|
Contents
Alabama
Florida
Georgia
Indiana
Louisiana
Missouri
South Carolina
Utah
Washington
Check for
local history books about your town
or search Amazon.com
from here
|
THE BURNS FAMILY
(Florida)
The first one-half mile of Coconut Palm
Drive, west of Princeton, Florida is typical of rural life in the Redland
District in that all types of families live there, the poorest, the middle
class the wealthiest, and the foreigners.
Here, the children gather to play on the road after school and on
holidays. They skate, play ball, tag, chase each other, and fight. When a
car passes by, they scatter like so many chickens on both sides of the
road. The coral rock formation of the soil makes it impossible for them to
play in the yards and fields as the jagged rocks not only tear feet and
shoes to pieces but great damage is done if one happens to fall.
In the center of these childish activities and back from the road is the
Burns headquarters. Large and unpainted, framed by the dark green of
mango, citrus and guava trees, the old house is occupied only by Ella
Burns and her daughter Leona, with her three children. However, the Burns
have a large family connection widely scattered, who meet at this home on
the slightest pretext.
This house is typical of the older houses in the new section which was a
wilderness not more than forty years ago. It is high off the ground and
has high walls and a steep shingle roof. A long rambling porch covers two
sides and is decorated by an ornamental balustrade.
"Come on back here," called Mrs. Burns, when I knocked, "I'm busy." I went
through the dining room which has the large shiny oak table pushed back to
the wall. The straight back oak chairs have cretonne pillows, there is an
electric ice box and the floor is entirely covered with a brownish
linoleum.
This room is used for a parlor also, the original parlor having been
utilized for an extra bed room, since part of the house has been rented as
an apartment. The "parlor bedroom" is curtained off with thick dark green
material which hangs on a sagging string.
Next I passed through a bright cheerful bedroom. The walls and woodwork
were painted cream and gay cretonne is hung at the windows. The dresser is
draped with the same pattern of cretonne and two double beds are neatly
made with lovely tufted spreads.
In the neat and orderly kitchen, Ella is grating "eddie," the root of a
plant which looks like the elephant ear. She is a tall, grey haired old
woman wearing a longer than average print dress with long sleeves.
All of this family are tall and dark, with high cheek bones, showing their
Indian descent. Ella says that they are "Indian, English and Scotch
mixed."
Ella's face is happy and healthy looking and radiates the good spirit
found in this home. Her voice is high and peculiar to the families from
the British West Indies who have settled in this section. The E's are all
long and drawn out. V's are pronounced as W's.
Ella calls every one "Honey" pronounced with an exceedingly long E, and
says "Ayeeee" when she does not understand what is being said.
"Plaintains, horse banana, is a good dish. We boil them with meat when
they are still green or slice them and fry them like potato chips in
grease. You don't know what you miss by not having them," Ella explains as
she grates away on the eddie.
The eddie roots are shredded and mixed as "a potato pone," with cocoanut,
spices, eggs, sugar and butter. When baked, it is a most unappetizing dish
to look at but one mouthful will make one forget the appearance for it is
most delicious despite its greyish, gluey look.
"Mr. Burns come over here from Grand Cayman a year before I did," she
continues, as her hands fly up and down with the grating. "He cleared a
grass piece and built a house for us before we come over." Here I
interrupted to find out what a "grass piece" is and was told that in the
country they left there was not much grass and when one found a piece of
land with grass growing on it, that was taken for a home and farming.
The grass piece and home are still on
the old Naranja road. Helen, one of the daughters, and her four children
occupy it. The house is tall, high off the ground, unpainted and back from
the road.
"What for you want to know about us?" asks Ella, "We're just plain folks."
I explained to her that plain folks was what I wanted to know about. She
seemed to be satisfied with this and started telling me about her
children.
"Ethel, Lilly and Helen was born over there and Leona and Villiam
(William) was born here. Ethel married an advertising man from New York
and lives up there. She has three children. Lilly married a lumberman in
Miami and lives there, she has five children. Helen married a fruit packer
and left him after she had four children. She lives in the old house.
Villiam married a girl from New York and lives in Miami. They have twin
children. Leona married a boy from the North. She left him because he
would not support her and the three children. She had to live at home most
of the time so she decided to stay here.
"Papa worked at anything he could find to do when he first come over here;
he grubbed palmetto roots, worked at the saw mill, helped with the grove
planting and any thing that come to hand. We never had any more than we
needed but, at the same time, we always had plenty. Why, I can remember
when I was a kid that all the other kids thought we were rich. But back in
those days it didn't take much to be classed as well-to-do. In fact, it's
getting back to that stage now," says Leona, who operates a little dress
store in Princeton. "I went into this store with the idea of being
independent and making it possible to get along without the pension which
Mama receives. So far it has cost me every week since I have been open,
but I can't afford to give up until the season is over, at least. I rent
the store and work on a percentage basis and some weeks my rent cannot be
paid with my part of the profit."
"Every one of us five children finished the eighth grade except Villiam
and he only went to the sixth. We all married young and didn't realize how
much a good education would mean to us until it was too late. I want my
kids to get an education if nothing else," Leona states as she washes
dishes and helps her mother with the kitchen.
Ella is much beloved by all of her children and grandchildren as well as
the many other relatives and in-laws. At Christmas and all other holidays,
in fact for no reason at all, they meet and bring baskets of food to enjoy
the day together. The many youngsters play in harmony while the adults get
together in large and small groups, some serious and some gay.
At these family reunions the adults always have wine or beer to drink
though none of them have ever been known to get drunk. They dance, and
Ella dances as much as the younger ones, nor does she ever lack for a
partner for she is a good dancer and always keeps a laugh going in any
group.
When any of the children bring a bottle of wine or whiskey home, Ella
hides it and takes a nip when she wishes for "cramps." She just laughs
when asked why she hides the bottle.
All of these people have their share of work to do and not one of them
would think of leaving theirs for another to do. Even to the smallest
child has his part which is done on time and without any argument.
Leona does the family "wash." This has been her work for years and now
that she has the store she does it after she closes store, sometimes
working until far into the night. In the small kitchen, the washing
machine is dragged from behind the door and the water is pumped from the
old hand pump and heated on an oil stove. The whole family gathers around
the table and, above the noise of the machine, shout and laugh at one
another. The laundry is made ready to hang and is left for the children to
hang before school the next morning.
I asked Ella whether she thought a car or home more important. "Well," she
replied, "sometimes you have to have a car to get enough money to buy a
home and then again if you have a car you will spend all of your money
chasing around in it and will never have enough money to buy a home.
"I don't know what it would be like not to have a home," she continued. "I
have always had one. I think a home is much more important." Leona added,
"So do I." Then, Ella went on to tell of her husband homesteading the old
place in Naranja. He bought this house, where they now live, during the
boom. "Paid ten thousand dollars for it, too." Here Leona interrupted to
tell me that he paid cash for it.
"I believe in folks paying for what they get. Believe me, I don't want to
be saddled to a bunch of debts all my life. When I get an extra dollar, I
like to be able to spend it for a show or some other amusement and not
feel like I am stealing it.
"I think one of the most dishonest things a person can do is to spend
money for foolishness when they owe it to some one who has trusted them.
"We don't have any thing charged but our groceries and, when I get my
check, I pay that bill and if there is any thing left over I spend it for
other necessities but I pay that bill first," Leona tells me, while her
mother went to the door to talk with the woman who has an apartment in the
back of the house. "We get five dollars a month out of that apartment and
that takes care of the light bill. Ethel sends mama a check every month,
and with what I get from the county, we have about sixty dollars a month.
Mama, the three kids, and I live on that and we live about as well as most
folks. We dress as well as the average and eat just about what we want.
"What dat you say about eating?" asked Ella as she returned to the
kitchen. "I was saying that we have all we want to eat and do have well
balanced meals altho we do not spend a lot of time studying charts,"
replied Leona.
"Yes, all of us have well balanced meals except mama and she will cook
anything she can get her hands on." Leona and her mother both laughed
heartily at this and said that they had forgotten that every thing they
said might be held against them. "Well, its the truth, any way, so let it
go," finished Leona. "When I gets hungry for anything, I eat it," said
Ella. "I don't care whether the book says to eat it or not. I get along
pretty good. My health is better than most people's of my age. Yes, I eat
what I want and ask no questions about it." Every one laughed as they
always do when Ella starts talking. She gets a great kick out of life.
"We take things as they come and don't complain. No, we aren't completely
satisfied with what we have but I guess we don't have strong feelings
about things like some folks. The main objection to our life is that we
don't have enough money to do with as we please. If we had a hundred
dollars a month we could get along fine--a hundred and fifty would be a
lot better.
"We haven't always been poor like we are now. But, even now, we have more
than many people who have plenty of money. We have our health, we love one
another, and get along good together. That's something that money can't
buy. There's no disgrace in our family and we all serve the Lord altho we
are not narrow minded and have a good time." As Leona finished speaking
all was quiet for a moment, then Ella spoke.
"Leona is talking about keeping the store open on Sunday but I told her I
was going to leave if she started that. We have to have her at home
sometime and not only that, the Lord didn't intend for us to work on
Sunday. If we can't make a living in six days, one more day won't help
much."
"Don't worry mama, that was Henry's idea to begin with and I am not keen
about it any way." Leona told her.
Henry is Leona's sweetheart. They have been "going together" for five
years and are planning to get married as soon as he has a job that will
support them. "Something permanent," says Leona.
"We are getting along alright now on the thirty I get from the county.
That's not much but it will stop if I get married and I am not going to
take any chances. I would like to be married and have a home of my own and
I do love Henry but I am not going to take any chances. If it were only
Henry and I, I would not hesitate but I have these children and they have
to be fed, clothed, and educated. I am not going to jump out of the frying
pan into the fire."
"Henry has a job now selling insurance, and I believe he is going to make
good at it. We are both hoping to be able to get married soon." Leona
stopped speaking for a moment and then looked up and said, "We would not
be happy, anyway, if we always had to be struggling for rent and food and
clothing. We would soon be fighting and unhappy. No, we won't get married
until Henry is able to support us properly."
We started talking about politics and I discovered that the whole large
family is Democratic. "We may split our vote sometimes but, on the whole,
we stick to our party," Leona said, and Ella announced that she only voted
if she felt like it.
"My one little vote don't make no diff'rence nohow. Lilly, my daughter who
lives in Miami, don't think it's the woman's place to vote. She and I
usually leave voting alone, but we are strong Democrats just the same,"
said Ella.
"Just like we are Democrats, we are Methodists," Leona declared. "We are
religious and have our principals but we are not narrow. We may not always
live up to our standards but, at least, we have them. Religion does not
influence my morals at all but I believe that it does mama's. How about
it, mama?"
"I don't go to the shows and fishing on Sunday, if that's what you mean,"
Ella replied. "I can remember when all my kids would have thought it wrong
to go to shows on Sunday, but they are taking on all of the new fangled
ideas that most folks seem to have these days and I reckon its all right
for them, but not for me. I just wouldn't feel right about it. I don't
mind the kids having a good time at any thing they want to do as long as
it's decent."
I asked Ella how much money they spent for doctor and hospital bills, and
she seemed to think it a good joke.
"We don't spend no money like dat, honey. We doctor's our own self unless
there's something bad wrong with us and that don't happen very often.
Leona had a goiter, and she spent quite a bit for treatments for that a
couple of years ago. I had to take some irrigations not long ago for
constipation, but I takes mineral oil now and I am never bothered with it
any more. Vill (William) is the doctor in our family. He is always running
to the doctor about something and then he comes home and preaches to us.
We calls him Doc Voods. (Woods) Dat big fat healthy thing is always afraid
there's something wrong with him."
"We haven't had any hospital bills at all. Did you know that I was a
practical nurse and that I helped with all of the babies and most all the
sickness when I first come down here? Old Doctor Tower would not have
known what to do without me back in the early days."
When asked about work, she said that work had never hurt any one in her
family and Leona spoke, "Mama is the only one in the family who ever has
done very much work. She is always busy, from morning to night. That makes
the rest of us sound lazy but we are not. We all work and do our work well
but none of us work as much as mama does."
Bathroom facilities are also a joke to the Burns. They say they have
"outside plumbing" and that they make their wash tubs serve a two-fold
purpose. "They are for washing clothes and taking baths, too. We have to
drag them in every night, pump water to fill them, and then drag them out.
The girls get a tub and bathe first. When they have finished the boys,
take their turn. We always have lots of fun and laughter at our bath time.
By the time we have all had a bath, the kitchen floor is ready to mop and
the day is ended.
"We follow about the same routine all year long," I was told when the
question was asked. "I guess life would be mighty monotonous for us if we
couldn't enjoy one another."
"You and Helen didn't seem to be enjoying one another last night when you
had that fuss," Ella said. "Oh, well, fussing is just another way of
breaking the monotony," was Leona's answer, "we get along pretty good most
of the time."
Ella said proudly, "I have never had to ask the church or any one else to
help me but I do think that the church should help the needy when it's
possible for them to do so. I go to church every Sunday if I am not sick
or unless there is some other good reason for not going."
Ella has a garden in her back yard planted in "pumpkins and cassava. "Last
year, we had a couple of water melons that didn't turn out so well but
they were sure fine looking," Ella told me. "Hey! Don't give mama credit
for those watermelons," laughed Leona, "The kids planted them and they
wouldn't like it.
"Where do we go to court?" said Leona surprisedly. "Why we court just
anywhere. All over the house and all over the country. At our sister's
houses, uncles houses, at the picture shows, skating rinks, golf links,
dances or just anywhere we happen to be when it suits our humor to court."
Reference :
Interviews and personal observation.
FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT
Miami, Florida
LIFE HISTORY
FOLKLORE, FLORIDA
Mrs. W.W. Woods
Princeton, Fla.
Dec. 30, 1938
Gladys Buck
Text from: Library of
Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection
|