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FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT
Miami, Florida
Gladys Buck
1,300 Words
7 Pages
Folk Lore (Cont.)
Dec. 2, 1938
Mabel B. Francis
Editor
SARAH JONES
As I stepped on the improvised porch at the Jones house one
of the boards turned, my foot rent through and I had a fall.
Virginia called to John, who, it seems, is the builder of this
addition and told him that he would have to tsar the thing off
the house or some one would get killed,
aint goinl to tear it down," whined John, "I'll get
some nails and fix it, but you Can fuss all you want to and I
ain't goine to tear it down.* "You better fix it then," Vir—
ginia told him, "or I'm got& to tell mama to make you take it
off."
John is the second oldest boy and is an average American
boy in appearance. His hair is light brown, his eyes are blue.
and his body is straight and strong. He is healthy looking and
is neatly though poorly dressed. His voice, as the rest of the
family's, has a whining, plaintive note. He is usually busy
doing something abut the house, he keeps the yard neat and
builds things of wood. He has a camera and likes to go down to
the stores at Princeton and take pictures of any and all of the
children there,
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I am not making much head. way with Sarah as she always
leaves Virginia and me to ourselves when I call. She is net at
home very often. Last week and this, when the weather was cold,
she spent most of the time 7ith the daughter who married the
merchant. This daughter, Minnie Dell, has a fire place in her
new home so she comes each morning to get her mother and brings
her home late in the afternoon.
One day this week, when I was visiting the Jones, Oolombus,
the oldest boy, came to the house with several other boys and
told Virginia that she had fixed at the stores for her to get
something for supper. She tried to get him to go back and bring
something for her to cook but he said that he had fixed ft and
that she could go get it herself. She then tried to find out
what he would like to have but he couldn't be bothered with that
either.
The problem of supper for the family was solved when Sarah
came home with an arm full of green vegetables. She was told that
Columbus had Tixed it at the store" but she announced that she
nas cooking turnip greens and corn bread and nothing else was
needed.
The bathroom facilities are non—existent. There is a pump
in the back yard and a piece of tin, which has been bent to make
a drain, keeps the water from falling too near the pipe.
A toilet is set back in the pines some distance from the
house. This was also built by John and is merely several pieces
of tin nailed tn trees that have conveniently grown so as to be
used.as corner posts on three corners. The other corner is a
new 2 x 4. The door is another piece of tin which is not at—
tached to the main body but has to be lifted up then replaced,
A seat is two more 2 x 4 posts which are placed on high box.
es. There is no floor and the ground and seat are littered with
many old newspapers. No attempt has been made to put a roof on
this construction.
"le would build us a toilet," says Virginia, "but mama says
that there ain't no sense in spendinl money for it when we might
have to move and leave it. We didn't have to pay no rent here
until after July but now the man that owns these houses
makes us
pay five dollars a month. He says he's goint to tear these
houses down and build some new ones."
"He asked Mama if she would rent from him and she told him
she would If he would make his rent reasonable but she wasn't
goin0 to pay no ten or fifteen dollars a month.
Virginia was still in bed one morning when I called at ten
o'clock. She jumped up and put on a silk dress then got back in
bed. (Virginia wears only silk dresses).
There were two double all wool blankets and three quilts
on her bed and she guessed her mother must have put the two top
ones on her some time in the night. All of this covering is
soiled and dingy. The sheets are not dirty but are also dingy
and axe of coarse material.
The hall was littered with trash whioh Sarah had swept up
in a pile when the daughter had come for her earlier in the morn—
ing,
Virginia is very anxious to make a quilt before she is mar—
ried but has not been able to get the material so I offered to
buy the material for her if she will make a quilt for me. This
suits her fine and the agreement is made. She is in raptures
over it and gets to work. She is anisious to get the quilts fi—
nished and is going to quilt them with many little patterns
which will be very difficult.
She is glad that the materials are washable as her sweet—
heart has taken one of his mother's silk quilts for them to sit
on at a fish fry. She knows that he will treat hers the same
way and it will need frequent washings.
This sweet heart works at the ice factory and supports his
mother, a married sister and her child. This takes almost all
of his salary but he manages to buy Virginia's clothes. She is
not ashamed of the fact and does not care what folks think about'
it. The only thine that worries her is that her clothes are not
rA -lice as hiq mother's ',ho also has a man to help sugoort her
and buy ailitional clothes.
met Golombus at the grocery store and had a chance to
study him. He is a tall, raw—boned boy, not too clean looking,
with ruddy complexion, black straight hair and heavy, bushy eye—
brows. He has a mullet mouth and dirty buck teeth. He wears
a ohauffelirs cap and a blue uniform shirt with the name OMB
sewed into the pocket. He smokes cigarettes and talks a great
deal,
0010MWS is employed to help a fisherman who has a fish mar—
ket in Princeton lnd is freluently seen driving this fisherman's
truck.
Virginia oocupies the *Fine* bedroom and has many silk
dresses hanging uncovered on, a rod hung in one corner of the
room. She bought the bedroom suite on the installment plan and
declares that she will never buy anything else until she has
the cash to pay for it as the installment man nearly ran her
crazy trying to colleot every week.
Tie has .nade her mother a present of this suite and hopes
that she will be able to buy another when she is married but is
afraid that her husband will not let her do so. He does not
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like to sleep on a bed that has a solid wooden head and foot
as it is too stuffy.
Virginia went to a dance at one of the notorious cules"
in the country. While there, she met a man who told her so many
times that she was pretty, that he loved her and 'wanted to marry
her and that it got so Ibunotious" (Spelled an pronounced) that
she could hardly stand it.
This family leas no oar and do not feel the need of one as
they live so near to the stores that walking is no hardship.
They say that they would not be able to buy gasoline for a oar
if they owned one. The mother walks a great deal and does most
of the shopping.
The magazines on the hall table are True Romance, True Con-
fessions and Ranch Romance.
In the front yard built against the house is a small pen
which holds two large white rabbits. These are the property of
the youngest boy and he feeds them Spanish Needles.
As soon as Virginia has a quilt on the frame I am going to
help with the quilting. Mrs. Jones is to take part in this, too,
and I believe that I will be able to get the real background of
this family.
.7.
The father has hiLh blood pressure and that keeps him in
Jthe Dade County NoPpital. They never mention him,
The crocheting was progressing slowly but is forgotten now
for the quilt. Virginia is planning to learn later as she wants
to crochet a dress for her little niece. The crocheting is a
joke -,ith all of her family, and friends tease her about it.
The married daughters live about four miles from their mother,
but in different directions,