Frederick Shelton
From:
Arkansas
Texarkana District
FOLKLORE SUBJECTS
Name of Interviewer: Cecil Copeland
Subject: Ex-Slave
This information given by: Frederick Shelton
Place of Residence: Dump Section, Texarkana, Arkansas
Occupation: None
Age: 81
[TR: Information moved from bottom of first page.]
In an humble cabin on the outskirts of the city lives a venerable old
negro ex-slave. Although bent with rheumatism and age, he still retains
his mental faculties to a remarkable degree.
An inquiry as to his health elicited the following reply: "I'se a
willful mind but a weak body. Just like an old tree--de limbs are
withered and almost dead. I'se been here a long tins, ovah 81 years, and
am ready to go any time de good Lawd says de word. Dat's de trouble wid
de people nowadays--dey ain't prepared. Back when I wuz a young man,
dey wuzn 't so much meaness, and such goings on as dey are nowadays. De
young-peple know as much as de old folks. Yas, suh, de worl' am goin' to
de dogs."
Asked about life in pioneer days, the old negro replied; "We had lots
ob good times in dem days. Log rollings wuz lots ob fun to me as I wuz
strong den, an' I could "show off" befo' de odder niggers. Dey wuzn't
much rollin' to it, mostly carrying. I mind de time when I lifted de end
ob a log, an' four men tried at different times to lift de odder, but
dey couldn't do it. Three of dese men went to an early grave from trying
to lift dis log--all tore up inside. Maybe dat's whut ails me.
"You had to be careful den, when traveling through de woods, or de
varmints would git you, especially at night. I mind de time when a negro
wuz comin' through de woods one nite, when he seed a panther about to
spring on him.
"Dis nigger dropped in his tracks lack he wuz dead. De panther came up to
him and smelled ob him, but de nigger held his breath, and de panther
thought he wuz dead. De panther covered him wid leaves an' went about
one hundred yards into de woods to call his friends to de feast. No
sooner had he left when de nigger jumped up and climbed a tree, first
rutting an old chunk of wood in de place where he wuz buried. De nigger
could hear de panther out in de woods as he called for his friends, and
pretty soon, here dey come, about five of 'em. Slowly circling aroun' de
place where de nigger had been, all of a sudden dey all jumped. Findin'
nothin' but de old chunk of wood, dem panthers got real mad. Wid angry
growls, dey jumped on de one whut had called dem, and ate him up."
This old negro reserves all of the heroic roles for others. Asked if he
had had any experience with the "varmints", as he termed them he said:
"Yas, suh. De worst scared I ever got wuz frum a wolf. Walkin' down a
trail one day, I spied a wolf not more than ten feet away. Man, I wuz so
scared dat I seemed to freeze in my tracks, and couldn't move. I tried
to holler but all I could do wuz croak. Den I tried to whistle but de
only sound I could make wuz a hiss. After standing for whut seemed
hours, wid his ears sticking straight up, de wolf finally turned around
and trotted away."
The conversation drifted to other topics, and finally to ghosts and
spirits. The old negro said he had never seen a ghost, and didn't
believe in those things. No sooner had he said this when his wife, who
had been listening in on the conversation from the inside of the door
exclaimed: "I does! Seein' is believin' aint it? Well suh, about two
years ago de negro dat lived next door died. A few weeks after he died I
wuz settin' out on de porch when I see dis negro come out of de house,
and walk slowly to de corner of mah yard where he vanished into de air.
A few nights later de same thing happened again. No suh, dat nigger
didn't go to Heaven and he didn't go to Hell. He's still around heah. He
wuz a wicked negro and wuz scared to go."
Next:
Laura Shelton
Previous:
Violet Shaw
