Document text
September 8, 1939
Betty Lowe (Cook Waitress)
Tayloroville, N. C.
i;thel Deal, writer
Dudley 4. Crawford, Reviser
Ortiknil 1146.11, changod Moms
Betty Lowe Reba Lane
Taylorsville Jefferson
3mitheys Levys
Lena Lula
"I was born on a farm in Jlskander County. 4y home
is now in Jefferson. Father still owns the farm of one
hundred and sixty acres. Our cash crops arc corns wheats
cotton and vegetables. rotatoes also grow well on our
place. 1,4st everybody tries to raise some apples. oie have
a big orchards possibly throe thousand trees. then the
crop is good and we get them marketed rights they bring
in a tidy sum of money.
"I finished school at Jefferson. Our family being
large, I didn't have a chance to go to college. Father
didn't approve of us girls going even if we could afford
it. He argued that girls don't need so much education.
All they need to do was to get married and raise a famil$.
I don't agree I think everybody should have a good educa-
tion. A WOMICA may marry and not have to work. 3uppose
her husband dies and leaves her a widows with a crowd of
children to support. What's she going to do? Course you
can go to the cotton mill or hosiery mill and get a job
without educations but you may not want to do that.
"I'm glad I was able to finish high school. some
of my brothers and sisters were not so fortunate. I be-
long to the Baptist Church and am the secretary and treas-
urer. 14 one ambition is to be a nurse. I wanted to enter
a hospitel for training but some how or other I've kept
putting it off.
"After 1 finished school in 1938. I got a Job in Levy's
Lunch Room at Jefferson. ha a a chain of stores and
lunch rooms. I didn't like it so well in Jefferson. The
people there was hard to please. I asked the manager to
change me and let me come here where my sister works.
"we have been here about twelve months and like it
fine. A cio all the cooking for the lunch room. You can
get &plate lunch at Levy's for twenty five cents. This
plate lunch includes meat and three vegetables. Pessert
is extra, end you have your choice of pie for five cents.
Lula and I bake all the pies; cocoanut, lemon, chocolate
and butter scotch are our favorites. 4e never have any
left over and could sell more if we'd make them. 4e feed
a lot of people. Noon is a busy hour, people come from all
over town for lunch. we get about all the people from
the court house. After we get our lunch hour over,we string
our beans and prepair our vegetables for the next dey.
°The pay is not so good for the long hours put in,
only ten dollars a week. •A get our board, three meals !A
day, that counts a lot. A have room at the hotel. The
proprietor is nice and lets us have a room together for a
dollar a piece. nis room don't have a bath, but we have
one close by. He couldn't afford to do this if he didn't
have extra rooms. Getting our meals at the lunch room
we're only out one dollar a week expense. colored
-3.
woman does our laundry for twenty five cents each, its
delivered to the hotel.
"Excuse me," Reba said as she got up to wait on a
family that had just come in. Lula brought as dish of
cream and a cup of coffee. declare," she said, we
don't get time to tell our story. ;Ames you will have
to set it piece -meal. Reba wants to be a nurse. I don't,
I Just as 500A be a cook. Its interesting to work hers/
it sure don't get dull."
My attention was attracted to the people in front of
me. The woman wee dressed in a green polka dot dress. Her
hat was navy, trimmed in red, she wore brown shoes, trim**
ed in white. !ler husband was a timid and wretched looking
man of about forty. 4eba brought my coffee and whispered,
"Them folks will never know what they want."
"Now look here John," said the woman, "if you think
Vat going to ride all the way home and nothing to eat you're
mighty mistukene"
"Sure my dear," he said, "I don't want you to go hungry."
Reba and Lula fluttered about and waited anxiously.
john ordered a hamburger sandwich. "I don't like hamburgers,"
the woman said scornfully.
I can dive you a plate lunch for twenty five cent*,
green beans, creamed potatoes and carrots with stew beef,
either one you prefer," said Reba.
"I don't like carrots and I won't eat them"
"I can leave them off," said Reba.
":11d ma pay for them? Oh, no, well I don't want no Bich
a dinner. I got a plenty of them things at home, tater*,
and beans. "Hey,you," she called as Lula 001114 from the kitch-
en, "halm you got any potted ham?"
"Of course," said Lula.
"Could I have some in a saucer and some crackers?"
"Zurely," said John, you ain't going to a cafe and
then eat pottod ham."
"I'm going to eat what I want."
"Of course my dear, its you and not me."
Now that the mother was satisfied the two children were
told to order.
I'd like some chocolate cream like the lady over there,"
said one, and the other yelled, "m* too."
"You know," said Reba confidentially, "some customers
sure try your patience. Think about going to a lunch room
whore they have a variety of things to choose from and order-
ing potted ham."
I can understand why it is, said Lula, coming up
with a glass of too tea. "You can get so tired of the
things you have to eat on the farm that anything for a
change swims good. You know how it use to be at home,
we had all kinds of good things to eat. Vather always
raised lots of chickens, fried chicken was common; we
had big hogs to kill each year, ham was nothing unusual;
plenty of vegetables and fruit; beside all kind of good
things made from milk cream, and butter. I say the poor
woman was fed up on moil homm-cooked rations and wants a
5
change."
Reba laudhed and Said, "I suppose you're right, but
when we go back home for a visit things sure taste good
to us."
"we go to work here at seven thirty. The first thing
we do on cominz to the store is prepare our bre:Afoot. The
manager of the store usually eats here too. hate nice and
treats us sell. e can have anything we want to prepare
for ourselves. ,e work to six on week days; ''.eturdays 'till
nine o'clock. undey morning we sleep late and get our
lunch out. if we're not to°tired ,:;aturday nights we go to
the last show; ,,undajl nights we go to church. 40 are both
young. I'm nineteen and Lule is twenty one. 'Att don't know
exactly what we want to do yet. Father don't need any help
from us, our money is our own. v,e've been raiued on the farm,
and not used to sponding so a like good clean fun,
but we are going to sp,,-ve our money so if the time comes
when we have the opportunity to uo something we like better
we will have a little money ahet6 to :Ileke a start. Cur cloth-
es don't cost us much, since we have to wear uniforms here.
lhese uniforms are very easy to keep looking nice."
The girls were neat an attractive in their blue uniforms
trimmed with white rickrack braid. Their black hair, done
in curls around the neck and topped with a little white cap,
framed faces free of make-up; while their smiles, dispensed
freely to all, evidently endears them to their customers
both old and young.
'Be sure and say that we both lilt* all kinds of sport.
Teimmin4 comes first, then basket ball, tennis and croquet.
Baseball is all right too. Right now we got to string
beans."