They sell peanuts, a nickel a glass 3 an' things like dat an' they'd have fish or chicken they'd sell, y'know, I think sold fo' 'bout five an' ten cent a samwitch, I remem'er that very well. We'd pickin' de g'i~ar kinna like he was pickin' dere a while ago, wan't a g'itar neither, was a banjo in them days, that's right." D~r. Williams describes the banjoJ CoIL: "Was there one person in the town; one person who had a banjo?" Hr. W.: "Oh,yeah, you din' see a banjo every dayan' Sunday, nmr, jus' every now an' then there'd be someone have, y, know." CoIL: "Were there really good singers and everybody would go and see them?" Mr. 1... : "Oh yeah, an' den dey'd go in, on a Sunday dey'd go in de edge of de woods, y'know, an' dey'd get together, y'know, I an' dey'd sing what y'call a notes; duh, sUh, me, or sometin like dat - I never did go toward songs, but man, dey'd really make music, it.was really good, too." 0011.: "What, sort of like a square dance?" ~~r. vT.: "De square dance, that would be to de Saturday night frolic, I mean where dey go on a Sunday in de, out in de edge of de woods an' sing, why dat was de, ah- they sing notes, dey practive notes, y'know, an' dat ,.,as really music." CoIL: "Did they sing church songs?" Mr. W.: "Well, dey was notes, don't you know? Dul, suh, me, " .. Col.: "Ohl Fa, so, .la?" Mr. W.: "Yeah, dat, was- dat's right- I ,never could sing it." [ihere follows much useless persuasion in an attempt to get Mr. Williams to sing. There is an inquiry into other, later, 4 music. Mr. Williams describes old singers and records. there is a discussion of church songs and - 00365- Mrs. Noble and Mrs. Williams sing "SWeet Home" j "Sweet home, sweet home, sweet home, sweet home, Lawd I wonder if I'll ever get home; Father, I stretch my hand to thee, No other help I know." [There is more discussion of songs and church. Mrs. Noble talks about her father. Mr. Williams talks about his father~ 00406- Mr. W.: "My father, he used to fire on the train and at that particular time they changed firemans at Allendale, he'll come from Savannah, he'd get down to Allendale coal chute, an' one'd get on de Allendale, he'd go to Columbia. (this last was very confusing and hard to understand) An' this particular mornin' someone shot his hog, the hog come to the house, the hog was bleedin' - we heard de gun down in de woods, I didn'd know whether it was hontin' or what it was, but someone shot de hog. An' you know dat long freight train a sot an' blowed an' waited an' blowed out dere for over an hour. An' you know he wouldn' go to work dat mornin'? He stayed home an' cleaned his hog. An' it's a wonder dat dey didn' fire him. Well, 'course dey layed him off for a month or fifteen days, but dey layed him off. He stayed home jus' to clean a hog, y'know, a good job like dat. I would a forgot about de hog." ColI. : "Well, you can't let a good hog go to waste." (General merriment ensues) ~here is a description by Mrs. Williams of cleaning the house, especially the floor, and of the division of the work among the children. Then follows much reminicing about the good- old times everyone used to have at the lake. Mr. Williams also talks about how dating used to be. In order to persuade Mr. Williams to tell 5 a story, Mrs. Noble. tells, unknowingly, a very traditional tall tale;; "The First Day That I Gone Huntin'''. 00616- lJIrs. N.: "This was somethin' about the first that I , . gone huntin'. And say, ah, he (her husband, supposedly) got out in de woods an' he only had a few shells, an'-of-ah, th~ game start floatin' everwher'. Say that, he saw twelve ducks floatin' on de water, so he threw a brick out in to de water which it hit, struck one duck an' each duck struck the other one, so he had twelve ducks out there to pick up, so he got into de pond an' he was wearin' hip boots an' he throwed all de ducks on de bank. To his surprise, he couldn' get out 0' de water because his boot was full of fish (laughter) and, ah, he says that then when he managed to get the fish out his boot to thow the fish on de bank, here he was in between a polar bear and a rattlesnake, an' then he didn' know which one to shoot first. Say, the barrel of his gun broke, one part hit the polar bear in the for'ead an: the other half hit de rattlesnake. An! on his way on with so many games he didn' know to do, so he was gonna go up de hill to get his wagon to come down, to bring it down, to get all dis game dat he had killed. And say, that ah, then he saw eight squirrels up a tree. Say, he reached up to pull a l~b an' de limb broke an', it split an' de limb hit one squirrel an' got caught in dis thing an' .all of the others came down an' so he had all those squirrels. On his way up de hill, he threw a brick an' hit one rabbit an' killed twelve, (Laughter and exclamations) so he had to get the REA (Railway Express) ... " Hr. Williams: "Well, he was still - not cuttin' you off - but do he still deacon right straight on'?" (more laughter) Mrs. Noble: "Well, he had to get the REA an' Rick'S curin' 6 place (a local meat packing firm), an' his pick-up truck to come to get all of de game dat he had killed:in one day."" [At this point Mrs. Noble told a doubtful local legend about how the town of Barefoot, South Carolina, got its name~ 00666- Mrs. N.: " they lived in Wagener (ivagner), South Carolina, and that all the chillren went in their bare feet. They used to walk eight miles to another place an' they started to name this place Barefoot, South Carolina. Say, that's why its named Barefoot." This was, for all scholarly purposes, the end of the interview with Mr. and Mrs. Williams. , The next informant was Mrs. Mattie Singleton whose main talent was singing. Mrs. Singleton is about fifty- five years old and she lives in a very nice, modern home, the result of a large inheritance. Her most valued possession seemed to be a one-hundred year old accordion,left her,'by her father, with which she interrupted seve~al of the songs. She began her performance with an exerpt of "Go Down Moses" which will not be included here. Her next selection was "Swanee River." - 00711 (Way down upon the Swanee River) " far, far away, There where my heart is yearnin' ever, There's where the old folks stay. All up and do~m the whole creation, sadly I do roam; Still longing for de 01' plantation, and for the old folks at home. " All round de (lift 1) I wander, when I was young and many happy days; Many a song I sung, when I was playin' with my brother an sister. Oh, take me to my kind 01' mother, There let me live and die; way down upon the Swanee River, That's where the old folks stay:' Mrs. Singleton's next selection was, "All God's Children got Shoes," an old spiritual. - 007" 6 7 (I got shoes, you got)," shoes, All of God's children got shoes, When I glt to heaven, gonna put on my shoes, I'm gwinna shout allover God's heaven, Heaven, heaven, I'm gonna shout allover God's heaven. I got wings, you got wings, All of God's children got wings. When I get to heaven, I'm gonna put on my wings, I'm gonna shout allover God's heaven, Yes, heaven, heaven, when I get to heaven, I'm gonna shout allover God's heaven. I got a harp, you got a harp, All of God's children got a harp, When I get heaven I'll play on my harp, I'll play all~over God's heaven, Heaven, heaven, gonna play allover God's heaven." ~s. Singleton tells some of her family history and about an old house in the town. She also tells about some of the old games that she used to play, adding that her father made up most of the games that his children played~ 00889- Mrs. Singleton: "An' them my father used to think of a whole lot 0' games to make us play. I remember one that he had. He'd get a, a roun~ bottle, like a whiskey bottle, an' he'd put it on de flo', not the way the planks aregoin', (but) kinda kattywhompus, y'know, de planks run dis way, you put it dis way. An' you pUll off your'shoes an' you sit on dis bottle an' you put your toes up like dis (heel to toe, vertically) an' thread - who coul' thread de needle, would get a prize." ~here follows a further description of the game. Mrs. Singleton and Mrs. Noble talk about their parents and their various courtships and marriages~ 01041- Mrs. Singleton tells an anecdote: "Uh, say, once dere was a man he, had been a great hun.ter, an' he had a stroke, wall, d~y say it was a stroke of pineralusy, an' he hadn' walked in years. An' his son was goin' huntin' so he asked his son if he could go along. He say, 'Dad, bow you goin' huntin' in a wheel 8 9 chair?' An' so he say,'No, you have to stay here.' So finally, one of de fellows say,'Well why not take him on? SaY,two of you strong men,~say, pick him up an' let's carryon.' So they carried him on. The dogs started runnin', runnin', runnin', you know, an' barkin', barkin', an' finally dey treed whatever dey had, a coon they thought. An' dey carried 01' pop over dare an' sat him down underneath the tree, y'know an' he was so happy to hear de dogs run. An' he's settin' dere lookin' up in de tree, waitin'. Finally dey shined the lantern up dere an' saw the eyes glitterin' in de tree an' dey say oh well, dey got a big coon up dere. An' dey couldn' get him down so one of the men went up with de axe an' cut the limb off. When they cut the limb off, an' the limb come tumblin' dOrm, with the coon, they thought, but it was a great big bear. ~~' when he hit de groun', everybody turned tails an' away they went. An' dey ran an' ran an' when the man got home, jus' fell in de door. An' when he fell in de door, he say, 'Ohl I forgot about poor 01' dad. Say, well, dad I'm sorry, say, caus' I know de bear done eat you up long ago.' An' he looked aroun' old pa said, 'Dog if dat's so, say I beat de dogs home.' "(Laughter) This ends the interview with ~~s. Singleton. The next informant was Mrs. Jones who lives on the Bostwick Farm, about ten miles east of Aiken, S. C. We found her in the kitchen making butter. She was about seventy-five years old. 01080 - Mrs. Jones tells how to make butter. ~Oh, start With, you milk de cow in de mornin', strain it, set it aside, an' den de cream will rise, an' dey do dat day after day until de week, aw, y'know, 'bout, near 'bout a hour. Den you put it in dese glass churn, dis, an' dat's de dasher, see, electrics dasher, ya put 10 dat in dere, an' ya plug it in. An' sometime, 'bout a hour or a half an hour, your butter's here. Den you take it up an' get it all together, poe it in a pan or somthin' like dat, an' get de butter milk from de butter. You wash de butter, an' by den, three waters, an' you take it out den an', um, clean it good, an' den you put salt in it, you stir it up, an' den you mold it out in haf a poun' or a poun', y'see, den you wrap it, den put it away an' dat's de way y'sell it." ~ore questions asked about the making of the butter. Mrs Jones tells how they used to get water and wash, and also about some of the common games she used to play. There are vain attempts at getting Mrs. Jones to sing. However, Mrs. Jones was persuaded to tell a story. It was a very good Jack Tale:J 1294 _"Dere was a maihn, so dey tell me now, a lady used to tell us all dem thing, Der was a man once, him an' his wife raised seven head of boys, and she graduate 'em - way back dere, I don' know when, dey call how fer dey got befo dey was graduate - but say she finish 'em, see, such as a finish was, I guess. But anyhow, when she got 'em . la.n1 in' all gone, an' a l,ittle llne (?), say, she said, now boys, now I done finish y'all, now, your oldest one, I don' remember (but) one name, an' dat was Jack, dat was de la' one she talk wit. But all de rest she axed'em, now what do you wanna be? He say I wanna be a preacher. She axed another one, what do you wanna be? Say, I wanna be a doctor. Well, what do you wanna be? ~but she was callin' dey names but I don' Jack, he remember dere names - an, say, I dat's fine. - Now I'm cuttin' de story short - wanna be a school teacher. tpJ.al!. Say ,/'now, Say, well always wears his hat pulled over one eye an' sorta look at ya when 11 you ain't lookin' at him. Dey always jus' say "01' 'Jack" all de time 'cause he act different from all de rest of de boys. She say, Well, Jack, what do you wanna be? He say, Well, Momma, you asked me an' I'm gonna tell ya, I'm gonna be a rogue. Say, dat Ay, we done all we could to raise an' all de rest wanna be somethin' an' you wanna be a rogue? He say, Yes maam, I wanna be a rogue. So she grab de fier iron, she say, Dis here an' struck 'im in de face, see, an' cut him up dere, an' drew 'im out, say, if you wanna be a rogue, don' ya foot my door no more. So he lef'. An' he went off an';;et with a 'xpert rogue, see, had done trained, had his saploma. An' so he tol' him what he wanted ta be, well he was one so he learned under him, see? An' say, he stayed off about six or seven years, an' she dubst thought somebody had done killed him, caused he was gone so long, but all de res' was jus' what dey wanted to be, but dey had so much chillren an' so much up an' down dey couln' hep dere parents much, but dey done de bes' dey coul', So, Jack he was off somewhere an' he had it so bad that, say, he say, dat I'm goin' home now see if my parents are livin' or dead, see. So Jack brought his bUddy wid 'im. An' he come in, he wouldn' tell her who he was an' wouldn' take off his hat, cause she would a'seen de scar. An' say, he said, an; lady, he say, has you got any boys? Say, he say, she say Yeah, I got six, pop, I had seven, but I don' know where de other one, say, he wanted to be a rogue an' I didn' want the him off, an' I guess somebody done idea of my chile stealin' so I driv ~I L !N">'-O ,t;;JJV...:.,. I fir iYJ ;k ';(.4 killed him. A Say, you reckon? '~.;y. / Say, she say, Yeah, cause I haven' seen him in seven years. So, afta while he push his hat up, an say, do you know dis scar? Say she look, say, Oh~look a' my chilel Dis is'n my chile. Well, son, what is you now? What you is? He say, I'm jus' I tol' ya I wonna be, say, I'm a rogue. Tol her husband, well, listen dat. He say Mama, I can do 12 anything you want done an I jus' come back here to see how y'all doin' cause I'm jus' what I wanna be, an' I don' hide to do what I'm doin'. I get my saploma. Dis other one say, Yes, he is, he train under me. So, dat time dere was a li'l boy comin' long wit a tray 0' mutton on his head goin' to town. An' he seen it an' he say, Now Mama, would you like to have some mutton for dinner? She say, Yeah, you gonna go to de station an' he say, I'll get ya some. So he run cross de creek. When he seen de boy goin' to de creek, he run crosst de creek an took off one 0' his slippers an' put it down in de road. See? Den he come back on dis side an' hide. No, he went away an' hide. So de boy got dere wit his mutton an' he saw dat slipper so he put his tray down. Say, I believe I '11 look aroun' goin', back on de other side, an' I might find de other feet of dis slipper an' I'll have de pair 0' slipper. He put de tray down, wit de mutton'corn, wit dat siipper an' he v~nt to hunt de other one. Time he went back over to hunt de other one, he jus' run dere an' put on de slipper an' took up de tray of mutton an' went home, see, to his mother. Well, when de boy come back, he ain' seen nothin', don't y'see, come back huntin , de tray, so den dey tol' - he got down to de white man what dere was on de place, dot Jack Jack, what kind 0' was here. So (Til./';Dc) tray you got? den come down an' he say, Jack, Say he told him, I'm a profess(ional) rogue. He say, an' you come back here, an he say yeah, I just come back to see my mother an' father. He say, but I can do anything you want done - he tole de white man what de place it belonged to. He say, Well I know plenty thing I can tell you to do you can't do. He say, name 'em. He say, Well, I got ten head 0' horses in my lot up dere, an' I got ham, an' he say, I'm goin Q.nterruptioI!l he say, I'm he , 13 goin' - I want you to get all dem horses an mules, he say, out my lot an' don't let nobody see 'em. If you don' le~ nobody see 'em, you have 'em down here to your daddy hous~ by tomorrow, he say, I'll give you $2000, cause he jus' know he's gonna kill him, y'know. Jack tole ,4J2-'2-' him.that was easy done, let me go an' look over your place)~ Jack went up dere an' look an' he seen where de lot was an' all. So he come on back to de lodge. So, dat night, he went to the station, dat evenin' , an' bought enough rope to make ten halters, see. An' so Jack come I .. t/z,<rt.v jz...., back. den made dem halters, ten halters, him an' his buddy, see.~ Then {"Ovo R Jack went to de station later an' bought sree half a gallonsAof differ- ent kind, see? An' den dey mixed it an' he took dat liquor an' his friend an' went under de hill, from dis white man lot. An dey put it down, see. An dis a white man, had, oh, dey say he had all his han's out dere wit a beeg fier dat night to de lot, see, lookln' for de rogue, see, an' had gun. So Jack put on his rogue suit, what he wear'- jus' raggedy, :y'kno'li? An' say like de Ifqff'Swas over here to de lot, Jack ran way roun' an come up whistlin' like dis, y'know, bold an' he heared him whistlin' an' he come runnin' up, he said, Boys, what is y'all doin'? Say, we lookin' for rogues to come here an' -t take Miser so-an-so mules an' thing out yonder an he payin' us to mind. Say, yeah? Say, well dis fier feels so good an I ain' got on much clothes. I gotta mind stay here wit y'alL So dey say, Yeah, you'd be company. So Jack sat dere a while tellin' tales. After while Jack say, You know I wish I had somethin' to drink. We could enjoy stayin' out here tonight . Say dey say Yeah, but we can't lef' heah. Say, if we lef' heah de b05s man wouldn' want. us to lef' an' de rogue i/v~' . might come up. He say" if y'all chip in an give me a li'l money I'll ~~fI.o--~L/~M:;~?JO'_ , . go to de station an 'A he wen' on p~6k whistlin 'where 'de;r ~wouldn . th~~k "TaS !l;o~hin', y'know. ,w:~n~"OU1:>a.Ck;an'.wentroun,.~hts buddy an' got a gallon 0' dis mixed liq~or. Brought it back dl:If' lefl his buddy -- ---------------------------------, 14 W,T/l1f/ HAlT1( A an' he come on back an' he tal' dem all dat happen. I'll drink de poison off, say he just say glug, glUg,~tc~y'know and didn't drink none. An'dey all drunk. An' he's settin' by de big fier, say he jus' so smart, he jus' puttin wood on de fire, dat's to make 'em drunk, y'know. An say, after while, say dey commenced to start talkin' a li'l bit. Directly he say, Let's -an tal' dem what was talkin', say let's get a li'l bit more an' dat'll las' us till day. He went roun' an stayed a good while, thought dey was - for demto think he was gone back to de.station. Then got another gallon, well, he got back he just kep makin' out - he's fix en to make dem drunk so, directly all of dem really gone now, dey went to sleep. So he call an' dey . couldn' answer cause dey was drunk an' sleep, see, de fier had made dem sleepy. So den he went 'roun to his bUddy an'his buddy come ... , an' got dem hand halters an' come up dere an open de lot gate an put 'em on dem hosses an' mule an led everyone down to his daddy house an put 'em in his lot. Den he went in de house an' went to bed. Bofe of 'em. "Nex' mornin', say,' here come de white man on de frost, y'know, Comin' to see where his hoss, comin ' around an seen 'em all in his daddy lot. Well, Jack, I had people minein' my lot wid gun, an' how did you get up dere? Say, well, I jus' got 'em, you see dere an' dey ain't hurt. So he said, Well, Jack done get me but I'm gonna write him de check, so he wr~te him de check for the two thousand. So he said, Well I got somethin' else I want ya to do. I know I'm gonna kill you now. He say, Name it. He say, My wife got a gold ring on d her finger, an' he say, I want you to get dat ring wi~out hurtin' my wife an' without me knowin' it, an' you have dat ring here in de 15 mornin' an' I'll give you two more thousand, cause I know I'm gonna kill you now. Well, dey say dey stayed right a highray, an' direckry, o jus' before sundownA com~a huss (hears~ pass - ~n' they waited until after the funeral] Dey jus' buried, you understand, dey dug up dis dead man an' dey toted him after he (they) thought dey man was alseep, de man done shed up for de rogues, y'.know, he stayed upstairs but he showed dem what room he stayed in. So, Jack an' his buddy, one tote de ladder an' one tote de dead person an, say, he put de ladder side de house like dis an den he went up - his buddy went up de ladder an hold de dead man, y'know, where you could see a person face, to de window. Den he peck on de house, well, dat woke de white man an' his wife, an' say, when he look he coul' see dat, y'know say (den he dere. Dey sa;)dere's dat rogue pow, so he shot, see, shot through - /J.bjiJIJJLch-J! ~) ~", jus' throwed de dead~man.down, an' ,his buiidy took de ladder an' run, see? So dis man put on his shoes, you see, an' all, ft- an' got his flashlight an' his lantern an' his pistol an' went out to 'xamine de man he killed, see, dat was Jack. See, man layin' dere, well, when he went out, now, he went out de back, Jack was right under de house to de back step, see, an' time he went out an' went around de house to see where dis man was, Jack jus' run up de step, an' run upstatrs an' tole his wife, Say, darlin', say, I kill him,~ so now you give me de ring, de ring belongs to me now cause I killed him. You sure you Killed him? He say, Oh, yes I killed him - dat was Jack talkin' to de man Wife, Man out dere lookin' at de dead man. So, den, he say, Well I killed him so den he took his time, y'know, an' went back up de stair, an' Jack hadArun down an run back under de house wid de ring. So, say, first, when he did dat, - _.--.---- ---------------------. 16 say his wife said, Well, if you killed him, what you want with my ring? Say, I jus' want de ring, see, because, I killed him for you. So he say, so when he went in de house an' locked de door back an' ran upstairs, his wife Well darlin' , after you killed him, why did you come up here and insis' on me givin' you de ring? He say, I ain' asked you for no ring, I ain' been back in dis house! Say, Yes you did, you come to de bed an' inpis:~on de ring an' I too~ it off an' give (~j it to you. Dat was Jack.A So dat man couldn' hardly sleep, well, den he come on back an run under de house an' went back wid de dead man, an' he took him on his shoulder an' carried him on back to de cemetery. His bUddy done moved de ladder, see, so dey buried de man back an' went on back to his daddy house, an' went on t'bed. "Next mornin', here come de white man again. He said, Jack, I An didn' hurt my wife? thought I was gonna kill you las' night. Yessir, here it is. You got dat ring? He say, Nrw~ He say, No. Well, have(i/a... IIlIrtf) you got it? He say, I didn' took it, she give it to me. See, he axe her fur it, but she thought dat was her husband. He say, I didn' took it she give it to me, I tole you I could do anything you wanted done. He say, Well listen, dat's de last thing I want you to do, here's another check - See, dat was four thousand right dere. He say, Now listen, by tomorrow dis time, tomorrow evenin' by sich and sich a time, I don' want you be nowhere on my place. He say, Well, thank you, Cap'n. He say that dese my las' days anyhow, so he give, say, Mama, say, you hit me, an' didn' want me to be a rogue, an de other boys, deyain' gonna give you nothin', but how here one thousand,-two thousand for you an' two thousand for daddy. y'all is old an' you won't haf to work. An' him an' his buddy went on about dere business." This is the end of Mrs. Jones' story. It seems to show some racial overtones in that the hero of the story, Jack, who would, from the context of the story, seem to be a Negro, fools a white man and wins the white man's money, or, as the story could be interpreted, he won some degree of freedom or power from the white man. There are some traditional elements in the story. First of all, Jack is the seventh son and also probably not the smartest of the lot. Also, he overcomes many obsticles in order to obtain his goal in life; becoming a rogue. He does so with the help of another. These points are characteristic of the hero tale, but they playa prominate part in this tale also. (1he scene of the recording shifts here to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Noble. As Mr. Noble has worked with horses all of his life, he tells about the horse and buggy days. A neighbor, Mrs. Jenkins, comes in and sings "Cotton Needs a'pickin'''J "Cotton needs a'pickin' so bad, Cotton needs a'pickin' so bad, Cotton needs a'pickin' so bad, I'm gonua pick allover this field. Planted this cotton in April, On the full of the moon, We had a hot dry summer, That's Why it's open so soon. Cotton needs a'pickin' so bad, Cotton needs a'pickin' so bad, Cotton needs a'pickin' so bad, I'm gonna pick allover this field." (Tn" hll:/-t)Dy I~ Foul'l/) ItT-rttE~,..(J of 'HiS r~.'l'"S'-~/"'TlO"') ~t this point Mr. and Mrs. Noble begin what might be termed a ghost story telling session. Most of these were no more than personal experiences with personal overtones, and therefore not, considering the time element, worth transcribing. One of these stories, however, did appear traditional and will be repeated as followsU J.l1r. Noble: "Once upon a time, der was a 01' house. An" dis 17 -- ---------------------------, 18 01' house, nobody lived in' it, ghostes was so bad dat nobody lived in it. An' it was a 01' man, not a old_man, but a young man, he said dat he coul' stay in dat house, he want' scared 0' ghosts, 'cause ghostes'wouldn' bother him. So, my daddy betted dis man a load 0' watermelons, dis's in de summertime, dat he wouldn' stay all night in dat house. An' he,betted my daddy a pig that he would stay. So, dis night, dis man goes dere, li'l befo' sundown an' he goes to de house an' he shuts all de doors, he see dat everything be fastened, had a hammen, some of de doors he nailed 'em up an' windows, he nailed 'em all down to be sure dat nobody wouldn' try to slip in dere to try to scare him. An' he got him three plugs 0' tobacco to chew on, so he'd have plenty of tobacco to chew on while he's sittin' up dat night an' he had his pot 0' coffee on de fire to drink to keep him awoke. An' he's sittin' dere to that house that night, so he told, about twelve thirty, he looked at his watch, he looked at his watch, he said somethin', he looked aroun' his lef' shoulder an' he saw somethin', an' he turned an' he said, 'Ha, ha, don' seem to be but two of us here tonight. , Dis man said , 'From now on it ain' gonna be but one 'cause I'm gone. , An' out the winder he went, takin' the sash an' everythin' else with him. He hit de groun' an' he run mus'a been a quarter of a mile, he got tired, an' he sit down under de oak tree\o re s' The moon was shinin' , he sit down dere,- to res' , an' when he set down dererto res' de ghos' sat down by hilll, an' he said, 'Ha, ha, we been makin pretty good time tonight.' An' he said, 'Not none to what we gon' , I'm gone, babe.' An: he took out again. On de way down de road a rabbit run out in de road in front of him an' he say, 'Get out de road, brother rabbit, let I somebody run dat can run. An' he run den 'til he run into some woods, which it mus' a been 'bout 'nother quarter of a mile, which he'd run den jus' about a half a mile, an: he run into some bushes, thick bushes an' got all tangled up, an' dat where he come to hisself. SO,after den we wanted to see a mad man, ask Uncle Mose have he J I ever seem a ghost. ~here follows a few questions about Mr. NOble's story. Mrs. Noble also contributes some personal experience which she felt contained ghosts, but which were not, seemingl~ traditiona~ The Negro folklore of Aiken County, South Carolina, seems to be typical of any area of this type; that being generally rural and agricultural. Most of it is personally oriented and centered around the relationship between the Negro and the white man. This is understandible when thought of in the context of the strong slave tradition for which South Carolina was noted up until about one hundred years ago. Many of the informants in this study, in fact, seem to have vivid conceptions of the days of slavery which they learned from their grandparents. 19 . . eeds A'Pickin" I J 1\ C' -I I 1 J I I J. j -.. -J; -. .kA.. \J;. ~i- ........ 0.- ~- ....' --- .A.O .u... 1;\ , T '" ... J. J 10.. , , ,. "J T - I _1- A.o U.9'... .,...... r.J.. 0-..... kL. ~. , I- - j j 1 J J ~- " \ ,~. ,. '- o.-~ - A... -\ra9. 0' kL _. \J"" ~ I }fCJ, g f ltd ........ 1ld'o ..h e - \"- - so .." .. fC=42-0 . J Melody linefor "Cotton N ~"t"~ TII-~<A~_ 0J S.vUUfJ 2 The second tape in this study was recorded in Dahlonega, Lumpkin County, Georgia, on January 22, 1967. The group name is "The Sheriff and the Deputies" and their leader is sheriff Ralph Ridley. Mr. Ridley lives in a very modern house which is connected to the county jail by a sort of a dog trot" which is used as a garage. ]1r, Ridley called their music blue-grass or just hill-billy. He said that they had taken old songs and changed them to suit their purposes. The band consisted of two mandolins, a guitar, a fiddle, a banjo, and a bass fiddle. A list of the songs that were performed follows; - "Fugitive" \ WYJU- "j'1agg~e" r G~ <f' O a "* 'l - "Home, Sweet Home" - "Goin' Down That Road Feelin' Bad" 1- ci\fvt - "The Wreck of the Old '97" - "As Long as ILive" - "Goin' Up Cripple Creek" - "Salty Dog Blues" - "Matthew 24" - "Cumberland Gap" - "I Wonder vlhere You Are Tonight" - "Hot Coal, Cold Corn" - "Lovliest Night Of the Year" - "Just Because" - "Salty Dog" "The Ballad of".Jed Clampett" - "Grandfather's Clock" - "Ragtime Annie" - "Chicken Rail" - "Soldier's Joy" - "Down Yonder" _ "l'lay Down Ib GeorgiaII "Freckle Face Gal"
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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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