Most of the old ex-slave women interviewed wore long full skirts, and
flat loose shoes. In spite of what tradition and story claim, few of the
older negroes of this district wear head clothes. Most of them wear
their wooly hair "wropped" with string. The women often wear men's
discarded slouch hats. Though many of the old woman were interviewed in
mid-summer, they wore several waists and seemed absolutely unaware of
the heat.
One man, wearing the typical dress of the poverty-stricken old person of
this district, is Tim Thornton, who used to live on the Virginia
plantation of Mrs. Lavinia Tinsley. His ragged pants are sewed up with
cord, and on his coat nails are used where buttons used to be. In the
edges of his "salt and pepper" hair are stuck matches, convenient for
lighting his pipe. His beard is bushy and his lower lip pendulous and
long, showing strong yellow teeth. His manner is kindly, and he is known
as "Old Singing Tim" because he hums spirituals all day long as he
stumps around town leaning on a stick.