William James Corbett interview with Sammie Taylor Eskew

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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 recording starts with Sammie Taylor Eskew recalling gathering around the piano and singing at parties. Growing up in Nashville, Tennessee, in the early 1900s, there were only four houses on her street and each family had 10 to 30 acres of land. At 4:30, she recalls her father teaching the children games like Spin the Plate, Old Witch, Fox in the Morning, and Hide and Go Seek. 6:35: At parties, everyone gathered around the piano to play and sing songs, and sometimes a guitar was played for musical chairs. Eskew says she learned to play the mandolin from her brother-in-law. Next at 9:20, Eskew recalls Uncle Pleas, an enslaved person who decided to stay with her grandfather after he was freed. He played a harmonica and a jews harp, which he taught her brother how to play. At 12:06, she recalls some of Uncle Pleass stories. He told her about when they needed to travel 25 miles in December to bring her grandfather to his paternal grandfathers home after he was born. At 16:45, Eskew explains she stayed warm on long journeys by putting warm bricks in the bottom of the carriage to warm her feet. 18:00: Eskew then says that as part of their taxes, families in rural Tennessee had to repair the roads. When her brother turned 16 he fulfilled this task because her family owned a farm 30 miles outside of Nashville, Tennessee. At 22:14, Eskew details how to make hay, raise farm animals, and can fruits and vegetables. Next at 28:14, Eskew recalls large gatherings held at her home during Sunday open houses. At 29:14 she looks back on Christmas traditions, specifically eating ham and turkey, mac and cheese, asparagus, and making ambrosia salad and fruitcake. Eskew changes topics to dating customs at 43:27: Her first date was with a boy she met through friends on a camping trip, who sent her a dozen roses for her high school graduation and came from Kentucky to take her to the movies. She then recalls camping trips she went on at 47:25. Camping was popular amongst young adults, and they camped by the river. They would fish and swim, and sing around the fire at night. She cannot remember any specific songs. She tells a humorous story about getting lost in the woods and being taken in by a friends caretaker and his wife. 53:36: Eskew says that her father was a great storyteller who could make up ghost stories on the spot. The audio is blank from 56:35 to 1:03:16. Until the end of the audio, Eskew sings folk songs: 1:05:10 Old Uncle is Dead 1:06:15 Listen to the Mockingbird 1:08:17 Billy Boy 1:10:36 Hush Little Baby 1:11:49 My Good Old Man 1:13:47 Babys Fishing for a Dream 1:15:15 Country Gink 1:17:05 Frog Went ACourtin Sammie Taylor Eskew (1897-1988) was born to Samuel Alexander Taylor (1860-1926) and Rosa Taylor Tucker (1860-1946) in Nashville, Tennessee, one of nine siblings. She married Edward Eskew (1887-1924) in 1920 and had two sons, Robert E. Eskew (1922-2012) and Rhea T. Eskew (1924-2008). She died in Atlanta, Georgia. AHC Oral History Cataloging Worksheet File Information Catalogue number p,e~,)" . Io".n,,-'.).} P I'f'l I (...:I.' I'I Source Field' (ContentDM) Release form Yes or No . ,-:~, Transcript ( Yes .9~ No scanned: I--~'./-- ". 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 phvsical obiect here: Title H l' \ {'I - \ .. , (interviewee '_'00 '\ ,( - . name and date of interview) Description (bio on interviewee) ..~ . . , ,.', Creator (Enter either an individual's name or an organization) Collection Name (within the organization) Burrison Folklore Class Georgia Folklore Archives Creation Date Exact Date (yyyy-mm-dd) (use only one) f-:-:-----------t-----------------j Year (if only the year is known) Circa (4 diQit year) Year Span From To Object Type Media Format (VHS, reel to reel, etc Recording extent Image_ Text Text and image _ Video and sound Sound only~ Reel-reel Hours: Derivatives No Recording clip yes.o/ No Access copy format: Clip extent: 10 '.c.lc) Time code for clip (h:m:s) Notes (interview summary) Beginning: ')/, en l f \ ~ ;, End:-'-'-'-~(LRecording issues (background noise, echo, " static, etc.) f h b' t h Subject Information Enrer .Informati.o'n a-bout the content 0 teo )]ec ere: Subject Date Exact Date (yyyy-mm-dd) (use only one) Year (if only the year is known) Circa (4 digit year) Year Span From To Subject Who Last Name First Name MI \'" I . J c\7 n\!, , ,I, . P,I", " SUbject Country State County Town Local Name Location' "1 1') \J ":'~ ( u;,,, I" ('.0 Subject What AHC Cataloger will complete this for you. (LOC subject headinas onlv) Keywords Burrison, John Personal names See subject who for additional names UIV\ ( \ V>,\(O(f,".','. 1c..'I\()( c , Corporate names Geographic locations Topics 1'\\')1' \\\.1\1. 1 \tt\I(\\'\~ 'P,J', ..,\ ""'" ,<,,'~)" \" , \ t" ' .0 \ I., "i(.. IWFORMAN~IS NAN~: ADDHE8.': AGE: BIRTHDATE: PLACE.J2F ,BIRTH: WHlli{E YOU GREW UP IF DIFFERENT FROM PLACE OF BIRTH : FA~HEH 'S l!'ULL NAME: YEAR OF BIR TH PLACE OF BIHTH : WHERE HE] GREW UP: 11101'HEH 's FULli NAME: YEAR OF BIR1'H PLACE Oli' BIRTH WHEHE SHE GHij~ : UNCl,E PLEAS' BIl1THDATE BIH'l'HPI,ACE WHEHE DID lIE lVlJlj];) T YOUn GHANDli'A1' JIEH AND IN WHA'f YEAR? :Mrs. Robert Ed Eskew (Sammie Taylor) 18 Peachtree Circle N.E. Atlanta, Georgia 30309 Fulton County 71 years July 23, 1897 Nashville, Tenn. Same Samuel Alexander Taylor 1860 Davidson County, Tenn. Nashville, Tenn. Rosa Tucker Taylor 1860, Franklin, Tenn. lVloved from Franklin to Nashville when she was a small child. 1826 (or '27) Virginia Moved to Tenn. with Taylor family when they came to White County, Tenn. from Virginia about 1830. Uncle Pleas was the son of one of the slaves of my great grandfather. Uncle Pleas (nine years old at the time) was given to my grandfather at his birth as his person- 8.1 slave.(property) Although freed, Uncle Pleas chose to continue to live with the family until his de8.th in 1916 or 1918. He was a kind, gentle, religious man ac'ting as gJil.ide in every way to my grandfather" s children (4) and his grandchildren (8) in' bur f8.mily. He "bossed" any and all other hired help in the family. C ," I lcc~' .. "- ') (' \' "J <OC <c. + !, '( ]" M.c:, Ii\} , C ,', "\) e.++ ;2,~ 'i'i C ('"\) (' 'j (') \" . A~'\"l\+'" (;'CL 3 0 J ' 3.2:! I ( ..., (S L\._.. t' ~ c J. C. JAlv,ES CORBET'.!': What did you do in 'L'ennessee for entertainment on a Saturday ni~ht? ~/[i_S. 1':SK1':W: When I was a girl, masquerade parties were the big thing and you just, you know, maybe get home and not know anything was going to happen and, here, this whole group would come on in gorgeous thingsl They didn't just come in just khaki things. In satins and plums, these are my reflections as a child. Now, that was my mother that would do that. When we came along, why we had masquerade parties too, but. mostly our parties were, uh, you know, parlor game parties. Yes, that is what I would like to ask about; the games I know we've heard about the, uh, party games that used to be played where singing may have been involved. MUS. ESKEW: J. C. Ml1S. ESKEW: J. C. !VillS. ESlmW: J. C. Well, there was not too much sinl':ing, as I remember, except when we used .... that was part of the party often times. We'd all gather around the piano and play and sing songs, but the games were more, you know, spin the plate and uh, post office and, uh, musical chairs, musical chairs(l) .... and, uh, that sort of thing. . : How did you play spin the plate? I'm not familiar with that game. Oh, you're not'? No. Well, you all sat in a circle. This is real, uh, fun and everybody was given a number. The person who spun the plate gave numbers to everybody and, then, that person would call a number and if the person who, uh, whose number was called didn't catch that plate before it fell ... you know, they'd spin the plate when they'd call the number, now, if they didn't catch it before it fell why when we got older why we ..... that person could kiss the one of his choice, but when we were little, why, we just would have to hit the one (background laughter), uh, the one who didn't catch it, you know, and then that person had to spin the plate ....... if he didn't catch it mn time. Ohl Well, did your parents, uh, familiarize you with any games'r MRS. ESKEW: J .0 .. WITtS. ESKEW: J. C. MRS. ESKEW: Oh, my father was .... my mother was so bUSy training children that she didn't have time. She cUd play games in the evenings with us, but I remember my father came home from the office early and playing games with us in the afternoons and Sundays he alwa~s played games with us and Vie walked. We would take long walks with a full gathering. Of course, the houses were few and far between. Yes. We lived in Nashville, but, uh, there were just four houses on our street and each person had from ten to thirty acres of land around him (sieh from audience) and so .... but he'd gather up the children and, of course, nearly all of them had large families .... you know Miriam Cormor' s family was one of them and the Caruthers' family and, uh, there weren't many different families. But we would walk or we would play .... play games and then we, uh, had, uh, eleven acres that Papa called his pasture for his children. He had another pasture for his horses (we had numbers of horses and cows and he had that pasture for his animals), bu,t he had eleven acres that was set apart for his children and there were grape vines and we'd climb ,those trees and swing off the grapevines and we had an awful happy childhood and, really, uh, it was just wonderful, and all of the children in the nellighborhood would come, but then, the games that we played, uh, were "Old Witch", and "Fox in the Morning", and, uh, "Hide and Go Seek", of course. "Fox in the' Morning" '? I haven't ....... I don't think I've heard about that. Oh .... you haven't? Let me see if I can remember it. I haven't thought about that since I was, I don't know when, but you'd divide up on sides .. and you'd ~!X~ wo~i~ec~Ilo~~o~elt ~B~M6}hrnRr.r~R& ~K~ro~ne~ne would say "Goose in the Evening" and say how many 'have you got,these and you'd callout however many you wanted to and that person had to catch.. that team had to catch that momy people . you see, the fox would have to catch that many geese before they could reach the goal over on the other side and if they didn't, why, then they had to give up trom their side the number that they clidn't catch from our side and J. c. : Mrs. Eskew: J. C. : Mrs. Eskew: J. C. : t\'irS Eskew: J. C.: Mrs. Eskew: J. C.: Mrs. Eskew: J. C.: ttrs. Eskew; J. C.: Mrs. Eskew: ,it was, uh, lots of funl But, um . let me see .. d' course, SlGtp To My Lou and London Bridr;e is Falling Down B.wl then we used to dance those old, uh, dances .. you know, 'J:urkey in the straw and, uh, I can't remember the names of all those different ones. Oh, yes. But they were uh ... Swing . I've forgotten .. can't remember. At the dances, what, urn, instruments, um, were used by the players? Well, we usually had a piano! Just a piano ... ? That's all I remember having at all and sometimes we didn't have anybody that could play the piano and so we would just sing. you see, we would just sing the words to these things and not have any music at all. And but could you dance to the singing? Oh, we did: (background laughter) We did that, but . but, you see, that was a regular thing and um . sometimes there wouldn't be l)ut six or eight people there and other times, why, it was an invited affair there'd be crowds and then they would have music and you always had music for "Musical Chairs", you know, because it wouleJ. stop playing. Music by .. did they? Guitars! Oh, gUitars they used'? Uh, uh .. that was the main thing. My uh, uh .... when the group got older, I played the mandolin . everyl,ody hacl a different instrument to play wIlen we'd go on camping trips, lmt that was after I was in high school that we'd hs.ve camping trips and ... Did ... did you learn how to play mandolin from some friend or did you teach yourself? Uh, uh, ... my brother-in-law tauF';ht me a little hit about it and then I just picked it out uh .. after that. 1 didn't ever have lessons and didn't ever learn to reacl music even. I woulo. just pick it out and he showed me about the strings uh .... and about the tones and uh .. he played real well ... that was Thompson. He had a beautifl'vl mandolin and all of the other children, girls and boys, had their instruments and that's the reason he gave it to me. My father had been a very weal thy mEm, when he was .. forty six years old he had to retire from business and uh . all the children ... I was the next to youngest .. and all of the seven chilclren older than I had gone to private schools and things of the kind, but then we began to have to count pennies (laughter) and so I didn't have instruments like the older children had. They all had musical instruments or took music or things of the kino. and my oldest sister played . oh, the violin and the gui tar and some other .. banjo: I knew it was a third cine she had. J. 0.: Mrs. Eskew: Did, uh, Uncle Pleas play A harp. A jew's harp and ular, you know, harp too. No, I'm not talkin' about know, these mouth .. mouth any instrument? uh ... and uh ... a regNot ... I'mnot talkin' .. , the bi,,,; one, hut, you organs. J. C.: Mrs. Eskew: J. C.: Mrs. J~slcew: Martha: Mrs. Eskew: J. C.: lViI's. Eskew: J" C.: Mrs. EG1cew~ Oh .... like a ... a harmonica. Yes, a harmonica. Uh--huh .. and then he played a .. a jew's harp. Do you know what it is? I've heard of that before, hut I didn't know what ... Well, he played a jew's harp .... played it real well. (~rrs. Eskew's grandaughter) Was a jew's harp a cone? No, it's just a ... it's a little round piece of metal that's shaped like that (makes form with her hand) and then it has a thin metal piece t'7.at comes in here and by hlowing on it and hittin' that metal piece you got the ~ne. Oh . I think you can still get jew's harps. Was he able to teach anyone how to play that or he wasn't very concerned? Oh, my brother played ... and Uncle Pleas was .. as I think about it now, Vie just thought that it was the natural, normal thing, hut, you know, he Mrs. Eskew: J. c.: Mrs. Eskew: . Martha: Mrs. Eskew: J.O.: Mrs. Eskew: J. C.: Mrs. Eskew: J. C.~ uh ... we'd.all jump on 1).is lap and kissed him and he wouldn't let us ... he'd say, "No"l Uh . and my brother when he first wanted to learn to play that jew's harp, I remember it was considered just a lnan ' s ..... uh . A man's ins trument'? A man's instrument. I wonder why'? When he got.; Because there was only one boy in their familyl (laughter) And there was just this one boy and I remember him asking Uncle Pleas to teach him and he says, "Vlell, you go buy you a harp and I'll teach you." And he said, "I can learn on yours." And he said, IINo, you can't. You can't learn on mine. That ain't fi tten' ." Did . did he ever explain that . why .why no one should . should play the uh . his instrument'? Oh, it was just that the negroes and the whites were just separated. It was just that that was not the things and see we loved him and just he was just a member of the family, but at the same time ....he had come up in a family of slaves, you see ... and he just had that feeling that the white people had one place and the colored people had another place. And they didn't use t11.e same dishes. There was a safe in the lei tchen that this old Sarah tnat worked forjus for so many years and then, Nancy and Uncle Pleas ... they all had their dishes 8x,d everythinr; that they used in the kitchen. wasn't that awful'? We didn't even ..... Yes .... And you knoVl, no one even thou,'(h t anything about it. That was jus t the way it was. Jus t everybody cliO. that and we loved Uncle Pleas and was good and kind to him. And he was free! He could have left anytime in the world, but he wanted to stay with the fami'ly and he stayed with my family.,.he never did marry. He never dic1 . (J". c. ;Oh!) haNe any family. Did, clid he ever tell you any stories. that urn .. you c6uld ...... Mrs. Eskew: J. 0.: l'firs, Eskew ~ Mrs. Eskew: Oh, he told us all Jdnds of stories, 1mt I don't remember them and that's what I was writing to my sister last night. And I told her how sad it was that we didn't put our Papa Taylor's and Uncle P]_eas' and my father's stories tJlat don't ..... my father just made up stories. Uncle Pleas told "happenings" ... you know, he told about happeninr;s. What ... what s,re happeninr:s_? Are they ghost stories? No. Dut jW3 t the uh .. things that had happened in his memory, you know. (J. C.: Oh, yes.) When he first uh ..... his first recollections of where they-lived and how they p;ot s_bout -and 111-\ I remember him telling about my grs.ndfather' 13 l)irth and, my grandfather used to say he had heard Uncle Pleas tell about it so many times that he thought he remembered it, but my, uh, grandfather's mother died at his birth anduh ... it was in the cold weather ... it was in December . and they had to bring him from his mother's home -because where she they were living in the uh .. the same house ... you know, how they would always do with the sons and their wives (J. C.: Yes) The son brou{~ht his wife home and it was the other way around. They were living with my great-grandfather and when, uh, Papa, uh, 'faylor's mother died, then, immediately the thing to do was to go to tbe girl's .. the child was taken to the girl's mother and so, when he Vias three days old, why, they took him on this cold winter's nip;ht wrapped up, but took him the 25 miles to the e;irl's mother's home and uh .. my grandfatlJer used to say that he had heard Uncle Ples_s tell. that story and Uncle 1'1eas went along with him, you see, (J. C.: Oh!) because he was his property. He had been given to him by my great,.;gral1dfather at his birth (laur:hter) and when he was 3 days old and so Papa 'faylor said he'd heard that (or Fa Taylor as we cs_lled him) ... that he'd heard that so many times that he remembered that cold ride (laughter). Of course, that was .... uh, ridiculous, lJUt, uh, Uncle Pleas used to teJl us about that and the circumstances and all and how he hated to leave the 'faylors to {';O to the Parrishes .. that WEtS my great-grandfather. Well, where? Did he leave from Virginia? .. not from Virginia, but rather from Tennessee? No, he was ... he was, uh, born in .'!'les, in Tennessee. Yes, because it was up ill: Whi te Count~\' was where he went from, uh, where he lived over,into North Oarolina where her home was, you see. That was where they went. And it \'lS.S just, as I remember, wns something like 25 miles or somethin' like that. J .. c.: Mrs. ,!')skew: J. 0.: ~firs. Eskew: J. C. Mrs. Eskew: J. C. Mrs. Eskew: J. C... Mrs. Eskew: J. C. : Nirs. r~skew: J. C.: Did they have to walk that distance'! Oh, no. (J. Cd Oh!) They were in ... they had a whole .. Uncle Plea,s used to tell about how many of them. 'here were several people who went on horses in the front and then this, uh, carriage with the ba1)y and tho nurse and, him and I don't knoVi who else .. but they followed up there people who were on horses and, then, uh, a wagon with trunks and all followed them up. (J. C.: Oh! ). He used to tell us about this, uh, uh .. you know, this trip that they made that night ... I mea,n that day and they didn't ge,t there until way in the ni,o;ht. It took that long to go the 25 miles over those mountainous roads, you know. How ... how did they stay warm along the way? Vlell, uh, I remember that I .. I don't remem1)er when I found this out, but it seems that they every so of'ben they'd have toll gates that they had to pay to go through and these toll gates usually would have an inn, you know, a hotel, uh, there and they would stop there and get something to eat and warm up the l)ricks and they had just lots of bricks and they'd heat those briclw to put in the l)otton of the carriages. Oh, that's interesting. In the wagons and things.,. It sounds like a .. To put their feet on. It sounds like a carryover from England, re,ally. Well, I'm sure that it was. I'm not sure if they had the toll gates there, but I'm sure they had the inns Well, tha.t was to keep the uh ... to keep the roads up, you know, They had to . they first had to, I imagine , I don't know how many roads were 1mil t before my grandfather I s time, 1mt uh, I remell1her going out to 1;he country when I was a child ahd the people hacl to work the roads and cut the roads and {':rade the roads. 'hemselves '! Mrs. Eskew: Yes, that was a part of tlleir taxes. They had to do that. You .. you oould pay uh ... somebody if you oould get somebody to do it for you, you oould pay them to do it ..... but not many people wanted to beoause they h$,d to do their own and it took up so muoh time and uh ... but the men of the first families ..when 1 was a ohild 1 remember going out to W,ilson Oounty and, uh, hearing the people in the uh ... it always oame to haymalcing tirne and that was the reason that they disl iked it beoause they were busy getting in the hay and they would have to work on the roads before the wet weather started, you see. J. C.: What waul,! happen if they refused to work on the roads? 't'hey would be put in jail '? lVII's. Eskew. Yes,1 imagine so .. fined anyway. J. C.: But it was the responsibility of each family to do a particular area? Mrs. Eskew: That's right. A oertain number of days' work on the roads. Every famLi y had to do it. No matter how wealthy you were or anything and that was your job. J. Col Would that have been in the early 1900's that that was . '? Mrs. Eskew: Uh, huh. Hmm, Hmm--Well, long 1;\P to ... 1 think the last time 1 went out there WRS ln 1912 so, you see, they were still doing it at the time in areas. Now 1 don't know if they were doing it everywhere, but 1 know that they did it all o,ver Tennessee and the South. That was the "doinl': your roadwork" and ~ust as soon as m:" brother e;ot through 16, we owned a farm out there (that,~ s the reason 1 know so muoh about this) and we used to go out to the Hotel at Hard Sprinl';s and we'd uh, stay there during the summer (from Nashville ... it was just about 30 miles from Nashville) and Papa owned this farm right aoross from the hotel (165 aores) and even though we didn't live there 'year rounel, why, Papa, and brother ... when brother ,0:0 t to 11e 16, why, then he'd have .. he was required to work the roads too. J. C.: Oh! Well, you spolce of haymaking time. What ... what did that.. oonsist of'? lviI's. Eskew: Well, Uta.t was usuaLly July or Augus t and, uh, thrd:; was before the dEWS of oombines and all, you know. They just had the mowers and the rains would Dome sometimes before they oou1d c;e tit raked up and in B,nd. all J. C.: Mrs. Eskew: J. 0.: the neighbors, if you had a lot of hay maturing.... why, all the neighbors would come and help you and then you would go and help them when their hay matured. Oh, that was nice. And so to be sure to get it in before the rains came cause it's not like it is now that you could do a hundred acres in a day, you know .... Well, what types of tools did you use? lViI's. I\skeVl: Oh, they had a .... had uh I mean ;jus t two U, ings , as I recall, was an old mower. It was a blade that stood six inches from, the ground and just hac] teeth. And there were two mules or horses that they drove to it and they could raise that up when they came to something they didn't want to hit, you ]mow. That would go straight up in the air cause when they were cutting the hay and then behind the hay, would come this great old ra](er and it had a curved thing that Vias as wide as from here to Martha (about 8 feet) or wider would rake up that mucJ') at one time. Mrs. Eskew; J. C.: J. 0.: Mrs. ]<;s)cew: J. O. ~ Mrs. ]~~skew: J. C. ~ Would it aIfJO bale the ... No, no, didn't .. They, uh, didn't even have 1)8,i1 ed hay then. I Vias wondering if you were fA.miliar with that tool known as the cradle or the sidle .. the s:ic']e, of course? Yes, I know the sidle. Yes. :Bu t they dicln' t use much of that I remember. I rememller seeing them use it and they would use that where they couldn't get this mower that was pUlled by the horses. And the cradle, tllat rings a ,llell, but I cA.n' t remember what it vms. ])ut the sicl e was a great big thine; tllat you'd use your 2 hamls and had a curved blade on it. Oh, yes. Well, I've heard that .... Now, a scythe .... '['here W8.8 a differenoe in a soy the and a sioln. A scythc was small. You would use it with one ham], but the sicle was .... And it would ;jUfJt chop oJf, the (uh) hay? Mrs. Eskew: J. c. : Mrs. Eskew: J. e... Mrs. Eskew: J. C.: IV;rs. EsJcew: 'l'hat's ri,o;llt. Urn, um. And, did you Were you invo lved VI i ttl any 0 ther crops besides beside~ hay? Oh, well .... Diel they have cotton? l'Ie didn't ... in Middle Tennessee they didn't grow cotton except in one county. HutherJord County, Tennessee was the only county, in Mieldle 'l'ennessee, now, and of' course, down in West Tennessee, they do a lot of' cotton around liiempliis and down there, lmt I never did 1';0 to Memphis when I was a child. I dic1n't know anythinr< about it, but Murpheesburg, Tennessee is the county seat of Rutherford County and they did grow .... and my si.sters went with some boys from over in Rur:herford County and they uSRd to call us and brine;.. (we were younger children, you know) .. and they'd bring us some bolls of cotton from (J. e.: Oh ... ) there, but that was the only cotton I ever knew about. Now, I didn't see it growin! but I knew that they did grow it, uh, there. Eut', let me see . Of course," they had huge garc1ens and we had 8, garden even in Nashville we 'had a big garden. Everybody had gardens. No matter how ... I mean everybody in tOVln! Would they grow food or .. ? Yes. Um, urn, ... Just for the family, you know food. J. C.: Oh! Mrs. J<)sl,ew; J. C.: Mrs. Eskew: on, vegetables and thin,o;s li1(e that. And then everybody that I knew had a flower garden too. It was a "cutting-flower" garden. It, uh, .. my grandmother on my mother's side .... her mother came from England . and, uh, she had a regular little. English g8,rden with the little brick walls and walks and a pierced brick waLL around it and HlEtrschile'roses, and liJ.ies of the valley, and all of those things which you think of as ... the nemelies (phonetic spelling) and that sort of thing. Did you ever ... well, when you grew the food did you, uh, just ,grow it to eat it? Oh, we usually, uh, canned. That's what .... Uncle l'leas and Nanny cUd that. UncI e Pleas prepared it and Nanny canned it in jars, you know .. jus t over the J .. c.: Ivirs. Esl'Cew: lVII's. Eskew: J. C. ~ Mrs. :n:skew: fire. l"ruits and, uh, vegetables that",uh, Vie had to live on during the, tUl, winter months. Dur in!; the wintel' .... IJuring the winter, um, hum. Of course, they had grocery s tares when, I came a,long where you could bUy those things, but people didn't thin1, that people were very thrifty or sm3,rt. If they bought them, they didn't think that they were very good. They didn't think that commercially canned goods were very good. 'l'hey sort of looked down their no se at commercial, Uh, canned goods. l1ut fruits and ver;etables, Why, we always did all of those. And, and the meat that you ate ... you usuaLly did get that from the animals that you might have on the farm? Uh, hUh. Well, now Vie didn't really have a farm in Nashville. 'l/e had about 30 acres, I imae:ine. I mean I know it was 30 acres l1ecause ..... But, uh, we had cows, but we never did slaug}lter cows. Pigs were the only thing that we ever s'laughtered exce12t chickens. We all grew c11ickens. (J. C. : Oh, yes) to, uh, .... to have ... chickens and ducks. And then we raised rabbits. I didn't talk about those. We raised rabhits for food too. (,J. Cl; Oh:) ,[Jut we got so attached to them that we would .. mother, I didn't know for years that we were eatin,o; our own rabl1its because, uh, she would pretend that she got them somewhere else (sigh from aUdience) because we didn't want to eat the pets, you know (laughter) . Vlell, what types of dishes \lloUld.j{i;~,ve with the rabl'its. Oh, well, you would alwaiYs }lave either rice or potatoes. I never remember sitting down to a meal ths:t we didn't have rice 61' potatoes. But, then green vegets,bles, why... we had ... well, we didn't have spinach, Vie didn't have artich01(8s, we didn't have brussel sprouts, hut we had turnip greens and mustard greens; asparagus WSB the t1,ing that ,we used to like the most cause we grew our own asparagus and, uh, it comes bac], from year to yen:c. You didn '>I-; have to pl'ant it every yeFlT, like you did the other things. J. C.: Oh. Mrs. J~skew: J. C.: lVII's. Eskew~, J. C.: Mrs. Eskew; And, uh, well, of course, potatoes, andeucumbers, and tomatoes ... oh, I had lots of tomatoes and corn ... pole heans that I'm) up on the corn .. you'd ))1a11 t those with the corn and they'd run up the corn s talJ\:s so you clidn' t have, uh, to s take them. Well, was tllere one day a week when you mif';ht have, uh, quite a few people over to the house .. to have dinner. Well, usually .... uh, usually, Sundays were open house and I've heard my mother say that one year she never had a Sunday when there were not s,t least eighteen people there and up to thirty-five people. And people would just come whether .... she would invite some, but the others Vlould just come ... the family .... I don't believe friends came uninvited, but the family .... anybody in the family wantinr,; to come ... (J. C.: Ohl) just, just came. And this old dining room table .... I cs,n see it now. '['he dining room was ]')alf again as big as this room and if you'd stretch out that table and run over in the corner with the table that was just about this size. It had drop leaveB and you I d put it up s:l1d the children would eat over there if it had an overflow. (laughter) But, Vlould the children ever eat at the same table as the adults and, and ... Not on those big occasions. They... ,Now at Ohristmastime-- my grandmother always let the children eat firBt and I loved her better than anything 'because, and I could see how smart she was, we didn't worry them then, you know. But when we went to ... eHch memher of the family had a OhriBtmas dinner and you' (1 go .. this year why you'd go in this order, then next year, you I d drop down one and eveJ"y110dy went ... the tow grHndmother's houses and the children .. you know, each of their children, why, they'd go to their houses. And the same people were sJ ways there and the {';ceat-uncles and the great-aunts, (J. C.; Uh!) but everybody hs,d a Ohristma[j dinner and, UYi, at every other plHce except my maternal. '" paternal grandma ther ' s, why, the children h8.d to wa.i t ... what they call "they ha.d to wa.it" ... Tha.t's the wa.y they expressed it. "Now, you all, will ha.ve to wait. 'l'here are not enou,";h places". And so we ... we ate seconds, but lVlam8. Taylor Ie t us alwEJ,ys l1ave ... come in first and she let us hiwp. our clessert fil?st if we wanted it. She'd say, "Do you w8.nt Y01Jr dessert or your turJ,ey first'!" (laughter). J. C.: Well, Wfls,t were the Christmas' li]{e? 1 mean, did you .. were there some special dances that you mip:ht have, uh, eluring the Christmas season--what would you have for your dinners? Mrs. )~skew: 1 don't remember. Now, the dinners ... every place you went, as 1 remember, ... now, of course this made an impression on me, hut 1 don't remember because by the time 1 was in high school the family had separated and dwindled down and there were not so many left for those big occasions. We still, had them. llut 1 always remember ChI' Jstmas 1)e In{'' turkey and ha,m. J. C.: Both of thosel Mrs. J<;skew: Oh, uh, yes. And then a fish, uh, salad of sorne kind or a, a casserole of some kind of fi8h. And then we slways had macaroni and cheese and we always had, uh, ... 1 don't remember having any thing gre(,n except a8paragus. J. C.: Mrs. :Eskew ~ J. C.: lViI's. Eskew: J. U.: !'IiI'S. Eskew: Why was that'! You didn t t know? Just, just ... 1 imagJne they jURt didn t t want to ~ive up wlmt they had canned ... canned greens ,J. G.: Oh!) And that there were just not enough to go around of the canned green things and they felt that they had to have something canned ... something green, Imt asparagus vms the greatest delicacy and they alwasy put up asparagus to have at Christma,s and I a,lV/ays remember as paragus and um .. urn, waldorf salad. 1 always had that and always had 110iled custard a,nd cake ... 1 meaT>, boiled custard and amllroza and then..... What is the amhroza? Is that a type of cake? No, that's, uh, made of oran,";es, and coconnaut and some people put pineapple aml, uh, .. and 1)ananas in it too, but we never did. We just always put pineaP111e and ... oranges , you know, scoop then out so there is none of this sec tions, this toU{(h stuff. Oh yes. Ana, then, the week 'before Christmas, mother and Sarah and Nanny ,whichever one ha.ppened'to he there) ... they spent that week picking out nuts an(1. 1'akifl{'; calces. And there woulcJ, be a.t lea,st ten cakes. (J. C.: Oh) You know how stale they must have I':otten, out we never realized it with sornany peoTlle coming and a.ll. But, the ... the, all these cakes ... J. C.: Mrs. ]~skew: J. C.: r!lrs. .Eskew: Mrs .. Eskew: J. 0.: they were put on that table in the corner of the dining room 8.nd I can go in and see them now just all s tacked up there ....some of trlCl1] this hil-:t and some of them little cakes, And the fruitcake was made early. You had to make your frui tcake 11efore 'l'hanksgiving or it was not supposed to he good. Oh, fruitcake is 11etter when it is aged'? Yes, that's righ1;. And what would you use in makiN, the fruitcake'! Just the same things ybu would use today',' Same things you use now uh, huh. But you had to cut it up yourself (J. C.: Oh./. You'd ge:t citrin in great 1Jig hunks li](e that and orange peel and preserved pineapple and all those things were in just 1Jig pieces 8.nd you had to Chop it up. What did .. Just imagine, for a minute, that this was Christmas morning. As a Child, what Vlould you have ... what would have happened? Vie got up . I can hear my father coming to the foot 'of the stairs and callin , ....we .. we'd maybe 1Jeen . awake a long time, 1mt we were not supposed to go a.own until he call.ed us. And if it was snow ,why, he'd always cal] ..he 'd alwasy say: "Get up, [,et up snow ... Uh, let me see .. ,look at the snow on Union street." Union Stree t was where he 1ived as a hoy and that's what they had grown up saying: "j',ook at the snow on Union ~jtreet." And we knew, then, th8.t it was a snow Christmas, that we had snow for Christmas. And, then, he always made a greatto- do of it. He'd say: "Santa Claus didn't come, but you all come on down. We've got some good hot oatmeal for breakfast." (laughter) And, uh, when we'd get down, then, the family room, which was really my mother and father's hedroom. It was a huge old room too and had a big double bed in one corner 8,nd, then, what they called a lounge or sinp;le 11e<'I. in another corner and any child that was sick always slept in that bed . hut there'was a fireplace, a big big fireplace and room for a great 1Jig table and chairs and everything. That's where we s tucl.ied, uh, 8.S we grew up). 1311. t urn .. they, uh, ... we'd go in there and have our stockings for Christmas before breakfast, lJUt, then, the Christmas tree was in the parlor and we d.idn't go in there until after we'd had. 11reakfas t. Well, what ... what kinel of Christmas tree did you have? ~Hrs, Bskev/: J. C,: Mrs. Eskew: Martha: lVirs. Eskew: Martha: Mrs. Eskew: Mrs. Eskew: Cedar 1 And I never have yet fel t like anythin",; was a real Christmas tree, but a Cedar tree. And those are found in Tennessee? Yes, uh, <ih. And they're such a beautiful shape and so close, you know. They're not spinclly lilee pine trees and spruce trees. Hey, 'Grandmother, did you hs,ve candles on your tree? Oh, ~res. Yes, (J. Col Yes, that would he hetter) we never did have any lights .... never, I mean never had: any electric lights. In fact, I can rememher when they put gas in our old home place and then we'd I"ot so much up to date that they put electric lights (and the old gas fixtureswere beautiful, l)ut you had to light each one, you know). (J. C.: Oh) But, then, when they put electricity in, they just'put it down through the old gas chandeliers and just had one little bulb right in the middle and uh . hut, that was supposed to be so fine because you could just turn it on from the switch, you know but it didn't and we used to turn it on the . at one time, you only had candles? Oh, no. Not in my lifetime, llut on the trees we only had candles. Never did have anything hut candles on ., the trees and they were the little things that clipped onto the branches, you know. One candle about that long and about as hie; around as a my little finger and he would stick those in there and just clip them onto the trees. lUrid' of a clip-like, uh, you know, like on the uh .... on the coat-hangers (J.C.: Yes) You Imow holV those that hold the trousers or the skirts. Why, they clipped just like that. And they were real steady, but it ws.s res.], .... you had to 1)e really careful of, where you })ut them and only the grownups .. we could put all the decorations and two days before Christmas Eve the whole family spent the time ~aking decorations (J. C.; Oh, yes .. well) for the Ohristmas tree. How woul(l you make them? 'IIould you use candy s,nd cookies and others .. ? 'l/e used candier.) amI cookies and, uh, the',1 we strung popcorn and cranberries and we would just make great garlands of those and, then, we would bUy tinsel. I t was in s tring.s too, ,)Tou know, to drape around" uhand, then, we'd make any knid of a COlored thing J. C. ~ I'Ar s. J~~skew: 1';1rG. ]Ds}cew: may'lc color them with crayons, you know, macle out of pa,steboa,rd. Stars, and angels, and things like tha:t that we'd hang on the tree too. llut the ... in the family room we didn't have anything, nut, uh, our stocking with candies in thera and, uh, anoranr:e, and a toy, and some and some nuts, and firecrackern, FmC!: onc little toy. And thcn, when we went to the parlor, why, that W['l,fl where we had our big ChristrnafJ prenentn, the thingn that we reall;)' did (ca). But., .we '(l carry those ntoc]cings around wi th un for a week, you know, refilling them, As they'd empty up, W}lY, we'iJ. go ,mcle to tho pantry and refill. (laughter) And nobody, no',oC!.y shared the a ther person's stocking. 1'hat was his own property and when ... he ate it whenever he wanted to, but no one else was to have it. (J. C.; Oh) You didn't dare pick v.p somebody else's stockine: and talco a nut out of it or a piece of candy or anything . Well, then, did you have any dances during the Christmas season? A speciaL ........ Well, now, my family has never 'heen much of a dancing family for anythinI': lmt square dances ... that sort of thing. We never did have baJ.lroom dancin.,": in our home although the third floor in our place was a ballroom (J. C.: Oh), '111t, uh, we just 1lCled it for storage and pantry. But, woulel you have informal II get-toe:ethers" where you would have square dancing? Oh, yes. 'L'hese masquerade parties .... that waB the 'big thing ... they would C<Jrlle ... anel in our old parlor we had two pianos; one, an old chickering rosewood piano and, then, my siBter thought that was old.fashioned so c:he bought or Papa 1,ougbt for her an UpriL;ht piano. An<l I can hear now my p:randmothe:c amI great-aunt playing those two pianos at the same time, you know, while the people da,need, aJways Bquare dances., but never any ballroom dancing (Hel we have. We 0. idn 't UIl we eHdn' t over have uh cards, playlng eards. We had all ldnds of garaeE], hut not what my mother and father caJled "spot cards", you kn6w( aces a,nd ltinr':fl and. all l~ke that (J. C.: Oh, yes J because they were a,ssoc.1.ated just wlth e:am1)lers and uh . ,we didn't ever have any ]einelEJ of alcoholic dri:r1]Hl at all. Vie had all lcinds of made-up drinks, llUt no alcoholic, uh, drinJ(fl. (J. C.: lJh) and, ub, my ... we've C1JW8,yS laid great stress on lleiJl!'; your l,rotJ,er' s ]ceeper [mel doing the J. C. ~ Nir s. JTIskew ~ thing that would help your l)rother to l)e a ....... it wouldn't lJe a f3 tumbling block for him anyway. And, uh, .. 130 we grew up with that ideD, and we always, you know, took great pride that we cLLdn' t allow some of the .... the other people did .... in fact we hacl some relatives t110,t used to have 118.11room dancin,';', but 1:lother and l'apa didn't think that that was right for young people, lJUt, uh, ... I think my mother got over some of that as she grew older because the, uh, ... I never remember her' sO,ying anything aliont my 110YS' dancing'. 'rhey did dance but until I was engaged to be married I never did my lJallroom daneing. I, Well, when did young people begin to court" so to speak? Oh, well, you bega,n to go with groups and just a special person that everybody knew when you were about fourteen; lJUt, you didn't ever have D. date until you were a senior in high school. 'L'he first uh ... the first date that I ever had with a hoy that I'd met over in Kentucky on a house po,rty a,nd he came over (I mean a 13 inp;le date. NolV, we'd l,een on camping trips and, uh .. and I'd visited in his home and all, but I never went a.'nywhere with llim in a, buggy (laughter) 1'hat '13 the uh ... tha.t vms the wa.y they went when I was uh .. oh, when I wa,s fourteen or fifteen. Au tomolJilen didn't come in for (';enera.l lwe until about 19 Well, I don't know, I graduated from high nchool in 1918 a.nd junt a very few people had nutomohilen then. We didn't. We had, co,rria{';es..a nurrey and a. co.rriage and horne$. 13ut, uh, lJUt, on the night that I graduated I mean this boy eame over from Kentueky and sent me nome flowers roses which were the first flowers,tha.t a.nybody sent to me beco.use I waf) too young to aecept flOl'lern until then, but the ni":ht that I graduated he sent me a dozen Ameriean l\eauty rOeles a.nd came over from Kentucky for my r;raduation and I had a date with him afterwardn. We went to a pieture show (laughter) (J. C.: Oh) On the 13 treetcar. Still no t in a lmgr:;y, 1mt went on 8, s tree tcar to a pie ture nhow. And FJhowinC: how things have ehanged, my graduating dress came down to about here I imagineanlcle length-and, u11, we had, as I said, this great big old. parlor and a reception hall whieh was a1)out the size of this (memmrer her present living room8' lJy 14 I) and there wan a l)ig opening there lJe tween the two. I <'Jidn't why why in the world mother passed this way, well she and Papa. came in after this boy a.nd I were sitting in the parlor, and in a few minutes J. C.: Mrs. Esleew: J. C.: lVh's. Eskew: J. C.: Nlrs. li~slceVl: J. C.: she came hack and she looked at me so hard and I didn't know what she vms talkin' a1lOut sil she went on out on the poroh and then she oame haole and she looked at me again. And I thought--"\'Ihat on earth have I done'?" And then she pointed down and my slip had slipped up to here, (motions with hand) you see, and my thin dresB was down to here and she was so embarrassed for me and I WEW for myself. It just nes.rly killed me when I realized that all this muoh (marks distanoe with hand) (lau,o:hter) (and disbelief) of my leg was showin,O;. That was .... that was just the worst thing in the Vlorld and there, why, it had slipped up and that's what she was trying to tell me, to pull my slip down. So ths.t shows the differenoe in how they-expose the body now and the way they c1ict baok yonder. You've spoken of these oamping trips twioe. What .. they seem to he very imlJOrtant ..what were they like'! Well, they were. We would go down to the river, Pigrim's Station. Just the kids or " . '? No, this was after we l)egan going in group dEting, you see, and then the year 8,fter I was out of high school and the summer, Why, year .when I W8,S a freshman in college an(l I think that was the last time I ever went. Maybe the seoond year too, but no, it wasn't either heoause I just had two years of oollege. It WE'S hefore I was married and. so ...1mt, we would ;0 in surreys and horses and hug(';ys that oa:cried. fCJUr people" You see, they used to have li ttle extra seats on the 1Jaok of E lnw/,:y that two people tlBed to sit there and it was all rig})t for four people to go, 1JUt jus t a boy and a Cirl wouldn I t rid.e thirty miles alone. That Was not done. And we'd go down to this tl'lirty mile oarrying an ol.d ... what we would oal1 a "spring wagon" that hacl. this one horse to it, but it WES a ... 1 don't know how desoribe it exoept it was a small wagon and oarried all of the supplies End tentn and all and that. And we'd go down on the river and uh .... set up oamp there. Would you o? 'J1he hoys all slept in one l)ig tent 8.nd the girln in another. Would you do any fisJlin,<,: or hunting? J. a.: Mrs. gskeVl: Oh, yes, uh, huh. l!'ishing and uh ... then one time I remem1)er we vle'nt in the winter \';ime or in the fall, the late fall and just., .. well, that must have been that very last time I went which was a1JOut 1919, uh, because we went in an automolJile and there were, it was ... it had the jump s eats you know, in it, cmd it was this greo.t !Jig old' l'ackard and we, they, o.bout ten of us went down in that aml we got lost in the woods and this, uh, Miriam Sneed's father owned 8. farm down there and he had a caretaker and we r8.n up on it and it was abou 8:00 or 9:00 at ni{(ht. And we had a chaperone, ~~s. Sneed was with Us .. and we s topped in front of tha.t house and blew the horn and Vir. Hayes carne to the door ... anduh.... Mrs. Sneed. said: "We're lost..wonder if we could svend the night" and he said: "Yes, indeed. Come rip:ht in. Who o.re you','" (laughter) And that always amused us so when he said yes, we could spend the nil':ht, to come in and then ask us who we were. And that . they were jllst very plo.in country people, you lmow, mid ho.d. this about a four room log 110use. And so all of the girls slept in the parlor on the floor cause they didn't have beds for everybody,; but, WOU know, that woman brought out brand new nightl,:ovms for all the girls. She said she always made them up to ha.ve on hand in case she {;ot sick o.nd hml to go'to the hospital (laughter). And she ... well, we did,n't sleep in tbem anyway. We slept in our slips cause we said we weren t t goinp; to use her sick nightgowns too. But VIe spent the night there and hO.d to {;O home next morning, 1mt we .. that time we weTe huntin,"; for nuts and that's the Teason we got so carried awo.y. We were just finding so many nuts, you know, picking nuts out of the .... Oh, during the winter'? Well, it wa.s a110ut Hovember I imal':ine 8.fter they had fa.llan. You see", the hickory nuts and the walnuts and the chinchopins would all fall ... had {;one down. We didn 1 t do anythine; else on that triJ) that I remember. Of' course, I':oinl': in the s.utomol'Jile was real difficult oveT ruddy roads o.nd all (J.e.: Yes) and it toole us a long time. nut on those regular summer campinr': trips, why, we would f ish and. swim. We t d. sw im in {;he river. l'~veI'ybody was a gooel swimmer in those elays and we woul(l swim and uh..... and fish and uh.. we toole turns alJOut going.. riding around in the country to hunt up chickens an(1 things 111<:e th8.t to bUy OUT fresh meat, you know. We couldn't carry any fresh mes:t wi th us, we didn't have any way to keep it. 1)0 you ),nol'l sOllie of the sone;G t1l0,t you ScU1('; arounrl the fire'? And uh then, at night, why, we'd all sit around with our instruments cmd around the fire ml<l SiDe;. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Uh, you mean your mother, for instanoe, or your father would Dine: you songf3 at night or something. Would the;\, ])e in the forms of lullabYfJ or [j(>methinr; like that or would you jlWt Hit around in a :coorn and sing? You sil,y that you pafJsed throu{';h this stage of folk son,gfJ. You mean there ws,s a oertain a,";e when.... Children, yes. 'l'he older folks alwO,YB sang folksongs to the little ohildren ancl. after we got to l'tigh sohoo1 ar;;e I never remelll]ler an,vllody sinninr; fol)mongG any more. Oh, c;oodness! I don't rernem]wr those like I remember children' G songs. No, I don I t really romem])er thoGe songG. I ought to I J,nol'l . , I remember one sonr; that we Gang. Ji)very]lOdy Gings itstill they s ti11 sings it at Om0})S about my cmlde 110ne, (J. G.: Yes) toe,])one, uh huh, that one. We used to sing that one, 1lUt I think we just Gang populDx songs as I remember., (J. G.: Yes) You know, just wh3,tever son,gfJ were popuJar at tll,at thne. I thin), we hD,d pafJsed the stage of folk fJongs Emd things ... In fact, I'm sure heCil,use I rememher some of them that we did, sir/It: "Vlalking T]lrour'h the Tulips" and "JUg Red Jlose" and uh "Beautiful Oh:i,o". We 'el just sit al'ound and sinl~. !Viother was 1.lGua11y Gewing. rrhe'd hElVe her handiwork there sewin!,; with her basket and papa would have the ohildren all e.round him and he'd . o:ne or two on his knee and he would sin!,: theDe uh ... songs. All of these old songs. Mas t of whioh you uh. , . you said you knew, that one 01.' two of them. and I can ~ust heDY him singing them as "Old Uno1e Is Dead" {JVlother didn't think that th8,t was a very {~ood. sone: for hi))] to sing to us) and uh, that.. and uh . ,"\1hat Do You Want Par Gupper My Good Old Man" neoause they deal wi th <lead p(01)1e and nb.e didn r t think that ehi1dren ,ought to be talJcedto too much al)()ut death. l J., C,,: J. C ~ : J. C.: Mrs. Bs],ew; Wlrs. Eskew: l\'}rs. 11~fJkeVl: J. C.: nid y(iur father ever tell you., urn, 1e,,;!?nc1s " {';hosi:! talefJ or I I I I I I J. C.: lViI'S ~ Eskew ~ no, 1 useel to ...well, see, he would never tell the same one twice. Ee would jus t mal':e them up as he v10uld go along and the;~T \vere the most fantastic stories and .... 1 just think it's just a shame that those older girls of tl~,e familv dieln' t real ize or he sll-ould have done it hir~self if' he thour;ht they were ofaJ1.y value, l)ut he was" ~ ~ "he was just a iTer7l modest man. He just thought that it entertained his children. But he wou! d have ....really, they were just fantastic stories to Imve compileel into a volume, you know if we had just had Drains to realize it. After 1 was grown and married and had chiJ,dren, why, 1 rememlJer asldng my father to tell Bop, Martha's fe,ther who was just four when Papa died, IJut. 1 remeE1Jer asking him to tell 130b some of those stories he used to tell us and he said: "Well, 1 can't remer"ller any of those stories that 1 used to tell you, lJUt 1 '11 tell Dab a story." He jus t made up one as he went alone', then, you know anc1 uh." ...l)ut, u11." "he was a real artist in more ways t11an one and had such an ima:dnation and such an appreciation of things. IvIES' G ESKEW ~ lYillS. ESKEW: --------------------------------- I'm not sure of the names of these but uh ....we've always called this one "Old Uncle is D~ad" and its a favorite of my father's. "Old Uncle Is Dead" Old Uncle is dead and in his grave, Um, urn, in his grave The apple tree grows right over his head, Uh, uh, over his head. The apples got ripe and began to falloff, Uh, uh, "began to falloff. " Old Annie went out to gather them in, Uh, uh, gather them in. Old Uncle jumped up and gave her a knock, Uh, uh, gave her a knock. And ili1nie went off a hippity hop Uh, uh, hippity hop. The bridle and saddle hang under the shelf Uh, uh, under the shelf. If you want anymore, you can sing it yourself, Uh, uh, sing it yourself. This is a rather familiar one, but I've always liked it .....uh, it's "I,isten To The Mockingbird" "Listen To The Mockingbird" I am dreaming now of Halley, Sweet Halley, sweet Halley. I am dreaming now of Halley, And the mockingbird is singing where she lies. Chorus: Oh, listen to the mockingbird, oh, listen to the mockingbird The mockingbird is singing where she lies. Oh, listen to the mockingbird, oh listen to the mockingbird The mockingbird is singing where she lies. She's sleeping in the valley, The valley, the valley. She's sleeping in the valley And the mockingbird is singing where she lies. Chorus: Oh, listen to the mockingbird, oh, listen to the mockingbird MRS. ESKEW: The mockingbird is singing where she lies. Oh, listen to the mockingbird, oh listen to the mockingbird, The mockingbird is singing where she lies. This is uh . "Billy Boy" and I'm going to sing it because there are some verses that everybody has .... has a different version of, but this is the one my father sung to us. "Billy Boy" Oh where have you been Billy boy, Billy boy, Oh where have you been charming Billy. I have been to see my wife, She's the joy of my life. Hefrain: Refrain: Refrain: Refrain; Refrain: She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother. Howald is she Billy boy, Billy boy, Howald is she charming Billy, She is six times seven, Forty eight and eleven. She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother. Did she bid you come in Billy boy, Billy boy, Did she bid you come in, charming Billy Yes, she bade me come in, She has a dimple in her chin. She I S a young thing and canna t leave her mother. Did she ask you to have a chair Billy boy, Billy boy Did she ask you to have a chair charming Billy Yes, she asked me to have a chair She has ringlets in her hair She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother. How tall is she, Billy Boy, Billy Boy How tall is. she, charming Billy She is as tall as any pine, She's as straight as a pumpkin vine, She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother. Refrain: Refrain: Can she bake a cherry pie Billy Boy, Billy Boy Can she bake a cherry ple charming Billy Yes, she can bake a cherry pie, As Quick as a cat can wink his eye, She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother Did she bid you goodbye Billy Boy, Billy Boy Did she bid you goodbye, charming Billy Yes she bade me goodbye With a tear in her eye She's a young thing ~nd cannot 'leave her mother MRS. ESKEW; MR.S ~ ESKEW ~ The name of this next one is "Hush Little Baby" "Hush Little Baby" I-lush little ba1Jy, don't say a word, Papa will buy you a mockingbird, t~ that mockingbird won't sing, pa will bUy you a diamond rlng'. If that diamond ring is brass, Papa will buy you a looking glass, If that looking glass get's broke, Papa will buy you a billy goat. If that billy goat is bony, Papa will buy you a little pony, If that little pony won't run, Daddy will buy you a little gun. If that little gun won't shoot Daddy will bUy you a toot-toot-toot, If that toot-toot-toot won't blow Daddy'll take you to the show. If that showman won't let you in Daddy will whip him again and again. This is called uh.; "My Good Old lIlan" "Illy Good Old Man" Oh what do you want for supper my good old man Oh what do you want for supper and she called him a lamb, Oh what do you want for supper my good old man. The finest old feller in life. Eggs! How many do you want my good old man, How many do you want and sY,I.e called 1.1.lm a lamb:, How many do you want my good old man, The finest old feller in life. One hundred! Oh, that will kill you my good old man, 011, that will kill you and she called him a lamb, 011, that will hll you my good old man, The finest old feller in life. Let it kill me! Where do you want to be buried my good old man, V'ihere do you want to be buried and she called him a lamb, Where do you want to be buried my good aId man1,_ The finest old feller in life. Under the house! Why do you want to be buried there my good old man, Why do you want to be buried there and she called. him a lamb, Why do JTOU want to be buried there my good old man, The finest old feller in life. So I can jump up and kill you in the next life! *(James Corbett was asked to say this last refrain because of the necessary impact which could be provided by a man's voice.) Baby's i'ishi11g for a drea.m, Ilishing near and far, His line's a silver moonbeam, His bait's a silver star. Sail, baby, sail, Out upon life's sea Only don't forget, To sail back again to me. Now, this had t1iO interpretations, according to my father and mother~ They had both su.ng it often, but my mother said. that it made her sad because she felt tl18.t it Was a baby who ~T8.S ill and ,ms uh, . near d.eath and whether she the bab;y w'ould come back or not. But my father thought of it more as a lullaby and I believe I agreed 1Ti th him, in that, the baby ...... it was just a song to put a uh . a baby to sleep and that the baby really was he ,vas wi shing a ciTe alll f or the baby. 'I'his, I call "Oountry Gink". I'm not sure of the name of it, but it's the 1-ray I call itvJhen I sing it to my grandchildren. "Oountry Gink" He wasn't nothin' but a country gink, li'rom a1Hay dO'i"1Il west b:;r the hoptoad1s -IfJ"inlc, He was six feet two in his stocking feet, And the thinner he got the more he'd eat. But he ,ras brave as he ','!BS thin, When the war broke out he got right in~ Unhitched his mule, put the plow mva;jT, And the old folks hear'd him say: Goodbye Ma, Goodbye Pa, Goodbye mule ,rith your old hee-hml, I not len ow ~,rhat the \'"J"ar! s about, But you can bet, by gum, I'll soon find out. And m;yr sweet love, don 1 t yO'll :fear, 1 ' 11 bring you a ring; and a souvenir, I'll gi~e you a cake and a bonnet too, .imd that 1 s aboll. t all one fella can do. There are actually three veriOes to this and each has a different tune and I'm not ....... 1 just don't remember them ',veIl enough to sing them, The second verse vms actually when the boy "rent off fighting with General Johnston and General Porrester and, uh " <> <> <> " <> to then, the third -v"'erse is his return to the South where he finds that his girl has married a Yankee and his Ilarents! home h;),s been burned and his parents are missing whether dead or have disappeared .... the song doesn't say as I recall. 1ms. This "lJ'rog ~Ient A'Courtin' " is a very familiar song allover the South and I'ilj sure, has many versions of it. This is the Tennessee version that my father sang to me. Frog went a ' courtin', ,8nd he did 1"ide, uh uh, Frog went a1courtin', kld he did ride, Sl'rord and a pis tal by his side, uh uh. He drove up to Hiss House's door, uh uh, He drove up to Eiss 1"10use I s door, Villere he had many times before, uh un, Oh, pray 1Jlis s l"louse won't you marry me, uh uh, Oh, pray 1111188 ~''louse won I t you marry me And live way down younder in a hollov, tree, uh uh. Oh, not ldthout Uncle "Rat's consent, uh uh, 011, not \"rithout Uncle Ratts consent, Y{ould I marry the President, uh uh. ~fInterjection by Ers. BslcevJ: I've forgotten what Uncle Rat said, but he said something in there and gave his consent and then. 00.0 ...... Oh, Hhere v,ill the lfeddi.ng supper be, uh uh, Oh, where 1i111 the wedding supper be, ~'{a:r d01ID yonder in a hollol'T tree, uh uh. And what \fill the viGdding sJ.pper be, uh uh. And 1'1hat will the wedding: supper be, Blackeyed peas and catnip tea, uh uh. No'w there are some others that are so familiar I feel that you wouldn 1 t care to have them in the uh, uh ........ "Ten I,ittle Indians", for i.nstance, and the "Li ttle Green cCree II and "Yanlcee Doodle Dandy". I'm sure that there are others that I just don't recall right nOI1", mel llffiieaI6 oLlIe!'''' thaL I jnSl,dou'-Lx,~- l4gh-I;~, but they're so familiar that it would be just a repetition to add them to your collection he:ce. A PDF transcript exists for this collection. 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. As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us inaposition to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, andbias isreflected in our descriptions, whichmay not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materialsaccurately.Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment.We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created.Additionally,our work to use reparative languagewhereLibrary of Congress subject termsareinaccurate and obsolete isongoing. Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or description please let us know by emailingreference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.