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faheville Cotton Mill
Asheville, N. C.
ugust 12, 1938
1. L.
LUCILLX flICK4
Lucille ificks art on her porch one hot triftrrnoon
lrat week drenned in n rb black winter drese which
4nrrite hr d Joneted. he held in her erms her year.
old brby rho wre clothed in r niagle octrlet grrment
frehioned from r rryon enrt. he arid, mCf e evenin,
they don't teem to be nothin' to do but set tnd writ,
and body dontt h.1f :no whet he's writin, for.'
looked old when she arid tht old with list—
lese rge. Her shoulderr humped into t 'Terry curve which
refused t.) sccept harmoniouely the stringy lines of her
lerthry neck. malle whicn 1,44 ftsionad tround
three! swgz of wht were once front te41th tended only
to Fdd )re cge. )2.1ce or trice t glint of humor edged
into her spiritless eyee •nd gnve 1Lomentrry youth to
her ugly foe.
Par the thirty yetr; of her life Lucille ha
lived here tnd there in the ul.y spots of Acheville,
being driven fro one to the other by economic necessity,
rnd never *Itryinil- In ny ptrticulrr pltce long enough
to 21rnt t root which would ,7iv e her the feeling of
being at home. flle wrethed—looking houze on Frotory
Hill in which she now lives is beginning to stand ne
home in her mind for dhe hr s beenttere three yerre.
ves born in the hollow eorose from Frotory
dill in thet section where live reilroed worknen, odds
end ands jobmen, rnd lorer—prid city rorkerp quch re
inoinerrtor operetors end gerte renlovers. Her tether)
who rt one time we reilrord smitchmenilost rn
end becsme r news butcher on the tr in. Leapite the
responsibility of el-ver clArren he mcneged to core
enou01 to etf,rt psyments on r emr11 plce in (1m:et
sub4rb of inheville. There heeet up c meet smrket
Frid probrbl would heve finihci prying for hie proerty
lvd it not been for hie rife' illnec which ended tn
rnd doctor's tire. Lfter thr dlEce res lost,
1;1_1e:1110e frmily moved brol7 to the vicinity of rrctory
Hill.
!lien Lucille 71PP nineteen she nnrrried Totl Hicks
wno rrp then wOrYine !'t the ishevillfr incinkrFtor.
'Before ,711d for soile time rfter rmtrried, LL!oills
worked rt the ennrnor Lrundry. conie home of r
nie.it," she oils, "feelini like, my rrIs rep leen loose
from the pockets. 1 worked from sun —up t sun.doIrn
pushin' nervy iron for six dol week. Lrit., Aly
old Oec'-, sches yet Tben X thin% rbo.4t it.
if ter To lost his job et the incinerrtor he bought
en old truck and peddled ooel. Thpt led him to whet
Lucille orlls the "grit line.* For months they lived
on F:ellof rnd Lucille epys of thpt exnerience "Hit
rrs Retch r helpless feelin0 to hey, to ept pintos ell
the time when thrt wre the one kind of bepn you couldn't
atrnd. How good it wee when they etrrted givin' money
ineterd of rrtione end you could go to the ntore end buy
the aort of bens the nlereed you.
Three yeerp to To eeoured t pert...time !ob re
wstohmen rt the tehewille Cotton Will. He now mpkes
19.20 r week. Out of thrt Lucille buys food end r few
clothes for her frnily of six, pnd me ?rymente on
her reehing mrohirm. Eer wrshing rnd sewing mpchines
pre the two ,osseseiens phe treraures nost. with the
rid of the sewing mrchine rhP crn mpke r grrment for
rny of her four children out of r ten or fiftem.oent
remnrnt of cloth.'it h the wrshing mpchine she can
now strive Pnd in r smell mereure rucoeed in keeping
the Frctory Hill dirt wrehed out of the few clothet
ehe mrkee for them.
Lucille dose not here mpny coseeepions. There
pre three old beds three or four rickety oheirs, one
dresser, r crude eetinT trble, rnd r etove in her
house. She briOltenpd one corner of her best room
by dreping it vith pink peper roping. Ore: the top of
t4e door of the Brae room rho hFs treked twelve —inch
ruffle of grily.colored cretonae.
Lucille went ts frr re the fifth grrde i. cool
but rocording to her own entimtte r11 she knor t is
little re din' rnd Tritin'. °And," rho continuer,
leughing, "fro the lookt of thirws ell I need to know
in how to pin on hipping. I told Toe: when this lest
brby zee born I hoped the etork would try to Ir;p1k rwry
from Frctory Hill becruse I knoTed he'd frll End :ybe
he'd brer'4, his ing. ybe thrt rould put r end ,o
his tripe to our houot
ilrerdy Louise is wonderinE rhtt will become of
the four c4ildrer rhe hr s if jobs oontinue to ;:mt herder
rnd herder to find. °It reams like c, body is rriaini
his younguns for strrwttiontl she stys. 'Tut lore folks
tint never hsd it ersy tnd I don't rroin they ever
rill. They tint oeen no time in my life when livin'
rren't hrrd. it eeems like souictiAet now we crint
live on wh:t Tom viekes but whesl I Et to thin:tin' of
them pinto betne, thrt fA) r veeseem like r eight
of ,,oney.
Jle rooks on in the cretky ol mrix'w wile her
children ';ltry cit r. the cindered pcth before her door.