*Interview with Ann Palmer (90)*
*120 N. Church St., Union, S.C.*
--_Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C._
"De cows lowed fer days befo' Will Abrams died. Dey got wusser and
wusser jes' right 'mediately befo' he died. De owls, dey had been
hollering in dis here holler down behind Miss Belle's house fer mo' dan
a month. One day Miss Belle, she 'lowed she ain't never heard so many
screech owls befo' dis in her life. I had done fetched her one of my
collards. We was a-talking out on de back porch.
"I took and told her 'bout how Will had done got his finger infected
fooling wid dem dead folks. Miss Belle, she say dat ain't got nothing to
do wid Will being sick. She also 'lowed dat dat wasn't any reason fer
dem owls a-screeching and gwine on so. Den I told her, I says, 'Miss
Belle, ain't you heard de cows, how dey lows at night here recently?
Yes'm, all dese is death signs; it ain't gwine be long neither befo' we
hears 'bout somebody a-dying in dese here parts.' Miss Belle, she look
at me sort of furious like, but she never say nothing dat time.
"Dat night de beastes was a-taking on so dat I had to hold my pulse.
Fust (first), real tight like dis; den I presses harder and harder till
I jes' natchelly squeeze all de blood out of my wristes. Dat is one of
de best signs I knows fer making dem owls and cows git quiet. Yes sir,
you has to hold your pulse fer five whole minutes, tight. When you does
dis, de owl's voice, he git lower and lower as your pulse git weaker and
weaker. Look, honey chile, all dese other niggers, dey had been a-tying
up a sheet or a-putting de shovel in de fire, and a-turning over de
nasty old shoes; but de owls, dey kept right on a-screeching. But dis
old darky, she de one what know'd how to weaken 'em down by holding her
pulse. Now, I doesn't tell dese young niggers 'round here; neither does
I tell many white folks 'bout de wisdom I is learn't 'bout such things.
"Will Abrams, he been ailing fer I [TR: disremembers] how many weeks. He
couldn't eat nothing but beans. I had beans in my bottom corn.
Catherine, she axed me fer some and I give 'em to her. Will, he eat 'em,
fer dat was his craving. His finger got wusser till it nearly driv him
crazy. Den he got down and took to de bed. Look like his time, it was
drawing nigh.
"White folks, de Jedgement is a-coming. We's all got to face it. De
folks is wicked, both black and so is de white. How dey 'spects de good
Lawd to have mercy on de wicked and sinful souls de way dey does every
day is mo' dan aunt Ann can see, and I is already done lived my ninety
years. De Lawd, He still sees fit to bless me wid health; and de good
white folks, He 'lows dem to help me.
"How could Dr. Dawkins or either Dr. Montgomery do Will any good when de
Lawd, He done sot de hour? Dr. Montgomery, he 'lowed to Catherine dat
Will had two chances to die and one to live. He also said dat he had
done his best. All de darkies and white folks, too, in Union, dey come
over here to see Will. Lots of 'em fetched 'em some things along to give
to Will. He was a good man 'cause he had done been born again, and he
followed 'de straight and narrow path'. Dat's de reason dey liked him,
'cause his deeds, dey up and spoke fer him. Well, so many folks was
a-gwine in dat room dat Dr. Montgomery, he say Catherine have to keep
dem out. Will, he kept a-gitting weaker and weaker. De ailing in his
finger had done spread all over his chest. Dr. Montgomery and Dr.
Dawkins, dey held a consulation. When dey come out dey told Catherine
and dem others dat Will had done took and got pneumonia from dat finger.
So dat night, even de dogs, dey took to howling and gwine on. 'Tain't no
use to set dar and laugh when de owls screeched and de cows lowed and de
dogs howled. It sho am de death sign.
"Hard work, trouble, and a-fooling wid dem dead folks, dem de things
what make Will go away so easy. He was always a-running 'round a-gitting
sorry niggers out of scrapes, and a-making 'greements wid de white folks
fer 'em; and dey never thanked him half de time. Us old folks, us told
him to stop fooling wid dem dead niggers and all such as de like, 'cause
he gwine to kill his-self. I is most blind, but de darkies, dey told me
how Will fooled 'round a-doing things fer so many sorry folks.
"But den, God plucks his flowers. De night of de eighth day dem doctors
had done 'lowed dat Will had pneumonia. Will look up at his wife and
say, 'Git dese folks out of here so I can die by myself'.
"It was 'leven o'clock in de morning when dey come and told me. Susie
Eubanks, she 'lowed dat de screeching of de owls wake her up dat morning
'bout 3 o'clock. I 'lowed dat a dog a-howling was what riz me up.
Catherine 'lowed dat she hadn't laid down no time till she heard Gus's
cow a-lowing. All de signs took and failed den, as dey will do on such
occasions."