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4eapson Co.
Clinton. S. C.
September le, 1938
4. 0. 7.
ALal;
Lary Allen and her husband, John Allen, es. shoot
sixty yam of ego. They live alone on r farm of forty-
five POrOS situsted on prtvete community road e half'u
mile from the Stets road. The State reed eouneote with
two highways which lead from Jelthfield to Dann end
from Jeithfield to Clinton. The farm is eight miles
from Smithfield, Borth (Igraine, the county seat of
Johnston County, end three miles east of Tour Oaks,
which serves the oommunity CS post.eifice. The private
rw.d is about e mile in length, opening at itch end
upon the 6teto rood. The alms have one provperous
lend owner and seven tenant textiles is close neighbors.
ery thinks her people UDC those of her husband
hrve elwrys been farmers pit/lough she has no idea *Wm,
they lived before they settled in Borth Carolina.
Judging by their names, most of the people in this
section ere of English stook. There wtie no evidence
of pride in enceetry. Thie ftvily rnd the tenants of
the immodirte community volunteered the opinion thrt
the neighborhood wes brokward but none felt that be
would like to move to the city or to r better ravel
section.
About the time Mary si John marri
mother died end his fether spent the rest ef ht o life
with than. For two years after their earritge, they
rented fermi. 1.uring their leisure Lours, they learned
from the land.lord the trt of pottery making. At odd
tines they matte pots, ler*, ond jugs. For severel
yecre the tither WWI plodded with s hors* end covered
mrgon mnd wts sent out with the pottery products to
°envois the hopes of the !trews i villagers. lie
wrs usually gone two weeks tt time, cooping in his,
wagon aW paying for his food with his lessee. The
profite brought bsoi. by this "travelling merchant*
ruPAouented the cavings from the fa=, at enabled
the ftmily during t period of tem years to pt y for he
property. cn which they tte hem living. They oom4inued
to prosper und it, due time paid fox mother tEXL of
forty 'carts five ail- north of i'our
alens had three LWILO L 01147,Lter, et,451
Of vhOL le zarried rna living eway from hews. 40M0
yerLio u young mom= oegmn to live with the featly
rE gamut.. .;he ats nevar married but beotAilm the
nethkr of one son and tree daughters,. Ihe Allen&
el:toted her to stay and laelped hex to rear her ohildren.
kery spoke or her four z4 opted° onildren but one of
the letter awe me the true feats. The ostemwohildren
ere marriel end 7ive Ft tenalt rtthinr rrdius of t
few Xles.
believes tIrt nhe fte wit rould now be
known rr six erdo: in the public schools. John left
school utile it the fourth Er:rd.:4. rsch of them bed to
help mnke r liwinc for their frlilies. very reloiced
thrt her children -4 better schocles elthough only one
of her own rod none of the foster...children hed rlordurted
from high cohool. Obr rnd her hushme 'ere proud of. the
Four Oat oahool. T tole them had recently eeen the
sign on the highwty just north of rour Oeks stetinz that
the vili,Te bed otht7 lergett rurc1 consolideted school
in the -eorld.0
John's father htl been sn bier -111 durinr 9.8 last
five Yerrr rind I ht4 frerluently celled to see M. ne
died in the epring of 19ZE rt the are of eiphtyk.four
years.
The house fur em4-1i roor tn4 ir mrde of p1ittt
bOrTdo. on 111, numerous visits) which !were newer in
the winter, I wee elwTye yoked to sit on the front porch
ne never bed en opportunity to no the interior
errrnoments of the house. I noted the ebeenae of screens
end ourtrine, ll the furniture I arAir rre homo.mede
or the cherpast thrt cen be bought in the stores.
Mary tdtd as that her hneband *does not like to
work" end hence has had to place r lOnn on the fern.
The 'mortgage did net worry her. Apparently she thought
it a small Native. The family IMMO has been larger
in resent years under °control' then when they first
serried; but the hudband is taking life easier end the
upkeep of the car eats up the income until they are
barely °breaking even', in recent years.
The family hes two and p half acres of tobacco
end throe acres of cotton. They *vest about one babe
of cotton and on *mount of the low prioe will clear
just a little over expenses. The tobsoco and cotton
land is divided between Allen end his foster -,n,
James, who lives on the plea*. James married e year
ago and his homes is a two.room shed. Jew,s weld there
wee one aule on the place but no ove. The *anvil*
lived in the house last year took charge et r °ow
belong to the Allan's and milked it for oce.half of
the milk. Then be left, the +now was given acoese to
r lot where the tenant bed left r bag of osodys. The
cow ate this daily and finally died. JPOS8 furnished
half of the fertiliser cud Allen tarnished the role.
The two divided the profits on tobacco end cotton.
ach Lied °rope of Irish end sweet potatoes tad the
grxden was worked end shared jointly by the two. The
grrden wns almost e !snare due to excessive rain and
no effort bad been made to oultivate n late garden. The
Allen* had done ease canning. but Jones and his wife
had done almost none, evamingly depending in pert upon
the generosity of the older oouple. Jams wes cordial
but did not eek his wife to owe out end see me. Neither
family knew how to estimate an adormate inoome. As they
bed 4,on,o in other years, they would tough It out* during
the winter on potetces, hog meet whioh they tied raised
in smell lusntity, e few Gans of vegetables and fruits,
end meal end flow whieh they would buy, and anxiously
await the vegetable garden in the spring. Wood for
feel Inns found on the place or secured froi a neer:by
ems.etill. As farming was the only thing they had known
or planned to know, they had few cospleints to make.
They did not feel that they would be any more fortunate
if they lived in town because town life would cell for
rent end parches* of almost all the food.
Ur. Allen usually votes but his wife hs*firver
gone to the polls. The husband vaguely feels that
government hes become acre complex. He occasionally
knows of some one who has obtained az old age pension
bat hip talk is mostly of tobacco fnd cotton allotments.
He does not like the control metho4 but would not pay
thet he was milli
individualism.
The alien family believes in the church as a
check on bold conduet hut the went* do not attend
churoh regularly except during the ennuel swivel
services.
I o book to the old methods of
The family hos been fortunate in not hgving nony
medical *oats. Mary hes not had e physician prescribe
for her in twenikr.one years until this summer when she
euffere%,i for c sasth Ath dropsy ond 'high blood.'
The foully believes that work on the ft= is sore
houlthy than work in town. This fondly does not live
upon corn meal frt.bock and molecule; but they could
hardly be said to have OM odeluote diet.
Juring the spring, istitaer, nnd fell the family is
buoy with ootton, tobacco, corn, and garden stuff.
;hen the cotton is ginned, the labor will lighten,
consisting mainly in feeding and hoe.killing. In
leisure hours the men hunt or fish or loaf vt the
filling.stetion a mile to the south. Ihen the young
people were at hose they would ocoasionally go to
uithfield to the movies. Courtship ie usually short
Id marri,ge often occurs in the Items. Zrinking is
a :loot coon vice peon the men although it is by
no mettna universal.
I as away from this bona feeling that these
people ere living in an obscure corner sway from the
stain current of life stirring in the nation. The one
weekly paper is stbout the only regular contact with the
outside world. Neither Allen nor his tenant hes a
redio. Desire for provese is leaking and industry is
at too low en oft to move forward even if ambition were
aroused.