Document text
August 8, 1939
Mr. James L. Halarcry
Tamer
1195 Oglethorpe Avenue
Athens, Georgia
Wattle B. Hornsby
ISCSUOCIINEYL IAEA
71r. Mallurray was sitting at his desk in the front hall near the doer
engaged in thumbin over one paper after another. The pews were evidently
of importenes and pertaining to his business affairs, for same he lingered
over longer than others. It was obvious that he was so absorbed in his
task that he didn't hear my approaoh to the front poreh, for when I kneeked
on the door it startled the old man, and he jumped as if samethiNgusan-
peetee hod haprenod.
Mt. MOMUrrey is tall sad portly, with whit, hair, faded blue eyes, aad a
rase uhleh is erlse-eressed with wrinkles and deeply tanned and roughened
by the sun, wind,and rain of eighty -tee years. His gm. Ashen/ eyebrows
hang over his silver -rimmed glasses.
It was an effort for him to get mp from the ehair as he is badly crip-
pled in his right leg free the waist down. He hobbled to the door saying,
"Wed morning," aad before I hed a chine* to state my mission he added, *Now
if it's saiething you want to sell, young woman, I'm not interested, and
don't have the money to invest in anything. I don't reed much now, for I
isn't se* geed like used to.*
After I had explained the objeet of mr visit, he invited ma in. *Come
in, won't you, or had you rather sit an the poreh? But if it's all the same
to you we'll sit here in nhe hall, 'cause the sun hurts my eyes. You'll have
to amuse the house; the women folks are aliening house and have everything
The Successful Farmer
torn up."
2
There was a loud noise in the back of the house, and asking to be amm.
oused *minute, be called out, *Rue, are you moving that Frigidaire? You
go careful. If you jar some of the electrical parts loose it will cost me
several dollars to haft 1.-t; rimed." The noise stopped and a Negro boy and
an oldor Nero went into a room down the hall and came out earryina an old-
fashioned d.-:enser.
r.AAMMrway said to tho women Who made her appearanoe about :that time,
411hat ti laractioll toe you 3pinz to dn with tW, dyisw_onl?/,
"Taking it up the stairs," she replied.
"Whet for?" he wanted to know.
'reassume there is no sense turning two dressers in one roam, and there
is nothing as. up there." Nothing more was said and he resumed his conver-
sation.
"Now, just to tell you the truth, I don't know anything about legends
sonnooted with Athens or any plass near by. All I ever heard conneeted with
Athens was when the Yankees came through. A. manowbo was in the crowd at
that time, told me when the Yankton oame through here a bend of them boon
to steal everything they could got their hands on, as well an molested the
omen and children. Our boys *aught the ringleader of the gang, hung him up
by his thimbs in a clump of woods on the other wide of town, and the others
got away."
I beard the one he galled Bus sell, *Sister Ruth, have you put your
resume gleaner up?"
The Suecassful Farmer 3
no".
"Wall, lot no use it for a while.'
"All right, go in my room and get it."
The noise fres the cleaner began in the seen the dresser was removed
films. Mr. WIMUrray called in a sharp volt*, 'due, cut that bleat thins off.
I can't hoar a word this lady had to say'.
There was no response, and the noise continued. He got up front his
chair, hobbled into the reoaAnd ales** the door. The noise within comma.
He *aimed embarassed over the eondition of the torn -up house, as there was
a songlameration of fUralture_threuabout the full length of the hall many
old-faShicael *hairs, sofas, tables, and what net. Through an open door is
what *primped to be the dining roan, I saw an old aware dining table with
a lovely crosheted sloth on it.
My host saturated and sat damn in a largo raker, after he had stopped
the noise and sonfusion. "Now, where do you went as to begin? Would you
like to know about my father first? Well, he was a famous Baptist preacher.
He served as pastor far a number of dacrobee for years. Boma of thea he
preashed at as long as twenty-five years hand running.
"I was born at Watkinsville, in Clarke County then but Coons* County now,
en Juno 21, the longest day in the year, 185T. My father left letklawcille
when I use gait. a child. Hs nevelt out here about I quarter of &mile on
Mitabellfs Brides Mei. My father owned a large gin and grist mill. He
ginned setten and ground earn into mmal for everybody around Athens.. I Wm
one thing I did as a boy. I havw haled hundreds of bushels of corn in
The Sue easeful Tamer 4
winter right by this very house in those days when the road was a foot deep
in The torn was ground between two huge stones pulled around and round
by mules or horses. Now all that is done by electricity and he Aeal is
ground by wheels pulled by bolts eon/a/toted to the grinder.
"When I was a boy I had to walk four miles to school every day, four
there and four back, making eight miles a day. Now children can't walk up
here several blocks to *allege. I went to school here in Athens to a private
school for boys, taught by Mr. &rudder. The school in recent years has
been converted into a dwelling house. It is standing on the original spot,
next to the Yiret Presbyterian Church. After I finished there, which took
me three years, I went to *natter private school taught by Sylvanns Morris
and Judge Lumpkin. I went there three years. Among other subjects I took
was bookkeeping. I have never used it only in my own business. That old
school stood where the Fowler house is now, and recently bought by a fra-
ternity. The sehool I went to was a residence converted into a schoolhouse
and was known at that time as the Old Charbonnie House. Schools won't as
good in those days as they are now, and that wee the last place I went to
school. I didn't go to college. It took a heap of money to go to oollege
back in my young days.
"Yes, am, I have been here a long time. Why, I remember when there
won't nothing but houses on Clayton Street with the exception of whore Sun's
Drug Store is now was a blaokamith shop. And I have seen mud half a leg
deep on Broad Street after a heavy rain, and I remember when the first paving
was laid, but of course I don't remember the year as my ulna is too short now
to rectal' the exact year.
The Successful Farmer
"I helped my father on the farm and at the cotton gin until I was
twenty-one years of ago, doing everything that oame to hand, working on the
farm in season and at the cotton gin and grist mill in the fall and winter.
When I became a free man Inorried aLd went to famini; fox -my -self. 1 still
farm, but it is run by tenant labor. I've beeL very successful handling
labor. On Negro family has been on my farm twenty-five years and another
has been with me twenty-three. I hive a twenty-five horse farm; therefore,
I have several other families living on it. The cotton gins are quite
different now from what they were when I was n boy. The old ones were fed by
hand.
*After my father died I moved to town. A man had bought and built this
house. He also owned two lots nest to this one. Times got tight with him
and he came near losing his property and this house he lived in at the time.
I bought this property from him, which caused him to get on his feet and
start all over again. That was twenty-seven years ago.
5
When I moved to town I built a modern gin, grist mill, and shingle mill,
also a feed mill. I have ginned as high as three thousand bales of cotton
in one season, but the Government has out the cotton acreage down so my boys
didn't gin but a little better than six hundred bales last year. The report
on cotton is it seems much larger than last year.
"I have been nearly killed several times fooling around the cotton gin.
When I was running a meter pipe to the gin, I had to connect it xith the
water main over here at the 0o -ordinate College. Of course I had secured
permission from the proper authorities. You have to be careful that the
pipes are free of dirt, so I picked up a long pipe to knock the dirt out be-
The Successful Farmer 6
fore the men workina on the main laid it. In doing so I struck thst pipe
and it knocked me flat on the ground senseless. If I had not been standing
on graos it WR,S dry I wouldn't have known what death I died with.
"C,he day while working around the (4in, the cuff of my shirt cma4ht on
a Iine sLait and v -mcen :-Ir7und for some time before the mftehineri
could DO stopped and I was pulled out. Every stitch of clothing was torn
tram ny rilht side 'eat the cuff of ray shirt. My hip was badly mangled and
iv was thought for a long time would never walk again witbous the aid of
crutcuwA. I MIA auout Afty-five years old when that happened.
"I told you that I ran R Shingle nil in connection ,..n7 cottonn.
Do you sea n7 had, with the two finern cone' Well, r a11 vol.,. hnw it
haTvenod. i had m emery wheel attached. to Ghe -echinerzr on Ay Ahis44e Lan.
I had just finished wnoz.tin a saw. I noticed the shingles were banking up,
and very carefully I reached my hand down between the sews to scatter the
shingles. When I pulled my hand out it was in some way knocked up against
the Belo. It strew:, to fin4,re off in less than a second, and tt,ey flew out
to1C. 'it mill &runt ten feet from me.
"W -e -I-1, Its like this, what I made on my gin, grist, end shingle
mill, has enabled we to buy what property I oared to own. I fed, clothed,
educated, and gave my children a few opportunities C:ioce times could afford.
I have started each of my ten children out in business. I think that is
evident of what the succesz the gins and farm has been.
xas fati]of of thirteen children, but only eleven of tbelL lived to
Tho Oueessetul lamer 7
be grown and married. One of my daughters died seen after her first shit&
was born, and the child died a few weeks later, but her husband is deal sew.
All of my children have a high *sheet edueettes, and four or five of them
finished college. The rest of them wouldn't go. Ware and I were married
sixty-one years before her death. abs dial this past Desember, and oldest
child will be sixty years old his next birthday.
ICI widowed daughter and her little bey are living with me now, sorter
keeping thin ge together forme. But I ma going to get merited again just as
soon as I san find same niee lady that will have me. You don't know a ate*
woman about fifty or sixty Who would like a niee home and a good husband?
If you do, tell them about no. If I married again my shildren would have a
fit, but I don't see why, beams, as fast as their wives or husbands Lied
they were ready to got them somebody else.
'Due to my father being a Baptist preacher, neutrally all of vs belong
to the Baptist church, and so to speak I was born in the church. Rain or
shine, snow or blow, that is one thing my father demanded of us. My mother
made prtparatione on Saturday, and bright and (party Sunday morning if it was
a country church my father served and it was a good distense from home we
set forth to be there on time."
The telephone rang, and the young tenon he Galled Sue saewered. Then
she called to mr.saktrrey, "Papa, hurry and come en. '2,r,aybelle is waiting
on us."
Be said to no, Mverything is so torn up bore today, one of my daughters
has invited us to have dinner with bor. I am sorry to have to go, but you
The Suceeesful Farmer 8
know ehen e woman gets a meal reedy it aakes them mad to keep 'ea waiting.
3uppose you go by the in on the way to town and look the ;in over. But,
before you go, I faint to eholl you somethinz Aelked up in the field on my
fame. Here it is. I used it for a paper weight all these years. Some
people tell Te it looks like a pine mane petrifiel. It does resemble one,
but the oeetions that form the Ouvr are diamond shaped and clear as crystal.
Some of my flake took ink and treeed around eaeh of the sections that fora
the burr. I meant to take it down town and have it cleaned, out I have never
gotten around to it. Eyre le a rock I found. It look like it was shaped
by ar exeert. I have found many arrow -beads, eots, end tbiage in days gone
by left by the Indians. I have ofter beer, sorry my wife It the ehiliren
breek them. It has always puzzled me ehat the Indians used thee twD soaks
for. The round one i an inch thick and of solid black rock, end the other
one is obloeg and exactly a half -inch through, and ot perfectly *bite rock.*
The girls called him agein, and he hobbled to the deor with as, saying,
'Be sure and go by the gin and ask the boys to show you hem it in operated.*
Wtell I reached the liCU.urrai Erethers Gin the next morning there was a
medniedeiged man sitting on a split -bottom chair leaning against the building,
holding the nano of the mules standing in front of the malt while their
nester was unloading 00= to be ground into meal. I asked the man if be was
Mr. McMurray.
"Vo, man, I Qm past their firat 001aBila, but I hang around here when
I don't have nothing else to do. You will find them inside. /Met go on in.
Its man who sae standing the grimier, gaoling meal when I *sterol
The Successful Farmer
the building didn't see me at first. Finally he looked up and ewe toward
ma. "Good morning. What *an I do for you?"
I explained my visit to him. EA nodded his head, pointed his thumb
over his ehoulier, and said in a gruff vole., "Qo in the gin house. You
will find my brother in there mending a bolt. He will tell you what you
want to know. I haven't get time myself. I have fifty bushels of corn to
grind into meal right away.'
As I started to thank him, he said, 'Not at all,' and, scratching his
head vigorously, he returned to his task.
I followed his Wootton and feuntirisirrother *ending the belt.
After I had explained what I wanted, he said, "I never was a hand to explain
things so a person eouLd understand 1610 Pla talking about, but /Ill be alai
to Show you around and tell you waist I knew about it.
"Ily father turned this over to we five boys about twenty years ago.
If you like this kind of work it is very interesting. There used to be money
it
ia Lhis sort of work wheh se took/over. All of us have families and from
the yrooseds of this we have done the best we oould by than. Educated our
ohildren and have giVOn them a few advantages of life.
'I've seen the WAN, when we ginned eotton day and hight, of course in
season. And have ginned as high as thirty-three hundred bales of cotton in
one season. Thugs were good then, but 3inee that time there has cams an
awful change. Wash year we have ginned less and less cotton. Last year was
our shortest year and we only ginned six hundred and thirty bales. As a rule,
'.2he Juscessful Demmer 10
a man can pay for his ginning out et his seed from the cotton. It cost
around V-2.50 to in e bele, but this year, es T see it now, the seed from
a bele won't pe3- for it, us cottoli seed is selling for 74 a hundred pounds.
"Do you see that pipe that begins over there by the door? The cotton
is hauled, here and the people drive oa those scales in front of the door.
Lfter the -cotton is weighed, that suction pipe is placed in the wagon of
cotton and draws the cotton into the gin. This wheel here is;g0werned by
air control and when that largo pipe is full it trips the wheel. The air
la out off until the pipe is cleared and it outs on again.' He opened the
drums, explaining, "This islihere the seed is taken from the (rotten. The
brushes back of the saw out and card the cotton as it is out from the seed
oy the saws in front of thz brush. These seed go through the trough until
thay roach the trap door here. Do you see this roller? W411, it turns
the seed into the pipe below and they are serried through that pipe until
they reach the seed house at the earner of the lot out there.
*While that is ,:oiad on, the cotton drops in this hopper. When it is
full, do you see this round eirele in the floor? We spring the trap and
this and nest ion revolves to where the bale is shaped. Where the bar.
ging and ties are placed, as this hopper fills with eetton to be pressed
into bales, it gradually rises until the bottom of the bale reaches the
level of the floor. Than the ties are buckled over the bagging that
holds the cotton.
"These stalls are used for storing seed. Do you see those trap doors
at the bask of the stalls near the floor? They open into a auction pipe.
Often we store the seed for a man, and he will demi** to sell us the seed. After
The Successful Farmer 11
the purchase is wade, we open those doors and the seed ere tarried to the
seed house thTough a pipe. Lots of time a man will haul eotton here in the
rain and the cotton it store. ir those stalls tntil it is dry :enough to gift.
We don't make no extra charge for those thing*, for a fellow in business has
to do lott of accommodating to hold their (sustainers.
*During ginning season we work night and day. It keeps all of us on
the :amp, and we hire Tait* a lot of help. Some we pay $11 a day and others
$3. Of course we do pay a few as low as 75#. $5 a day includes day and
night work. I couldn't say hew mash we make, as what we make is divided
among us boys, and we at least make enough to keep our families from starv-
ing. However, fifteen or say eighteen years ago we made a good living out
of ginning and save our Ihildren a few advantages and a °allele edrention.
So far our children don't have to help us, but we are getting cad now, and
if the ginning business keeps dropping off there is no telling what they
will have to do,
''Sinee tails country das out down on cotton acreage, other countries are
doe:alias tiaeira. Take Australia, which at one tins was considered s snail
cottou couatry. It doubled its acreage in the lest two years. Instead of
thls counimy exporting our cotton and cotton goods to other seunttles rais-
ing cotton, they are importing it to us leash year by the million bales of
both cotton and sloth. But Iva sure the reduetion of acreage in this
seuntry is all right in its way, and these in sharp &may tam better than
we what it is all shoat.
now some this way, and show yen the grist mill. All this machinery
The Buesessful Farmer 1.11
in here controls it. This is the thorn sifter. After the eern is shelled it is
put in the sifter. This seam sifter has a fan under it that blews the worn
silk fraa the eorn, and the sifter eatehee the largo pigmies of efts. The
(torn is then taken through the overhead pipe eontrolled by these belts you see,
and is spilled into a smaller sifter where every part tale of dust, dirt, and
small bits of oohs are either blown mut or left in the sifter. It then goes
to the grinder and comes out flies clean noel. You won't find any worms,
weevils, and trash in our meal. Same people just grind all that up in the
noel, but we try to be careful about ours. We used to grind lots of seal,
but now we grind just whatever amount of corn In brought to us.
"Look out of the window, and you'll see our mill for chopping oats up
into feed stuff foe stook. It is over to the left. That sill contraption
to the right is where we saw shingles. We take the lumber and saw it into
the desired length, then feed it to the nashine, and as you know one end of
the salm4le is laugh thicker than the other. Since aomposItien and tin roofs
are used now, we have vor7 few calls for our shiles.
"The seeks you see book of you here in the building are full of meal and
corn. You are right, this machinery is dangerous, and you have to be on your
guard at all times. But se far, none of us have been hurt ia the past twenty
years, but we did have a Negro to get hie hand out off in the cotton gin, end
another his are.*
Ihile we were talking, a woman dressed in a pink crepe dress and a boy
in overalls drove up in front, with two mules hitched to a wagon. The woman
and boy were sitting on a board laid moose the front of the wagon. There
The 3ueeessful Farmer 13
were several sacks of morn, ahlOkons, eggs, and watormelons in the ba*k. The
woman had her straight hair tucked baek of her pare. She 3pit a mouthful of
snuff on the ground, addreseingIrr. 1:edurray. "Do you have time to grind this
earn by twelve o'oloskft,
"Yes, I think ao."
"All right," said the woman. "Cat out of this here wagon, bey, and yank
them there seeks of eorn out. You know I've got to git to town and sell al
shifting; and watiproeloas Wove (Misr folks boat as selling theirs.'