~edera1 Writers‘ Project	. .	Z
District # 5	. Folklors ~:‘ ‘15
Sikeeton, Miesouri.


Ias‘nt dat turrible, eellln‘ hie own eon?	.

	•De young folks calls us ‘oie‘ fogieo‘, but we knew how ta act, an‘ loU ob de young~un ‚ B don ‚ t know dat now. When I wuz growi4 ‚ hup we had c ompany an ‚ would hay‘ ta wait ‘tu de ol‘ folkB wuz thru‘ eatin‘ ‘fore we cud eat. Sum‘ ob my muthub‘s

friens‘ kurn one day with their ‘redique“(~ags which held knitting and sewing, and were tied with a draw—string, at the top.) ~They ~r eatin‘ an‘ I wuz sittini on a

ladder dat 1~& hup to de attic. I come down de ladder ar~i wuz sittin‘ near de bottom an‘ ~ieae grown people‘e ~aa eatin‘, den dey lean back ta reat a~while, den eat a lit~ tie more, an‘ rea‘ a—while. I had ta sit dare an‘ watch dem. After a~‘while I saysi

~	‘My time now‘ • Well ‚ jue ‚ for ~at ‚ my inuthuh give me one ob de worse ~hippin‘ s dat

I ever had. Sometinee I had ta stan‘ in de closet, or stan‘ on de floH~ an‘ hoi‘ one foot, when I wuz punished. ‚ ~

	“Ma muthuh‘s etepfarher wuz poisen‘din whiskey. His name wuz‘Charlie Gipson‘. Onc‘t a man held hup a bottle an‘ said: ‘I‘m th~inkin‘ de poisenoff‘.. But he wuz

puttin‘ de pois‘n in. After dat, ~iarlie Gipson drank de whiskey out ob de bottle an‘

in nine months he .wuz daid.	~
/
	“Siiiion cud call de snakes an‘/dey wud kum frum all directions. He wud tak‘ de

skins ob dese snakes an‘ put dem on de roof ob de shed, an‘ den when dey~wuz dry, he wud mak‘ powder out ob dem an‘ ‘hoodoo‘ people.

	NW, all went tub a pahty one time an‘ Scot Cole‘s sistab et a big apple thai‘.

After a little while, she died. So‘s ma muthuh tole us to not eat anythin‘ dat people give you; hit might be poisen‘d.

f f . •I‘ee been toi. dat if people diés satisfied, dey don‘ kum bak, but if dey don‘ dies satisfied, dey kum back. But I neger seed nothin‘.