Document text
Accession no.
WPA L. C. PROJECT Writers., UNIT
Form -8
19652
Date received
10/10/40
Consignment no.
1
Shipped from
Wash. Office
Label
Amount lop.
MTV s
"'1))
Ikalore
Collection (or Type)
TftkSelling violins and organs in the SO's
Place of origin Portland Oregon Date 2./27 /39
Project worker Sara B. Wrenn
Project editor
Remarks
Form A Federal Writers Project
Circumstances of Interview Worko Procress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker slinullyssul__
Address 505 Elks Building) Portland, Oregon
Subject Selling violins and organs in the 430s.
—moo, ss"-mr...smr:r.,••,=.-vrAc =oarWt=-X?
Name anO, edress of inform/v:14; H. S. Richards
3229 Hawthorne Ave., Portland, Oregon
Date and 1:Lne of L.,-;"...-.exviex February 24, 1939; 1:30-3:40 P.M.
Place of interview Above address business and dwelling place.
Name and address of pers-m, if any, who put you in tench with informant
Date February 27, 1939
Name and address of person, if any, aecompenying you
Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
Small roam half workshop, half salesroom. Small -paned, dirty, unshaded
windows. Floor of bare boards, and not too clean. A rude counter across the roam,
behind which was a small work table, a rawhide -bottom kitchen chair, an ancient
kerosene heating stove. In this part of the room the walls were covered with old
calendar lithographs, interspersed with crude paintings of towering peaks and salmon
hued sunsets. The afternoon was bleak and chilly, the kerosene stove unlighted. As
the informant, on his side of the counter, stood erect, intoning his disappointingly
unpicturesque past, the interviewer, on her side, drooped and shivered increasingly
as the time went by. Violins, cellos, flutes and various other string and wind
instruments were on the counter and behind it some of them for sale; others
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the proper heading
and the number to which the material refers).
W9652
Mr. H. S. Richards Form A 2
awaiting repair. The building is an old two -storied structure, sadly in need
of paint, with living rooms in the rear. The upper story seemed to be unoccupied.
Across the street is a business building of modern structure. Business buildings
are scattered at intervals along this portion of Hawthorne Avenue, encroaching
more and more an what was formerly a high-class residential district.
Form B Federal Writers' Project
Personal History of Informant Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker
Address
Subject
Sara B. Wrenn
505 Elks Building. Portland., Oregon
Selling violins and organs in the '80s
Date February 27, 1939
Name and address of informant H. S. Richards
3229 Hawthorne Ave., Portland, Oregon
Information obtained should supply the following facts:
1. Ancestry 6. 0..,cupatIons and accomplishments with dates
2. Place and date of birth 7. Speeinl k.i1s aid interests
3. Family 8. Cominun.ty and. religious activities
4. Places lived in, with dates 9. Deserintion of informant
5. Education, with dates 10. Other points gained in interview
1. Of English -Welsh and English -Dutch descent; father, George Richards;
mother, Anne M. Gramma.
2. Born at Princeton, Illinois, August 4, 1858.
3. Widower. Deceased wife, Grace Tryon Richards.
One son, aged 29 years.
4. Came to Oregon in 1874. Lived here ever since.
5. Public schools. Few lessons in violin under Edgar E. Coursen of Portland, Ore.
6. Mechanical training in father's vehicle shop.
7. Good mechanic in making wagons. Considerable skill in violin making and
playing. Always interested in music.
8. Once belonged to Grange at Albany, Oregon. Now member of Townsend Club No. 4.
Always has gone to church when possible, but belongs to no denomination or creed.
9. Six feet tall, slender, with dame -shaped head and sparse gray hair, growing long
about his neck. Faded blue eyes, somewhat bulbous MD80 and several front teeth
missing.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the proper heading
and the number to which the material refers).
H. S. Richards Form B 2
10. Gives appearance of one who has not had much joy in life, or perhaps it
is his artistic temperament. His shabby, threadbare clothes were worn
neatly. In fact, the typical possibly frustrated run-down musician,
with no color in either his past or present existence.
Form C Federal Writers/ Project
Text of Interview (Unedited) Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker Sara B. Wrenn Date February 27, 1939
Address 505 Elks Building, Portland, Oregon
Subject Selling violins and organs in the early '806
Name and address of informant H. S. 24phards
3229 Hawthorne Ave., Portland, Oregon.
Text:
I don' know as I know very much about early stories an' seoh. But I
kin tell ya somethin" about myself, if yu' want that. MY father an' mother
come to Oregon in 174 end I come with 'am. Course WV COMO on the train. That
'as past the days o' the cover'd wagon. I never went to school very much; jist
about two years I guess. Father was a wagon an' oarrage maker. Good too, ant
I learn the trade from him. Father AVA a purty good fiddle player, en' he could
sing. I guess that's why I Ways liked music. Leastways I WAS a purty little
shaver when I begin to rosin the bow an' lay it 'cross the catgut. There w'ant
no teacher in Albany, so I got the best book I could, showin' haw to hold the
violin an' all, and went to work. when I WAS in my 'teens I come to Portland,
an' for five months I think it was, I studied under Edgar E. Courson. In 1881
an' 1882 I played with him on first violin in what 'as known as the Orchestral
Union. It was directed by Professor Kinross.
No, I don't remember anythin' excitint or out of the way that happened.
As for the wagon an' carrage makin' it was jest the same then as now. Only now
there aint none nor nothint else much, it seems to MA•
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).
H. S. Richards Form C 2.
You want to know about that sellin' trip I made thru the country east
the mountains. It was this way. In 1881 I ingaged to work for J. H. Robbins
music house. I an' his son, Frank, went up the Columbia River on the steamboat
to The Dalles. At The Dales we hired a span of horses an' a hack an' started
out. We had some organs shipped up to The Dalles an' we took two of 'em an'
some violins an' went out sellin' thru the country. Let's see. We sold five
at The Dalles. Then we went over to Goldendale (Wash.), in the Klickitat country,
ant sold five more. At night I'd play the fiddle an' mebbe Frank'd play the organ,
an' we'd visit with the farmers as we went along. From Goldendale le's see,
where did we go from Goldendale? Oh yes, we went on to Yakima. We sold five or
six there.
What say? No, we didn't have anythin' happen, an' we didn't run across
enybody funny or unusual. Sometime the roads was a little muddy, mabbe after a
thunder storm
sometime they was
ol' sellin' trip.
Now, le's see, where was I?
they have purty big thunder storms over there, yu know-- an'
purty dusty. But there wasn't anythin' excitin' jest a li'l
Oh yes, from Yakima we went to Ellensburg,
an'up thru that country we sold six or seven, an' then we come back to Yakima an'
dawn to The Dales What say? Didn't we go to any dances or meet any girls or
enythin'? Sure, yes, we went to some dances and played forlem, but there isn't
anythin' perticular to tell.
remember any them calls now.
wher'd we go from The Dallas
ISA, I used to call, but I don' know as I c'n
No, I'm gol domed if I c'n remember one. L's see,
this time? Yep, we went to Sherrar's Bridge on the
Deschutes River an' into Grass Valley. We sold one there. An' then we went to
Prineville, where we sold a few an' up the Ochoco, where we sold some more. We
was about twenty miles up from Prineville when we heard somethin' about some
H. S. Richards Form C 3
kiln's. A feller named Mossy Barnes had shot Mike Mogan. That WAS the
beginnin' of a lot of shootin' and hangin'. I don' know about that. There
wasn't nobody seemint concerned where we were. We went on to Mitchell ant
sold three organs, one to an old man near Mitchell, livint in a sod house. Did
the organ fill the house? I don't remember as to that. We got to Caynon City
on the Fourth o' July, an' I an' Frank played for the dance. Ther' was a perade
durin' the day, ant I played the drums in the band. No, there wasn't any -thin'
pertikler about the celebration, jest a little perade. I don' rekellect any -thin'
teept the band. Wait a minute, ther' wuz a li'l somethin' at Canyon City. We
wuz there severtl days and the yomg fotks invited us on a huckleberry party.
There wuz twelve or more in the party ea' I an' a young lady wuz talkin' an'
there wuz a young feller there with a big bearskin coat, an' he put it on, ant
while we wuz tolkint we looked thru the bushes ant ther was somethint big and
hairy moveint. It was that young feller with the bearskin over. him, walkint on
all fours, an' the young lady grabbed me and yelled, "Oh, there's an awful bear!"
An' then he riz up on his hind feet as it were, an' then everybody see who it wuz,
and one of the fellers sez, "Say, Joe, somebody might o' shot youl"
It wuz while we was at John Day that Frank Robbins got stuck on a girl
by name o' Carrie Gentry. Her father was a harness maker. Frank wrote home to
his father he wanted to marry Carrie, an' his father wrote back an' told him
he couldn't marry her, cause he 'as engaged to a girl in Portland. Well, now,
he's see, where wuz I when I begin tellin' you all this? No, there wuzntt
anythin' more happened at John Day. Shucks, yes, Frank Robbins broke his en-
gagement in Portland, I guess, 'cause he finally married the girl at John Day.
Now, where wuz we? Oh yes, we went over to Baker City, where we sold two organs,
an' we sold some organs in the Grande Ronde valley. We sold an organ at Cove,
H. S. Richards Form C 4.
an' then we went to Island Oity, an' across the mountains to Milton, an' then
to Walla Walla, Waitsburg, Dayton, Pomeroy, Almota, Moscow, Farmington, Colfax.
No, nuthin' much happened all that time. Once a feller asked no if I'd sell him
the band ring I 'as wearin' an' I vented to know what for, an' he said he was
goin' to get married, an' de'd like to give his girl a ring, an' I sad, "All right,
you c'n have it," an' he give me five dollars. La's see an' then we went to
Pullman. Bow much did we get for the organs? Oh, from 4250 to 4300. But I
wuzn't gettin' any commission. I vuz paid a straight salary. Haw much? I got
460.00 a month an' all expenses. But shucks 4 there wuzn't any expenses. No-
body charged us enythin' l When I got back to Portland I hed 4300 cash comin'
to me. I wouldn't o' cared much if I hadn't had enythin' for that wuz the best
time I ever had in my life. It wuz all jest fun, an' I like scenery an' I saw
plenty on that trip.
Yes, as I sod back there, I used to call dances, but there wuzn't ever
eny trouble or enythin'. No, no fightin'. Once a feller came in wearin' a six-
shooter, an' he got to actin' smarty, an' they tol' him to git out, an' my
goodnessl he git all right. Sometimes those buggers wasn't half as smart as
they thought they wuz.
I al'ays ben a kinda' stingy tightwad, ma' now I aint got very much to
show far it. Onc't I hod all of 47,000 in the bank, but today, well, I aint
got very much.
There wuz a time when I wuz on a stock ranch out above Prineville dug
out fifty acres of sagebrush, where I grew rye aft' threshed the seed out by hand
with a flail. I had hay too, an' cut t ty-two acres with a scythe. Yap, it wuz
party hard work all right o I raised a few horses and I had some milk cove. I
used to send as much as 50 pounds o' butter a week to Prineville, gitting 25 cents
a pound for it. There wuz a feller took it down fer me, an' he never charged a cent.
Form D
E77.tra Comment
Federal Writers Project
Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker Sara B. Wrenn ,Date FelmArx_r1939
Address 505 Elks Building. Portland, Oregnn
Subject Selling organs in the sLQQ
Name and address of informant H. S. Richards
3229 Hawthorne Ave.,
Comment:
Much was expected from this interview. From the time the crude little
sign, bearing the legend "Piano Maker and Repairer" WAS observed, and the man
behind the sign, of colorful appearance, and giving promise of a colorful back-
ground, emerged from the rear of his shop, the interviewer was on tiptoe with
expectancy for the appointment. But folklore of any description proved as hard
to elicit, either through queries or suggestions, as the proverbial blood from a
turnip. Incident or anecdote "just wa'nt in him." Only an obstinate persistency
in reciting the peregrinations and sales of that seven months' trip, point to
point, throughout a territory that the interviewer knows from personal knowledge
to be rich in folklore. To disappointment WAS added a poignant feeling of depression.
Was it caused by the following dialogue, that took place as the interviewer, hand
on door, waited for the bus:
"Say4 you're a pioneer aint you?"
"No, but I'm a descendant of pioneers."
"Hey, now, you're =rein two or three years old."
"Alas, yes, still I lack several years of being a pioneer.
My grandfather
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).
H. S. Richards Form D 2
"But you've lived in Portland most o' your life, you say.
Then I bet you kin remember that slough on the east side
the river, where they us'd to skate
"Sorry, but there's my bus. Goodbye."
Now, just in what year did that "slew" cease to exist?
Is it possible this fascinating folklore research is
"telling on" the interviewer?