*Interview with Wesley Jones*
*Rt. 2, Union, S.C.*
--_Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C._
"Yes sir, I drinks jes' a leetle likker, and I drinks it--I don't let it
drink me. One call fer another. Dar it goes 'till you be's drunk. I is
97 years old and I ain't never been drunk in my life. No sir-ee, nobody
ain't never saw me drunk. It sho drink some of 'em though.
"Heep o' stars fell when I was young. Dey fell regular fer a minute er
so. I laid down fer a nap and de niggers woke me up a hollering. Ev'y
darky was scared, but it sho was a pretty sight.
"I 'members de earthquake, too. De earth shake and tremble so hard dat
some loose bricks fell out my chimney and de pitcher fell off de
winder-sill down on de flo'. I was 'bout 50 years old den, if I 'members
correct. Dat come 'long in 1886.
"I also 'members Gen. Wade Hampton, when I was a building up de
breastworks to keep de Yankees from shooting us. Dem was scary times,
but de Ku Klux days was scary times de most.
"My young marster, Dr. Johnny Hill, used to have me drive him to
Padgett's Creek Church. Sometime us go to de Quaker church, den agin, us
go to church over in Goshen Hill.
"'Bout fus' thing my white folks had me a-doing, was gwine fer de papers
up to de sto' at Sardis. I would git a lot o' letters, fer in dem days,
de white folks rit letters to one another mo' dan dey does now. I guess
dese days de mos' writing dat is done is business writing. At de Sardis
sto' dey used to give big barbecues. Dem days barbecues was de mos'
source of amusement fer ev'ybody, all de white folks and de darkies de
whole day long. All de fiddlers from ev'ywhars come to Sardis and fiddle
fer de dances at de barbecues. Dey had a platform built not fer from de
barbecue table to dance on. Any darky dat could cut de buck and de
pigeon wing was called up to de platform to perform fer ev'ybody.
"Night befo' dem barbecues, I used to stay up all night a-cooking and
basting de meats wid barbecue sass (sauce). It made of vinegar, black
and red pepper, salt, butter, a little sage, coriander, basil, onion,
and garlic. Some folks drop a little sugar in it. On a long pronged
stick I wraps a soft rag or cotton fer a swab, and all de night long I
swabs dat meat 'till it drip into de fire. Dem drippings change de smoke
into seasoned fumes dat smoke de meat. We turn de meat over and swab it
dat way all night long 'till it ooze seasoning and bake all through.
"Lawyer McKissick and Lawyer A.W. Thompson come out and make speeches at
dem barbecues. Both was young men den. Dey dead now, I living. I is 97
and still gwine good. Dey looked at my 'karpets' (pit stakes). On dem I
had whole goats, whole hogs, sheep and de side of a cow. Dem lawyers
liked to watch me 'nint' dat meat. Dey 'lowed I had a turn fer ninting
it (annointing it)."