socials

   

 

 

 

 

Interview taken by Eliot Wigginton and his students, printed in the "foxfire" series of books; @The Foxfire Fund, Inc.


SINGIN'S

MARGARET NORTON: When you'd have a singin', you'd usually have a group of people get together and sing and have refreshments like tea and coffee and ice cream, y'know. They'd gather at different persons' houses, or at th'church -- whoever had a pianer'r'organ -- and they'd play and sing just like any other get t'gether.
     Usually y'sung religious songs, but sometimes they'd have like a sports party where you'd just sing sports songs. But usually it was religious songs, and we'd sing for two'r'three hours and have a few refreshments and go home.
     And then sometimes they had'em all night long. You'd start at eleven o'clock and then go th'rest of th'night. As fer me, I'm not a good hand t'set up till all hours. I'd go t'sleep!

HARRY BROWN: They'd have'em in their houses, and then sometimes they have'em up there at Andy Cope's fish farm. He's a great singer, and this fella' from Lakemont -- Horace Page -- all them go up there and sometime they sing all night.
     I'd just go t'listen t'it. I never did sing. They used t'have old-time songs, y'know, like, "Walkin' in th'King's Highway," but they don't sing anymore. Oh, and, "They're Namin' th'Prophet, That Honorable Man," and, "On Down t'th'River Jordan." But th'songs they sing now is different from when I'uz grownin' up.
     And sometimes at th'church we'd have what they called an "all day singin' an' dinner on th'grounds." That was good too.

FLORENCE AND LAWTON BROOKS: People used t'have singin's at their houses. Sometimes we'd walk ten miles t'one. They'd have songbooks, y'know, with gospel songs, and th'house'ud be full a'people. They used t'do that lots -- move all over th'settlement. When me an' Florence was married we done 'at fer a long time. Fer years after we'uz married we went nearly ever'night. Lots a'times people'ud have t'walk four'r'five miles, but they'd be there.
     That was about th'only thing that went on durin' th'week, and that'ud give th'young people a place t'go, and they'd always go. If a old boy got him a girl, he'd have her come t'th'singin', y'know. Had a nice time. Always had a nice time. I think there ought t'be lots more. Wouldn't be half as much meaness done.

CANDY PULLIN'S

MRS. ADA KELLY: When they made syrup, th'last run of th'syrup they'd cook up a whole lot of, and they'd cook it down till it got real thick. And just along toward th'last before it got ready t'take up, they'd put some soda in it. I really don't know what that did to it, but it seemed t'make it get whiter or something.
     And a boy and a girl would usually butter a dish and cool it off some and then get it up in their hands, y'know, and work it till they could get it in a ball. Then th'boy would get at one end and th'girl at th'other, and they'd pull backwards and forwards till they got it so it'd pull out in great long pieces.
     Then they'd divide some of it and pull it out in long pieces sort of like stick candy and lay that out on a platter'r'something. When it got cold, you could just take a knife and crack it all, and it'd be sort'a like yellow stick candy. It was real good.
     And they always had boys and girls doing it together. That was all th'fun there was in it. Just invite th'young folks in t'make syrup candy.

WILL ZOELLNER: Y'grease yer hands with lard so it don't stick on yer hands. If y'ain't got no lard on yer hands, it gets all over yer hands and gets warm.
     And y'go out there and get yer partner and cut that syrup out in big pieces, and then y'pull that and keep a'pullin' around and around till it gets plumb yella'.
     Sometimes we'd go and have a corn shuckin' and candy pullin' and a all-night dance on New Year's. Dance th'old year out and th'new year in, and have stuffed turkeys and have a midnight supper. Then we'd have a drink outside. Had all kind'a cider where we were there. and once in a while had some blackberry wine -- take a little swig a'that.

MRS. E. H. BROWN: They'd have those candy pullin's, and they'd have it all braided and in all kinds of shapes, y'know. They'd get it t'where the could pull it out and shape it any way they wanted to.

MAUDE SELLERS: Oh! I've pulled candy till I had blisters on my hands!

CANDY BREAKIN'S

MRS. E. H. BROWN: They'd have a dishpan fulla stick candy broke up into little pieces, and they'uz different colors, y'know. And th'pan was covered. And a girl and boy would pair off and go and reach under there and get a piece a'candy. If they each got a piece alike, why they could keep it, but if they didn't they had t'put it back.
     Last one I believe I remember ever bein' at was at my husband's home, and he carried me home that night after th'candy breakin'.

RICHARD NORTON: We'd just buy this peppermint candy -- all kinds a'candy. Somebody'ud take a dishpan and cover it up and you had t'reach in there. If you and your partner didn't get th'same kind'a piece, you had t'pay it back, but if you did, you kept it.
     There'd be twenty-five, y'know, sometimes; and it'd circle 'round and 'round, and you'd see who got th'most candy -- who was th'luckiest, y'know. And boy would they have fun when y'had t'put your candy back!

MISCELLANEOUS

MRS. HARRIET ECHOLS: We had ice cream parties too - usually on Saturday night. See, most ever'body had four'r'five cows, and we'd make boiled custards (you know that's fixed with milk and eggs and sugar and flavorin', and it's delicious; but where y'put a lot a'eggs in , it's s'rich y'can't eat much of it). and we'd get about five ice cream freezers and invite th'youngsters in, and we'd get in th'parlor and get around th'organ'r'piano and sing and play games. See, we didn't have anywhere t'go. And that's what we did for our recreation was our parties.
     And we had our singin's, and we'd meet during th'week and we'd go t'prayer meetin' on Wednesday night and sing and practive songs fer th'choir and fer church on Sunday. And then on Saturday nights we'd have our ice cream supper -- and in th'wintertime a candy pullin'. and we'd gather nuts and have a nut crackin' t'make your candy if we wanted t'make fudge'r'anything like that.
     And three'r'four of th'girls would get t'gether and make five'r'six cakes, and we'd have cake and ice cream.
     And we went t'dances in th'wintertime, and we'd have apple bobbin's, and we just had th'best time. We never went to a dance without our parents, and we'd just roll back th'rug if they had a rug; and if they didn't, wed put meal on th'floor. And th'band would come in from th'little town. There was several of th'old men could pick a guitar or banjo or fiddle. And, well, we just had a good time!

MARGARET AND RICHARD NORTON: People used t'help each other kill hogs, too, when they had hogs t'kill. Th'neighbors'ud come in and help. Ever'body got a mess a'meat and went back home. You had four'r'five hogs t'kill, and half a dozen'r'more'ud come t'help y', and the'y do it for a combination and a mess a'meat.
     R.: We just give'em a mess a'meat a lot of times. Me and my uncle, we'd gather together and kill big hogs. We'd always dress one out then, and then we'd kill two'r'three more for th'other feller, and two'r'three more for the th'other feller till we had'em all killed and dressed out. We could get it all in one day.
     M.: We had square dances, too. They'd get all th'furniture out of th'room, and had somebody a'callin' and somebody a'pickin', y'know.
     R.: We always had Bill Lamb play th'fiddle, and had some banjo and guitar pickers, too, y'know. They was a lot a'young people around here then.
     M.: We had th'whole place covered up with young people. They hadn't got this crave then t'go up t'Atlanta'r'some big city. They just stayed on and helped farm in th'summer time and then go t'school in th'wintertime and have fun.
     M.: Had barbecues, too.
     R.: We just dug out a square place and piled it full'a hickory wood and burnt it down t'coals. Then we'd take poles and gather that hog -- 'course his innards took out and ever'thing, y'know -- and we'd run'em through his hind and shoulders. The poles'ud be long enough t'reach across that hole, and we'd put him down over it and we'd have t'turn it ever' so often. Cook'im all night.
     M.: They'd sit up all night, and next mornin' th'stew'ud be made -- th'Brunswick stew.
     R.: We cooked generally two sheep and a hog.
     M.: Th'other people'ud bring th'vegetables and th'bread and th'things that went with it. And we used t'get in t'gether and have been stringin's and pea shellin's too. We did that here last summer.
     R.: We pile up a big pile there on a paper on th'floor and we all get around it, y'know.
     M.: And ever'body gets'em a pan and a chair and a place t'put their hulls. First thing you know, you're finished. And at Christmas time here we have a Christmas tree for all our children on Betty's Creek. Th'women all come and we fix up th'presents there. So that's a get-together. We still do that. and we have got together and preserved strawberries.
     R.: All th'old people used t'double up like that. One'ud need some work done, and they'd all just pitch in.

     And even that doesn't exhaust the list. In addition to the above, people grouped together for box lunches (each girl filled a cake box with a picnic lunch for two and decorated its exterior. The boxes were then auctioned off, and the boy with the highest bid shared the lunch with the girl who had made it); wool cardings and spinnings; and workings (when a man was sick, the neighbors would gather to plant or tend or harvest his garden and do his chores until he was well again). And that probably isn't all, either. The sense of community and interdependence was so highly developed that there was simply little people didn't do together. That amazes us now, but it also attracts us in some mysterious way. Perhaps that interdependence is the source of part of our nostalgia for a simpler time.

MRS. E. H. BROWN: I believe people enjoyed themselves more. They didn't have very much for entertainment, y'know, and when we did have some little something, we really enjoyed it. And ever'thing was nice. Ever'body behaved themselves. I used t'go to country dances, too. I never went t'a public dance in my life. It was always t'some neighbor's house. And ever'body had better behave themselves. If they didn't they was invited t'go home. My daddy was always th'fiddler. I've often told people I cut my teeth on a fiddle bow!

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