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(Turner Road, Whistler, Alabama. Ila B. Prine, March 31, 1939)
"Hurry in here child and tell me what you want, so I will know as much as you. Here I is out here trying to fix my back fence, so I kin keep the cows and hogs off of my place."
"Aunt" Louella came from the back yard with a small sack of nails in her hand. As she came around the house to the front she inquired, "How come you to know me and find where I live? But shucks, dat's a foolish question fer eve'y body around here knows me, cause I'se been livin' here so long. I'se been right on dis place here, ever since two years after de Surrender.
"Folks 'round here knows me as Louella Holmes, cause my Pa was Bob Holmes and he lived here so long, but my married name is Williams. But dat don't make no difference 'bout my name, 'Cause it's how I lives is what counts."
When I asked Aunt Louella if she lived alone, she said: I might as well be living here by myself 'cause my daughter Cora and her chillun, two boys and two girls, ain't no good to me. You see. You see me now out here trying' to patch my fence, dem lazy niggers ain't here tryin' to help me none. I done tole 'em dat when dey wants any vegetables or watermelons, not to come to me fer 'em, 'cause I ain't goin' to give 'em any. You jes' wait an' see aroun' Easter times dey goin' to want a chicken, but I'se already tole 'em they'd better be hatching dem some chickens if dey wants any. "Why, jes' yesterday I asked one of de boys to help me a little wid spadin' de groun' an' he say "I'd like to, but I ate some new irish potatoes an' dey give me indigestion and I aint able to do nothin'. I tole him dat's all right, you ain't obliged to stay aroun' here, jes' go 'long but don't come a-tellin' me after while dat you'se hongry.
"You know, Miss, Chillun ain't like day used to be years ago, dey's no more to me than a cat, all dey does now is give you big talk, an' put on airs. I ain't got no use fer sich as dat. Dere's Cora, my daughter, don't make dem chillun of hers min's an' respect me in my old age. She likes to put on airs herself. Dis afternoon, she's gone over yonder to dat house to see if she can do anything where dat man died. I used to love to go an' help at sich times, but jes' like I says, dey puts on so many airs, I can't be bothered wid 'em. Now when anybody dies dey have to have somebody sing solos, and dey buys a lot of flowers what dey ain't able to pay fer. It jes' makes me mad. Why, I'm a growin' my own flowers and dere ain't no sense in all dat foolishness. Things is sho' different, when I was a child we knowed what it was to mind, 'Course I was born a slave, and belonged to old Dr. Godfrey in Sumterville, Alabama. My ma Rose stayed wid all de family until dey died, an' den she died an' was buried up dere wid dem. Dere was an old colored woman we all called Aunt Liza what had a big hump on her back, an' she always had charge of us little niggers on the plantation while our Ma and Pa worked. Every morning of our lives Aunt Liza would march us chillun to a garden by de side of de big house, where great big plants growed wid big yellow and white flowers on dem. She had an old iron spoon out dere an' she'd take dat spoon an' dip down in de center of dese big plants an' git de castor oil out of dem an' make each one of us take it. Den she'd give us a piece of hard candy made of molasses and flavored wid Jerusalem bush, an' make us eat dat before we had our breakfast. It sho' kept us in good shape an' strong, course we didn't like dat dose every mornin' but we warn't ever sick. After she'd go de rounds wid de medicine den she's go an' git our wooden trays an' clean oyster shells an' give us our breakfast.
When I commented on the oyster shells, she laughed and said, "Dat war our spoons we used. We didn't have no spoons or knives an' forks like we does now. De oyster shell were jes as good, fer some of dem shone like pearls when dey was washed clean. "Let me tell you another thing, every one of us chillun had to do some kind of work. I was kind of a nurse girl to Miss Lucy, even tho' I warn't any bigger dan her. We all had to call her Miss Lucy too, an' she was a sight, she'd go 'long an' shake her head an' make her bonnet fall off an' it was my job to run along wid her, an' pick de bonnet up an' put it on her head. Den I sometimes had to help wash de clothes. It was good treatment den, is de reason I'se here today. De race of people now ain't like dey used to be, neither black nor white. You take de way dey dress now, why my white folks wouldn't a thought a puttin' on dese tight dresses like dey wear. De chillun now don't know how to play, dey jes' wants to be on de go all de time. Dey don't know nothin' about de simple games we used to play, like jumpin' rope, hail over, marbles, an' ridin' down trees. Den when de day was over we went to bed at five o'clock, both black and white chillun, there warn't no runnin' 'round at night like they is doing now. Chillun was strong in body an' polite in manners. Let me tell you what's ruining de niggers now is education. I believes in dem knowin' how to read an' write, but when dey learns any more dey ain't got no sense. Dey didn't learn us niggers nothin' more than readin' and writin', an' I tells you us older ones has got a heap more sense than dis population of niggers comin' on. Education is turnin' dem fools. Dey don't study nothin' but money now-a-days. Even de churches don't do nothin' but git up money. Jesus have Mercy! I gits scared at de way de people is doin', preachin' fer money instead of God. Givin' rallies an' contests an' such - like in de church. Dey's even got a contest between two churches, one out here an' one in town. Dey's chartered de street car to take de folks to town an' don't you know dey don't do nothin' but frolic? Jes' a big time on God's day an' in God's house.
"Speakin' 'bout de churches an' de religion makes me think of some things dat God revealed unto me. Here some time before this thanksgiving gone, one night I was 'sleep an' a man come to me an' tole to me to go de next day an' tell Joe, a man who had been hurt by fallin' off of a scaffold, that he would have to take dinner wid his ma. You see his ma had been dead a long time. So next mornin' I jes' had to ge see Joe an' tell him what dat man said to me, an' Miss, I hadn't been back home very long when I heard de Church bell toll, an' it was tollin' for Joe who was dead.
"Another time since then somebody came to me one night in my sleep an' say, 'Louella, I heard you're goin' to sell one of dem lots of yours to pay for an automobile. Jes' 'bout dat time all de cups an' jars fell down off de shelf in de kitchen an' wake me up. I jes holler an' my daughter Cora say, 'Ma what's de matter?' Den I tole her what I dream an' den wake an' fin' dem cups an' jars all broke. So I tells her I'se going to de fortune-teller. But Cora said, 'Oh, Ma, dere ain't no use in dat, but jes' de same I went, an' you know dat fortune-teller tole me jes' like I dream. So I asked dat grand-daughter of mine if she was planning on buyin' an automobile, an' she said, 'Yes, I tho't you'd give me dat lot next door an' I could sell it to help pay on de car. I said, Praise God, gal, you'se crazy, I ain't givin' nothin' to you. You air sich a fool, an' you know dat gal cried an' went on, but dere ain't nothin' to dere cryin'. I tole her, 'Yes, I wants an Easter hat but all de cryin' in de world ain't a-goin' to git it fer me. She must think I'se a fool to give her part of my lan' what Mrs. Dorman bought fer taxes after Pa lost it, an' give me an' Mrs. Dorman said to me den, 'Louella, don't you sit 'round now an' let your place grow up in taxes an' you lose it'. An' believe me I'se paid de taxes ever since, an' dat gran'child aint never done much to help me pay dem; den come a talkin' 'bout me givin' her part of it, so she could buy an automobile. I'se worried right now how I'se a goin' to pay taxes dis year, but I guess God'll find me a way to pay 'em to keep the President from gettin' my place.
I'd like to ask fer de old age pension 'cause I'se too old to work, but dey tells me you has to sign over your place to de Government to git it. Here's one dat will live on bread an' water 'fore I gives my place away. I'se worked too hard to give it up. Listen, Miss, times is funny an' you can't depend on nobody much now. Folks has got where dey is so wicked 'til it's jes like in de days before Noah built his ark. Jes' week before last I had a vision in my sleep, dat there's a terrible storm comin' through here, fer God's got to get de niggers right, dey is so sinful. My daughter Cora heard me talkin' to God dat night an' she said, 'Oh, Ma, go to sleep. But you mark my words, it's a comin' sho'. Of course, my daughter and her chillun thinks I'm crazy, jes' like dey do when I gits to talkin' 'bout de time when durin' de war dat de blood hung in de North and looked like it was drippin' to de ground. You know that railly happened, and de light from dat red blood was so bright dat you could pick up a pin by it at night. Dat blood hung in de North startin' one evening and all dat night de next day an' de next night 'fore it went away. I'll never fergit when we first seed it. Dere was a crowd of us chillun climbin' on de fence, when it first come an' it liked to scared us to death. Lord, how is you goin' to let dis old world stan' like it is now? You know, I tells dem dat de white folks has got more sense than de niggers, 'cause dey uses more holly as decoration than de niggers. You know, dat when de flood come and Noah sent de dove out, it was de holly branch dat de dove brought back?"
When I told her that I didn't know it was a holly branch, she said: "Lordy, Miss, Yes, dat was a symbol of dry land an' dat de people could come out of de ark an' begin life again, an' de white folks is been tryin to live right ever since. 'Course, dey is sinful, too, but de niggers jes' don't try like dey should."
Aunt Louella was a picture as she sat on the porch of her little weatherbeaten house, with a ragged red percal skirt that had bright blue leaves on it, and a waist of red and blue checkered material, and an old black felt hat. She wasn't very tall and was unusually black with big flat nostrils and white hair. She talked very emphatic and predicted dire calamity to the present generation if they did not mend their ways.
