Document text
Revision Code 50B
SOUTH CAROLINA WRITERS' PROJECT
LIFE HISTORY
TITLE: "SINGIN' PRAISES DATS1 MY LIFE LAWD"
Date of First Writing Febeuary 17, 1939
Name of Person Interviewed Emma Sanders (Negro)
Street Address W1 E, Henrietta St.,
Place Union, S. C.
Occupation Cook
Name of Writer Caldwell Sims, Union, S. C.
Name of Reviser State Office
"Law'd, Honey I wue born dawn on Mr. William Tucker's place
and I sho' thought ev'ybody know'd dat. Him and Mr. Epps Tucker wuz
two cousins. Mr. Epps never had no fine house like Mr. William. Mr.
William built histself a mansion, dat he sho' inough did. Honey, ain't
you never seed Mr. William's house whar Miss Ada lived atter she married
Mr. Garrett? God bless her sweet soul, she sho' is one fine white lady
dat dis nigger gwine to love 'til her dyin' day, yes, Lewd, dat I will.
I went by Tucker from de very furs' day I wuz born 'til 'Luck' come
along and married me.
Jesus, how I would like to see my old home.
'Ada', on de Seaboard Airline Railroad, wuz named fer Miss Ada;
Mr. William Tucker's sister.
"When Mr. William Tucker married he had two places;
his upper place mid de house on it; and the lower place dat jined it
wuz called the Holmes Place, because he bought it from old Dr. Holmes.
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Dat lad gwine by thar is called the 'Old Otterson Fort Road.'
"All de time I lived on dat place I never done nothin'
but played wld my rag dolls. I has allus been fat and jolly. My ma
used to chafe me fer laughin' out loud when I seed grown folks. Pa
worked fer standin' wages year in and year out. But when I got about
eight years old Pa moved from de -Tucker place to Tam Jeter's place.
We knows dat now by de 'Dr. Bates' place. Pa kept on workin' dar fer
standin' wages, $8, a month and our rations. We never suffered tho'
fer a thing in dem days. White folks wuz rich, and dey kept dey
hands fat and slick, jest as much as dey did dey hogs and horses.
"We lived har fer thirty years. My parents died bar..
Den me and Mango Sanders married bar. When we moved bar ma sent me -to
school. I never had been to school a day in my life. 'Members dat fust
day in school as well as if'n hit wuz yestidy. Ma fixed me in a red and
white candy -striped dress. One of my sisters carried me 'long mid her
to school. Honey, I wuz the skeer'des little gal you e'er seed. When
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we go in de schoolhouse, de teacher said 'Goodmorning.' I giggled.
She hit a stick on de table and said, 'Set down and stop dat grinnin'
at me, you is in school now.' She wuz old lady Phyllis Jeter's grown
gal, and she wuz mean. I wuz allus skeered of her, and I never did
take in no l'arnin'. We set down kaise we had done walked three miles.
Ma had done gived me a lunch and I thought she told me to eat hit am
soon as I got to school. So when I set dawn I started eatin' my lunch.
De teacher seed me tryin' to git my sister to eat and she hollered,
'Emma, git up and go out in de yard.' As I vent by her she lashed
me mid a hickory switch, and I runn'd out'n dat door hollerin'.
went on down in de woods and let down on a log, and when I got
through hollerin' I et may lunch and went home.
"Quick as I seed ma I let out a great bawl. She come
atter me and axed me if my sister's been fightin' me again. I told
her, no, but de teacher had, and I wuz not Line to school no mo'. MA
went up to de big house and told old lady Phyilis haw her gal had done
me. She had me holdiuP up my arm so's old Phyllis could see de red
mark on it. Old lady Phyllis made a great !miration over it and
'low' dat she wuz gwine to give dat gal a round when she got home.
"I never did much at school but played in the pine
woods. But de school whar I went to wuz in de yard of St. Luke's
Church. When I went to school I stayed from nine o'clock in de
morning till four in the evenin', and most of de day I spent play-
ing ball er somethini, kaise I allus made my teacher mad so she
would send me out. Jest de same I has allus been in luck. All de
luck's in de Lewd; and all de conduct's in us.
"Old man Alf Wright come to visit my white folks.
He lived up in Union.
He wuz some kin to my white folks. When he come
down in de country he would stay all summer. He drunk a lot of coffee.
My fust job wuz parchin' and grindin' coffee. I never will fergitAt,
dat's de fust money I made. Mr. Wright called me 'Little Fat Gal'.
He gived me a quarter eve'y Saturday while he wuz dawn thar. I parched
dat coffee and turned hit mid a crank. When hit -wiz done parched I
let it cool. While it wuz coolin' I'd be out playin'. Den I came
in ant grind it up. The coffee mill had a drawer. When dat drawer
wuz full I emptied the ground coffee in a wood tub mid a top to shut
hit up mid. 'Members hit astod as if'n 'twas dis morning. Lewd,
have mercy, Jesus, it sho' puts me in de mind of shoutint when I
think about den good olden days, yes, Lawd, it sho' do. Mr. Wright
wuz a good old bachelor. He made me dance fer him while he fiddled
and he fiddled might nigh all his spare time, and dat wuz all de time.
"Den as I growed up, Mr. Wright never came no mo',
and he married and had two chilluns in his old days. I seed his
wife jest once. She and her little chaps visited in the country
and I seed them, too. She wuz a mighty fine-looking white lady
mid quality about her. Mighty fine-looking children, too, jest
like deir mother.
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"Cose growing up ain't nothin"cept what all de
chilluns does. And I would'n have de time dese bar gals has now.
Dese bar gals doesn't know nothin"bout a good time. When a boy
walks wid 'em twice, why, they think he's ready to marry. Dats all
de sense dey got. Lawdy, I is allus atter 'em 'bout hit, dey don't
know no good time. Dey thinks dat dey known what a good times is
made for, but dey sho' don't. Dey don't dance like us did when we
wuz young. You never hear -d no racket behind us. Dat's all follows
de good time, is a racket. I hates rackets, but I like good times.
Dose gals fools 'round too much and dey gits burnt! Best not to fool
'round too rotten much no time, yes, dat it is Dose boys ruin dese
gals by doin' things dat de gals thinks dey won't.
"Lawdy, honey, I went to frolics and stayed out 'til
six in the morning. Boys fetched me home in de saddle and dey set
behind. Still I kept ahead of 'em. All de gals I runn'd wid done
de same way. Now gals can't keep ahead of boys and dey don't have
to ride no mules either. Dats only time a boy got his arm around me,
den he kept it in de right place. Mango fetched me home from frolics
fer three years and he never found out nothin"bout me. Other boys
tried to do the same and dey never made no progress. I ain't never
found out what Mango's old mule wuz named. Dat de onliest thing he
kept me guessint on. You is got to keep dem a guessin', kaise all
mens is got a streak of cussedness in 'em.
"Finally, when Mango married me, dey started to callin'
him 'Luck'. Dey still calls him dat. His pa got to callin' him
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'Luck' a fore he died. I rid all o' Sanders' (dats what I calls him de mo'es)
old mules 'cep'n dat one in de yard now. I ain't never found out what dat
mule's name is neither, and I don't believe he knows hisself. Sanders calls
him anythin' dat come to his mind and dat mule keeps agwine on."
Emma sees a large black woman going by and while she is going
into her tobacco sack of Golden Grain she hollers, 'Big Baby', how's you coming
'long wid dat supper fer de 'Busted Chapel'?" Big Baby shakes her head and
looks belligerently at Emma and exclaims, "Who dat talkin"bout our church
dat way? Our church is St. Paul's Baptist, and dat's all we gwine,to let any
nigger call hit." The ducks and geese in Emma's yard quack and cackle as "Big
Baby" departs. She looks around and says, "All you niggers dat wants a good
supper came over dar to de church tonight." Emma knocks her old cob pipe clean
and refills it with fresh tobacco Golden Grain. She said that other kinds of
tobacco give her short wind. She studies while she puts her sack away and lights
her pipe. Then she drops into a low tone and says, "I never bothers with no
cigarettes. 'Luck' smokes cheap cigars, kaise he thinks he is always 'lucky'."
A gander comes out and begins fighting the drake duck. "Look
at dat old gander. He is so mean, and I gits right mad at him." She throws a
stick of stove wood at the gander that causes him to run to his puddle of water.
"Looks at my geese, dey is the purttiest scenery I got. I likes deir eyes, so
blue. Sanders likes dat big drake kaise he got such a green flake. Sanders
'law dat all dat green make him look like a parr't.
"If I'd let dat nigger he would fetch one of dem parr't bar,
but I don't need narry a bird to talk. When hits talkin' to do 'round bar,
I'll do hit myself." She claps her hands together and laughs, "My pipe is
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gwine now, but had to beat hit like I wuz beatin' a pan tho' afo' hit got
to gwine good. See my yashint. Rain drivi me to be late yid my yashin'
dis week.
"Jesus, have Mercy, if there ain't 'Big Baby' hangin' her clothes
out. Dat supper fer de Busted Chapel mus' not gwine to be so hot. Rev. Smith
wuz preachin' gwine into five years at Sain' Paul's on Wallace Street, over
dar by de ice factory. See dat steeple? Well, dat's hit. Rev. Smith sho'
wuz a fine-lookin' black man void a long twisted moustache. He had a fine_
wife too, but not no chilluns. He could allus git the mourners' bench so
full dat hit would creak. His conflagration (congregation) never paid him
much. So when he got a call to Spartanburg he 'cided to go sudden like so
he told his people. Dey never wanted him to leave Union, so he 'cided dat
de Lewd meant fer him to stay har.
"Bout a year had done went by when fer some reason hit got to
gwine 'round dat Rev. Smith wuz too 'sporty'. His wife never believed hit
and she wuz fixin' to have her fust baby. But one of the Rev. Smith's dea-
cons wuz dat jealous of him, dat he called a deacon's meeting and dey 'cided
dat dey yuzn't gwine to pay Rev. Smith no mot money. As Rev. Smith vuzn't
dar he never got no wind. So he preached on in de name of de Lewd fer a
mother year wid'out pay. Well you knows how things leaks out. So Spartan-
burg hearld 'bout hit and dey calls Rev. Smith agin. By dat time his baby
boy is crawlin' and hollerin' fer his cooter bones, and his pa has done
found out dat de devil is settin' on his pews at Saint Paul's so he 'cepts
de Spartanburg ball.
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"He preaches his farewell sermon and tells de righteous dat dar
is mansions in de sky fer den, and to den other niggers dat has 'bused his
name, he points out to den dat dey shall burnt in de brimstone and fire thir-
teen times. Yet dat don't git him no money. So when he goes to Spartanburg
he sues Sain' Paul's Chapel. Dat been eight years past. Den niggers ain't
spent no money on Sain' Paul's since. Dey still 'tends church, but dey is
lettin' hit fall might nigh down. Dey tells den lawyers dey is busted and
brings dem to see de church in need of repairs. So ever since den the Meth-
odists calls the Sain' Paul de 'Busted Chapel.' Dat makes den mad tho', and
dat's why 'Big Baby' twist herself 'round so and say what she did.
"Zion Methodist asked Rev. Smith to come down har three weeks back
and preach dey night sermon to den. He come and fetched his wife and boy. Al].
three of den wuz dressed up and he had a new car. Zion nwver holt de niggers
dat turned out to hear Rev. Smith. He 'lowed in his sermon dat de Lewd gwine
to help den lawyers push dat judgment through, and he wuz gwine to git his
money. Ev'ybody grunted a low 'Amen' when he said dat. He is a fine preacher
and his church up in Spartanburg is proud of him.
"The 'Busted Chapel' members has gived two hot suppers since Rev.
Smith preached at Zion. Dis'n tonight is the second. They has good things
to eat, and of course, they makes money, as ev'ything fer the supper is gived
free.
"Robert Moment is de youngest deacon. He ow morlcint at Mr. Lewis
Perrin' Drug Store and he got on the chaingang fer stealin' out'n dat white
man's store. Last week he came home from de gang and now he's gwine 'round wid
a 'scription list trying to git money fer Rev. SmithIs salary dat last year he
preached.
"Janie is beatin' dam all. She got a list, and she cooks fer
Miss Gaffney. So Miss Gaffney gived her a dollar and a lot of rations fer
dat fust supper. Janie went 'round to all dem rich white folks houses 'round
Miss Gaffney's and Mr. Bolton's gittin' money and dey gived her a big 'scrip-
tion. So maybe Rev. Smith won't git to put dem deachns in de 'Busted Chapel'
in jail atter all. As fer me, I is gwine to de supper tonight, but ev'y day
I sings praises, der dat's my life, Lawd:
"I ain't never made no money iceptin when I cooked fer Miss Bobo
three years. She gived me $2.50 a week. I got little things I negd wid hit,
and paid my 'surance (insurance). I nursed Miss Anne Bolton when she wuz a
year old and her pa gived me a house and paid me $3 a week. Mist Bolton
she gived me all my clothin'. Then I went to Miss Josephine Jennings' and
lived in her back yard fer fifteen years. Mango worked de gardens and dey
gived us vittles and $10 a month. All us got is 'surance. He got some and
I'se got some.
"Once Miss Josephine took me to Toledo, Ohio, wid her. We stayed
yid her friends dar a month. One day her friend got me to mash and iron her
clothes fer her and she gived me $3. I bought me a Sunday dress wid hit.
Dat night hit wuz so hot Miss Josephine's chilluns couldn't sleep, so de lady
took us on de trolley to a park fer miles away. We stayed dar 'til atter mid-
night. Miss Josephine come home in two days. When Miss Jospehino and her hus-
band, Mr. Harry Jennings went to Georgia, Mr. Harry took the money me and 'Luck'
had and brought this house. 'Luck' goes tp to the courthouse and Mr. Bedenbaugh
axes him a few questions and 'Luck' gives him de money fer taxes. Hit is in my
name, Emma Sanders, but 'Luck' got hisself our furniture and dat old mule. He
got our furniture and mule down fer $20.
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"I don't never git no money no mo'. Sanders works white folks's
gardens and plows dey'land wid dat old mule. He fetches me a little money
when he has any. I saves some in de box fer de 'surance man and dem taxes.
Den us gives some to our church and it ain't marry a cent left.
"Chile, dar comes my little bantam hen mid seven baby bantams.
Let me git her, I never meant fer her to git out'n dat dry place, I had her
under de house. Lewd, have mercy Jesus, but I has a time. When dem bantams
gits bigger I'll give you a pair." She sings, "Carry me to de Promise Land,
Lawd, Carry me to de clouds whar de angels will grab me up." Thenl she claps
her hands and exclaims,. "Dat's my life, Lewd, Singin' Praises."