Document text
Approximately 10,000 Words
SOUTH CAROLINA WRITERS' PROJECT
LIFE HISTORY
TITLE: THE STREET
Date of .1.,iting
Names of Persons Interviewed
Fictitious Name
March, 1939
1 Robert Moultrie
2 Emma Moultrie
3 John Lana
4 Bertha Lands
5 Isaiah Washington Pinckney
6 Josephine Johnson
1 Robert Carter
2 Sarah Carter
3 John Sanders
4 Bessie Sanders
5 Sundown
6 Eva Bellows
Place Arundel Plantation,
Georgetown, S. C.
Occupation
1 Preacher,FIrmer,Guide
2 CocA:
3 Farm Hand, Guide
4 Housewife
5 Farm Hand
6 Cook
Name of 4riter Margaret iiilkinson
Project 1655
Margaret Alkinson„
Charleston, S.C.
Life History
THE STREET
How you get to Barondel Plantation is your own
affair. The ordinary mode of transportation today is by
automobile. Ten years ago you would most likely have made
the trip by boat, for even reasonably passable roads were
unheard of in South Carolina low -country until its many
rivers were recehtly spanned by steel brigges.
This former flourishing rice plantation is fif-
teen miles by land from Georgetown, a town of five thousand
inhabitants.
To reach the plantation from Georgetown you travel
seven miles over hard surfaced highways and another seven
over a maze of "neighborhood roads". These are narrow,rutted
swampy at intervals, winding and bending through pinelands,
deep wood, swamps, or uncultivated fields overgrown in sedge
grass, wild flower, or shrub.
Jaong the road you pass an occasional dwelling
standing in a clearing of furrowed land, encompassed by
sleezy fences. To the experienced eye, a wisp of smoke
along the sky -line, or well -beaten paths leading deeper into
the pinelands or fields, disclose the proximity of Negro
cabins, in what 'ems to be totally barren acres. Here
subsists a shadowy population whose method of livelihood
remains a mystery even to whites with years of familiarity
with the situation.
Project 1655
Margaret Aakinson,
Charleston,S.C.
TEE SriL-tiT
Page 2
After riding for several miles beyond the last
roadside dwelling through land given over entirely to the
natural flora, a neatly painted sign reading "Barondel
Plantation", black lettering on white backgroundodireets
you to turn sharply to the right into a road not unlike the
one you are on.
side are deeper
the sides showr
cleared. It is
It is no better kept. The ditches on either
4, The rounded imprint of the shovel against
that this road is hand -worked and but newly
a part of the plantation "Avenue."
The deep ditches answer a pressing need for drain-
age, for the sign heads you directly to the great Pee Dee
River only a mile distant. The
rivers, whose confluenee forms
ante() are responsible for the
?ea Dee and its three sister
Anyah Bay, together with the
thousands of acres of fertile
rice lands, now waste, to which Georgetown county once owed
its great wealth and still owes its beautiful plantations.
For the most part these plantations are owned by absentee
landlords who utilize them as game preserves or winter
residences.
half a mile down the 3arondel Avenue an enormous
red pate made of heavy timLer halts you. for it is firmly
barred. It closes a high white picket feneepthe palings of
which are entwined with honeysuckle and Jessamine vines, and at
whose footing kneel dwarf palmettoes and Spanish Bayonet.
Project 1665
Yargaret Alkinson,
Charleston,.C.
THE SThELT
Page 3
3ut it is the massive round gate posts that will
project themselves past your sense of sight into your inner
consciousness. They are hand -carved in a design classis in
its simplicity using acorns as a motif. You have been told
that they are one hundred and fifty years old and that they
are the worl, of slave artisans -black men then but recently
snatched from the Ivory Coast, You have read all the stories
about the slave ships.
The gate moves and swings open as if by magic,
but no one tomes into sight. The day of the black genie
seemed still here.
The vista discloses a wider continuation of the
"'venue" flanked on either side by a row of live oaks half
a mile long, doubtless the same trees that had supplied the
models from Which the craftsman of another century had made
his design. The ;,,venue ends a, a white house of majestic
proportions set like a jewel in a mass of green.
In the foreground on the day of my visit stood an
ancient one-horse wagon with a home-made body upon which
rested a larce willow clothes basket. sleek,buxom, self-
sto d
complacent looking mule /between the shafts. The driver had
onened the gate. He had shyly stood out of sight behind its
cover. :hen he did emerge, he turned away his head so his
face could not be seen.
Project 1655
Margaret 6ilkinson„
Charleston,S.C.
THE STREET
Page 4
The figure was dressed in blue denim overalls and
several motley old coats, one on top of the other, all in
various stages of disintegeration and from which hung an
irtegular fringe of tatters. Despite the fact that the day
was not overly cold these coats were topped by the upper
portion of a Clemson College officer's dress uniform resplendent
with brass buttons and gold braid. A cadet cap, visored,leaned
against the wind atop the wearer's head,Which bobbed as he
mumbled incoherently an ejaculation intended in way of greeting.
,fter I had passed through the gate, he led his
mule through holding the reins in his hand. Then he closed
and barred it carefully, mounted the driver's seat, cracked
a long leat,:er whip like a Roman charioteer. Mary Mule"
responded. The strange outift with its peerless driver, Isaiah
iashington Adson, a "natural" oolloqually known as "sundown",
dashed at terrific speed along the opposite end of the Avenue
leaving a swirl of dust in its wake.
The wagon clatter fades into a rumble. On either side,
beyond the Avenue lie fallow fields. Among withered corn
stalks ribboned into shreds by the elements stand twenty or
more scrub long -horned cattle, scions of a noble breed the
planter in better times had intrduced from the far ,lest.
They are trying to pick fodder from the corn stalks stubs,
for here, in the case of oattle as of human beings, it is often
Project 1655
Margaret Adkinson,
Charleston„S.C.
TIL STRF::3
Page 5
a case of "Live, horsetand in the Spring there will be grass."
Ahead a barbed wire fence three plies high drawn a
line of demarkation between the field where the cattle graze
and a park of handsome live oaks some twenty acres in extent.
Here also a smaller road branches off from the Avenue skirting
the park. This leads to"the Street", or the negro quarters.
Barondells "Street" has been kept intact to a
greater extent than that of any other plantation in Georgetown
County,, though many houses have been burned down or torn down
in order to get material for other plantation activities or for
repairing the remaining houses. Still the general plan has been
preserved. There is a row of houses on either side where there
was formerly a double row, The "Sick Houss"is at the end nearest
the "Big House, the overseer's cottage adjacent, and the watch-
man's camp built high at a vantage point on the bluff that
overlooks the river.
nurse, practical and black rather than "trained",
once presided over the "Sick House" to which were sent to be
cared for all the ailing Negroes. It is now given over to storage
space for pecans and sleeping quarters for Chauffeurs of "paying
guests" who come to the "Big House" throughout the winter season.
The overseer's cottage, snuggling in a clump of nandina,pyrocantha,
and casainatis furnished for winter rentals to visiting norther-
ners. In the watchman's camp, where a guard once stood with a
gun,are kept under supervision of the colored foreman,
Project 1655
Margaret 4ilkinson,
Charleston,S.C.
TRE STREET
Page 6
the plantation tools and lighter farming implements.
To the left of the "Camp" is the ancient style
that leads over the hedge and fence into the "Big House" park.
Overlooking the river to the right are the long barns with
red roof s,an elongated shed filled with all manner of vehicles
past being of use, and the "Lot", where the domestic animals
are kept at night. Beyond this group,down the river and on
its banks are the pig stys..
The Negro quarters proper are situated within sight
of, but out of calling distance from the "Big House. The Yegroes
like their privacy, so this arranF:ement is logical enough.
Scattered sheep, some sixty in number,grazing in
and about the "Street", flock together at sight of the visitor,
hurdle empty air, and disappear into the depths of the oak park
beyond. The whitewashed cabins present a charm of another era.
This is e)thanced by the dolapidated sate of stepsoporches,
and roof. lAide of ten inch cypress boards running perpendicular-
ly, in a style of architecture in keeping with their purpose
and setting, the cabins seem indestructible rather than in a
good state of preservation.
visit to one of the most imposing of them is
revealing. The first one on the "Street", is he residence
of the Reverend Robert Carter and his wife,Sarah. There are
gingerbread decorations around the eaves like a story book
Project 1655
Largaret Alkinson,
Charleston,.G.
TITI!; SMEET
?age 7
house, with cathedral windows and doorway. Above it towers one
of the most massive of the live oaks forming a canopy of
green with ray draperies of moss.
'.3ehind the cabin a patched -together board and sap-
ling fence hides the yard even in winter behind red -berried
cassinapholly and fig trees, but judging from the cackles,
squeals, and grunts that issue from ite close, it serves a
definite purpose. Four or five wanton fryers thin enough to
have squeezed through the holes, scratch industriously in a
flower bed among geraniums. To the side, rear, a crOde shed
covered with tar paper offers shelter to a relic "T" Model
Ford with over patched shoes.
,11 but one of the wooden shutters of the cabin
are closed as is the door, but wide cracks furnish unwished
for ventilation to the apartment within. A single glass paned
window sash is evident where the shutters have been left open.
It is the only glass window in the house and is a rare luxury.
Smoke rises from the chimney. The sweet odor of burning oak
wood pervades the air.
There is little inside to fulfil the promise set
forth by the romantic setting of the cabin. The high eeilinged
room which you enter after cautiously picking your way up five
or six wobbly steps and through the cathedral doorway, would
be cheerloss indeed except for the glow from the oaken embers
within the ample fireplace of old English brick a type much
Project 1635
Margaret Alkinson,
Charleston„.-,
Page B
Th-A STh.:ET
wanted by Charleston architects. An open doorway straight thedd
discloses a short dark hall indicating that a room or two leads
off from it. .)21 the hearth in the main room are some cooking
utensils blackened with charcoal from many a tree, a coffee pot
with grounds left from the mording meal, a "kittle" on a tripod
with steam rolling from the spout, a skillet in which corn Tone
is taking, a pot of
skillet of eat -fish
cat of the southern
ferior "yellow cat"
delicacy by colored
outer corner of the
collards, ands as a special treat, a second
stew. This fish is not the delectable blue
rivers that empty into the Gulf but an in
not acceptable to sportsmen but held as a
fishermen. A mound of ashes heaped in the
fireplace sug-ests "yams". The meal is ready
when "lev" shall arrive, a time never very definite, for "Rev"
in a man of parts.
The table is laid for two over a red print cloth. At
each place a plate is turned down over a bobe-handled knife,
fork, and plated spoon. %ieavy white porcelain cups and saucers
ate stacked the table. The center -piece is a well conditioned
nickle ,aladin reading lamp with an opaque glass shade.
The walls of the room are covered with newspapers,the
bold black captions of The New Iork Times interspersed win
brown rotogravure and colored plates from women's magazines.
Heavy watermarks indicate a badly leaking roof.
Project 1655
ivisrgarot 'Alkinson,
Charleston,S.C.
Page 9
UJ
3TT
On one of the side walls are enlargements in heavy
gilt frames of an elderly couple, the man bespeckled and pom-
pous,the woman of passive eountenance. The mantelpiece is
covered over with a brown paper scarf ornate with artful cut-
out designs. On it stands am open faced wooden clock.
Other than straight chairs, braced with whittled
pieces of wood and reinforced with cane seating, the furnish-
ings of the room are a sideboard of golden oak groaning under
decorative glassware of variegated hues from the red of the
goblets to the deep blue of a large bowl, an old sofa covered
*ith gay cretonne, a single rocking chair, and a table placed
beside this and beneath the window with the glass pane. On the
table is a vase with s spray of pear blossom, a rusty leather
backed :Able thickened with much use, and a recent issue of
The Literary idgest.
couple of small goods boxes, one bearing a trade-
mark and s label "Shur Shot Shells," stand before the fire to
serve as stools. Vpon one of these sits a winsome little picka-
ninny with skin of a creamy chocolate and brown eyes that dance.
beat and seemingly interminable braids cover her head. A red
ribbon bow s']bstantiates the impression induced by her coyness
that she is a girl. The "Grand" with an air of an epicure is
attacking a thick cold biscuit which has a hole punched in it
and then filled with syrup. She is a picture of contentment.
Project 1655 Page 10
Margaret Alkinson,
Gharleston,S.C.
THE STREET
Through a door to the right obviously a bed room
from a glimpse of the iron bed with the clean white spread..
emerges a liegro woman, majestic in status and bearingdproad
of hip and shoulder. Her blue and white figured calico dress
is freshly laundered. Its full gathered skirt stands out,
supported by innumerable petticoats.
The woman's face beams at sight of the visitor.She
holds out her hand and shakes hands awkwardly but sincerely.
"Ileum" Sarah, after welcoming you, remonstrates with the chubby
"Grand" for her lack of manners in not having said "how dly"
and attempts to put her through the approved routine with the
only result that bare toes dig into pine flooringtand the gay
little head catapaults from a jerky bob into a shy droop,
bissuit intact the while.
"Maum" Sarah excuses the tot's lack of manners.
"Shoop mine and Rev's eyeball on account 01 her being
Boy's first born, but maybe she'll get over being so spoiled
when the next fun comes. Boy's wife is on the run Win already,
maybe it'll be a boy this time and this one won't git so much
attention."
of is "Maum" Sarah and Robert's only son and the
last of their children to be married and leave the parental roof.
The Carter's have brought up their children for the most part
in the Barondel "Street" to which they cams from
Project 1655
Margaret Wilkinson,
aharleston,S.C.
THE STREET
Page 11
the street of Rosebank, the adjoining plantation, when the
hereditary owners of Barondel returned from an unsuccessful
venture into the town.
A family of only three children is sufficiently
small to cause comment among country Negroes, a social strata
where birth control has not ever been heard
practised. The Carter's small family may be
fact that the head of the house is a member
termed the black intelligensia. He remained
of much less
explained by the
of what might be
single until well
up in life content with doing his ministerial work in an
atmosphere whore his personal and professional popularity fore-
stalled any possibility of loneliness.
"Maum" Sarah is no common Negro. In the first place
she belongs to a long line of house servants. In the second
place she is descended from Negroes belonging to the Allston.,
a family noted for generations for procuring only the finest
type of Negro obtainable and training them accordingly.
Robert Garter's father had died of "de fever" when
he was a very small boy. Soon afterwards, his motherorossing
a foot -bridge as she was returning home from a day's work in
the rice fields lost balance and was drowned in the muddy
waters of Jericho Creek.
The orphaned urchin, Robert, was taken into the house-
hold of Sam ;:.hite, Deacon of the Nehemiah Baptist Church and
Grand Master of the most influential lodge in the county.
Project 1855
Margaret 4ilkinson,
CharlestoneS.C.
TflE STHE.LT
Page 12
From constant attendance at the church in the deacon's
company, adopting him as a pattern, the boy early displayed a
lucidity of language richly embossed with Biblical names and
lyrical phrases. The "brethren" and "sisters" marveled,their
astonishment grew, and the deacon concluded that little Rob
originally destined is one more field hand should become a
preacher of tile Gospel when he grew up. So that Robert speaks
literally when he tells you that he was "called" to the minis-
try,
Uttle Robert's benefactor went ahead from day to day
with preparations to point him for the holy profession. These
were simple enough a combination of preachment and teaching
that established the child in the habit of daily walking in
the way of the church elders. The deacon as a child had learned
to read and do simple sums. In these subjects he instructed an
apt pupil. They would sit together in the quiet of the evening
just before "dusk dark" after a day of labor in the rice fields.
Mostly they read from the 3ible, tl,e child spelling out with
great effort to the aged man the long hard words.
Robert was not simply a scholar. He learned to combine
hard physical work with activity of the mind. He splintered
the touch lightards and brought in the heavy oak logs often
tugging with greater might than was his. He did his assigned
tasks in the fields. He liked best being allowed to go into
rice fields through the intricacies of the drainage ditches
Project 1658
Wargaret Alkinson,
Charleston, S.C.
THE STREET
Page 13
or being sent to mind the birds from the newly planted corn
in the uplands when he could lie in ambush between the furrows
and "play deed" with a pile of clods beside him.
ut there was play, fter he was too old to ride a
stick through the street or bend down a sapling for a hobby
horse with the other children, he was happy to fish ,for sun
perch or paddle te boat for the deacon when heflobbed" for
trout in the creeks and waterways. Then ho learned to handle
gun and. sLoot gsme birds. In P few minutes ab certain seasons
one could procure a bag full of "coots", (a email and delicious
rice bird) without the use of a un for they were so thick that
they could to knocked from a bush with a stick.
?rem these childhood experiences arose the vocations
of to mar preacherthu:itorpfithermantwatchman,fermer, at each
of which he ::orku industriously in its season, each a separate
entity callinc for various tlents, sand each standing him in
good stead ue u means )f a livelihood. Because of this versatil-
ity, the .:art(;r family c-3ntinue to hod heads high among their
brethren, -ost of whom are fighttn6 a losing battle with the
wolf since the decline of the rice industry and the general
impoverishment of the countryside agriculturally.
obert considers himself first and foremost a preacher,
a Liaptist preacher. He would not like being mistaken for a
Methodist. Though this wok is his most important,it is by no
Project 1655
Margaret ailkinson,
Charleston,S.C.
THE STREET
Page 14
means the most lucrative. On the first Sunday of each month
he makes alone in a duck boat the water and land trek to
Ebenezer Church. This is situated on what is known as "the
Neck", a narow strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and
the Ei.ccamaw River. To reach the church necessitates a six
mile voyage down the Pee Dee, ihto Butler Creek, through
"Pullfair" into the turbulent waters of the mighty Waccamaw.
Re can not cross this perpendicularly but must cross the strong
tidal current transversely so that he lands on the opporite
bank at various distances from the little wooden church in
the pinelands. He starts walking but soon he is hailed joy-
ously by some member of his church on the lookout for him
and is transported along wagon roads through literal green
pastures and delivered to his flock.
_Itimulated by the friendly greetings after a long
silence of contmplation and struggle through the watery course,
he preaches his sermon,,perhaps aF he has prepared it the day
before, but more than lilrely entirely extemperaneous. After
service t'rere is a feast of fried chicken, cold biscuitIcake,
pie, coffee. Then a rest combined with visits outside in the
pine grove with friends, and the day is closed with an after-
noon sermon and singing of spirituals. As the sun forms a red
disc -obert begins his long journey home through the marshlands
to 3arondel.
Project 1655
Wargaret ,ilkinson
Gharleston,.C.
TRY. STIT
Page 15
,t Thristmas time a few years ago, the small Ebenezer
congregation, in consideration of the advancing age of their
beloved pastor, made hin a proposition after much calculation
on the part of the committee in charge of the finances of the
church. They proposed to pay the 70 cents ferry fare and pur-
chase three gallons of racollne each m -)nth so that he might
make the trip from Barondel in his old Ford and be spared the
strenuousand at times dangeroua route across the marsh and
rivers. ;fter listening attentively to the spokesman, hotert
scratched his bead, squinted his eyes and considered. It was
a. temptation, but among the images that flashed before his
vision was the widespread want and need among his people.
It make too much burden. I paddle and walk long
es I kin," was his response to this offered boon. itt sixty-
ei7ht he is still able to make the trip.
otJ'er Lord's days ;obert is in delland to preach
at churches nearer home, churches of the Methodist as well as
of the Bartist denomination.
?houlh it does not work out practically, in theory
Robert receives one half of the desultory Sunday offerings-
nickles,dimesonennies rarely quarters -which are placed
metieuously by each individual giver on a white cloth spread
on a table in front ')f the altar at the donclusion of the
sermon.
Project 1655
Ifirgaret Alkinson„
Calerleston13.C.
THE STREET
Page 16
Sparse as is his share, a far smaller amount goes to the upkeep
of the Carter family. Robert says that this is the Lord's money
and that his position is only one of stewardship. As long as he
man live from his other resourcesphe contributes this money to
worthy causes there is always some pressing need of the die..
tressed among the "brethren" or to the host church which is
urgently seeking funds to repair a leaky roof, restore broken
window panes, or install a new stove. Likewise When Robert
"funeralizes" a neighbor or a member of his congregation or when
he officiates at a marriage, he never charges a feeveither to
the bereaved or to those about to"pleasure themselves".
First and foremost Robert depends upon hid farming for
a living He relies upon his work as guide to sportsmen for
purchasing clothing, equipment, and other necessities a small
part is spent on his Ford.
7e acted in capacity of guide for years to a millionaire
who owns Rosebank Plantation adjacent to Barondel. Although this
gentleman is now too infirm to come South on his annual hunting
trips, Robert continues from year to year his place as watchman
on Rosebank. This carries certain advantages beyond the free use
of five acres on Hosebank to farm for himself without the usual
payment to the landlord of the usual third of the scanty crops
of corn and cotton. The additional hunting privileges and fish-
ing rights over the thousand acres of rice fields is a matter
Project 1655
Margaret Alkinson,
Charleston,S.C.
THE STREET
Page 17
dear to hobertfe heart as well as advantageous to the larder.
Game has been less and less abundant, but there is still enough
for a huntsman's family when he has as ke,31 an eye and as sure
an aim as has aobert.
7-nat aobert, like every other huntsrian, know that shells
are an item to be reckoned with and cash must be found for them.
This is rot imTossible forhhim since the time that he requires
them ir the season when he is able to make money from his knowl-
edge and experience. It is the business of Mr. Carteret, who
owns lerondel, to cater to the needs of sportsmen. Robert is
the most popular guide in arventire county Oven over largely
to duck eo..ting and field speets. Tie is sought weeks in
advance by swamp wise hunters fro- 7eine to South Carolina.
laenerer those "duxbax" clad Ten make their appearance in low
country, he earns from two to three dollars a day on an average
in addition to generous tip, gifts of clothing,tobacco, and
In the summer,when there is an occasional guestsinterest-
ed in casting or"bobbire for the big mouth bass which are in
abundance iltn the rice fields ditches„Robert pilots an occasional
dollar at a season, when cash is very scarceT serving as guide.
Then there is always game and fish that he is able to procure
for his own table from the geneoosity of his patrons. It is a
law of the low country that the Negro guide is entitled to all
Project 1655
Nargaret .ilkinson,
Ch4rleston,6.0.
TH STHET
Page 18
fish except game fish, and to all small animals killed as
target. Then when the guide adroitly captures a cooter for
stew, no one could object.
3etween the hunting Benson ard fishing Robert finds
ample time to attend to his farming. This assures the family
of an abundance of green vegetables, of which okra, collards
tomatoes, turnip greens, and butter beans are the favorites.
There is also cow peas to be dried for winter use, corn for
chicken feed and grits hominy for the family, and sweet potatoes
to be preserved for the winter. Then there is the most important
crop, the watermelon, in Which Hobert takes greatest pride.
Lie every other farmer; Hobert has good and bad years,
but not long ago he suffered a major disaster when a storehouse
on Hosebank Plantation burned to the ground, having caught fire
from the universal Vagro custom of yearly burning off the fields
and woods. In the fire Hobert lost not only the year's crops,
but his seed for the coming spring, his tools paid for over a
long period of time, and his ,reclous horse. That was before
the time when the government would lend assistance to a farmer
in such a plight. It was a weary pull before the preacher could
get back on his feet and probably would have been impossible
had the hunting been an poor and the season as short as the past
few years.
Project 1655
Margaret Alkinson„
Charleston,3.C.
THE STREET
Page 19
:Asides his household possessions and the old Ford,
Robert's assets, though greater than that of his brethren on
an average, are small. They consist of a homemade duck boat
as necessary to him as his feet, a raw-boned sorrel horse
which he pastures on hosebank, a few pigs, and a house in
,krtha Village, the colored community two miles distance.
The house is rented out for a small sum to a needy family.
lobert does not interest himself in partisan politics,
though worlds affairs are his great concern. He keeps himself
surprisingly well informed cr-mcerning world events and holds
definite viewpoints as to the right and wrong of nations and
cliques. He applies himself as religiously to the reading
of the "Literary Digest", to which he has long been a subscriber,
as to the study of his :Able. Then when in tha winter when
there are l'ortheru guests at the "Big House" he is given dis-
carded copies *f the New Xprk Times and ocoasional periodicals.
These are a source of real deligt to this Negro. Yet he is
apparently little influenced by them either in his desires or
in his beliefs. Ile says that he would like to go to New York
but that nothing could induce hiii to remain there. He has no
desire to ride in an airplaae. Tie declares that he does not oaro
to go over twelve miles an hour in an automobile those who
choose to exceed that may pass himt
Project 1655
Nargaret Alkinsons
Charleston,L.C.
THE STRE,T
?age 20
Two of Robert's favorite mottoes are:
Live and let live.
"Nigger business is nigger businesv and white folks
business is white folks business and the two doan mix."
has erected certain standards of behavior which
he expects of white folks. to familiarity occasionally
encountered from a white hunter from another section of the
country, such as back slapping, Robert shakes his head with
the comment that such is not our kind ol ways."
Robert went through come
eldest daughter, a quiet and well
the best schooling offered in the
he had to board her 11 Georfretown
privations to see that his
mannered girl, should have
county. To accomplish this
thus depriving himself of
her services at home at e time when they were needed. Because
of her trainlrw and her intelligence, she was sftle to get a
place to cook paying six doll arc a week where the usual begin-
ner could only expect three dollars. -1-1.e held this place giv-
ing perfect satisfaction until sho married. The choose a husband
entirely satisfactory to her parents.
hobert's youngest girl seemed to, personify all the
faults of the younger generation. She was interested primarily
in running to Yartha Village and spending her time with other
idle girls and boys. She attended every festivity there.
Project 165o
lareret -ilkinson,
Charleston,S.C.
i'ace 21
hen the brass band made its bi-annual appearance there sho
could out -dance all her friends. Robert made no effort to
send this girl to school as he had her sister, but he did
use much persuasion even flogging- to see that the over-
grown girl in her teens stayed in school another year beyond
her wishes.
"I wants her to have enough education to be Able to
defend herself", he would say. After a term during which she
could hardly have learned so much, Irene succeeded in marry-
ing a pleasure lovinc youth from Vartha Village with a "sunset
wedding" in the aarondel :Areet. Her husband is a goofc worker
and provides her with a very good house which she keeps in
better order than one ever suspected she would.
The refil problem ir the Carter family was "Boy", a
well set up youth with a pleasins. manner like his father but
without the father's stability. "Boy has an excellent tenor
voice. For years he has led the quartet at neighborhood churches
whore his father occasionally preached. Robert says he is
proud of him, ,ith his quartet he lends as much emotional tempo
to the gatherings as his father does with his sermons. But
since early childhood. Moy" has had "sticky fingers".
lien he was but ten years old, because of hin ability
to please aild his good manners, he was taken as houseboy into
the Dig house.
Project 1655
karp7aret A.lkinson,
Charleston,L.C.
THE STREET
Page 22
The boy so chosen is the envy of the other boys in the area,
for he not only get a dollar a week, but is fed out of the
white folks' kitchen. This means ice cream, cake, chicken,
lemon merinDie pie, ambrosial and goodies unknown to the
plantrtion ',egroes„ being the recipient of generous tips
from Nort7rern guests.
Tie housoho:7's duties are to bring in the wood,
make end attend fires, polish brass, run errands for the cook
and for the guests. How long "Boy" managed to get away with
petty thefts, :,so one 1.7nows, but t length one day a ten Oollar
bill disappe rr1 fro the dressor j,lot after it had beer. left
there by a hunter with a good m000ry. The culprit was caught,
confessed, and was let off after promising never to do such
a thing again. His inistnIsr, vas 17L1d cud really liked the
little houseboy.
tore were several such :-iappeniuTs and "Boy"
had to be dismissed. He was then almost a man in statue and
got ork in a country store. The fincers continued to ho
Sticky" and the storekeeper, not so kind as the mistrers
of Bsvonclel, clied in the sheriff. The preacher had to employ
his best persuasion and his reserve fund to keep his son
from the chain #ang. The same thing happened again when "Boy
went to work in Georgetown, He had now acquiree a bed reputa-
tion, and no one wished to hire him. He roamed the countryside
a continual sourest of worry to his father.
Project 1655
Margaret Wilkinson,
aharleston,S.C.
Page 23
THE STREET
But one day something happened. A family from the
East with a Southern background, moved into the overseer's
cottage with a two year's lease. Robert's daughter was taken
on as cook and "Boy" an butler. Mrs. Thomas had been warned
of the "sticky fingers" by her friend the mistress at the
"Big House", but she had a peculiar belief in the innate
goodness of human nature. "Boy" turned out to be a treasure
to her and the household could not have run without him.
People throughout the countryside began to believe there was
some mistake about the Negro lad, or that the threfts were
only a youthful mischance. iihen the Thomas family returned
East, "Boy"was able to get work with his step -brother who
served as cook in the kitchen of a Northern millionaire,
who owns a plantation in the county. On one of "Boy's" visits
to his father on Barondel, he was offered by a guest from
New Yort 25 dollars a week and all expenses paid to hew York
to study with a famous Negro choir. He turned down the offer
with great disdain explaining that he worked for his living
and was not the ,trifling sort of nigger who went around
singing for a living.
Now that all the children are married, Robert and
"Mame Sarah are left alone in the cabin on Barondel. "Nam"
Sarah has been able to give up her place as cook at the "Big
House" where she for so many years lorded it over white and
black alike.
Project 1655
Margaret Alkinson,
Charleston,S.C.
THE STREET
Page 24
It is not likely that she would have given up that office had
she not become too ill to continue the work, and even then it
was more like an amputation than a resignation, for the dearly
loves her "white folks".
Now she confines her activity to keeping a cheerful
home atmosphere for her partner and being sure that there is
hot tea or coffee and wholesome food always on hand for the
man who, despite the weather, when the tide is right continues
to go out into the watery marsh lands clad in hip boots with
the faithful blue slicker thrown over his arm for insurance".
She does not miss the five dollars a week which she earned and
the ample "left overa" from the white folks' table which came
in so handy when there were more mouths to feed. Her only worry
is that Robert's eyesight is daily growing worse, and there in
the country there is no remedy for it. Otherwise the Carters
find little of :Iihich to complain. Indeed, as compared to the
standards among the other plantations "street" residents and
those of 1:artha Village and other such villages, the Carters
live in a state of affluence.
Opposite the Carter cabin is that of John Sanders
and his wife, Beagle, a comely "high yellow" with almond shaped
eyes. The woman is not from plantation stock but was imported
from a fairly distant pineland village. At the moment the main
objective of the couple seems to be breeding. However it is
Project 1655
Margaret Wilkinson,
Charleston,S.C.
THE STREET
Page 25
likely, that John will eventually make a good man on the planta-
tion. John is the oldest of "eleven head" belonging to a well
respected Negro couple living in the Rosebank street. The
father is a good farmer who rents on iharee, and the mother
a Negro woman of exceptional amiability.
John is employed as a farm hand by MrsCarteret. He
is paid five dollars a week. That is the sole income of the
family except a few dollars extra that Mr. Certeret allows
John to make during the hunting season when a guide is in
demand and he has no urgent farm work awaiting him.
Mr. Carteret says he hopes that some day John
will develop to the point of being able to take over the place
of "headman" on the plantation. This is now held by an ageing
man dwelling in Martha Village. it present John does the milking,
the feeding of the cattle, and field work. In addition he is
an excellent driver and can be entrusted with the master's car
in case of an emergency.
Mr. Carteret allows John skimmed milk for the babies,
plenty of potatoes, corn to be ground into hominy, cow peas,
and other surplus from the garden. In addition John must get
from the country store weekly supplies of "side meat", sugar,
lard, syrup, dried mackerel, canned tomatoes,tobacco, and
cracked rice which is purchased in one hundred pound bags at
around 2.5 cents. Coffee is a rare luxury. In addition there
is clothing to buy and Bessie must have a "dress up" outfit
Project 1655
Margaret Wilkinson,
Charleston,S.C.
THE STREET
Page 26
each summer and winter.
The Carterets look with unseeing eye at the miser-
able yellow cur coon dog tied supposedly out of sight under
the cabin. It is against the plantation rules for the Negroes
to keep a dog in the "Street". From the appearance of the dogs,
there are few table scraps.
73essie once had a job as a nurse to a baby belonging
to a plantation guest, but she was totally unsatisfactory.
Now she has so many babies herself that she can do little else
than look after them.
The furnishings of the house are shabby and unkept.
The woman is in no sense the homemaker. The chief diversion
of the couple when together is listening to a cheap phonograph.
A child cries. "He blow for he bone", John yells at Bessie,
the
and continues playing/jasz record, sending his wife to nurse
the wailing little ralow infant.
In the smallest of the cabins dwells "Maum" Sarah's
successor at the "Big House", Eva Bellows, a strapping handsome
woman still under thirty years. Evals story is typically a
success story. She lives the life of a modern bachelor girl.
L really field Negro, she was taken very young into the home
of a resident of a pineland vibllage. Her mistress belonged
to an aristocratic family but had little to give her servant
other tban excellent training.
Project 1655
Yargaret Alkinson,
Charleston,S.C.
T7E STREET
Dago 27
Eva stepped from this cottage in the small village
to what is considered an excellent place, for not only is
there the five dollars a week wages,but at times there are
liberal tips from the guests. Eva is given two weeks vacation
in the summer. In addition out of pure appreciation for having
found a worthy successor to "Maum" Sarah, the mistress of
Barondel had allowed Eva to take her pick of the furniture
stored in the old "Sick House". Eva has furnished her cabin
exceptionally well and hung it with colorful drapes and curtains
until it is the envy of every Vegro woman who looks upon it.
But few women have this opportunity, for Evals time is limited
and what she has to spare of it is given over to keeping
company with George .:4are, who has a large green Buick which
he puts at hr disposal. Rig son act as chauffeur. The mother
of the boy is still living. On Saturday nights Evil's cabin
is filled with gaiety and the tones of her new Victrola are
restful to the ear as contrasted to the squeaky sounds that
come from the one at John and Bessie Sanders' house.
Eva has with her for company John's little brother,
Sammy, who is houseboy at the "Big House". He sleeps on a cot
in the little shed room. On Sundays he is allowed to go home
to see his mother, but the rest of the week he is contented
with Eva.
Project 1656
Margaret 'Alkinson,
Charleston, S.C.
THE STRELT
Page 28
In by far the most tumbled down and unkept of the
cabins dwells alone the 1;atural, "Sundown:" Until a few years
ago Ills feeble-minded mother, a "charity Negro" all her life,
lived in the house with 1-im but separately, mother and son
hiding their rations from one another. 4th a combination of
small change hoarded from infrequent work at 35 cents a day
picking peas or hoeing, Betsy contrived to keep her burial
insurance paid up to date so that at her death her family
were able to give her a big funeral.
Sundown's identity is interwoven with that of the
Barondel Street. It is not likely that he could fit harmonious-
ly into any other social unit.
auidown derived his name from a childhood habit.
It was his custom to play with the four little Whitesboys at
the Big House, a silent pawn in their games, due to his in-
herent shness aild an impediuent of speech. Alenever the sun
set, the little "natural" would crawl under the nearest shelter
barn, wagon, or stoop and fall into deep slumber. Marne Legere,
his own age, dubbed him "sundown" and "Sundown" he has remained.
He led a very happy childhood playing with his idols, the four
little white boys. he fed from cabin to cabin, or from the kitchen
of the "Big house", whereever he havened to be. To ride in the
wagon was laysium..
Project 1655
kargaret '0.11-inson„
Charleston„S.C.
THS STRET
Page 29
This blissful existence came to a sudden ending one
day at the beginning of Sundown's thirteenth year. While rid-
ing a "hobby horse" to the nearest village on an errand for
his mother, he was overtaken by a couple of men in a wagon.
They offered him a ride. Desire overcame furtiveness, despite
the rough appearance of the white men. His new acquaintances
it turned out were nothing more than kidnapers distillers
of illicit liquor from the depths of Hell Hole Swamp, a famous
South Carolina bad lands* There they transported him to their
two room shack sh-;,,Tet by cursing women and a parcel of half
nourished children. Spurred by the whipkash, the little Negro
was forced to work long hours each day. At night he was chain-
ed to a knob of one of the many cypress trees that enclosed
entirely from the outside world the fastness of the bootleggers.
Often at night the water rose to his resting place and he stay-
ed miserable and helplessi in muck and slime. He lived in this
hell for eight years, but eventually made his escape and found
his way back to Barondel.
One cold winter's night as the headman was making his
way home after an expedition into the marsh with a duck hunter,
he heard a pitiful whimpering along the side of the Barondel
Avenue. He followed the sound and turned the light of his
lantern upon the wretched torn of Sundown. Only the appraising
eye of one who lives close to nature would have recognised the
Project 1056
Margaret Alkinson„
aharlestan,S.C.
THE STREET
Page SO
little !,egro now gown to man's statue, though a bent and
twisted figure. The headman carried him to "Maum" Sarah Who
nursed him back to health. The Negro's wrists still bear the
scars from the chains that he wore about them those eight
years.
The headman took upon himself the responsibility
of Sundown. He taught him slowly but throughU how-to plow
and herd the animals. In time he came to be proficient in
his tasks. Though Sundown never learned to count to three
he had a personal relationship with each animal on the planta-
tion so that if any one of the sixty -odd cowsehogsvor numerous
sheep fail to appear at feeding time, he goes to Mr. Carteret
and makes known to him by inarticulate mutterings, the absence.
Distress is written in his face.
Despite his moron status, Sundown's impediment in
speech would have prevented him from making a living in the
when
cities. Even an a child/sent on an errand he would barge past
the person to whom he addressed himself and deliver the message,
a blob of Gullah, over his shoulder. His shyness was a partial
cause for this, but fear nailed the habit no that it was to
mark him for life.
Few on the plantation would understand him only
the headman, Mr. Carteret,Robert's daughter Irene,"Maum"Sarah,
and a mule, one of the most obstinate of its breed.
Project 1655
Margaret Alkinson,
CharlestoneS.C.
THE STRET
Page 31
Sundown named it Mary Mule and apparently loves it as a man
would love his sweetheart. No one else on the plantation had
been able to handle her sines the day that one of the young
masters had shot a gun from her back. She had been utterly
useless from that time until after Sundown returned from Hell
Holm Swamp. She allowed him to lead her aboutoto plow her4to
hitch her to the rickety wagon to haul fodder from the fields,
pine needles from the forest to the barn, and to take the
family wash weekly to Martha Village. He bossed her and she
wheedled him even out of his scanty supply of tobacco.
Together these two outcasts earned their board and keep.
Ir. Carteret pays Sundown no money, weekly he brings
him his supply of groceries fromaeorgtwwn. At Easter he him-
self chooses sundown's outfit and he has a mirawulous under-
standing of the colors that will appeal to the Negro. These
gaudy clothe, 4d his mouth organ to which he dances in a
staggering unrhythmical unbalance are his pleasures When
Maly Mule is abed.
-edioal attention is practically unheard of in the
Barondel Street. A mid -wife is frequently called in to deliver
Bessie of a baby. Except for "de fever" with which every Negro
redident is stricken now and again, there is uo illnesstand
who ever heard of going to a doctor for "de fever"?
Protect 1655
Margaret tillkinson
Charleston,S.C.
THE STREET
Page 32
Everybody knows that you just have to find 25 cents for a bottle
of "1 H h "S Sundown has dizzy spells at intervals but these
are apparently functional and arise out of his Childhood hand-
outs from thR Big house kitchen. .thenever he is seised with
one of tho attacks, so violently that he cannot work, his
mistress gives him a little sweetened water colored pink from
a battle and orders the cook to give him a large plate of food.
He is soon back at work.
That is just one way that his ninetr.five pound white
mistress ministers to him. Twice in the past five years, his
former captives from Bell Bole Swamp have attempted to recapture
him. Once they laid wait for him on the neighborhood road near
Barondel gate which was fortunately left open by mistake by
some guest. On that occasion, Maly Mule was the saviour but
on the second visit the role fell to the mistress of Barondel
herself. The rough men drove up into the Street. She investi-
gated the presence of the strangers and with her gun and her
wits drove them from the place emptyhanded though they had
great ropes in their car with which to bind the Nigro.