*Interview with Marilda Pethy,*
*Montgomery City, Missouri.*
_Sold At 6 Weeks Old_
Marilda Pethy, a former slave now living in Montgomery City, Mo., is a
coal black woman with distinctly negroid features. Her voice and manner
of speaking are vividly reminiscent of the negro of the "Old South". She
lives with her daughter, Polly, and numerous grandchildren whom she
tries to rule with an iron hand. This does not work so well with the
younger generation which largely disregards the irate old woman. All
this lends quite an air of belligerency to the tumble-down building that
houses them.
Polly and Marilda sat in the shade of a mulberry tree where the former
was ostensibly doing her washing not far from the big iron kettle where
she heated her water.
"Yas'sum, I sure remembers dem days", Marilda replied as the questioning
began. "Why, I seen people handcuffed together and driv 'long de
Williamsburg road like cattle. Dey was bought to be took south. I had
two brothers and two sisters sold and we never did see dem no more. I
was born in 1857, April first, on a farm two miles south of
Williamsburg, on a farm dat belonged to William Hayes. My mother was
Louisa Hayes from Memphis. She never seen her mother or father and
didn't know her name, so she just went by de white folks' name. You know
dat's how dey done in dem days with names. She never had no brothers or
sisters here. She was sold when she was six weeks old. Father, he
belonged to Billy Martin and he was Sam Martin. He run off to de war
'cause he was tired of bein' whipped and slashed. So he jes' run off and
joined de army.
"I was sold with mother when I was six weeks old. We went back to see de
old place after we was free. Dat place has been sold and torn down. It
had a tall white double log house. Dere was three cabins, it was a large
place. De John Bain place, dey calls it de Jeff Jones place, ten miles
north of Williamsburg, had de same kind of a house but dey had just two
cabins. De Bain place was not so large but dey had a right smart of
land.
"We done right well. Dey give us cornbread and buttermilk in a tin can.
We crumbled de cornbread up in de buttermilk and dat's all we ever had
to eat. Yas'sum, we generally had 'nough. Well, on Sunday mornings we
had biscuits made out of dis stuff dat dey feed cows--shorts, dat's it.
We had biscuits made out of shorts and sorghum. Dey was plenty of it. We
had meat once in a while. Dey was dead oodles of prairie chickens and
patridges den but de wild pigeons was hard to kill. We never did get
none of dat meat. Christmas never meant no more to us dan any other day.
Dey give mother sorghum and shorts to make gingersnaps.
"Dey had a big back log in de fireplace and a forestick and we put de
wood in between. It was my job to take care of de dog irons. Dey was
kept shinin' with grease. De missus would say, "Marilda, grease de dog
irons!' I had to grease dem all over, too. I taken care of de children.
Mother done everything. Dey had two cooks but both of dem done all kinds
of work. Mother was de regular cook for Mrs. Hayes.
"Old Miss sold de other four children end sent 'em south. Mother and me
brought $1,200. When I was nine or ten years old I was put up on de
block to be sold. I 'member dat just as well. Hit was just a piece cut
out of a log and stood on end. Dey was offered $600 but my mistress
cried so much dat master did not sell me. Freedom come soon after dat.
"I often wish dat some of de younger race had lived through dat time.
Dey wouldn't have been so sassy and impudent as dey is now. De older
people'd have done something 'bout it, too." (Marilda's tone and facial
expression left no doubt as to what the older people would have done.)
"Dey was a battle on Freeman up on Grand Prairie. Dat's northwest of
Williamsburg, up where de Mattocks and Harrisons lived. It was right
where de Ridgeways and de Jones's lived. Dey was fightin' in de evening
and dey fit all night. I took de baby upstairs on de porch and listened
to de fighting. 'Rally once again, boys, rally once again!' Boom! Boom!
Bang! Bang! Boom!" (Marilda was equal to at least one army.)
"Dey walked in blood for miles! Dey took de best horses dat old master
had. 'Bout 500 soldiers come to de house and ordered supper. Dere was a
tall log smokehouse and dey went right up to de tip-top and got de hams.
De middlin's and de shoulders was lower but dey got de hams. De women
worked all night and dey got through cooking 'bout daylight. What did
dey cook? Why, dey fried ham, made biscuits, and fried eggs. If de
soldiers wanted a chicken dey just killed it and someone cooked it for
dem. I ain't never seen no one have so many chickens. De soldiers cussed
de slaves like dogs. Dey was de Union soldiers, de blue coats.
"When de soldiers come de men folks just got up and flew. Dey taken to
de woods. De soldiers come to get master's money and dey hunted
everywhere. Dey asked me, 'Whar is de money?' I say, 'I don't know.' Dey
say, 'You know d--well you do! I've a notion to cut your throat!' I
knowed where it was 'cause I seen master when he done hid it but he told
me he would whip me to death if I told and I thought de soldiers was
foolin' but master meant it. De soldier said: (Here it is necessary to
delete some of the most colorful words.) 'She is one of de ...
stubbornest little black ... I ever seen! I've a notion to cut her
throat!' (Marilda evidently enjoyed her reputation for ...
stubbornness.) Another man say, 'Maybe she don't know. Children don't
know things like dat. I wouldn't hurt her.' So dey went away. Dat was de
truth, de children didn't know everything den like dey does now. Dey
knows too much now!
"De morning we was set free we didn't have nothing. Mother had three
little children and no place to go. De white folks told dem to 'git away
from here' and we come on down to Williamsburg. We walked down de road
in de snow, mother and de three little children. We went to de old
mistress and mother asked her could we find some place to stay. She
said, 'Yes, Louisa. I'll take care of you and de children. I would not
have turned you out of doors.' She sure was good to us.
"I seen people turned across barrels and whipped. Dey was whipped 'cause
de white people was mean. Sometimes dey tied dem to trees and whipped
'em. Dey didn't have no clothes on at all--dey was just like dey come
into de world! Dey used a cowhide as big as my finger. It was made of
two strips twisted together and was keen at de end. De master whipped
when he could. When he couldn't do it, he called in de neighbors 'til
you'd think dere was a meetin'. De poor darkies had a hard time!
"De patrollers (accent on the first syllable) used blacksnake whips. Dey
was a lot of de neighbors dat were patrollers. When dey would meet de
colored men out at night, dey would ask dem if dey had a pass. If dey
didn't, de patrollers would get off de horses and whip dem. De colored
men would slip out at night sometimes for a little pleasure. My daddy
got tired of being whipped and he put out. He was gone clean away.
"De Ku Klux Klan come out and run de colored people away from home. Many
a colored woman came to mother's house in de middle of de night with
clothes covered with ice and snow to de waist and carrying her baby in
her arms 'cause dey ran her away from home.
"We knowed who de men was. We'd hear dem say, 'Are you going out
tonight?' 'Yas', I'se got a little cluckin' to do.' Goin' cluckin'! Huh!
(Marilda fairly snorted with indignation and in some subtle way gave the
impression that she did not approve of Klansmen.) Dose men would bus' de
door down and run de people out. Run some of dem clean away.
"Dey was one colored man, named McPherson, dat told dem not to come
pesterin' round his cabin. Dey come anyhow and he shot wid a double
barreled shotgun. He killed a white man, too. Of course, he had to leave
his home. He went to Illinois and I ain't never seen him since.
"Mother hired us out to Mr. Billy Arnold to buy a lot in Williamsburg
and we built a little house dat was our home. I stayed dere until I
married Henry Pethy and we went to de old Kidwell place south of
Williamsburg. We lived dere twenty-five years. He worked for Taylor
Arnold, feeding cattle and mules.
"We had eleven children. Four girls and one boy is still living. Dere
are three girls and one boy dead. (Marilda's arithmetic may be faulty
but it is excusable for she does not read or write.) My pension is a lot
of help. I had a real nice garden but it's 'bout burned up now. Dese
children think I'se too old to plant dat garden but I'll show dem. I
can't do it all in one day but I can do it.
"I never went to no parties. Mother used to go but I better not look
like I want to go. Dere's some people here in town dat can tell you lots
'bout slavery. Have you seen Albert Jones?"