Interview Date - June 12, 1976
ALEX: We are getting ready to approach an interview with Ginnie
Slaven. That's S-L-A-V-E-N, it may have an "S" on it... we'll get it when
we get there, but she is very knowledgeable. An old map I ran across
indicates the Slavens' cabin was in this area. The map was made in 1883,
so I suspect she was probably a descendent of that family. And if we're
lucky then we'll be able to talk with her in just a few moments.
GINNY: Come on in and sir down. You and your wife can sit on the
davenport. Are you going to take some pictures of me?
ALEX: I will a little later, maybe.
GINNY: I don't want any. That's just what I was going to tell you.
ALEX: Oh. I might take some a little later on. You've been
around here a long time, you said, you were a young girl.
GINNY: Yes, I've been here ever since I came into this world.
ALEX: You know my job right now, Mrs. Slaven... I have quite an
interest... it's not a job, it's just an interest in preserving some history.
I'm at Marshall University and I'm writing the Business History of Pocahontas
County. Now there are two or three histories, you know, written in
Pocahontas County. Most of those histories dealt upon the family.
GINNY: Yeah, written by old man Price.
ALEX: Yes, that's right... yeah Cal Price.
GINNY: Cal Price, I knew him very well. You know my sight is
getting a whole lot worse. I reckon I'll have this eye operated on, I'm
afraid, cause this one went bad.
ALEX: Uh hum. Well I'm kind of concentrating on the lumber
industry.
GINNY: Well, did you ever read that book by... oh, Roy Clarkson?
ALEX: Yeah, "Tumult on the Mountain".
GINNY: No, that's not it, "Tumult on the Mountain", this other... well
maybe it is. Roy Clarkson, he's at the University of Morgantown and he's
one of my distant cousins. I've got one of those books... only I don't
have it now. My brother has it. It tells about all the industry,
but... I can't remember a lot here.
ALEX: Yeah... yeah, well I've gone through his book and I've been
through all of Blackhurst's writings.
GINNY: Uh hum.
ALEX: And I've researched most of this, but my interest is in talking
to the younger citizens who lived it and saw it.
GINNY: Well I... I saw it. I haven't traveled... I was raised on Back
Mountain. I was born in Cass, West Virginia.
ALEX: Uh hum.
GINNY: Right where the train goes up on the first farm, you know.
It's called the Gum Farm. Did you ever go up on a train?
ALEX: Yes, ma'am. Several times.
GINNY: Well, that's where I was born.
ALEX: Yeah, I've been up on the train with Blackhurst.
GINNY: I was born up there on Sunday, September 27, 1891.
ALEX: Uh hum, well we're...
GINNY: And I remember when there wasn't... well when there wasn't and
Cass. I well remember that.
ALEX: Oh yeah.
GINNY: And my uncle lived there up on Gum Hill. Well old man Bob
Curry first owned it and then my uncle Luke Gum bought it before the mill came
in, and then of course when the mill came in he got all excited, you know, and
sold everything off for houses, you know, where the mill was.
ALEX: Yeah, yeah.
GINNY: And he also worked on the mill.
ALEX: What did he do?
GINNY: I don't know what he did... something about the mill, maybe... I
don't know... something about the lumber or something... I don't know, but he
worked there for a long time and he was a darned old man then when he started.
An so... ah... to see the first lumbering that I remember of here came down
there... Luke Brothers. You've read that haven't you?
ALEX: Yes, I have.
GINNY: They came from New York and they started there and of course
they lumbered there for I don't know how many years. They must have
started there... I think my mother died in 1901 and I went to Cass to stay at
uncle Luke Gum's and my dad was going to help us farm, so... they still had to
farm. Uncle Luke was working on the mill. Let's see 1901 and I'll
say the mill came there I'll say about that time.
ALEX: Yeah... now what do you know about the Back Mountain area, there?
You lived right there at the base of Back Mountain there. What about this
town when Durbin was going? What can you tell me about that?
GINNY: Well, Durbin started here fairly early. You see... this
was just a... well I don't remember their first being here. But I do know
that Durbin was a town of many years ago. I remember a crossing that
bridge down there. It wasn't nothing but a foot log.
ALEX: Uh hum.
GINNY: Just a log hewed out and a thing on one side. And I wasn't
over five years old.
ALEX: Yes, was that down West Fork?
GINNY: Yes, down here, there were salons there and a couple of families
living there.
ALEX: Uh hum.
GINNY: But the oldest house in Durbin stands up there. We called
it the Kincaid House, but a minister owns it now. It was the old Jake Ardeous (?) house. He was the first settler around here. That's been
too far back for me to remember. Now the next house down here we called
the Marshall House; that's pretty old. And Bartow (?)... now Jessie Brown
Beard... you know her?
ALEX: Yes, we've gone and talked to her... we've been talking to her.
GINNY: She can tell you everything cause she knows it all. But
I've been interested too... I'll tell you what I was thinking about this morning
and I was looking at some history of the Slavens'. You see our ancestors
came from Tyrone, Ireland. And I was reading part of the history and I was
thinking... I think maybe I'm right. That uncle... uh... grandfather Jacob
Ward Salven settled up there at the tannery. Where the bricks... uh...
the bark bricks were. There he settled his first. Built a big house
and it stood there until not too many years ago. And he raised his family
there, which was my grandfather and I don't know there were several. And
their all buried right above the tannery. They call it the Slavens'
graveyard although there is no marker and there's nothing there to show... it's
growed up in timber. We've been trying sometime to get a deed and just put
up a monument there, but my mother was buried there, Aunt Maggie, Uncle Prier
and two little children. They're all buried there, but you couldn't find
them.
ALEX: Uh hum.
GINNY: Would that be of any interest to you?
ALEX: Yes!
GINNY: It's called the old Salvens' Graveyard.
ALEX: Oh yes, that's of interest to me. The Slavens were the
original settlers here. Some of the old maps I have show the Slavens'
cabin used to be around here.
GINNY: Now would the Slavens' cabin be up there at the tannery I'm speaking
of?
ALEX: Well I can't... I'd have to look at the map. I have the map
but...
(Skip)
GINNY: The history I'm reading where there were John Slavens, but I
don't think John ever lived up there. I think it was his grandfather
Gelispie Slavens.
ALEX: Yes.
GINNY: I don't know, you see, he was my grandfather's father and I
don't know how many children they had but they're all buried there in that old
cemetery I'm telling you about.
ALEX: When did you move to Durbin?
GINNY: Well I've been in Durbin almost all my life. We lived on a
mountain and I used to work here in town when we even lived there. And
I've been here the biggest part of my life.
ALEX: Tell me about the business district of Durbin in the year 1920 or
someplace along there.
GINNY: Well let me see... that's been a long while ago. As well
as I can remember now... when we came down here my mother brought me down.
I was only about five years old when I crossed that bridge. And there
wasn't I think but one store here, maybe... probably. And his name was
Holiday, I believe. And of course then Mr. _________________, he was
crippled from birth. He had the Post-Office right down along there.
That's where our Post-Office was. He couldn't walk. He used
crutches. Ms. Gillespie worked for him, clerked for him.
ALEX: Who?
GINNY: Ms. Gillespie.
ALEX: Gillespie.
GINNY: _____________ Gillespie. She married Mr. Wilson who had the
big store in Durbin... company store.
ALEX: Uh hum.
GINNY: And ah... but Durbin, I can remember, when it just wasn't very
much. When it first started out to be something you know when the railroad
came in here and all that excitement. Why, then they had saloons and they
had just a lot of things that some of these houses... were built later than
that, except this old ______________________ guest house.
ALEX: What about Durbin Merchantile. You say that your mother
was married to the man who operated that.
GINNY: No! Not my mother.
ALEX: Not you mother? I mean your...
GINNY: The postmaster, he ah, his ah, a girl who worked for him.
And Mr. Wilson was her husband and she was a Gillespie. And they were
raised upon Back Mountain. Up there where Pistol Tallman has a farm.
My grandfather owned land up there, Mattie Slaven and Randolph, they're
brothers and they took a ... I think they took a land lease or whatever they
called it. Way back yonder, ya know. And Uncle Randolph he lived up
there where the Gillespie place is. I've been there in the house many a
time. Built a log house and lived there. And later his health failed
him and they moved to Hillsboro. He didn't live there very long. So
Grandpaw lived there, I think, Grandfather... I have the date when he died, but
he died when my father was just about fourteen years old. Grandmother
raised her family up there and two boys got married... Charlie and Grats (?).
They brought their wives and they all lived there.
ALEX: What about this business district down here. Somebody said
there used ti be a boardwalk down there.
GINNY: There was. I remember a boardwalk.
ALEX: Was Durbin Merchantile a busy store?
GINNY: It was at that time.
ALEX: Oh, I see.
GINNY: And the Hiner Hardware. That's up above where Cain's have
now.
ALEX: Uh hum.
GINNY: And the ______________ were here then. And my they did a
business. You see he sold all the material for the camps, you know, like
the beds and mattresses. Course they were cheap. And they say and
I've heard them say, that they'd bring a carload of them things in here and
unload 'em and he would take them and in a week they would all be gone.
ALEX: Oh yeah.
GINNY: The camps, you see, back on Cheat and everywhere needed stuff
like that.
ALEX: Lot of business activity.
GINNY: Oh my goodness, this used to be a swell town.
ALEX: Yeah.
GINNY: We had two trains... four trains a day. The C&O, let me
see, the C&O came up, I think it was up in the evening, maybe it stayed all
night, went back the next morning. And the Western-Maryland came in from
up there from Elkins, one train at ten o'clock in the morning and one in the
evening at four, both of 'em, they'd be full too. And people were sworming
in Durbin. Just like bees.
ALEX: And a hotel?
GINNY: Oh yes, a Mr. Wilson tore down the old, we used to call it the
Commercial hotel. Between Mr. Wilson's store, Jim Wilson.
ALEX: Oh yeah.
GINNY: And the building that's tore down... that was the old original
hotel. The Commercial.
ALEX: Uh huh.
GINNY: And finally it just went from hand to hand and it didn't have
anybody much and they just tore it down. There was a hotel up at the upper
end of the street run by Keisners. I think it burned down.
ALEX: When?
GINNY: Oh years, and years, and years ago. Long... we haven't had
a hotel in here after Mr. Wilson tore this down.
ALEX: What about some lady who run a boarding house or a place here.
That was killed.
GINNY: Ms. Higher.
ALEX: Higher.
GINNY: Yeah, I can tell you all about it here just as well as I know
myself.
ALEX: Is that right?
GINNY: Yes.
ALEX: Tell me about it.
GINNY: I'll tell you, she was right down here on the corner. As
you go down over the hill and go to town. She was right on the corner.
That corner building was where she was. And she was a mighty good old
lady. She kept all the loggers, you know, the woodsmen came and she took
care of them and was good to them. And she set a good table. And
then she married this... she'd been married to Magan. And he was a
drunkard, you know, she was married to him and he died. And then she
married this old Higher... Frank Higher. And he finally murdered her.
ALEX: Is that right?
GINNY: Just murdered her brutally.
ALEX: Is that right?
GINNY: I was working in Elkins when that happened. He just beat
her up and stood on her and mashed her insides out and everything else.
And he dragged her back into the little back room... it's not there now, its
tore down, and he put her in the bathtub they thought he was trying to revive
her. And as he drug her out she lost her teeth and they were found after
she was buried.
ALEX: Huh.
GINNY: And so... he was hanged in Moundsville.
ALEX: Uh huh.
GINNY: And the best of it was his head fell off when they hung him.
ALEX: Is that right?
GINNY: Yeah, they put him on the gallows, sprung the thing and his head
flew off.
ALEX: Yeah, now he was tried down in Marlington.
GINNY: Yeah... yeah, tried and convicted. Well now she was this
way... she would tell people, they'd get into troubles; "Now listen, don't
disturb us, we fight that's our business". Says... "if he kills me that
our business". Well at the time this happened nobody would help.
They just wouldn't go in. They heard the karukus, but they just didn't go
in. He didn't shoot her. He drug her around all over the building and
through the lobby and then he drug her out the back through the kitchen.
And her mother was sitting there. And he looked at her and said "I'll get
you later". That's what they said.
ALEX: Uh huh.
GINNY: The old grandmaw was there. She hadn't walked very much
for a long time and while he had her out and was finishing her up, why the
grandmother went up the walk and went to a neighbor and hid. And I think
she died from grief, you know, thinking about what all happened.
ALEX: Yeah... she ran quite a business there though.
GINNY: Oh yeah... yeah.
ALEX: And took good care of the loggers.
GINNY: Yes, she did, she took care of the loggers and she was a good
cook.
ALEX: Yeah.
GINNY: Make buckwheat cakes for 'em, you know. And baby them
around. And sometimes they wouldn't have the money to pay her but they'd
sometime later come back and pay it. She never worried about it.
ALEX: Well I declare.
GINNY: She was a mighty good woman.
ALEX: Do you remember any other events that were connected with the
lumber industry?
GINNY: Well not too much, only... now they tell me that upper building,
it was called the Hiner Hardware but it was first Richardson's. They had
it built and they told me, I didn't see it but the lumber that went into that
store was hauled with ox teams. They used oxen in their hauling. And
Bill Price, that's the man who helped drive the oxen, he told me they hauled
lumber there with ox team to built it.
ALEX: Do you remember the bank?
GINNY: Yeah, I well remember the bank. The Bank of Durbin.
Fenton, from Elkins, ran it first and it went... Mr. Fenton ran the bank... and
ah...
ALEX: What was his first name?
GINNY: Leroy.
ALEX: Leroy?
GINNY: Leroy Fenton. And Clyde Carpenter worked for him, was a
cahier for years, but they are both dead now. And of course the bank there
was nobody to take care of it and somehow... I don't know, everybody took their
money out. Then... let me see now... Mr. Gum bought the bank and made a
restaurant out of it.
ALEX: Oh yeah.
GINNY: Took the vault out and sold it and he had a wonderful
restaurant. He made a lot of money. That was back in the C.C. time
and people would just coming thick.
ALEX: Back in the 30's.
GINNY: Yeah... he did good. He did real good with the restaurant.
And since that Louis Reed owns it but I don't think they do to much.
Somebody put a restaurant in there and just this year but it quit.
ALEX: Uh huh.
GINNY: They... ah... well I don't know why it is the people don't like
to what here or what. But there is no eating place here now. But
Minnie Creamer keeps people but she don't feed 'em. But Plyler's... they
sell beer and they feed people but not no big lot, you know.
ALEX: Uh huh. What's that name?
GINNY: Plyler. Luther Plyler.
ALEX: How do you spell it?
GINNY: P-L-Y-L-E-R
ALEX: Oh yeah.
GINNY: He ran a taxi here for years.
ALEX: Oh yeah.
ALEX: Well a train still comes up once a week now doesn't it?
GINNY: Yeah, but you know it doesn't go through Roncevete even
anymore. It comes to North Caldwell, that's headquarters now. It
comes to North Caldwell and let me see... I reckon the main line must hitch up
there somewheres.
ALEX: Uh huh.
GINNY: But we have freight and that runs Wednesday evening. Oh it
comes up anywhere from four o'clock on. And then it stays all night, over
at the depot, I mean the people and all. And then they have a
Western-Maryland coming in sometimes... anywhere in the night and picks up what
they bring. They don't stay all night. They go right back.
And... ah... we had a sawmill over here in West Durbin that was very good.
And then they sawed out, they call it. All the lumber, you know. And
then the pulp mill over here, you've seen it...
ALEX: Do you remember any of the names of the people connected with the
buying of the timber lands here.
GINNY: Well... not that I know of real good. But... McGraw...
John T. McGraw owned all this at one time. He was a timber man but the
timber was all out. Then he sold it hasn't been too long ago to different
parties, you know.
ALEX: Yeah.
GINNY: He owned it clear down below the C&O bridge and all this up
here. All over...
ALEX: Well...
GINNY: Jessie Brown can tell you more that I can.
ALEX: I'm goin' to talk with her...
GINNY: Now where she lives. Did she ever tell you where it was?
ALEX: Where does she live. Oh, yes, she told me. Do you
remember any of the salesmen coming through here? Drummers they called
them.
GINNY: Now let me see... I know some of them but I've forgotten their
names. Jake Cox used to come through here but that was pretty late, you
know. And then there was one that came up Ead's that was an old home on
the hill. She lived to be very old... they're both gone... but they run
what they called a boarding house. And I don't know, just a lot of
traveling, mostly traveling men stayed there, but I can't remember their names.
ALEX: What was the name of the boarding house again?
GINNY: Well we just called it Eads'. Mr. Eads''' Mr. Eads married Ms.
Sutton. She was a Sutton from over at Beverly.
ALEX: E-A-D-S?
GINNY: Uh huh.
ALEX: Frank Eads.
GINNY: Frank Eads... uh huh.
ALEX: Quite a few of 'em down in the lower part of the state, I think,
of the Eads' down around Charleston.
GINNY: Uh huh.
(Skip)
GINNY: ... Cromer's lived in.
Alex: Old Winchester, huh?
GINNY: Yeah, Cromers' lived over the mountain, White Top, or somewheres
over that way. And Mr. Cromer came there to work, you know, with the
lumber. And they had him as a stable boss. They had about thirty
houses I remember. And when he worked a while they saw he didn't need to
be in the stables he needed to be somewhere else and they put him in as a woods
foreman. Then later Lukes put him on a pension, until he died. Even
after he wasn't able to work he was pensioned and kinda looked after things, you
know.
ALEX: Yeah... yeah.
GINNY: The old Club House up there. It was built around that
time. It was built, let me see... Hutton's... Hutton's was the first to
run the club house.
ALEX: Uh huh.
GINNY: And Robert Hutton in Elkins, the dentist... uh... the eye
specialist, he's one of 'em. One of the later descendents.
ALEX: I declare. Now that up at Cheat Ridge (?).
GINNY: Yeah, you go up above the bridge, you know, it's the old
house...
ALEX: The old house is still standing?
GINNY: Oh... it's still occupied. You ought to go up and see it.
It's a log house. Beautiful!
ALEX: Who's living in it?
GINNY: Well they've have caretakers.
ALEX: Have caretakers.
GINNY: And the Western-Maryland... you see... it belonged to the Spruce
people and then the Western... that was built, my land back yonder when my
father was just a boy. He helped to build it.
ALEX: Way back... what year now... about...
GINNY: I couldn't tell you what year but I'd say... why I don't know.
ALEX: 18 and what?
GINNY: 18 and something. _____________ Cromers might be able to
tell ya.
ALEX: Yeah.
GINNY: Anyway my father worked there. And old man Andy Cowf he
was a funny old man, he drank a lot. And he helped to build the chimneys.
The rock were cut by hand and when they got the chimney finished they said he
stood on his head up there. Now that's told. That old man Andy Cowf
stood upon that chimney.
ALEX: On his head?
GINNY: On his head.
(Laugh)
ALEX: What's his name now... Andy Cowf?
GINNY: C-O-W-F. Just an old bachelor, you know, cause he drank a
lot... he was real funny.
ALEX: But he could really lay the stone though.
GINNY: Yeah, he helped to lay the stone. And now I'll tell you
another thing that happened. Right down here at the C&O. By the
river, just about three quarters of a mile from here. My brother and my
father owned it for a while. My brother owned it and then he sold it to
Dr. Adkins. You know him from Charleston? The dentist.
ALEX: No.
GINNY: Well, he bought it and now down there up above the highway in
the woods... Jessie Brown has been up there... they started before the Civil War
to make a Grist Mill. You know to get the rock.
ALEX: Uh huh.
GINNY: And these men, I know one of them... he's dead now... they got
out the rock to get this started and then the war broke out. And of course
they had to quit. And they never refinished it. But there are
several stones out there are still some up there, that they never took away.
And the man started it... Uncle Will Bragg was one of them... not uncle we just
called that... and some other men they were going to put a big grist mill in
here. But the war took it all away and then of course when they came back
they didn't do it. But that's facts and the rocks are still there.
ALEX: World War I... or Civil War...
GINNY: No! Civil War...
ALEX: Civil War.
GINNY: Yeah, Civil War. I don't remember about it.
(Skip)
GINNY: Old Henry Ford visited the club and oh a whole lot...
ALEX: Was that in Pocahontas County? That club house.
GINNY: No it's in Randolph County.
ALEX: It's in Randolph County.
GINNY: Ford and what was the other people's names... anyway...
ALEX: Firestone, maybe.
GINNY: Firestone, he was there, you know, but they didn't stay at the
club house, they had their own quarters and their cooks, and tents, and stuff.
And they went up on the Allegany then, just rambling around you know, and they
took some pictures up there.
ALEX: Yeah.
GINNY: That was Ford, Henry, the main old stem.
ALEX: Is that right?
GINNY: Uh hum.
ALEX: Yeah.
GINNY: And Firestone and what other name is very prominent? I can't
remember now.
ALEX: Firestone.
GINNY: Firestone and Ford and... some... they took a lot of pictures of the
Allegheny. Where the... up at the battleground... you've been up there
haven't you?
ALEX: No, I'm going...
GINNY: You ought to go it's very interesting, very interesting.
ALEX: But this old club house, you say, it is still standing?
GINNY: Yes, it's in good shape. Yes indeed, they've... when...
ALEX: Where is that over at the...
GINNY: It's up this way... you go up to the Cheat Bridge. And
then...when you go to the Cheat Bridge, you see you have to turn there where the
old Cromer... where the big coal wash is, you'll see it, you turn to go up that
way to the Cheat Bridge. It's about a mile up there.
ALEX: Oh yeah.
GINNY: And it... oh my, it's entertained a lot of people.
ALEX: Oh my.
GINNY: They used to have a club, you know, they had so many members. I
worked up there two or three years. And at one time, I think they had...
well close to a thousand members. They'd come from Wheeling and everywhere
you know.
ALEX: Uh huh.
GINNY: Very interesting. Nice people. Great place to come and
fish.
ALEX: Always, cheap too probably.
GINNY: I fished up there what few minutes I had. I'd sneak off, you
know, and go fishing.
ALEX: That's wonderful.
GINNY: One day fishing... the funny thing was, Mr. Wilmoth owned the place or
run it that summer. He and his wife. And he always noted himself as
being the best fisher in the country. He just... he was crippled...
wherever he got to fish there was plenty of 'em. So this morning I went
fishing I didn't have much to do. And I went up next to the fish hatchery
and Mr. Wilmoth went down river. Well I got in before he did... he came
in... he had a crippled leg... groaning and grunting... and said "there was
nothing biting". Told his wife said "there ain't a thing biting". He
said, he was mad. And then she said, "you ought to see"... she called me
Virginia... "what Virginia caught". Look out in the water trough.
"Now ain't that the prettiest trout you've ever seen?" And I caught them
standing in one place with a worm and an ordinary fishing pole.
ALEX: Uh huh.
GINNY: Walked out where it was kinda grassy, you know, and I kept throwing in
and I kept bringing the fish in. And Mr. Wilmoth was kinda hurt that I
beat him, you know. He was that way. He owned the hotel over here at
one time.
ALEX: Oh I see.
GINNY: Oh, yes. He was very interesting. He'd tell the people all
the high tales and everything. He was a smart man. Very interesting.
He had a store over here in town at one time, for a long time.
ALEX: What was the name of it?
GINNY: Well, we just called it Wilmoth & Kerr. There was a Kerr... his
father-in-law was in with him. And the store's name was Wilmoth & Kerr.
And he kept probably everything. He always had a good supply.
ALEX: Well, let's go take a picture.
GINNY: Oh I ain't fit...
(Skip)
GINNY: ... and it's got a history. That old house on Back Mountain.
ALEX: Is that right.
GINNY: I'll tell ya it's falling in. He never did fix it up. It's
an old log house. And it was built... well I couldn't tell you when it was
built... it's been a way, way back there. but you see, some people Abie
Hoover, Charlie's wife's grandfather, moved here and they built that house.
And my grandfather and my uncle Randolph Slaven helped to build the house.
And you ought to go see the enormous chimney, built out of rough rock.
It's as big as this room.
ALEX: Hum.
GINNY: It's built out of rough rock. And my uncle Randolph Slaven, he
lived on a farm up above, he hauled the rock in on a sled and an ox team to
build the chimney.
ALEX: Well I declare.
GINNY: Yeah, it's interesting. You ought to go over an see it.
Course it's all fell down now.
ALEX: Is that over at Back Mountain?
GINNY: Yeah, Back Mountain. Just about a mile and a half from Durbin.
ALEX: Yeah, I interviewed... Houchins.
(Skip)
GINNY: ... 80 some years old.
ALEX: 94. Going on 95.
GINNY: Oh, Lord... yeah. I've know him for a long time too.
ALEX: I took his picture and took them back over and gave them to him.
GINNY: Did ya.
ALEX: Yeah.
(Skip)
GINNY: ... and he loves going to these church suppers, you know. Where
they have these big doings. He's right there. But he ain't able to
go anymore. And it seems as though nobody takes him. He wouldn't
miss church a Sunday, if he could go.
ALEX: Oh my.
GINNY: But a ... he's a mighty good old man.
ALEX: Yeah. Likes to go to church.
GINNY: Always telling he's hunting a woman.
ALEX: Yeah.
GINNY: Yeah, that's the first thing he says. His wife died, you know,
and... he'll say I'm looking for a woman.
(Laugh)
GINNY: He said to me one time. He said, "I want a woman that don't have
any aliments and don't complain." I said you'll not find her.
(Laugh)
GINNY: Oh Lord... he's a ...
ALEX: Well we going to...
(Skip)
(Laugh)
GINNY: Yeah, he'll go visit her. Go visit her.
ALEX: Yeah, pave the way.
GINNY: They're a hobnail bass.
ALEX: Yeah, they genuine.
GINNY: 'Bout over a hundred years old.
ALEX: Yes. You got a little wine glass there.
GINNY: Yes, some neighbor gave me that. I've never opened it... a
little whiskey bottle.
ALEX: No, I mean this little glass here.
GINNY: Oh, yes. Yes. That belonged to a woman I stayed with up here on
the hill. Mrs. Hiner, she gave it to me... I suspect it's over a hundred
years old.
ALEX: Yeah, it's a beautiful glass. Sure is a beautiful glass.
GINNY: People come here looking for antiques. I said just take a look
at me and go on.
(Laugh)
ALEX: Well you're not... what I'd like to do is to... is to... I need
to get... I don't want any sunlight at all.
GINNY: Where do you want me at; up a tree or something?
ALEX: No, if you can climb that white oak out there. It is a
white oak isn't it?
GINNY: No, it's a red oak.
ALEX: Is that a red oak?
GINNY: I think.
ALEX: Well... if you can climb that red oak get there about the first
leave...
GINNY: Don't take me in front of that old building.
ALEX: Okay I won't. What I want to do is to get rid of the wires.
I want to do with only, with what God is done around here. What I'll do, I
want to get you in the shade. And I want to...well let's... let's
(End Of Tape)