Document text
February 18, 1939
Mrs. to ailliamsfroal talc)
Venus, Florida
Afe of sharecropper
3arbara 3erry 3arsey, writer
Veronica 4 Russ, reviser
WRY I SOB
Mares small, unpainted shtdk stood in 28 isolated clearing almost a
quarter of a mile from the grade. I found it t7 following a dimmed. trail
,thich led from the erode through the heart of a hasem.lc. The few scattered
pines varmandivg herbage node a pleasant contrast appinst the deeper croon
of the beyhead in the background.
To reach the holes I had to leave .the trlil and pidk vig way through
rifles and thick grasses and around large camps of palmettos whore thoullts
nf 17,.rkinr.,7 rattlesnakes sent no scurrying toward my destination. There 7ms
no other dwelling within miles, and a peculiar stillness brooded aver the
broken only by the soardiing of the wind in the rims.
.reek fmtoine voice called from the hence as I arrroedhods 1Dame
r14ht in mem. There aint no gate bat you kin raise ur the -,/lre and ,:mt
thrm411 the fence that.Avay. has be a-diain to make as a gete over
since rre come here but he don't seam to find no time for it." lure enough
therewee no gpte In the rusty ten.strnnd barbed iire fammalhiCh rignamed
around the hoase but the strande were hung loosel7 'Aron the crooked costs,
and it war an easy matter to crawl under the lowest strand.
"71ease roma lest chase than little biddies eatton the rem, for that
old hen, she vorot be quiet till the gets them all out -:71th her. They i11
case in Wormy when sick in bed and can't chase then cut. They's al-
ways a-loeitin for serara and crumbs. I declare, I believe one or twe is in
the kitdhen et, they shore do nester no thisowoy. 7ou1d you mind ao.sheoin
L. 6 10
Florida
then oat please, I feels sere7, to poster you like this, mem, bat there
ain't no body else to all.°
The tiny chieks were urged out the front door to be taken nnder the pro-
tecting ming of the irate. hen. The other *tokens were then chased from the
kitchen table. They mode their protesting way into the batik yard where they
lingered about the steps.
'11th order restored for the time being, the comely yaw woman with
dark curly red heir, spOke ain. 3he lay in the soiled bed covered with
several dingy blankete and a This here house don't lock very
oloan mem. Teat I been sick now with chills apd fever for most emmk, and
stint been able to clean and sarabandes& like I,belong to. Teeny, there,
she don't feel so good meither, &els bad the fever, too, and 71111e, 1.0
went to town this saran' to git as some fever mmlicinet he ain't got back
yet."
Teeny, proved to be a tiny tow -headed girl of tee or three years of
age. Shs was cuddle& down in the blankets nest to her nether.
'To man, we don't never hove a doctor, livin so far out thisawne and
'altheat no mow nach neither. I feel better soon as I take a fee doses of
thet fever medicine. I try to always keep it in the house for there taint
no telling just When then chills will strike= like. lat the medicine,
it give out the last tine Imes so sick and I kept a waitin" thinkin$ eer.
be I wouldn't have nn mere chills. Soonlos Tillie eits back and I stert the
medicine win, feel better. Mb MAL, I don't knos jest 'abet kind he'll
git this tine. Fe ono it's better to change the medicine a lot and he
sere knows too, for itllte, be knows a been about nest ovary thine like."
Ihe looked dreamily out across the clearing as if the elfgh for lilliews
retneel mould make him :materialise at once. "Then Julio is home nnd these
Florida
chills starts, he always weeTe me up warm and ruts a stove lid to my feet.
Then he fixes the medicine far me, too. He always knoeed jest that to do
beat sverthing like, bele got &ugh a fine education. Teeny here, she has
the chills too and she takes the medicine, but 'onetime it makes her sink
to her sturnaiok. aome time I tight we afraid have a doctor but I =poet
knows bout as nudh.
eene is nnat fear years old nom. 7illie and me hna been married boat
five yerr„ I think it is. But I don't pay no mind to dates like, and time
do rogs so enick. I been bevies these here chills and fever off end en all
the time like. I greet ndghta had other babies by nom if I hadn't been
se Irlenr* I hoer d that sometimes it keeps more babies from e.comin. T
seuldet mina to or three nom if they didn't come alone too quick. :ele
like it would be real nice for Teeny to have n little brother to elay with.
don't never say madh but he likes babies, too. I mere he wegilk be
glad, speoially if it 7as a bey. Ile says it's alseys bettor tf.: have boys;
thee is feeler to raise and am help better leith the ramie.
I sare dowigh ye hed a bii fame, eine, he's always a plannin' to
be' ono like. Allis, he were raised on a fern too and he sere knows a lot
boat fermis. Re worked on a lot of :laces, too, croppin for other folk.
And If them folks hadme all ,!upt done like he tad them to, they-m:41de
mede better Grope," She sold sincerely.
'Tog eem6 7TLVES both berried in Florida. 'o lived here all the titer
we ain't newer been out the State. I =most 3 years old rc77 end
lillie„ I reckon he's about 35. I won't rightly knou there hewn* berried,
but it were in Florida. I was berried. over in rerdee County, 373,7 out in
the country almost like this here. My daddy, he were a farmer, but he never
had no very big farm. I don't know Inhere my fondly come from to start with„
Florida
I never thought of othin but mat a—livin here like.
.fter drinking a glass of aster *doh I secured for her fran a bucket
on a bench outside the kitchen door, die oontinsteds
"%fter we was ?harried Willie, he worked on fame and in the atrawborrier
in Hardee County, a lot. Be lost a fortune in them strawberry fields and
throne) no fault of hies. Yoa see he had most a hundred dollars he mide
a sawmill just fore we got married, se he went in with anther than to raise
berries. Bet the mane he woalatett do like Tillie said and they both lost
all their money. It shore roxe s fool terfail bad ani o aint never hal.. that
=soh now SW/ more like."
In reply tea mostion about the mill work, Biry stated with Prides
',lints, he is a sever, alai he kin run one of them circle saws bettertn
most anybody elms. I guess there just ain't snob that he can't de, he got
so meet school/a and knew* so imach."
"I reckon ?Tillie weld get iota wait most anywhere, but he can't do
mash in the mill or at funsin for it hurts his leek like. Swatters though
he works in the mill and than have MOM MOW* but it ain't over enough
and it don't last long for tbiege is se hip. 'Mlle, he Iles vrezked round
on lotaa farms, tut seems like he knees so each better he, to do the work
and it most always makes the folks mid at him. I guess they's jest jealous.
Seems 1110 Willis, he just don't hold no job for long, even Phan it don't
'wart his bask, lie always knows a bettor nay to dc most any kind of wait,
and sometimes he ets mad and says the ..lerk just ain't worth afoolin with.
nin be mighty glad ht en we can buy ma a greet big farm, mime like
'Allis is a ple.nnin to-do. I want a big oar, too, and a fine big house,
but I don't see no chance of it now. I hope we won't be a 1.4.,Tin' so thr
out in the woods than. Vfillie likes it out here and I do, too, only 1. get
Florida
41611i.
roal lonesome -like sometimes. And it's worser yhon I'm so sick, erase then I
wish I had son neighbors to come in. I rare an clad you come today, so
you ()wild talk to me aJhile.
'This bare place is all right for us now CaUSOTYCIdoet pay no rent.
-41 do 4141i: lAtat-kAri4 by nobody. Bet I'd like to be near a town and see
folks and things, aid f“) LO :40'4 '17/ Ahous. ae might get there sometimes if
d6 lived in in. I uoetar like to go donein fore Willie and no we married.
I faint, been to o dame* ler ao low no I epeot I eoruot hos. ,k) don't have
noway to get no plasm ilvincauy eat hefty it's o mighty long yak to town.
It aint often Clore i 4400‘uQ.k lo ng the gradowith o ear either, ani
it's a low Jolj,. to the 4,3rode from here.
',Now I yoaidnyt want folks always a-rannin in and tenth no how tc do
things and nank,; like, bat Jould like to visit GOMO• It's so far to
any piece the it is now, Iv the time I gezz where Ina a-goin Int
too tired LLi vat. Loiatitilstua somebody cones along with a ear ant carries
us rth-are we want to go, bat that, aloft often.
liometimos I think I meld like to try iivin In 4 city, but &poet
wool& got mighty SUM of the duet, sal noise, and sra0L-a. „i.na all thou'
pestorin things I hoar about. Out here it is quiet nd the air is 1:.re and
.eweet, and don't thee pines look pritty s raisin in the sunshine? IOcun tc
some at the big towns around here, and thoy look mighty aloe at night -;;ith
all Wientlights. Bet I don't see how people sleep, an' when they is sidk
it must be just awl. But people whet lives there gets to see a boar of
thimgo TrOgi a(isitti git the champ to and there is lots or places to go
to. Uwe lived in town we night be able to go to the movin pictures some-
times and there is a lot arrive thiega to go to, like band rla7in and
parades.
Florida ..5..
lIt might be bettor for Toerw, if *heves to be raised in toin, but
I don't knew. 3cese relics ark,' at/ children is amarter than others, but
there is 111110, he was raised in the oountry and there just abut nobody
no smarter than *hat he is. 'Then Tem/ gets reedy to go to school I syect
?we'll have to move if -le is still a livin out here, for she never could ialk
to the gentle and to the achool is through all thee° here woods all by hea-
r f
Miry &peke in of 'verb l'FA)metiteas then feel 7:ell ant zi)ed
money or food real bld I inkes, OC.D.;' and ;mike over to one of the farm around
here ant beep the -mark. I de enything they went me to, but mostly it's
vortrin in the field. Amotizre they mu no money, most1.7 a dollar e day.
If I gets there re..il e'trly the: alinye food me eel Teeny and :Times ale sone
tool to bring home. 3nt, sonetim r they -Lunt 7.73 to take all vegetables for
1ez: ord that don't suit so well, bat don't say nothing,
&Pftt none of lzs like vegeteblu much, yen lasew, but -.70 •3at this
somo uhen 770 tam to, I hoard they is nwful.beeltiv tc it, but I don't see
nlw, they soclas mostlj like ow f.eed to no. qlie is lays a planin to
raise big ;.,,rdert, bet he don't never seem to get to it. En does r.; ise a
esb'bager and some turnip Teons. -Jo 1I thorn 11600 if they's cooked iith
rlonty of ,-tide meat. -.Mlle rt ye ilmtes the aze of rklentin Sc much, m7rouldn't
oit it _-nd ho couldn't sell it. Thera* there is folks utuat sells their ?WO
tables and rOf: a lots of money toot
"1 worad like to get fresh milk for 7eoni, but we can't a7ray cut here,
:2nd she kiet to it mightn't like it atefwey. 71 on 70 he the mney
t 9:L re I gets her eenned Ma drinks it S tiriors than Ruin she -.fen t
have It. .3he sure does like elan mut thredh, and the r ttra t:Lc better.
IT:on she was a real little youngun I uster tie a rime of aid.e meat akin to
FlorLis
her hand ao she coul.a sat* it and it tIccald keep her from erjin lots of timer.
'71.111ealaiva er,71.11 is rood for ::rrangans„ ut it ::orries me. I al-
ways gits the idea there is o:lathing aviful th matt,r with thee. 7cong„
she alwa3s had soled a lot, ani $ilo still do it too. -,.a.zz;ed to :;aze
ioyir1(;r, the tousle/. little hod and grist; face that pc..ruped timic11,y from
the tunble of bcid
.;peakinf; of finances 11,;:try s.Ad: -.1Tene;i don't se,,ato c ne:7hcre these
-re n OM?' irtve tinch to trend neiher. little aide rialto shertnIn
4nd floi.vi-„ is allt.a .411 tx4r:et. e sknit skr.:Ipa Ilare that n:lither.
T4068 rmybe ')oth c:e.ad kiot nero cn sore, (14.' the f.aras round hero, but
it hurt b .1i2,11.0a Wok so to do thet aer. :em sc siol: so mach of the
time. ,nd lottz times we L.Lz to take :-Ity ir vef-;etablm, and we don't 1:c
that. 7e might get a little meat Dna L7r41..• too EraMetiMOS. 1112t not very cften.
itcvs they just don't farm right rcurd here mvsgry, ar.1 he don't like
to t7.77 it their way, and they won't let hIrs -Jerk his orn 7:74y•
don't rigbtly ;mos hos nuCh it -could take for az to 1211V0 the food
we 7rants and some olothos and evo.1-thil.c. I ain't no ham' for figgors.
sure 'slab Was hart to tall: te viz about that, main. it, I do 7:ish we
h0, all the food. we -3set, and some Loo1 clothe:. to wolr, and a home, and
a car, too.
"1 w-Int had as aich schoclin az 1:111e, I gletliS he went smt through
high school. ge hews so mach, and. he can rood and write real well, and fie-
ger an &wood r: :ooly. I :.,.,oees there ja3t ain't .no rithmtin he can't
-,,toitc. and ask :An a ,pestion bat what he in answer It.
A;; rent to sehool al regular, brit I'Ins in the sixth gr4de when I
jit. his Ins jest a little tim3 boftro ::1111e and no zot 111r -1-f-1..1044 I
Florida
1143•10
learnt to read and ririte rell -yell and a little about oar country, and
geografy„ but I iever (meld rigger none.
°Uhat does a tenon need with so much sehoolin anuvny? Figgerinetuldn't
de no no good; I ain't never had no use for it. I guess sehoolin is all
right fer then that tants a lot of it, but it takes a heepsof time and money
to keep at it like some folks do, I ma, she never had mach *Amite and she
,7et on all right. She never maid make us girls go rerular neither, that
moan is, if ,u begged to May hem., she let us.
"Bee there's Willie with all his wheelie% and the fine hand he can
trite and the riggers he can do and all hieknoes about so mem things. Bat
he nint never got on mnehe and I believe he'd,beenjeot as well without so
mach learnin. 11111e claim they spend too medh mammy on ihe schools nee.
days with all them new things they tench. They even teach the boye hew to
fix cars and run engines and the like. Bat Allis, he could do all that
titheat no learnin bout it in Wheel."
I do like to read some, I like love stories and them movie magazines
tith all the pictures of the actresses in them. le don't never get no nage-
tines less somebody gives us some, fer it seems like all therms:rive get
goes for road and a fee clothes. ,Aren when Willie tortee steady for a little
Tallow* don't seem to have nothin.
Mary stated that she had no interest in !clities and know very little
abeet =oh matters: "I have voted some," she saidtith pr1.010,"and jest like
Allie told me to de. He knees all about it and just that to do. .1 newer
*mad see why meow went to vote, my nn never did. Bat Mlle says it's the
lee and we all gotta do it. I don't km, what it's all abaft, I never roy
it mndh mind. Besides it don't nabs no difference to me boat all then strange
Florida
folks I iLn't never know or Beane a-runnin this here °country. nine, he
goys things is bettor than that theymes, and the Govmint, it has give work
to lots of people and kept them from s-starvin, like it ain't never done be-
fore. Re Buys lots of people say we all got to m it beak same time a
°amine but that there don't make no sense to me, forte ells spends the money
soon as :re gets it. A.nyway, hi we e-goin to pay it book?"
Aary then *poke of the ahtroh and religions "Re, mu, we don't never
go to church madh. Thou& I spose we ought to. 7illie, he don't like to
go atalle and teen hardly ever 173 even if folks comes to parry us. Re claims
it makes him fidgety a.-sittin there listenin to the proaoher talk sommdh.
Livintrey out here thiseray like we do anyagy„ there don't nobody baldly
ever or to carry us to toun. 3o we'd jest hertervarg and thetes,too for.
I don't think we is very sinful not goin to church mach, and I believe we
live all right. If folks con thoy oughtv go, ant give money to the ahurdh,
too, Ann they can. Lty daddy alvAsyseild.
"aometimes the church helps Mks When they is out otecnt: and needy,
but us arlivin way out hare, they never seem to get to us, like.
he wouldn't want then to give us nothin no wity, I guess. likes to
talk to folks some* you might think:he mm3A like to go to **arab, but he
don't. Re says the preaoher don't alwe,ye say things to suit him, and some-
times he dean hsrdlyseas to know hoe to preadh. Tallie„ he ain't tried a
proaehin job yet, but I reckon as how he Gould to it as well as any of them
can.'
'I hoer& that there is places *hero they hove ball genes and Shows an
Sunday. Ton know that jest pint right, no nom& luster like the bell gazes
then I went to sehoel but I :lint never soon one played on a Suzday. I aint
never been to no movie picture an Sunday neither. Seams like there is plenty
Florida —10.
of time in the *tok days ter thee things. Folks welter take oars to be
more (plot like on a 9andey. 70 allays did at home* m daddy, ho waldn't
low no foolishness at ail an that day.
rmo ene, there shore aint nothin for me ta do, I mare um glad ,na ocmo
by and tAlked no a spell. I feels better now. Why if o had a doctor
came way vat bore, I sreethel41 *barge a awful lot of money' boat two or throe
dollars be. had these here fever spells so often no I sorter got at
to Wane likes Jest as soon as Willie gets beak lith the fever medians
start a takin it, and 771111e he al7.72 knows just ntat to do for me like."