Dan Smith
From:
South Carolina
=Project #1655=
=W.W. Dixon,=
=Winnsboro, S.C.=
=DAN SMITH=
=EX-SLAVE 75 YEARS.=
Dan Smith lives in one room, rent free, of a three-room frame house, the
property of his son-in-law, Jim Cason. It is situated on the southeast
corner of Garden and Palmer streets in the town of Winnsboro, S.C. He is
tall, thin and toothless, with watery eyes and a pained expression of
weariness on his face. He is slow and deliberate in movements. He still
works, and has just finished a day's work mixing mortar in the
construction of a brick store building for Mr. Lauderdale. His boss
says: 'The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.' There is nothing
organically wrong with Dan but he appears, in human anatomy, as Doctor
Holmes's One Horse Shay must have looked the day before its final
collapse.
"You been here once befo' and now here you is again. You say you wanna
git additions? Well, I's told you dat I was born in Richland County, a
slave of Marse John Lever and on his plantation, January de 11th day,
1862, when de war was gwine on. How I know? 'Cause my mammy and pappy
told me so. They call my pappy Bob and my mammy Mary. Strange as it
seem, my mistress name Mary, just de same as my mammy, tho' marster
wasn't name Bob, lak pappy. Him name Marster John and de young marster,
an only child, was name Marse Jim. You better stop right dere 'til I
tell you pappy no b'long to de Levers. Him b'long to de Smiths. Him name
Bob Smith, after freedom. Dat's how come I be dis day, Dan Smith. You
ketch de p'int? Well dats de way it was.
"Befo' pappy take a shine to mammy in slavery time, her got mixed up
wid one of old Marse Burrell Cook's niggers and had a boy baby. He was
as black as long-leaf pine tar. Her name him George Washington Cook but
all him git called by, was Wash Cook. My full brudders was Jim, Wesley,
and Joe. All of them dead and gone long ago.
"Us chillun slept on de floor. Mammy had some kind of 'traption or
other, 'ginst de wall of de log house us live in, for her and de baby
child to git in at night. Us have plenty to eat, sich as: peas, 'tatoes,
corn bread, 'lasses, buttermilk, turnips, collards and fat meat.
"De only thing I 'member 'bout my mistress is: One day her come down to
de house and see my brudder Joe sucking his thumb. Mammy tell her, her
can't make him quit it. Mistress go back to de big house and come
runnin' back with quinine. Her rub Joe's thumbs wid dat quinine and tell
mammy to do dat once or twice a day. You ought to see dat baby's face de
first time and heard him squall! It sho' stopped him sucking his thumbs!
"Clothes? Didn't need no clothes in de summer time but a shirt. In de
winter, us just stood 'bout de fire. I'm talkin' 'bout us chillun, don't
'member 'bout old folks.
"Master and Mistress lived in a big white house, two stories high, tall
brick chimneys at de gable ends, and wide front and back piazzas de full
length of de dwelling. Us chillun had no shoes. Mammy had two pair all
de time but they had wooden bottoms. Dere was no white overseers 'round,
but patarollers (patrollers) ketched my pappy once, in de house, jerk
him out and whup him, while mammy and us chillun yell and cry and beg
them to stop.
"When de Yankees come, mammy hide us chillun under her bed 'traption.
They act mighty nice to her, so she say.
"What kinda work mammy do? Her was one of de weavers. Heard her tell
'bout how they make de thread and de cloth. They had spinnin' wheels.
Person turn de wheel wid de hand and walk back'ards and for'ards,
drawing out de thread. Dis kind of thread, her say, was rough. Later
they got a thing de spinners operate wid deir foots, settin' by de wheel
and workin' it wid deir foots, sorta lak a sewing machine is run. Her
'low de thread dat come to her in de weave-room from dis kind of
spinnin' was smoother and more finer than de other kind. After de yarn
was spin, it was reeled off de spools into hanks and then took to de
warper. Then she woofed it, warped it, and loomed it into cloth. Her
make four yards in a day.
"After freedom, pappy come and take mammy and all us chillun to a farm
on Cedar Creek, in dis county, Fairfield. I works dere 'til 1872, I
thinks. I gits concerned 'bout dis time wid two things, jinin' wid de
Lord, and jinin' wid de woman. De fust was easy. All I had to do was go
to de Methodis' revival, shout a little, and jine up befo' de preacher.
I just had to be convicted and convinced, but mind you, I was de one to
be convinced, de other was not so easy. De Lord was easy to find and
quick to take me, but de gal was hard to find and was slow to take me,
'cause she was de one to be convinced dis time, you see.
"I looks all 'round Cedar Creek. De ones I could git, I wouldn't have,
and de ones I would have I couldn't git. So dere it was. I mounts old
Betsy, dat was pappy's mule, one Sunday and come to Winnsboro. I spied a
gal at church, 'bout de color of a ripe pumpkin after de big frosts done
fall on it, hair black as a crow and meshed up and crinkled as a cucker
burr. Just lookin' at her made my mouth water. Me and old Betsy raise de
dust and keep de road hot from Cedar Creek to Winnsboro dat summer and
fall, and when us sell de last bale of cotton, I buys me a suit of
clothes, a new hat, a pair of boots, a new shirt, bottle Hoyt's cologne
and rigs myself out and goes 'round and ask her to marry me. Her name
Ida Benjamin. Did her fall for me right away? Did her take me on fust
profession and confession lak de Lord did? No sir-ree bob! Her say: 'I
got to go to school some more, I's too young. Got to see papa and mama
'bout it. Wait 'til you come nex' time and I'll tell you.' I was
confused then, I gits up, gives her de cologne bottle, and mounts old
Betsy, spurs her in de side, gallops, and cusses all de way back to
Cedar Creek. I confess to mammy. Her laugh and say: 'Dan, you knows
nothin' 'bout women and gals. Why it's mighty plain she gonna say yes,
nex' time.' Just lak her say, Ida did, and us got married de end of de
nex' school term, in May.
"Us had ten chillun. Dan, name for me, is at Concord, N.C. Oscar is in
Concord, N.C. Lucinda marry a Haltiwanger and is comfortable in
Baltimore, Md. Aurelia marry a Williams and is in Baltimore. Henrietta
marry a Sawney and is in Charlotte, N.C. Lilly marry Jim Cason and live
right in Winnsboro, in de house I have a room in.
"I got lots of gran'childs, too many to mention, They take after dere
grandma, lak to go to school and read de Bible and go to church and
Sunday School.
"Whut I have on my mind now is a pension. When a man git seventy-five
years old, (I hear folks talk 'round me) dat man should not be 'lowed to
work on de Supreme Court, him should be give a pension of $15,000.00 and
made to stop work. Him may have chillun dat can support him, all de
same, dat jedge gits his pension. Then in de name of goodness, why don't
they make me quit mixing mortar when I is seventy-five years old and
give me $240.00 a year? Sauce for de fat goose Supreme Court Jedge,
oughta be sauce for de mortar mixer poor gander, I 'low. It look lak
jestice for de rich jedge and mix more mortar for poor Dan."
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Hector Smith
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Alfred Sligh
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