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STATE MASSACHUSETTS
NAME OF WORKER ROBERT WILDER
ADDRESS NORTHFTRLD, MASSACHUSETTS
DATE OF INTERVIEW DECEMBER i, 1938
SUBJECT LIVING LORE
NAME AND ADDREsS OF INFORMANT GEORGE 0. DUNNELL
NORTHFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
PLACE OF INTERVIEW
The followin6 interview took place in
the office of the G. O. Dunnell ilay, Grain and Coal
Company in Northfield, Massachusetts.
Name: Robert WiIaer
Title: Living Lore
Assignment: Northfield
Topic: The Hay, Grain 3?
Coal Man Just Chats
Mr. Dunnell was wrestling with a couple of grain sacks when
we dropped into the shack by the railroad track that serves as his
office.
"Hellot Came in", his greeting was a little strained, his
face even redder than the wind and weather had stained it, as he
pushed, pulled and maneuvered one heavy sack across the floor.
"Here, you need a hand with that", we grabbed one end and
started to pull.
"Say, thanks, the boy's gone deliverin' and I got to get these
loaded before train time. Told one of the boys to get it done this
mornint but he forgot it. Forgett Forget t----" The rest of the
diatribe was lost in heaving and hauling.
The task completea, Mr. Dunnell seated himself in his usual
place on the upturned coal scuttle and picked up an axe lying
at hand.
juess I've got her so she'll cut," he said ik can't
keep a sharp axe around here. The boys use them to split kindling
and try to cut nails with 'em, I guess. But I'll hide this one out
on 'em. I made the helve myself, and I've worked the head down
thinner with this stone. Guess she'll do
There was a time when all this country around here was full of
fellers cutting trees. Then everybody got scairt. Said that if we
cut the trees all the streams would/irY up. I didn't believe it.
Gosht we get all the water we want now, don't we? Quite a bit
a..
NAME: Robert Wilder
Title: Living Lore
Assignment: Northfield
Topic: The Hay, Grain
Coal Man Just Chats
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more'n necessary to keep the springs full, seems to me. Ottp.-114414.)
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ut what I was thinking was how us fellers used to cut wood
all winter and sell it to the mills in the valley. They all burned
wood then under the boilers, and so did the railroads. That's what
the farmers done to get cash money cut off their wood lots and sold
the wood. It helped to keep 'em goin' in the seasons when farming
wasn't so good. Can't do it now. Nobody wants the wood and yet it's
growing everywhere. Maybe if they want to stop these floods theyrd
better scneme out a way of using wood, so's we'd cut it off again
and dry up a few springs.
hear someone has figured out a way of using them pine trees
they have down south of making paper from 'em. Eve.L esta.cleillth?
They burn that wood down there and the smoke earning out of the chim-
neys would make you swear that they were burning coal. I drove dawn
there once with the boys. I'd heard that they tapped the pines for
turpentine same as we do for maple sap. I had the boys stop once or
twice and got out and looked in the little holders they had on the
trees, but I didn't see nothing. Maybe the feller had been around
and gathered it all in. We went down to Floridy to Miami. And
when we got there we went to a hotel, registered, and left our satchels.
Then we went out and drove around to see the place. We went over a
bridge over a swamp, I guess, and went all around. When the time come
to go back to the hotel, I says, ill get you can't find that hotel where
we left our satchels. It's getting late and we better find out where
a. T5
Robert Wilder
itle: Living Lore
Assignment: Northfield 126 I
/20
Topic: The Hay, Grain
Coal Man Just Chats
that hotel is," I says. The boys just laughed and kept on driving.
After awhile they stopped. irdhat yer stopping for?" I asked. "To
let you out at the hotel, "they says./1We got to find a place to
park the car." 11Go on with yextOil I says. °This ain't the hotel
where we left our satchelstO 'Tie tool' they says,'Go on in."And
it was. Yer can't lose these young people these days if they're in
a car. There I was all turned around so that I didn't know where
I was and they knowing all the time.
We got a word in hurriedly. "You must have had some trip to
Florida. How'd you like it down there."
"First rate. Fine. Now take it up here in the country. I can
lose them boys every time." Mr. Dunnell had no mind to talk Florida
when he had something else to say.
10 -"They can't go through the woods the way we
A
young. They get lost in no time. They get lost berrying up on the
could when we was
old farm where I was born and where they been goint ever since they
was born. 'Course it's all grown up to brush and trees now. But
the same stone walls are there. Funnier though, that my brother gets
lost on the same place.
"I'm deaf in one ear. When you're deaf in one ear you can't tell
the direction that a sound is coming from. I was out berrying with my
brother last year, and we got separated. We were right on the old
place where he was born played as a kid and worked as a
young man. Every so often he'd call and I'd answer. He didn't want
Name: Robert Wilder
Title: Living Lore
Assignment: Northfield
Topic: The Hay, Grain
Coal Man Just Chats
to get separated. But I didn't have no idea where he was. He'd have
to find me. But I'd know where the camp was all right. I'd ask him,
'which way to the camp?' 'Mister*, he'd say, 'you'll have to ask
somebody else I don't know.*
"Shucks, it was easy up there. The stone walls was just where
they were years ago; they hadn't moved a mite. 'Course where they
used to be houses there's nothing now but suller holes.
"Don't mean to have you think that I never got lost. 'Course I
did. I don't mean real lost. I knew where I was all right. But it
was the direction things was in that had me turned around.
"Last time I was up to my camp in the hills, I thought I would
go out and find a three prong black cherry and cut it off to use for
a stand. You've seen tem. The three prongs make the legs, some of
the trunk the upright, and we generally saw a slice off a big trunk
'4 for the top. I started out one m51411H1 up on those hills
when there is a fog it is a real fog. I kind of had to cut my way
through it with my axe. It was you was telling me about that feller
up to Sky Farm that plowed right off the fog into the clouds, and had
a hell of a time getting back, wasn't it? Well, that's the kind of a
fog it was. I thought I knew where there was some likely cherry so I
walked across the old orchard, clumb the fence --stone wall 'twas
and sure enough there was plenty of cherry. But none of 'em had the
prongs just right. I kept on looking and walking around. Couldn't
see much over a rod in any direction. And finally I got sick of it,
Name: Robert Wilder
Title: Living Lore
Assignment: Northfield
Topic: The Hay, Grain
Coal Man Just Chats
and turned around and started home. That is, back to the camp. I
knew where 'twas all right or thought I aid on account of the
lay of the land. All I had to do was walk up hill, I thought. But
when I come to the stone wall, I see ltwasn't the place I crossed
when I came down, and things didn't look just right. After a while
I come to another stone wall where they ought not to have been any.
And I've lived around here, Mister, long enough to know that stone
walls don't move all by themselves. And I didn't figure that any-
body had moved that wall. I figured that I was walking north when
I ought to have been walking east. I turned east mold rammed through
the bushes and things in a straight line. And finally I come out at
the camp. And, by gum, what do yer think? Right there in sight of
the place I started from was just the three prong cherry tree I was
wasting my time looking for.
"Say that reminds me. Did I ever tell you about that feller,
name of Upton, who used to live up there. He was a big six foot.
Weighed over two hundred and hard as nails. Good-natured feller he
was, unless he was pushed too far. He never bragged how strong he
was nor nothing. I remember he used to keep turkeys. Lots of folks
did then. They let 'em ran loose no fences nor nothint. Well,
these turkeys got down on to a feller's place by the name of Plumb.
Plumb didn't like it, and when Upton come down to drive 'em home,
Plumb pitched into him. And he pitched in to him with a pitchfork.
Bound and determined he was to stick the fork right in to Upton.
Name: Robert Wilder
Title: Living Lore
Assignment: Northfield
Topic: The Hay, Grain
Coal Man Just Chats
Upton didn't like it. Finally he got mad. And he took that pitch-
fork away from Plumb and give him a darn good licking. Maybe he
licked him a little too hard. Anyway, Plumb died a few days later.
But they never aone nothing to Upton. People liked him. Today,
there'd be a terrible row.
"One time a feller come down from Vermont. Drove into Upton's
yard and told him that he was the best irassler in Vermont and had
heard of how Upton was the best Pressler in Masskchusetts. And how
he had COE4 down to take hold of him. Upton told him that he was
wrong about the trassling. That he wa'n't no grassier, as the
feller 'd find out, but it seemed a shame for the feller to came all
the way down from Vermont for nothing, so he would take hold of him.
Upton was just plain strong. He didn't know nothing about trassling.
But they went to it on the barn floor, and the first thing he wound
his leg around the Vermont Feller's so's he broke the Vermont feller's
leg. And he had to pick him up and put him in his buggy and start
him back to Vermont.
"SaAehow, in some trade, Upton got hold of a hotel property that
stood off in the woods. Couple fellers from Northfield run it, but
the lumberjacks came in from the woods every time they give a dance
which was mostly Saturday nights, and broke up the dance smashed
chair,i and things. The Northfield fellers was afraid to mix in with
the lumberjacks and let 'em do just as they had a mind to. When Upton
come things was different. For a week or so nothing happened at the
Name: Robert Wilder
Title: Living Lore
Assignment: Northfield
Topic: The Hay, Grain
Coal Man Just Chats
damZes. They run off all right. And then the lumberjacks seen that
Upton was so good-natured they thought they would go right along having
their fun. Anyway, one of 'em who was drunk busted a chair on purpose.
When Upton seen that, he went right to the head lumberjack and said
that he and his men was welcome to come to the dances as long as they
behaved themselves. But if they couldn't they'd have to get out. The
lumberjack said, 'You ain't got no business with me, Mister.' Upton
said that he owned the place, and that as long as he did, he intended
to run it. The lumberjacks come crowding around, 'cause naturally,
their boss was a tough man. He had to be to keep the upper hand of
those rough, tough, lumberjacks of his, and the gang wanted to see
what was going to happen. Upton talked easy and gentle, and the boss
lumberjack got louder and louder. Upton kinder moved around slow so
he got the boss lumberjack with his back to a flight of stairs. When
Upton had him set where he wanted him, he let fly an uppercut so fast
that nobody saw it. All the crowd saw was the boss lumberjack sail
out into the air and down those stairs with an awful bump and smash.
He went clean to the bottom. An' then lumberjacks begun to follow him
down every which way. The jacks was so surprised, they didn't get
a blow in. All Upton had to do was grab and heave all but a few
who said they'd behave. BA let them stay. Some of the others come
back, too. But not the boss. They had to pick him up and carry him to
the hospital. BA was all broke up.
Name: Robert Wilder
Title: Living Lore
Assignment: Northfield
Topic: The Hay, Grain
Coal Man Just Chats
"Ever up that way towards Somerset Dam? You pass where the hotel
was. I ain't been around there for a good many years. Last time I
went, I went in an automobile before they had tops. Didn't have no
roads either except carriage roads, and all the horses was afraid of
automobiles. We passed a farm and they was a couple of loose horses
in the yard. One a big, old, long-legged horse and the other smaller.
They danced around some scared as all get out of the auto. But
after we got by they come out in the road and looked after us. Guess
they started to foller us. Anyway, they was another automobile behind
us that the horses didn't know about. And when it come chugging in
sight a -kicking up the dust, the horses was scared and tried to get
away from it, so they run after us. I was sitting on the back seat.
And I never did see a horse run as fast as that long-legged one. He
gained on us fast and they wa'n't no place for him to go to get around
us. Just a narrer road with bushes and rocks on both sides. The only
way he could get by was to run right over us. And the way he was lift-
ing those long legs of his into the air, I got scairt that he was goin'
to do just that. I hollered to the feller who was driving, 'Give her
some more steam, can't yer?' He opened her up. I don't know how fast
we was going but probtly thirty miles an hour. Plenty fast enough for
themchys and that road. But the old long-legged horse kept right up,
his eyes sticking out, and them long legs of his clawin' at the back
of tne car2 an, so dam much dust you couldn't see nothin, else. Well,
by Godt You'd a -thought that long-legged horse would a -got winded some
Name: Robert Wilder
Title: Living Lore
Assignment: Northfield
Topic: The Hay, Grain
Coal Man Just Chats
time. But he didn't. Finally, we cane to an open field one side of
the road, and the horse took to it. He run by us, and is gain' yet
for all I know. I know, though, that I was good and scared. I didn't
like the idea of a long-legged horse climbing over the back of an
automobile into my lap.
"Got to be gitting home, you say? Don't need to hurry on my
account. Say how much do I owe you for hdping with them sacks? Nothing?
Just a neighborly act? Well, I snum. I thought neighborly acts had
gone out of style. That's the way we used to do when we was young. But
now -a -days everybody has became a good business man and won't turn a
wheel, 'less'n they get paid. Let MR tell you, the world was a pleasanter
place when everybody didn't think so damned much about money. Had a
little fun as they went along, even if it did cost something.
"What kind of a wallet is this I have? That's a deerskin wallet,
tanned by a couple of fellers that used to live with the Indians. Yer
see, I've got a pretty big hand. I can't get it into an ordinary wallet
handy and make change. I tried to use one of those bags they carry coins
in to the bank, butftwatn't big enough, so I used to use a salt bag. And
the folks didn't like it when we went to a hotel somewheres, perhaps down
in Floridy2 and I pulled out a salt bag every time somebody wanted some
money. The folks my wife and daughter like to eat in fancy res-
taurants. Home's good enough for me. And if I do go out, I'd just as
soon eat anywheres. But not than. They're always saying things ain't
clean in restaurants, or they dan't put good milk or eggs in the stuff
Name: Robert Wilder
Title: Living Lore
Assignment: Northfield
Topic: The Hay, Grain
Coal Man Just Chats
they make. So they have to go to the fancier places, the kind of
eatin houses where they have table cloths and waiters. I can't see
it makes much difference. Probably they use the same kind of food
as the other places, but they dress it up so's you don't know what
you're eatint. Well, as I was sayi
these fellers had given this
deerskin to my daughter. Yer can see how soft and nice and white it
was. 'Course now I got it pretty well covered with coal dust. She
cut a corner off the deerskin and sewed me up this. I've had it a
good many years now.
"Well, glad you cane. Come again. I don't git so much talkini
done in a month as I do when you came dawn. Come again."
Yankee Merchant of The
Connecticut Valley
G. 0. Dunnell- Hay, Grain
and Feed Man
STATE MASSACHUSETTS
NAME OF IORKER ROBERT WILDER
ADDRESS NORTHFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
DATE OF IN2ERVIEW JANUARY 3, 1939
SUBJECT LIVING LORE
NAME OF INFOHMANT GEORGE O. DUNNELL
ADDRESS NORTHFIELD, MASSARHUSETTS
Mr Dunnell had just returned from a trip to
rlorida when we dropped into his office near
the railroad tracks for a chat. .he last time
we had been to see him, Mr Dunnell had been
plainly eager to make the trip, although feeling
a little homesick at the prospect of leaving
Northfield in the winter. This, time, after
two weeks in the land of sunshine, Mr Dunnell
was frankly glad to be back home.
We wanted to get Mr Dunnell to express some
comparisons between the Southlands and the
North, to weave in a few oldtime stories to
illustrate his beliefs and opinions, but Mr
Dunnell does not follow in a conversation
he l'ads. Although we felt the interview a
disappointment in some ways, we did glimpse
here and there, as he talked onomore about
Mr Dunnell than he realized he was revealing.
Outwardly Mr Dunnell gives the impression o:
hard boiled indifference to the countryside
in which he has lived so long and where his
father lived before him. TO the casual ob-
server Mr Dunnell rails against the govern-
ment with the resentment of the die-hard, the
hick from the sticks. Neither impression le
correct. ,ictually Mr Dunnell has a deep-seated
kinship with Northfield and its surroundings.
No other place would probably ever satisfy him
or meet the requirements set up by his standard
northern Massachusetts. Nor are his panegyrics
about the governemia, merely noise. There is a
common sense attitude about them, a clarity of
perception and an acceptance of fact not often
found in cities.