Mary Jane Drucilla Davis
From:
More Arkansas
Interviewer: Mrs. Bernice Bowden
Person interviewed: Mary Jane Drucilla Davis
1612 W. Barraque, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Age: 73
"'Little baby's gone to heaven
To try on his robe
Oh, Lord, I'm most done toiling here
Little baby, m-m-m-m-m-m.'
"Oh, it was so mournful. And let me tell you what they'd do. They'd all
march one behind the other and somebody would carry the baby's casket on
their shoulder and sing that song. That's the first song I remember. I
was three years old and now I'm seventy-three and crippled up with
rheumatism.
"My mother had a garden and they went 'round that way to the graveyard
and I thought they was buryin' it in the garden. That was in Georgia.
"In the old days when people died they used to sit up and pray all
night, but they don't do that now.
"I was married young. I don't love to tell how old but I was fifteen and
when I was seventeen I was a widow. I tried and tried to get another
husband as good as my first one but I couldn't. I didn't marry then till
I was thirty some.
"My parents brought me from Georgia when I was five years old and now I
ain't got no blood kin in Pine Bluff.
"Do I believe in signs? Well, let me tell you what I do know. Before my
house burned in 1937, I was sittin' on my porch, and my mother and
sister come up to my house. They come a distance to the steps and went
around the house. They was both dead but I could see 'em just as plain.
And do you know in about two or three weeks my house burned. I think
that vision was a sign of bad luck.
"And another time when I was havin' water put in my house, I dreamed
that my sister who was dead told a friend of mine to tell me not to sign
a contract and I didn't know there was a contract. And that next day a
man come out for me to sign a contract and I said, 'No.' He wanted to
know why and finally I told him, and he said, 'You're just like my
mother.' It was two days 'fore I'd sign. The men had quit work waitin'
for me to sign. But let me tell you when they put the water in and when
they'd flush the pipes my tub overflowed. The ground was too low and I
never could use the commode. Now don't you think that dream was a
warning?
"Just before I had this spell of sickness I dreamed my baby--he's
dead--come and knocked and said. 'Mama.' And I said, 'Yes, darlin', God
bless your heart, you done been here three times and this time mama's
comin'. I really thought I was goin' to die. I got up and looked in the
glass. You know you can see death in the eyes, but I didn't see any sign
of death and I haven't gone yet.
"Last Saturday I was prayin' to God not to let me get out of the heart
of the people. You see, I have no kin people and I wanted people to come
to my rescue. The next day was Sunday and more people come to see me and
brought me more things.
"I been in the church fifty-seven years. I'm the oldest member in St.
John's. I joined in May 1881.
"I went to school some. I went as far as the fourth grade."
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Minerva Davis
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Jordan Davis
