My interviewee was Mrs. Lily Mae Barnes.  She is a native of Granville County and is the widow of the late Mr. Robert Barnes, Sr.  She has four children and six grandchildren.  Though she is eighty-one years old, Mrs. Barnes still gets out to attend Delrayno Baptist Church and to continue her rest home ministry each Wednesday and Sunday mornings.  She is a very smart, caring, and generous person who I a proud to call my grandmother.  During my interview, I focused on the childhood and youth years of Mrs. Barnes' life.  Here are some of the highlights of my interview:

 

 

Was your house on Little Satterwhite Road a farm?

            THAT was a farm!

 

Did you enjoy living on a farm?

            Not really.

 

Why not?

            It was a large farm and we lived a good ways away from many people that I could have been friends with, so I didn't like the farm life.  I didn't like handing leaves at tobacco time, I didn't like not having anybody to play with, and it was just a lonely life.

 

Would you ever do it again?

            ABSOLUTELY NOT- I always vowed that I would never marry any man who said he was a farmer!

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I know that being the devilish person that you are, you did some "naughty" things as a child.  How were you punished for these actions?

            Oh, my mother had a favorite peach tree right out in front of the smokehouse and she would go out and get a nice, thin little sprig off the tree, pick the leaves off and tan my legs good!

 

Were you frightened when she went out to the peach tree?

            Yes, I was frightened and I knew that the louder I screamed, the less licks I would get from the switch, so I would start hollerin' when she started off to the tree, just as loud as I could scream!

 

Did it ever work for you?

            [It] never worked completely.  I always got several licks just the same.

 

Can you think of some things that you did to deserve this punishment?

            I can think of MANY things, but you don't want me to take up all your time listening to some of them.  One of the things was that I had a bad, bad habit of making the chickens fly up against the chicken wire for my enjoyment.  We had a wired-in lot that we kept the chickens in and when my parents were out of sight, I used to love to get them all flustered.  I'd take my hands and smack both sides to make a really loud noise and scare the life out of them.  The chickens and hens would try to get out yelling "Quack, Quack, Quack" (imitation of a chicken noise) and the rooster would always run up the chicken pole and I thought that was funny!  And every time I did- I got caught and I got a spanking.  That was one of the things I did to deserve punishment.

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What was the most common type of crime committed in your area?

            Stealing.  Stealing chickens, actually.  You see, they were a source of food for many people because we raised practically everything we ate.  We raised hogs, chickens, and pigs.  So we ate plenty or pork and ham and during the depression times, some of the city people had it worse than we did because they had to buy their meats. 

 

Would you say that there was more, less, or a similar amount of crime during your youth as opposed to my youth?

            It was a lot less during my years.

 

Did your family ever fall victim to these crimes?

            No, we never did.  Well, how do I say this?  The people that did the stealing around my home had a fear of my daddy because he was a stern man and always kept a gun on hand.

 

Would he have shot anyone who tried to steal from him/

            Yes, yes.  I can tell you an instance that would let you know he meant to shoot those people, because he worked very hard and those chickens meant were very valuable to us.  My mother was always having bad, bad dreams or hearing "boogers" around the house.  One night, she woke my daddy up and said "Clifton... I hear someone down at the hen house."  It was a cold, cold winters night, but my daddy jumped out of the bed, grabbed his gun and ran outside.  We heard a big shot and a few minutes later he came back.  In an exasperated tone, he said "Ethel- Get up.  It's your fault, but I have shot the rooster off the rooster pole!  We have to get up and pick the chicken now!"  I remember it because I was so glad he shot that rooster because I loved chicken 'n dumplins!

 

Interview and Write-up by:  Jay Gregg