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"I was born February 8, 1862 on the Kellum farm five miles above Waco, Texas, am a daughter of Nelson an'
Isabella Tippet, I was one of three girls. We lived on de Kellum farm until I was several years old, den we moved to
de Harrison farm east of Waco on de Brazos river.
"My old father cleared de lan' an put in a little crop on de Harrison place, he built a house ota' logs dat he cut from
de big trees on de Brazos banks of de ribber. We lived way off by ourselves an de nearest other nigger families was
several miles away, but we neighbored wif dem.
"For fences de men cut de trees an' split dem into rails. Fur de house roof dey made boards from de trees. Dat was
befo' dey had any lumber yards in Waco. We lived in a big log house wif' jes one long room, we cooked an eat in
one end an' slept in de udder end. We stopped up de cracks wif mud, fur our chimney we cut post oaks 'bout four
feet long an' to plaster it we mixed clay ashes an' water.
"We had a dirt floor kept it clean an' hard, we was healthier den than fok's are now what lived in better houses, we
went to a one teacher school near Harrison switch, we had bout eight or ten school chillun.
"Fur our meat de men would hunt up an down de Brazos an kill wild turkeys, hogs, coon, possum, an lots of birds.
"Until I was des about grown we went to Waco in a wagon an' drove oxen to it, an' we had to cross de ribber in a
ferry boat hit was down a little way from de ole suspenshun bridge.
"De church we went to was out of Waco fur de folks on de farms an' hit was built of logs wif de cracks plastered
wid mud, an' had a brush arbor in front of hit. When we went to church most of us would cook our dinner on de
Saturdays befo an take it to church an we stay all day an eat out under de arbor.
"After de crops be laid by, den we have our big meetins an us all have big time shoutin an praisin' de Lord. When de
sinners come to de mourners bench if dey don't git religion dey take de sinners out in de woods an pray over dem till
dey was converted.
"Den when de meetins closed we had big baptizin' an de udder folks bof' white an' black would come to see de
converts baptized, den we all be ready to go to pickin' cotton, an' hits fall of de year by den.
"When I was twenty five years old I married Jake Comton an' we lived on de old Dowling farm den. We had three
girls.
"When we had de crowds to come to our house for dances we had a fiddle fur music an' kept time wid skillets lids
hit together. Sometimes we had candy-pullin's and Sunday prayer meetin's.
"When we had sickness we sent fur ole Dr. Harrison, he was de man dat Harrison Switch was named fur. He would
kum to see us ef we had de money to pay him or if we didn't. Mostly de boss man would stand fur de doctor bills.
He was a fine man an' was good to us. He finally died an' de whole country was broken hearted at his death.
"De fust weddin' dat I 'members in my fambly was my sister Myra Tippet, de white folks, my mother cooked fur,
give us a hog to barbecue fer de weddin', dey cooked fer a week, cakes, pies, bread an' all kinds of good things. Den
de day befo' de weddin, dey barbecue de hog.
"Dey had tables long 'nuf fer fifteen or twenty people to eat, hit took long 'bout midnight fer to git thro' eatin! Den
when dey are thro' eatin' dey dances until daylight. Dey has de fiddler an de banjo dat night fer de music. Hit was a
bright moonlight night as de couple gits married out in de yard, as de house is so little.
"In de winters when we gits thro' wid de fiel' work den we has quiltins. De nabors would kum in an dey all quilts an
cooks dere dinner an' has a good time a quiltin an eatin. What did we eat? Well we had sweet taters, hominy, an'
effen we had killed hogs, we has some fresh meat, maby dumplin's an pie.
"Sometimes we sing when we'all quilts, sometimes songs like dis:
"De Shadders, dey er creepin' tode's de top of de hill,
Dat Sun's a slantin';
But night don't stroy w'at de day done buil',
Dat sun's a slantin'.
"Den we sings de Ole camp meetin songs, one goes like dis:
"Kum along true believer, kum along,
De time is rollin aroun,
W'en dem dat stan's a-haltin by de way
Won't wear no Glory Crown.
"Well you 'bout cotton pickin' time, an' how did we dress? Well, de wimmen would tie dere heads up in rags an
towels to keep de sun from bakin de head. Den dey tie up skirts short an dey put on old shoes effen dey has any to
keep de dew from poisonin' de feet. Dey has water boys to bring de water, an' dey cooks de dinner when dey cooks
breakfus' an eats in de fiel'.
"After dey has stores in Waco, wid dry goods, den we goes an' buys some fur our clo'sm. We makes our own
dresses an' dey was jes as fine to us den as dey are now.
"From Saturday at twelve o'clock (noon) to Monday morning we quits work jes as we do now, an went to Waco to
buy our weeks supplies an see de niggers from de other farms. So, on Saturday de road to Waco would be full of
wagons, buggies, carts, niggers walkin', like hit is now, only hit is cars an trucks.
"We all would get together down on Bridge street jes as dey do now, an life jes slowly changed to de way it is
today, all 'ceptin us, we are gittin old an can't go an stan' aroun' like we did, besid' mos' of our ole frien's are gone,
an we jes as soon be home now.
What did we do on Christmas? We goes an buys our Santa fer de chillun effen we had any money an den if we
did'nt de boss man would give us some candy, apples an we'd have our nuts gathered so our chillun mos' always had
dere Christmus. Sometimes we had our watch night parties an' all de folks from de other farms would come an help
us to watch de old year out. Effen hit war a purty nite den we had it out doors, an had a bonfire an' popped corn, an'
de young folks sometime dance an' sing Christmus songs. Do I 'member any of de songs we sung den? Dey sung an
patted to keep time. One song went like dis:
"Rabbit foot quick, Rabbit foot light, paty---pat, patty pat, Hop, skip, jump, Oh, man he's a sight, Kase he res' all de
en he run all de night, Paty---pat, patty pat, pat. De crow fly eas' de crow fly wes', Patty---pat, pat, Patty pat, pat, Jay
bird eat de sparrow nes', En he eat all de aigs fer ter see which de bes' Patty-pat,pat, Patty---pat, pat.
Den we march roun de fire an dance de cake walk. De niggers all sing an dance while dey marchin' 'roun. Dey made
dey own music sometimes dey made whistles an' blew dem an, after while we gits de jew harps, an' w'en we gits
togedder we always fin's plenty ways to make de music an' de good times. W'en we dance dis way we does not do it
in de wicked way, we dances to de music of our hearts to sing de praises to de Lawd, for his care of us thro' de ole
year.
Reference: Interview with, Josephine Tippit Compton, wife of Jake Compton, South Falls Street, Mart, Texas.
Mrs. Ada Davis, P. W. McLennan County, Texas District #8 (11/6/37 (yes))
