Document text
December 29, 1938.
Mrs. Georgia Lunsford (white),
288 State Street,
West Asheville, N. C.
tkundress
Anne Winn Stevens, writer,
Edwin Bjorkman, reviser.
MRS. GEORGIA LUNSFORD
No names changed.
December 29* 1938
Itra• fleczgia Lunsford Natal
288 State Street
'goat Asheville* No C.
Laundress
Ann* Winn Stevens* writer*
Zdwin Workman* reviser.
MRS. OrZoRGIat =UMW
Men I was three years old** said Georgia Lansford* °I
wont to work in wy father's blacksmith shop, ity brothers
had left home and were working in Tennossee. So my sister
and I took time about turning the whoa that worked the
bellows. I was so small that I had to stand on a box,
aWe lived then in a farm house at Raw Creek. The farm
belonged to try father* but he rented it to a Negro and worked
in the blacksmith shop wit door. than anyone says to ma
today* Mace you was brought up on a farm* Xre. Lansford*
yoU must kw* right smart *bout farming** I says to thus,
Moo Iwai raised to be a good blaskstdeth..*
Georgia Cordell* as she was known thong was born in a
farm haus* on what is now the sit* of Lake laws* U. C. But
while she Iles still an infant* her family moved to Tennessee.
Aft*? the death of her mother in 04sorgie'er third year, her
father Bottled down at Haw Creek in anaeombo County*
Georgia shows quit* markedly her Irish deseent. She is
the blaak4salzede bluituweyo4* roopmeheoke4 Ukiah typo* with
long black eyelash... AA a young girl* she Writ have been
N
quite pretty* Sow in the Riddle forties she looks some-
what jaded, though she still puts up a good appearenott when
*fixed up*.
*After sy mother's death, sy father married again,* eons
tinned Georgia* *Sy stepomother treated as very woolly* As
aeon as X was old enough, X went to the Sot *oak Sehool in
the morning, and stayed with ay father in the blaokamith shop
in the afternoon*
*When X was thirteen, Z &raided X °mad do better tor
myself g sorra away and got work in Mrs* Israel's boarding
house on nOterilk. load, Asheville, In the mornings X went
to the Pease &shoe', on what is saw the sespas of the Ash*.
lkaisal and Testehers, College, and in the afternoons
Z unto. at ?Arai,- lersaly**
*Ws* Ursa gins seams and board .end a dollar a
week* X thought I was riohl Mir hoarders was all Ts S.
patients, bat that didn't wean a thing to we, then*,
After Georgia had worked in the boarding house several
months, a tcaoher in the Pea** SehoOl got her into the gore
tottery for under•privileged ohildren, and found a place there,
too, for on. of Georgia's sisters. UM* two years inter the
sister died of pneusionia, Georgia •was so unhappy that she
left ,sahool end returned to lire* Xeraelis bytring house as
a general house -worker* She now received room, Wert, and
three dollars a week. In a sucoession of boarding houses*
her work and pay was the saws
102' three years* also* she was nurse staid in the hone
of Zeds. ?realer Glenn* Sr, When the Glenn children had
whooping (tough* she would be awakened at two or three
otolook in the awning b7 a tap at her door* to hear Judge
Glenn sayingt *Georgia* the children are crying for you,s1
Then she would sit in the nursery with a child on each
knee* and try to soothe thee as she struggled to keep *wake,
*Mars efterward*, she says* "en or oink children had
whooping eon/A* I reseabered that ,amperienee,*
When eite wee *till in her teens* on an sinning off*, et
the house of e girl friend Georgia set L, Mustard* to
lithos etter-eevierai swathe of' delitieration she was tarried*
Be hitd been it "_drinker0 but had apparently retorted and had
a steady job et the time he was eourting her, lie also creed
hone in a desirable neighborhood on Pearson Drive* Aloha*
1111*. The family for whoa Georgia was (working at the tine
approved or -his* All Georgia friends eansidered her *eyries*
fortunate,
But she bid been earried only two sake When he went on
a drunken spree* and *took to staying out stighte,.• The Clerks**
for whoa Georgia isad worked last* offered to give her beek her
Job and counseled divorce; but Georgia had been taught to
consider divorce wicked. he decided to "stick it out.
*XX I had divorced his right then,* she says, *I would/Ott
be in the fix I au now.
In the next fifteen years, Georgia had borne seven chil—
dren; a daughter and six sons. liar husband, though *getting
around thirty.itive dollars a week,* drank heavily, wasted his
wages, and was a poor provider. But let Georgia resume her
story,
*While we was living on Pearson Drive, Lansford was getting
five dollars a day working in the gas rood of the Carolina
Power end Light .Company., 'But ha spent mist of his senor on
vows and drift, and gave se hardly none, I had to take in
::-washing.te get-Ationg‘i 1 Rode:the ehildrsats clothes out of
their father's gnat off *lathing* I used to .wake the boys,
itioassa out of his shirt tails when the nook and sleeves of
the shirts had wove out. raven *ad* their soaks out of the
tops of his **eke when the feet had wore out.
ax used to pray every night to be brave, sagsgb to leave
Mao Bat wee afraid to. lie bed me eased* Se had an
meal tmaperi-aad he was jealous. If asa so lamb es looked
at as., he *moused ae of being safaithftl to hbs•
*I would look ahead akttd plan to leave his as soon as RI
youngest baby was two or three years old, but by that
time I was pregnant again. couldn't have stood living
with his., though, if it hadn't been for thechildreno They
were all I had t, live for.
*when Lloyd, *7 next to the youngest, was bora I was
terribly ill. And when ;sok. Wr youngest was born I mum
near dying• The doctor told Lunsford Isustnever hove
another 411144).
"Miss Lusa, a neighbor, was a Christien. Scientist* She
used to try to pursued. es to join the Christian Selena.
Oburehm She said as beer her pas 'Wyss sick, *adman to
his funny., end *lose with his mow, was changed by 801•40,
after she had prayed tor hi* for roars. lie got welly left
.7 -off his walla -veyeiriand was good to his folks*
*I saws too, how she was helped by ;bristles Soteam
'duns she broke her era* the louder loot tied a rag eroan4
the Weeks and pawed, and read the MI* end Mrs* lady every
MY* After a whit* the bon. really 424 init atreigitt
and Olean*
noI went to the Christine Selene* Cherish for six maths
and sent the Waldron to the Christian Wens* Sendai ifehool,
I did got tired, though, heering of *so lierrileker Udy
the tic.. It ills *Mrs* ktiNPrOaker zdtty, mtg. Mary Slaw idAr
tried to hit his father over the howl.
"You let my ma alone, he said, for kill you.'
With that Lunsford pushed Jo e often the porch. It was
just Providence that kept the child from falling into the
broken glass.
*Sy that time one of the neighbors had telephoned for
the police. When, Lansford saw the neighbors had set the
law on bias he ran oft.
Then it seemed to no the strength I had been praying
for oose all at ono.. It was like a groat hole had opened
up La a 1110 well, sad I -walked straight through its
I put ;Saks the hews La the goat wagon, and I tied a
rolls MlaullArsalmOrelows and so alet4,0 down the streets Maks
ay• Oldeets shaman fifteen then. lasiting the eows and I:palm
tag Zack is the goat wagon, sad the other fly* bOys trudgia
aloag.
'It was 03,4111111 04100k at nights but I started out to
walk tour alias to my stator,* over it iiingban Heights. It
menet funny at the times but many a time since I have laughed
to myself at the pietursIminuMbave aids.
*It was bright moonlight* snd there we was walking in the
saddle of the streets the goat mica *soaking and rattling,
and the sow going clippertpoolops clipportyiwolops over the
pavement*"
The next day, however, Georgia went beak to Pearson
)rte,wheye, aided and abetted by her neighborspahe set up
housekeeping for herself and Waldron,*
seen,* she said, 'that if my boys was to be brought
up to be decent awn, it ws2 up to we what ideas of life
would they get from their father?*
A neighbor, Km Atkinson, ovned a -house for rent in
the neighborhood• ab. allowed Osumi& to live in it, rent
frees ahe and soother. neighbor, We. 4,54301N, canvassed their
friend* for contributions of ont-ogroin clothing for' Mu and
the boys* Ws. Atkiasonts 'rich sister np north* sontributdd
clothing for: the vhole twiny.
The head of the Associated Charities, helped Georgia
find work. Georgie soon found plenty do nursing T. B.
oases and nateraity oases oat to her. lox' this work she
received tree seven to ton dollars a meek. The patients
were for the most part on charity end paid for by a shuts*
or by the Associated Charitiesa
Zdith, the fittesawyesr old ditughter, kept house and
looked after tho boys with. the help of interested neighbors*
One morning, after hewing basal:ad:Ay ceases* all night,
Georgia was having her breakfast at n cafeteria when an
acquaintance hailed her*
'Maws you seen the morning paper, Mrs. Lansford,' she
asked*
Georgia had not seam it.
.*It says as how L0 Lansford'a house on Pearson Drive
burned down last night* Be be your husband?'
Georgia's bsart skipped a boat* The house she was 11,--
ing La was next door* Bat on second thought she vow maser*
If anything had hemmed to the children, Mrs* Atkinson or
some other of the neighbors would have telephoned*
She hastened hone to rind the children safe* But much
to her dime?, Luasford had moved in without a "by your
leave* sad was ooally helping idith get breakfast*
"Later, when 1 could get Mato myself and sway froa the
shildren, I sent his peek:Inge Georgia said. 'All he wasted
was for us to support bin*'
H. had lost his job with the Poser and Light Ocapany, but
he ocallated WOO insurance oath. house* Of this Georgia
obtained from the court one hundred dollars, whieb Lansford
was ordered by the court to pay toward the support of the
children*
it
But Georgia scald not oolleet4 In ems systeriousway
11.C•4-10..
the men had managed to borrow the money back from the judge*
with a friend he bed started a trucking business, and from
the profits he was to pay a monthly sum for the support of
the ehildren*
0T,te idea they were working on yes a good one, con.,
tinned Georgia. *They was to take a truak load of apples
down to Florida, sell the apples there, and bring back a
truck load of oranges tab* sold in ,Asheville* They sold
the apples all right, but then they had to oelebrate by
going on almost in that way all the money was spent, end
on top of it Lansford Invoked the traek by' his drunken drie-
ing**
Georgia nem bad better job* She was implored to assist
in the infirmary of the Asheville Sebool for boys, at a weakly
wage of twelve and dollars* Ghe related a fourwroom
cottage not far from the school end theiti installed fidith end
the hers.
*They shifted for themselves as best they scald she
said*
Bat ill fortune dogged her. Warrant the middle 01144
tall out of a *re*, ruPtier44 a kidney, and developed aase*
vulsions* Georgia got 1111:10/0 of Atom* from the school to
awes his. And in the midst of this salinity her haiband
ease beak fro Florida, penniless and jobless, and expect.
lag her to support him.
So when she learned at for a women to oonduat the
laundry at the Orossnore School, seventy miles away1 she
ismsdiataly applied.
The Issnageragrsed to let her bring the six boys, offering
her 410 &month with board end roan for *II of them. This eni•
tabled !tar to be with her children end helped her inetdentally
to get rid of their fathm. !With neanvthile had carried.
&he sold meet of the furniture end rented a trush for Md.
teen dollars* With load of bed -room furniture vshieh she had
been eneourwd to take along, too cove, a lot of vegetable*
*ad fruit* of her Am eannialk *Ls boys, and a shepherd dog,
she *tested ter dtvessanre* Misfortunately the truck driver
lest the read*
eite arrived at Cromer* at four otelosk in the Inentag.41
Georgie said. Ito boys had piled everything into the trash
ter tee the afternoon before. We must have looked a eight. As
for the tanned stmtf 1 *aft Mow where it vent* There vies
*me simede there* teei that Z never found* Sow of the
Oresinore %webers eontesaed, after they knew se better, that
they had found it and tried it for their own breakfasts*.
The Groomer* Wool for aaderprivileged ehildren is slim-
140w.12.0
ated on a rocky, wooded mountain side at an altitude of some
thirty.five hundred feet. Although pieturesque„ the build.
Inge at that time were quite crude, 4 lot of smoky, draughty
structures built by mountain labor.
But to *outlaw Georgia's story. She was assigned to
the Little Girls" Dormitory. There she had charge of twenty
little girls on the first floor. ab, sew tbst they got up
and dressed themselves for a seven o'clock: breakfast, did
their various household chorea, and got off to school on time.
At odd minut4a she mended their clothes. On Sunday she saw
that there're bathed and dressed appropriately, brushed, and
marshalled on foot in neat lines to uundsty school, at the Prosby.
tartan Mamma on hillside one ails away. Rein or shine, mow
or sleek, items ell the sous*
The rest of the time she *ran the laundry* with the aid
of shifts of high school students /Oho should hays bins in study.
halls In this manner she had to handle the bedding and cloth.'
tag for ***hundred **negate and forty or more workers and teachm
are as WU as the supplies for the hospital.
At the time Georgia vas in *barge, the laundry was louts&
in* very small room in the basement of the hospital. Pipes
tram the heattng plant ran under the low ceiling, so that the
garters had to duok under themes they walked trample** to
place* There was no drier* Zn sunny weather the clothes
were dried out of doore* %tea it reined or snowed, this had
to be done within the already crowded space* The electric
irons frequently went on the blink, and as the high school
girls were totally inamperienoede Georgia had to do moat of
the ironing herself. In order to finish the week** murk, she
frequently stayed at her tank until eleven o'clock at night*
Her health, which had seemed robust, began to fail* She
collapsed fro* tine to time under the strain, and had to Goma
to Asheville for *month at a tine for medLoal treatment* ift
addition to board and Wing for herself and her children* she
rarely received sore than three dollars a sontho so that she
had to tell back on the little limey she had received from her
for
furniture* Sine* she we not.etrong enough to carie/hothVr- the bittAttel and the twenty little girls, her roan was soolgeo.
to o younger house-nothers and she was given another roes then
La the banasent of the Teaeherage.
*I was tads* she said. *that Z could keep Or yOUGIVEr bays 'y
with a s there it Z liked* because there was an outside entrance";
shish they could use without disturbing the teachers. This
entrance was through: the furnace rocks sent door. einse the
engineer hod no tor to the outer fumes roma' 14e ease through
sty roma every awning to gat to the faseee. The basement ben
IsCs.14.
and the stairs to the firat floor were unlighted and dark
as piteh ewes in broad daylight* Doing so aloe* to the
furnace ream, the bedroom was impossible to keep clean*
";oe said, 'MOther, I wouldn't stand tor thisilbut I
told him, 'In two mouths now you'll graduate from high sdhoois
son* Let's wait still than. If I complaLa now, I'll lose
my job*"0
So Oaargia continued the L laundry work unttliDay
when Zoe graduated* Than the had been at Orosenoro for two
years* Serly in Mhy that year she and the six 0111,,GW*40
and the Shepherd dog trok*ed back to Asheville* There $00 sad
Bob fotand work with the Pootal Telegraph Oaspeny* The was
14.1110401). -theai aid Sob:eixteen* Between thaw they supported,
the :W.V. Both worked7frosi seven oieloak in the mornize
till *elm in the wireningtotads sine. Iota vas the spaiskere
he wide nine dollars a week..while Bob eould ear asks seven.
A friend. who had a good 401tortayad with the* sad paid am*
dollar* week for roots sad board* On this veiny insoles of
teenty4hree doilsrs they lived coarartabiro
Let*? toe got a Job et Like at twenty dollars'a rook* The
four younger ohildrekt sere in mama* To he sump roe had to
work Ma 11 P. Itit tel Ao Lk, on what was eossonly salted the
graveyard shift.* because Li brought 111-44sith to so way
-13
of the workers. Like all beginners, Joe was on probation
and worried considerably over the warnings he reoeived tell-
ing him he was "falling below production." But he speeded
up his out -put, and ft:lair; was given a permanent position..
Bob, meanwhile, continued his %-ork with the telegraph company.
For several months the family suffered no mishaps. They were
united, and doing well.
*Corse April, said Georgia, *the weather was bed for days.
The roads wore that slick, I worried all the time about the
boys on their bicycles. I grew mere and mors afraid of an
accident. One night at nine o'clock, Bob 0010 in all wore
out;
*Ma, he said 'I feel like Pm getting flu. I ache all
over.'
"I vent to help tin undress, and get to bed. As he took
off his coat, he felt something hard and bunohy in an inside
pocket.
Igtre.4*.t4;44.
i.00k hem, Me, he said, pulling out a small package.
fitere's a package r forgot to deliver. This is money Pve got
to take to a Negro woman tonight.*
"You aren't fit go out again tonight,' I told him.
*Warren *poke up, *Land me your wheel, end Itil take it.'
Vow Warren had never been well and strong sine* he fell
out of that tree and ruptured a kidney. Once in a while he'd
go into oonvulsions. ighan 1 did, it was usually around nine
or to ololook at night, So said to Lloyd, he wits the
next to the youngest: rfou go sith Warren in cane he should
get siek.'
*The boreset out with the paokage. Somehow I felt un.
easy about them* knowing how sliok the reeds mere, Ten ololook
some, and they still hadn't come homes I worried nor, end
MOM,
*Then the doorbell rang.
'Bob got up and .at to the door. An officer stood there
loading biero10.
etSonsis this yours?' be asked.
*moo said Bob,
Itlinso did you lead it to?* said the *Moor.
oily brathare. Lloyd and Wanes. answered Bob.
m#Som4 said the officer, there's been ea aooldest, Both
booms tilled.'
Georgia hardly taws ithst took plsee after that. SowsbodY
gave her *hot with stimalasts. Seighbore ease in end ballad
her got to the hospital where the boys bed been taken. LW(
had been killed instantly. Warren was alIve bat Paralluide
The asoidont had happened on Cling:00**Mo*. A ear full
of young people joy...ridings weaving from aide to *tie of the
slippery street, etruak the boys, idle were riding *lose to the
11*(447gs
curb.
For Ida:weeks, Warren renained in a plaster oast at the
hospital* Then Georgia took his house still in the cast.
Little by little he got bank the use of his legs, and could
get around, but be gill never have the full use of his hands
and arms.
A Inner took over the ease for Georgia and collected
five hundred dollars damage** fifty dollars of which went
to pity his own tee. The reminder partially paid Warren,*
hospital bale*
*Atter that.* said Georgia, *Z was so broken up that Z
eouldaft go on living is the gene houee• Lloyd was the hest
looking and the sweetest *hilt Z had. And I was afraid ftrt
Bob to keep on vorking• So the next tell I seat hinft Vomit.
and. Alvin bosh to Orosenoro, and kept only reek with ail.
*Mrs lhalgtal, an eaquelatenee, heard and eves wanting
to move* tee. Luasfordip• its selA. IZ knew just the house
for you Iva seeing out of it, an old tern house at
the *ad of State Street. lrest Asheville. It bas a four sere
fors attached to it, sad it rents for ealy five dollars a
nontauf*
So Georgia awed into the big —two-story *two* house on
the hillotope On the outside it 1* quite dilapidated. The
stucco Its tallea off the walls la groat patchtle• :Luny
window' peLes in tlile secund st=7 liave been broken. The
wide piazza and the front steps are full of holee. But*
at Georgia sayer it looks better on the inside The faded
grata plastdriug is intact* Georgia bac no need for the
rooms on the second floor* Me conblned dining and living
room Las a :good coal heater* and the kitchen rens** pots*
and pans are in good trick :he beerozme dam stairs are
bright *ad cheerful: Great oak trees shelter the house
in summer* and beyond the street* the row of neighboring
brisk -bungalows ant:fresayit.painted:-cotqgqs- have pretty
4gardeas.
LsIt's4b-gOod-heighberb**40 says -Georgia. eftm isolghbor
understand how .things are and are friendly. NO and ;sok
lift bora winter. gamma*. Deb* and Alvin are bachret
Orossnore for the school year. Deb getable living there-
by playing.** the football team. Verrenimulte in the 'print*
Lag *Mee end pays his expenses that iy.- AO is really geed
as **Mug typo.... Deb gill graduate from high *Sheol:A-your.
fro* now. Then, he eau_ get -a Job et Ate'll be old-eneugh
then. Re couldn't saksmore than seven- dollars aim* now.
anyway* a. vests in filling stations in the holidays* and
helps.na run theft= in the summer.'
Deere* herself works lathe sewing rem of the Segue
11,0*-49-
3firikin Zahoolg and outs out scores of garments a weak* She
gets thirty.six dollars a month,
*The isn't living with us any *ors.* she says* "Be sup.
ported the family f= two years, until he was twontrionas
Than his health began to fail from his work on the 7-Oravew
yard Shifty at Saks* Nis. feet *welled from standing so mak*
a. got vary nervous* Dr* Brookshire said he had daysloped a
**rims kidney trouble and Irist give up the work at Sinks* Zs
had been treated for kidney troubis before* whoa he was at
high sohool at Orossuore*
*Bo he give 4p the Saha job. Ike lost his ear, too, what
he hatt paid two hundred dollars on, boomse now he souldnit
keep up the payassts* Beside*, be eouldatt sea why kta
brothers aouldet get to wart, too* la said they was 41100a4**
tag Soo mak on him*
"Se toe went to work with the Pariddiaal alas. Philadelpop
phi** as odd he had never beon.anrthera. and he snuttad to
sea this worlot* Rafts Wen away up to near* and to Cessisik
But he teat trek. in Philadelphia* Rs says his esSoyer
titivated him out of /Moon dollers. Iowa his maw Wait
he could get ether job* Re warted in Philadelphia
as orderly in Jewish hospital* but he Matt like that
wash* So now he is sorting in a gems esti tt1Xth station
in Sat litrawir. But he doesn't halo us mono* 'Re barely makes
NoCip..20-
his yea expenses* When he's had his fling. I think WU
ooms book* als habits was pretty well formed when he left
here**
When the boys Isom* home fron Orossnore in :lay, the family
takes up farming on the four acres* *We raised oorn end
potatoes enough lest summer to take we through the winter,*
*eye Georgia* *I had a vegetable garden and put up one hum.,
drod and fifty cans of trait and vegetables* There is an
ample orchard on the tarn* When the boys vent book to Gross.
core* I harvested the erop ugreelre
In the field behind the house, mine steaks or fodder
bore witness to Georgia's -work There teals= mom gruniag
in the riosito A flock of Whom hens oosopy the WA=
yard* *r Emu ow. ank sma aettoro*FAV2M., 11411 alKeele•
Teak* now ten, and pupil in Moms Rankin Sohoel* helm me
with the ow and *blokes** Z Uwe Mouth& Boom of the old
widowers around her* say, **Kra. Lenaterd, why don't you di.
Toro* Lunsforde and marry again, you'd make sone -men a good
wire." Ital.*. them the only man X sorry -most be one oho son
give as a hundred sore ramp
No, the house hasn't a bathroom and all the water that"s
heated must to heated on the range* Vet ow good neighbor
actress the street lets me bathe at her house, And Whits the
B*C.-21q.
boys 'come hole from Crossnore* they don't feel the lack
of bath tuba* This is as good as they get there* They
don't like the looks of the bows* though**
ClAhing the three boys at Crossnore is a problem*
now :oe no longer helps, and they are too big to be olothed
from the contributions in the Oroesnore attic* Bob has never
had a whole suit of clothes* a. wears slacks and sweaters
like the other Grosenore boys* And how those three boys
wear out shoest
'one of the boys** Georgia declares* *have their
feitherve temper* None of Usable ever taken a drink— not
even of beer* lee is the only one leo smokes* All belong
to the bet Asheville Presbyterian (hureh1 even tea‘year old
Zack**
Georgia is proud of belonging to the West Asheville
Presbyterian Church* lt Is a new and impressive building*
mane of the farm Georgia is able to keep a balanced
diet for hereelf and the boy** with green bean** owned fruit*
milk and butter* and eggs* Bat Vaists the boy* ems home* hew
they do esti She fed them tar.. dozen bat buttered biseuits
in an. itch dariag the Ghristmas holidays.
She realises that the boysiwill never fully understand
the hardships through uhith she has lived*
waute ate conoludss, "1 like it haze. There's pieht7
of good air and sunahines we aren't crowded u2 as we'd be
La town. The house needs a lot done to it. lut the land..
lord can't be expected to fix it u2 at the rent pay. And,
what with insurance, and coal and shoes for the bops,
can't afford to pateh it up. Bat where could we find any..
thi4 else as cood4sr the sass price. All I ray for is
to hold s7 IPA job in the aewing..room until lob graduates
from high school and gets .a. Job at &aka*