"I ain't never give you dis information. Miss Susie and Miss Tommie
Carlisle, Marse Tom's onliest daughters, died befo' de surrender. Miss
Susie slipped one day wid de scissors in her hand, and when she did dem
scissors tuck and stuck in one her eyes and put it plum' smack out and
she never did see out'n it no mo'. Dat made it so sad, and everybody
cried wid her but it never done her narry bit of good.
"When dem young ladies died, I left out and run off from my ma and come
to Union. Mr. Eller kept a big sto' jest as you come into town. It was
jest about whar Mr. Mobley Jeter's is now. Dat's in de middle of town,
but in de fur off days I is speaking about, it was de very outskirts of
dis town. I is seed dis town grow, dat is what I is. Mr. Eller tuck me
to be his driving boy, and dat sto' sot jest exactly whar de Chevet
Charage (Chevrolet Garage) sets now.
"When I been dar six years, my ma come to Union and she found me dar. Us
was dat glad to lay eyes on one another dat we jest shouted fur joy and
my Ma tuck and smacked me wid her lips right in de mouth. She told me
dat my pa had done got shot a fixing dem old breastworks down in
Charleston and dat called fur a big cry from me and her both. Mr. Eller,
he went out'n de back of his sto' 'till us quit. He let me go back home
to de Carlisle place wid my ma. Everything done changed and I brung my
ma back to Union and kept her, kaise I was a man in full den.
"Lawyer Shand tuck my ma to work fur him and I started being his
coachman. He ole and he live in Columbia now. When he done dat, me and
ma lived in one of his houses. He lived on what you knows as Douglas
Heights and he had de biggest house dar. Dat was way befo' Captain
Douglas moved from Goshen Hill. Den Captain Douglas tuck de day and
built dat house you sees now aheading what dey calls Douglas Heights
atter Lawyer Shand's house was to' (torn) down. De house sot right on
top de hill in de middle of de street you sees. His driveway was flanked
wid water oaks and it retched down to Main street. De grounds was on
each side dat drive and dey retched to whar de white folks is got a
school (high school) now. On de other side of dat drive his grounds hit
Miss Fant's (Mrs. John Fant's property).
"You could clam up Cap Douglas' stairs and git in a run-around (cupola)
and see de whole town through dem glass winders. (This cupola is still
on the house.) Never had none of dem things in Union afo' dat. Some
years atter dat, when Col. Duncan had his house run over (remodeled) he
had one of dem run-arounds put on his'n. To dis day wid all de fine
fixings folks has in Union, dar ain't narry one got none of dem things
and dey sho' is purty.
"Let me drap back, kaise I is gone too fer along; you wants olden times.
On our plantation Marse Tom had a nigger driver. He 'hoop and holler and
wake us up at break of day. But befo' freedom come 'long, Marse got a
bell; den dat nigger driver rung dat bell at break of day. He was a
sorry nigger dat never had no quality in him a'tall, no sir-ee.
"Us had to feed de mules in de dark of mornings and de black of night
when craps needed working bad. Seed many as a dozen hoe-womens in de
field at one time. Dey come when dey finished breakfast and de plows had
got a start.
"Dey used mulberry skins from fresh mulberry saplins to tie around dere
waists fer belts. If your singletree chain broke, you fixed it wid
mulberry skins; same wid your galluses. Mulberry is mighty strong and
easy to tie anything dat break.
"Marse Tom never whipped 'bout nothing much but stealing. He never let
his overseer do no whipping if he knowed it. He burnt you up 'bout
stealing, dat he would.
"Dey never wanted us to git no larning. Edmund Carlisle, smartest nigger
I is ever seed. He cut out blocks from pine bark on de pine tree and
smooth it. Git white oak or hickory stick. Git a ink ball from de oak
trees, and on Sadday and Sunday slip off whar de white folks wouldn't
know 'bout it. He use stick fer pen and drap oak ball in water and dat
be his ink atter it done stood all night. He larnt to write his name and
how to make figures. Marse Jule and Bill, two of Marse Tom's boys, found
out dat Edmund could write and dey wanted to whip him, but Marse Tom
wouldn't let 'em.
"One morning Edmund was making a big fire 'round all de pots, kaise we
was butchering forty hogs. Edmund had his head under de pot a blowing up
de fire dat had done tuck and died to embers. Jule and Bill seed him and
dey broke and run and pushed Edmund plum' under dem pots. De embers
burnt his face and de hair off'n his head. Marse Tom wo' (wore) Bill and
Jule out fer it. Missus 'lowed den dat Edmund de smartest nigger on dat
plantation.
"We had Sadday afternoons to do our work and to wash. We had all de
hollidays off and a big time Christmas and July Fourth.
"Going to funerals we used all Marse's wagons. Quick as de funeral
start, de preacher give out a funeral hymn. All in de procession tuck up
de tune and as de wagons move along wid de mules at a slow walk,
everybody sing dat hymn. When it done, another was lined out, and dat
kept up 'till we reach de graveyard. Den de preacher pray and we sing
some mo'. In dem days funerals was slow fer both de white and de black
folks. Now dey is so fast, you is home again befo' you gits dar good.
"On de way home from de funeral, de mules would perk up a little in dey
walk and a faster hymn was sung on de way home. When we got home, we was
in a good mood from singing de faster hymns and de funeral soon be
forgot.
"As a child everybody in dem days played marbles.
"Ma sung some of de oldest hymns dat I is ever heard: (He sang) 'O Zion,
O Zion, O Zion, wanta git home at last'. (Another) 'Is you over, Is you
over, Is you over' and the bass come back, 'Yes thank God, Yes thank
God, Yes thank God, I is over. How did you cross? At de ferry, at de
ferry, at de ferry, Yes, thank God I is over.' If I sing dem now folks
laughs at me, but ma sho' teached dem to her chilluns.
"When boys and gals gits up some size dey feels dey-selves. At dat age,
we went bird thrashing in de moon light. Den we sing dis vulgar song,
'I'll give you half-dollar if you come out tonight; I'll give you
half-dollar if you come out tonight'. Den de gals charmed us wid
honeysuckle and rose petals hid in dere bosoms. Now de gals goes to de
ten cent sto' and buys cheap perfume. In dem days dey dried
cheneyberries (chinaberries) and painted dem and wo' dem on a string
around dere necks to charm us.
"When us very little, ma say at night when she want us to go to bed and
we be playing marbles, 'Better come on in de house or Raw Hide and
Bloody Bones 'll git you. From den on I is seed spooks.
"Our work song was, 'John Henry was a man; he worked all over dis town'.
Dey still uses dat song. In slavery some holler when dey be in de field
like owls; some like crows; and some like pea-fowls. Missus had de
purtiest pea-fowls in de whole country. Don't see none now, but dar
ain't nothing dat flies purtier.
"Me and Wade Carlisle was 'possum hunting one night in de fall when de
dogs bedded a 'possum in a grave. We dug down and got de 'possum. He was
dat big and fat and his hair was so shiny and purty dat we 'lowed dat he
de finest 'possum we had cotch dat fall.
"Jest den, Wade struck de box dat de dead man was a-lying in. Jest as he
did dat, a light jumped out'n dat grave right in front of us and all
over Wade's shovel. Our two dogs tuck and run and holler and stick dey
tails betwix dey legs like somebody a-whipping dem. Dem dogs never
stopped running and howling 'till dey reached home, me and Wade right
behind dem. Wade had dat 'possum in his hand. Dat light now and den jump
right in front of us.
"I hollered, 'Wade, fer de Lawd in Heaven sake, drap dat 'possum.' He
drapped it and we run 'till we got home. Wade still had dat shovel--or
was it a axe--. I jest recollects which, anyway, he still had it in his
hand; and when I looked at it, it was still shining. I pinted my finger
at it, kaise I was dat scared dat no words wouldn't come from my mouth.
Wade throwed it in de wood pile and we run in de house wid it still
shining at us.
"I stayed dar all night, and I ain't never been hunting in no graveyard
at night since dat; and if de good Lawd give me sense I is got now, I
ain't never gwine to do it no mo'.
"It ain't no good a-'sturbing dead folks. All befo' dat I is heard it
gits you in bad, and now since den I knows it."
=Source:= Gus Feaster (col. 97), 20 Stutz Ave., Union, S.C.
Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. (7/1/37)
Project 1885-1
From Misc. Field Notes
District No. 4
May 17, 1937
Edited by:
Martha Ritter