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 interview begins with W. C. Brake singing folk songs such as Little Rosewood Casket, Little Black Moustache, Charles Guitar, and a portion of Old Dan Tucker. At 7:02, she sings a racist song titled Uncle Ned about an elderly enslaved man. At 9:00, Brake sings Go forth and Greet Your Lover that was sung as part of a game. Afterwards, she sings Down by the Riverside, The Preacher and the Bear, Golden Slippers, The Baggage Coach Ahead, and Skip to my Lou. At 18:52, she sings an unnamed song that young children accompanied with a game. Next, at 20:07, Brake recalls a couple of superstitions; one that the frequency of fog in August predicted the amount of snow in the winter; and another that the lunar cycle predicts an upcoming drought. She points out that many weather superstitions were based on the idea that patterns earlier in the year forecasted weather later in the season. For instance, corn with thick husks signaled a rough winter, and the first 12 days in Januarys weather correlated to the weather later in the year. At 23:50, Brake details herbal folk remedies that local Native American tribes taught her family. She then lists examples of cures that her mother learned from her own father. Her mother treated warts by cutting notches in a stick and burying the stick; the warts would be healed when the stick was rotten. Then at 26:50, Brake recounts how her mother treated thrush in babies, and how she stymied bleeding through bible verse.
Sara Caldwell (1911-1995) was born in Toccoa, Franklin County, Georgia, to Samuel (1862-1925) and Ida Nancy (1865-1930) Caldwell. The family moved to Putnam County when she was 12, then ten years later moved to Stephens County. In 1926, Caldwell married Emory Brake (1904-1981) with whom she had four children including Bobbelise Ceigler (1951- ). The family lived in North Georgia in Chatham County, Putnam County, Toccoa, and the Carnes Creek Community in Toccoa, Stephens County.
The material on this tape was collected from my mother, Mrs. W. C. Brake of Route Z, Box 164, Toccoa, Georgia. My mother knows a great deal of traditional lore, because she was born and has lived all her life in rural Georgia. She was -born in FrankZingCounty, Georgia in Z9.1Z. At t7theage of 12, she moved with her family to Putnam County, Georgia, where they lived for ten years. They moved next to Stephens County where she lived until her marriage. After her marriage, she spent eighteen months in Chatham County, one year in Putnam County, and then returned to Stephens County, where she has lived ever since. The area around Stephens and Franklin Counties where she had lived most of her life is rural, and is located in the foothills of the mountains. The family home-:is located off the Mize Road in the Carnes Creek Community. She sings without very much expression and does not employ gestures to accompany her singing. TRANSCRIPT (The first 15 or so revolutions are not transcribed.) B. All right, you said you knew "Little Rosewood Casket". ! (j J S. Yes. B. You know aZZ of it? S. I - I think so. (sings) There's a little rosewood casket sitting on the marble stand, and a package of love letters written by my sweetheart's hand. Go, dear brother, bring them to me, and sit down upon my bed. Lay your head upon my pillow, for my poor aching heart is dead. While you slowly read them to me, I may gently fall asleep - fall asleep to wake with Jesus. Dearest brother, do not weep. When I'm dead and in my coffin, I'll be shrouded aZZ around. Place me in some pleasant churchyard, or some pleasant churchyard ground. Go, dear brother, tell my sweetheart. TeZZ him that I've gone to rest, and please tell my darling lover. TeZZ him that I loved him best. B. Okay, what are some other songs that you know? S. Well, I'm not sure I know the words to aZZ of them. I know some of the words to several. I know "Little Black Moustache"and "Charles Guitar". B. Okay, how do those go? S. Oh - "Little Black Moustache" first? It's kind of a silly song, but I'ZZ try it. (sings) Onst I had a charming beau. I loved him dearer than life. I thought the y-would surely come when I would be his wife. He came to see me Sunday eve. He stayed till almost 3. He said he'd never loved a girl as much as he loved me. He said we'd live in the finest style, for he had lots of cash. And then he pressed against my Zips a little black moustache. And then there came a sour old maid who owned her weight i in gold. She had false teeth, she wore false hair, she was 45 years old. 2 Then he cruelly deserted me just for that old maid's cash. And so you see, I lost my beau with the little black moustache. Now they live just o'er the way in a grand old mansion old. She married him for his moustache. He married her for gold. Young girls, you must take my advice, and do not be so fast/to fall in love with every little boy that wears a black moustache. B. Is that all of that song? S. That's all of that one. ,1 B. Okay. S. Here's another one that's on the same order of a girl deceiving a boy. B. Oh, really? (Laughter) What's that about? S. Well, it is comical. (sings) I had a girl and we got married (spoken: cut it. You want me to go on?) B. Yeah, go on. (This interruption was caused by entry into the room of a person with whom informant was not too well acquainted.) S. (continuing) And we started to go to bed. She put her false teeth in a tumbler and her glass eye under her head. She put her peg leg on the sofer and her false hair in a chair. My little girl, I'd like to love you, but you're scattered everywhere. (Laughter) That one's silly. B. Okay, what else? Oh, you said you knew"Charles Guitar"? S. Uh, well, some of it. I'm not sure of_aZZ the words, but I have most of them. B. Okay. S. (sings) My name is Charles Guitar. My name I'll never deny. I leave my aged parents in sorrow here to die. But little did I think while in my youthful bloom that to the scaffold I'd be carried to meet my fatal doom. 3 My sister came to see me to bid me last adieu. She threw her arms around me, and wept most bitterly. She said, "my darling brother, today you're going to die for the murder of James A. Garfield upon the scaffold high". The black cap's on my forehead that I no more shall see. The hangman now's awaiting. Tis a quarter after 3. Goodbye, my friends and loved ones. I bid you all adieu. But when I'm dead and buried, you'll all remember me. B. Okay. That was all of -- Do you know any more songs like that? S. Uh, I don't believe I know any -- uh -- well not enough verses to sing. B. Okay. WeZZ - do you know"Old Dan Tucker"? Don't you know that one? S. Well, I know some of it, but not really enough to - like - Old Dan Tucker sang for his supper, but I can't remember -- and - uh - washed his face in a -- I can't remember the words of it. B. Okay. OZd Uncl Ned. You know that song, don't you? S. Well, I used to sing it at school, but I - (sings) There was an old darkie,and his name was Uncle Ned, and he lived long ago, long ago. But he had no wool on the top of his head in the place where the wool oughta grow. Then lay down the shovel and the ho-o-0e. Hang up the fiddle and the bow. For there's no more work for poor old Ned. He's gone where the good darkies.go. One cold frosty morning, old Ned, he died. Massa's tears they fell like the rain. For he knew when Ned was laid in the ground, he'd never see his like again. Then lay down the shovel and the hoe-o-oe, hang up the fiddle and the bow. For there's no more work for poor old Ned. He's gone where the good darkies go. B. Okay, do you know any songs that you used to sing when you would go to parties when you were young? 4 B. Were there some games that you played with songs? S. Well, some. I can't recall too many. One was "Go Forth and Greet Your lover", I believe was the name of it. B. Can - can you remember it? S. (sings) Stand forth and greet your lover. Stand forth and greet your lover, for ;.we have gained today. Now measure your love to show her. Now measure your love to show her. Now measure your Love to show her, for we have game today. Goodbye, I hate to Leave you. Goodbye, I hate to Leave you. Goodbye, I hate to Leave you, for we have game today. (speaking, explaining) And they would act out the parts as they sang the verses. They'd kneel before their lover, and then stretch out their arms or if they wanted to be comical, they'd just measure a short distance on their finger to show how much they loved her, just anything to get a Laugh, and then they would get up and shake hands as they said "Goodbye, I hate to Leave you", and then the one they had knelt in front of would get in the center of the ring, and the original one would get back in the circle - I mean, hold hands with the others as they marched around. And I believe they might have been some more verses, but just off hand I can't recall what they all were. B. Uh, well, were there any more songs Like that that you knew? S. I am sure there was, but it is hard for me to thinkjust off hand. We - we play Lot of games, but I can't remember the music to 'em right now. B. Uh, well would you know any songs that you used to sing in church that - S. Well, B. Things that the old people sang - things that you Learned maybe from your mother? 5 S. Yes, well, we used to sing old songs, but it's been so long since I heard many of them that I am sure I couldn't recall many of the words. Of course, if I were to hear the music or hear some of the words, they'd probably come back to me, butjust off hand, I don't know. B. Well, you told me that you knew "Down by the Riverside". How did you learn that song? S. I don't remember. My mother or daddy probably singing it. B. Do you remember any of the words of that? S. Uh, I don't know - I might get the chorus right, and then I'd probably get the verses all mixed up, but it was something like (sings) Down by the riverside, ain't gonna study war no-more. Ain't gonna study war no more. Ain't gonna study war no gmore. Ain't gonna study war no more. (speaking) I can't think what the verses are, but it was something on that order, and they were of course - it was a lot of different things that was brought into it, but they .was something about what it was. B. Well, you said that you knew "The Preacher and the Bear" - a funnny song about -- S. Oh, I used to know that. Yes. It went something like - I'll just start and maybe the words will come to me, and when the words don't come, maybe I'll just put in something. It will give some idea. (sings) A preacher went out hunting. It was on a Sunday morn. It was against his religion, yet he carried his gun along. He shot himself a meagZey hare and one little (speaking) something or other (sings) and on his way returning home, he met a great grizzly bear. The preacher climbed up in a (speaking) some kind of a tree, nand then he crawled out on the limb. And (speaking) something I canSemember - but something - anyway the preacher climbed out on the limb, and the bear stood down on the ground, and in the meantime, the limb broke, 6 and the bear, I mean the preacher, fell down and the bear and the preacher had a fight and the preacher ended up anyway by praying to the Lord and telling Him, well, anyway if He couldn't help him, for goodness sakes not to help the bear. (Laughter). But I forget how it goes, how it ended, but I know he did turn to the Lord and tell Him well if He couldn't be on his side, for goodness sakes not to be on the bear's side. B. Okay, do you know "Golden Slippers"? S. Well, I've heard that, like this other. Just (sings) Oh, them golden slippers, them golden slippers I'm gonna wear to walk them golden streets. Oh, them golden slippers. Oh, them golden slippers, them golden slippers I.:m gonna wear because they Zook so neat. Oh, them golden slippers, Oh, them golden slippers, them golden slippers I'm gonna wear to walk the golden streets. (speaking) I'm sure there was more verses, but I can't recall -- B. Okay. Were there any more songs that you remembered at aZZ? S. WeZZ, not really. My sister remembered one - "The Baggage""Coach Ahead". I mean she had the words to it. And this more or Zess just told a story of the compassion of people if they were, uh, it was about a young husband and father carrying his baby back to their home state and his wife was dead in the coach ahead of 'em, and they were riding, and he was having trouble getting the baby to sleep. The baby kept crying, and the people in the train kept complaining, begin to compZ:ain to him and told him to make the baby to stop his crying, because it was disturbing their rest, and to carry it to its mother. Then he answered them that he only wished he could, but that she was dead in the coach ahead. And, of course, then all of the mothers and the wives rose up and took charge of the baby, 7 and soon it was fast asleep. And it just -- the song just more or less went to show that people did have compassion if once they knew the situation. B. Uh-huh. Oh, but you don't rememb how to sing it? S. No, I don't know the tune. I have the words that my sister gave to me, but I don't recall the tune at aZZ. B. Oh, well you - you can't think of any other songs that you used to know when you were young, did you? S. WeZZ, not off hand. B. Now there is a game song called Skip To My Lou. S. Yes. Yeah, that was similar to the other one,just Skip to my Lou -- but I don't remember how they was played. B. Well, do you remember the song? S. Skip, skip, skip to my Lou, my darling. Now, that's thevverse - that's the chorus, and I can't remember what the verse is. Do you know any of the words or have you ever heard -- (S) B. Yeah, I have heard the song. /I have heard it but I don't remember. Now there was one that I learned recently, but I don't know how old it is. B. Where did you learn this? S. At a kindergarten. B. Okay, it was a children's song? S. A little game song that children play, and act out the parts. Would you like for me to sing it? If I can remember it. (sings) I went to old Kentucky, the old - (speaks) now I lost the tune of it. - old Kentucky Fair. I met a senorita with buckles in her hair. And then they shake - she shakes her head, the one in the center shakes - "Shake 'em, shake 'eip, shake 'em. Shake 'em if you can^^'em if you can. ". But - and A then she turns around and points to the one that has to be it, but I 8 can't recall that rnow, nothing but the tune of it. (silence) B. You know - you mentioned a song called the "Boston Burglar", didn't you? S. Uh, well, I - the name is familiary, but words I do not know. If - if I were to see the words, they might come to me, but I don't - just off hand I can't recall them at all. B. Well, do you remember anything that people used to believe? About the weather or things that would - signs. r S. Well, this one that still haveheard people repeat it today, so I guess it's well known, and that is about if it's red at night, sailor's delight, and red in the morning, sailors take warning. B. Well, do you know anything about rain or snow, or how to predict these things? How to tell if it is gonna rain or snow or be cold or - S. I have heard them say that you can count the fogs in the month of August and know how many snows will be that next winter. If that's any case, we '11 have a Lot of snows this winter. But I am sure that is just saying or superstition or something. B. You don't believe in it? S. No, I don't think so. B. Well, do you know any things Like that that people used to believe that they would say? S. I can't think of them right now, but I have heard a Lot of them. Right recently, I had heard some that was real comical, but I can't recall, but some that I would think couldn't possibly have any effect, but some people believe that it is. B. Were these things that would cause change in the weather, orjust a way to tell that a change was coming? S. No, no they.wouZdn't cause it. It isjust signs that people say that they know it is fixin' to change. Well, just Like - the - you know, we've been having this dry spell - that is because the moon is holding the water. You know, when the half moon Like and it is turned up with it like a bowl with the bowl, but if it turns sideways enough where the water can ;get:- iit of the bowl, then we're gonna have rain. Now, I have heard people say that. This - this time some people had some rain; we didn't have any. B. Well, is there a way to predict the weather for a year? From the beginning of the year? S. Ihave heard people bay, you know, that if the corn has thick shucks on it, you know you are going to have a hard winter. Of if the - if there is a Lot of acorns aor a Lot of hickory nuts, and thessquirreZs - you can always see the squirrels running out and gathering in a Lot of acorns and hickory nuts, why they know it is getting ready for a cold winter, a Long hard winter. B. Okay - at the first of the year is there a way that you can predict or know what the weather for the year is going to be Like? S. Oh, you always put down the first 12 days. The first 12 days of January s supposed to represent the Z.2"months. So, of course, I always put down if it is sunshiny and warm on the first day. I always put it down on the January, and then follow it through to the Last to the 12 days - and of course, I have to admit that I am that - well, I just want to see whether I can ever hit it right, and sometimes it is - is real dry or rainy. Of course, that might bejust a coincidence, but sometime s I hit it. B. Uh-huh. WeZZ,are there other things Like that? What about.medicine? Or the way to cure sickness? S. Well, -- ZO B. Do you know things people used to believe about that? S. Well, I know th6 Indians used to get herbs and roots and they showed the white people. You know yellow root is good for pain in the back, or kidney trouble, and a lot of people still use that now. A lot of people used the herbs and I think the Indians did have some good ideas. Well, some of our medicine, I believe is made from herbs and roots. And yes, I've heard that - that you can make good medicine out of it, but I have never tried, but I have heard of people that have. B. Well, do you know any other cures for specific diseases? S. Oh, like rubbing off a wart or something like that? Well, my mother used to do that. B. How do you rub off a wart? S. No, she didn't rub them off. She would take - I don't know now - I'm satisfied she said some words or did something secretly because she would blindfold the person that had the wart. Ever how many watts they had, they would cut that many notches in a stick, a wooden stick. You take a knife and cut every how many notches in there, the amount that they had warts, and then she would blindfold thatpperson and lead them around and around until she was satisfied they did not know where they were. And then she would let them kneel down and dig a hole in the ground, and bury that stick. B. Still blindfolded? S. Still blindfolded. They would just scratch enough to bury that stick and so the saying goes when that stick rot, when the stick had rotted, then the warts would be gone, and I know for a fact that warts disappeared. B. Did this ever work with you? S. No, I was fortunate. I never had a wart as far as I know. But I have seen her do it, and I did see people that the warts had gone from. ZZ Whether her leading them around and whatever she said had anything to do with it, or not, I don't know. But I do know the warts were gone. B. Well, did she do other things? Could she - S. She could talk thrash - I believe if it is thrash that babies have in their mouths. This little breaking out. Yes she - she Zearnedtthat from,,-her father, too. She learned - yes, and this superstition was that the person that does this they are to pass it on to one. other person and one only. B. Oh, well did your mother pass it one to somebody? S. Not that I know of. As far as I know she did not. But her father passed it to her, and as far as I know she did not pass it to anybody. I - I didn't think; of it when she was up and well and about. Well, in fact I hadn't thought of it until you asked me right then. But as far as I know, she didn't not tell anybody her secret. But there was - and the - now as I got off onto that, but they made some kind of a tea and washed out the baby's mouth with it for that little breaking out in the mouth, and I believe that is what they called it. But I don't know what that was, but .I think they called it thrash. The disease that was in the mouth. B. Were those the only things that she did? S. Well, that is all that I can think of right off hand, and I had forgotten I, that until you asked about it. B. Well, did you know anyone else who could do things like this? S. Well, I have heard of people that could stop bleeding. You probably have, too. There is supposed to be something in the Bible - a verse in the Bible that will stop bleeding. B. Really? S. Well, I - Z2 B. You don't know what it was, do you? S. No, that was one of the secrets. You wasn't supposed to tell anybody what that verse was. I believe the people that use it say it while they treat that person. They silently supposingZy repeat the verse. I am not sure about this now. I could be all mixed up. Somebody may really know this, because I understand it.is still being practiced today. B. Uh-huh. S. But I don't know too much. I have never seen that tried, because I had a daughter one time that cut her foot -jumped on a razor blade and cut her foot read bad. But I didn't hunt nobody that could do that. I carried her straight to the doctor, and then she almost bled to death. But I have heard that people would go to somebody else that - and that they really could stop it, but I have never experienced it myself. B. Well, you mother couldn't do that? S. No, now, now my mother did not do that. But now I used to know a man that did treat people and the people said that they were healed by some kind of a secret process. He'd carry them into a room by themselves and treat the tonsils, or if their back or most any disease he would treat. B. Did the people know how he did it or did they tell? S. We 11 3 yes, they said that he would just gently rub the affected part and just - he was just very gentle, and all. They believed that there might be a certain amount of faith connected with it. I really don't know. B. He didn't use any remedies? S. No, no he had no remedies, nothing only his hands. And it could have been that he was doctoring by faith. I don't know what. I wouldn't know how it is, but I know that it was a lot of people that really believed in it and really came to be treated by it. Z3 B. Have you ever heard of cutting a fever and how that could be done? S. I don't believe so. No, I don't believe so. Looks like that would be hard to do. B. Well, your mother never told you about these things that she learned from her father? Where did she - her father - where did he learn? From his father or mother? S. I guess so. His father or mother, some of his people had passed it down to him. Apparently it had been in the family and had come down from generation to generation. B. Was your mother an oldest-chiZd? S. No, she wasn't, but she was kindly in the middle, you might say. There was 2 younger than she was, and 3 older - No, I don't know why her father chose her. B. Then this wasn't something thatjust went - S. I could have been that -- (The tape ran out. The rest of the sentence was: 4.aV ii (. ! i... - -:..-- .'. m ol- tm
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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.
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.