*Personal interview with Ella Dilliard*
*756 Canal Street, Mobile, Alabama*
--_Ila B. Prine_
_ELLA'S WHITE HEN IS HEAPS OF COMPANY_
Ella Dilliard, an old Negro woman who lives at 756 Canal Street, Mobile,
says she was a small girl during slavery time, and does not know the
hardships of it, because she was owned by good people. Her mother's name
was Mary Norris, owned by Mrs. Calvin Norris, who lived in Selma, Ala.,
but had a homestead in Mobile. Her father belonged to people by the name
of Childress, and his name was Green Childress. She doesn't remember
much about him because his white people took him to Texas.
Ella said that her mother was her madame's hairdresser, and that Mrs.
Norris had her mother taught in Mobile. So Ella's life was very easy, as
she stayed around the big house with her mother, although her
grandmother, Penny Anne Norris, cared for her more than her mother did.
One of the things she remembers quite distinctly was her grandmother's
cooking on the fireplace, and how she would not allow any one to spit in
the fireplace. She said her grandmother made corn-pone and wrapped it in
shucks and baked it in ashes.
Ella said she did not know many colored people, since the quarters were
quite a ways from the big house, and that the plantation was managed by
an overseer. She said the quarters were built in rows with streets
between them.
She also remembers the first boat she ever saw that was when she was
brought to Mobile after the surrender, and when she saw the boat she
said to her mother: "Look at that house sitting on the water."
Ella said that there were three cooks at the big house, their names
being Hannah, Judy, and Charlotte, and the gardener's name was Uncle
John. Ella also said that one thing that she remembers so well about the
kitchen in the big house was a large dishpan, that had a partition in
the middle of it, one side you washed the dishes in, and the other side
was used for scalding them.
The slaves always had Saturdays to wash their clothes and do things for
themselves. Ella, not having lived among Negroes, does not know much
about their habits and customs, but she does remember seeing the big
white covered wagons that the slaves were carried in to be sold; and
remembers hearing talk of the "Pattyrollers." She said when the slaves
were sold, they were put on a block, and that the man who were buying
would look in their mouths just like they did horses.
Ella said she was born in Greensboro, Alabama, but the plantation where
she later lived was on the Alabama river near Selma, Ala. She doesn't
know how many acres it comprised, or how many slaves that her master
owned. She remembers her madame made her stop calling her mother
"mammy," and her father "daddy." She said: "You know, Miss, that the
white children now-a-days calls their parents 'mammy and daddy' like the
colored people used to. The children now do not respect their parents as
they should, and in fact everything is so different the truth done 'be
under the table.' You know, miss, I am telling the truth, because the
Bible says, 'Woe be unto the one that lies; Judgment is on the land.'
"In those days people had to work to live, and they raised most
everything they used, such as cattle, hogs, cotton, and foodstuff. Then
the women spun the thread out of the cotton, and wove the cloth."
Ella helped her grandmother at the weaving by picking up the shuttles
for her. She said they generally used the cloth as it was woven. The
shoes were made on the place and were called red brogans.
As for the churches, the white folks had the brush arbor camp meetings,
where the people would go and camp in little cabins for weeks, so they
could attend the church. They had newspapers then, Ella said, "but
'course they ain't like you have now, there warn't so many as there is
now.
"You asked something, miss, about medicines. I don't remember much about
any medicine, because Mr. Calvin Norris was a doctor, and he always
treated us when we were sick. There was a Dr. Browder who 'tended the
plantation."
Ella is a bright colored, small woman, whose eyes are very keen. She
says that a short time ago she had some trouble with her eyes, and she
got something from the drug store to bathe them with, but it did not
help them. So she caught some pure rain water and "anointed" her eyes
with that, and now she can see to thread a needle. Her life has been
very colorful in many respects. She recalled as a small child, that,
during the war, a minie-ball came through a brick wall of the servant
house where they were living, but it fell without harming any of the
servants. She said when Wilson's raid was made on Selma, that the Yankee
men went through the houses just like dogs, taking whatever they wanted.
"I 'members Mr. Parkman putting two sacks of money down in his big well,
and him getting it out with hooks after the Yankees left."
Later when she was brought to Mobile she worked for Judge Oliver Semmes
for twenty years. Judge Semmes was the son of Admiral Raphael Semmes,
and she said he was a blessed, good man. For the past fourteen years she
has been working for the Frank Lyons family of Mobile.
Ella lives in a double tenement house, having one room and a small
kitchen. The room is full of old furniture and odd things. On the mantle
is a lovely old china pitcher that once was owned by Judge Semmes and
which Ella prizes very much. The thing that puzzles Ella most among the
modern inventions, she said, are the aeroplanes, and the way ice is
made. She said:
"Miss, we never had any ice way back yonder. We had nice, old, open
brick wells, and the water was just like ice. We would draw the water
and put around the milk and butter in the dairy. It's a mystery to me
how they make that ice, but, my goodness! I guess I need not worry my
head about things, because I am not here for long. All my family is dead
and gone now, and the only companion I have is this here little white
hen. Her name is Mary. You see, I bought her last year to kill for
Christmas, but I couldn't do it. She is so human; and you ought to see
the eggs she lays. I even have a few to sell sometimes. I just keeps
Mary in the room at night with me, and she is heaps of company for me."