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HENRY and ROSA MADDOX
(Florida)
The home of Henry and Rosa Maddox is in
one of the most isolated spots in the squatter region. After following the
highway some three miles from the village, one must travel along a
tortuous dirt "grade" for six or seven miles. An abrupt turn eastward on a
dim woods' trail leads over the prairie to a dense bayhead. Following the
bayhead's curve, the trail ends suddenly where the bayhead makes a
horseshoe bend. A narrow foot path leads around the bend to an opening in
the swamp, marked by a blaze upon a small bay tree. Bordering the swamp
are pools of stagnant water and growths of cattails and arrowheads.
From the blazed tree a narrow path of logs and planks laid in the mud
leads into the heart of the swamp, and ends in a raised clearing. The
clearing is hemmed in on all sides by a tangle of underbrush, vines, and
palms. In the center of the clearing stands the Maddox home, a rude
palmetto-thatched shelter raised upon four tall poles.
Henry and Rose were both at home, and extended a pleasant greeting. Henry
stated that we would have to sit upon the worn and rustic beaches outside
the shelter, as the bed, a trunk, and a bench holding bowl and pitcher
left no room for seats inside the shelter.
"We try to keep our home neat and clean so as to keep down the flies and
ants," said Henry. "We are careful about fires and waste paper, for even
the swamp here can catch fire in very dry weather. We keep all our waste
paper in this old tin and we burn all our food scraps. There are naturally
lots of insects here and we have to fight them all the time. The
mosquitoes are bad and we always use the net for the bed."
The camp fire was carefully guarded by wire netting, and a crude stand
held cooking utensils, tin cups and plates. A large iron pot swung from a
tripod nearby.
"We find plenty of wood in the swamp and always keep a supply on hand so
we won't be caught short," said Henry, indicating a neat pile of wood, and
kindling in a tin basket.
Henry and Rosa wore clean clothes, though they were patched and faded. "I
have just finished my washing down by the lake," said Rosa shyly but
pleasantly. "See, out there, you can see the lake from here by bending
over this way a little more. It is more cleared there and water is handier
and I find it easier to wash the clothes. The lake water is soft and makes
washing easy. I don't iron much. We get along all right without ironing
our everyday clothes. I like the clothes with the sun in em, and ironing
seems to take away that good smell they have just off the line on a sunny
day."
Henry talked of farming and spoke with pride of his farm around the lake
shore. "I wish all that land was mine, then I would have me a real farm.
I've always dreamed of having a farm way out some place like this all my
life. Whoever owns all this land is lucky, even if he doesn't know it, 'to
own so much. Isn't it queer that some people have so much land and never
seem to care for it while others would be so happy to own even a little
spot?"
Henry stated that both he and Rosa were born in New Jersey about forty
years ago and that after their marriage Rosa continued her work in the
factory where she made piano keys. At that time Henry and his father had
an electric shop and devoted most of their time to radio work. He said
that they were both experts and could repair any make of radio and could
build many of the various kinds. He learned his trade in the Navy and was
proud of it, he said.
Henry and his father had a flourishing business for some time, but due to
lax methods and too much credit to customers they were forced out of
business at a loss, he said. He then secured work in the factory with
Rosa. She was on straight time and made fifteen dollars a week, he was on
a time basis in the electrical department and averaged twenty-five dollars
a week. His father was so broken in health through the business failure
that he was no longer able to work, and so made his home with them.
Speaking of the money they made, Henry said: "We did not save much, though
we always had the idea of a farm in mind. But we had a nice apartment,
went to shows, had good clothes and a fine car, the wreck of which you can
see just outside the entrance to our swamp.
"I went to school," he continued, "and so did Rosa, and we both had good
educations so we thought. I never could see why they make such a fuss
about education, for after all it doesn't mean much but reading and
writing and a little general information. If ever a person learns more
than that I've yet to hear of it. Of course there are some sciences and
professions that require more education. But a person has it in them to be
what they are, and education does little good. Now I learned the
electrical trade through work and experience in the Navy, so what good
would an education in school in that have done me? Take Rosa there, she
learned her trade working in the factory and no education would have made
her the expert that she was. We had a natural talent for this work or we
couldn't have learned it."
Rosa said they had no children the first years of their marriage and then
when they found out how sick she really was they took care to have none.
"It wouldn't have been fair to us or the children to bring them into the
world and I probably wouldn't have lived through it anyway. I was always
frail and delicate as a child but we thought nothing of it. Mother said I
was growing too fast though I never grew to much size, as you can see.
Sometimes when I was working I would feel so tired and sick seemed like I
just couldn't go on but I just accepted it as part of my nature."
She said that she finally became so ill that she gave way at the factory
and had to go to a hospital. The doctor said it was anemia and prescribed
a special diet and regular treatments. She did not like the diet and felt
she did not have time to see the doctor regularly, so as soon as she felt
a little better she gave it all up and returned to her work.
Finally they saved a little money and decided to come to Florida and get a
farm. Someone had told them that the Florida sunshine would cure Rosa's
trouble without medicine or diet, and they also heard of the rich farming
lands of the Everglades. The extreme isolation of the Everglades appealed
to them so greatly that they with Henry's father and a few personal
effects started out in their car for Florida. At that time they considered
their car a fine one, but it did not stand up under the trip, and
consequently they spent most all their money before arriving at their
destination.
Finally they stopped at a little village and as finances were short, Henry
secured a few day's work. His employer told them of land near at hand
where they could move right in and not have any rent to pay.
"In a few days we drove out to see the
land and found what we thought was a good piece for farming. It was quite
a ways off the grade but we didn't mind that for we wanted to be way out
in the woods. So we moved there and first built a shelter like this one
only we slept on beds of pine boughs and palmetto leaves for a time. I
hoed up some of the land and managed to clear out the roots, then got seed
and catalogues from New Jersey and did just as they said but didn't have
much success. Things just wouldn't grow.
"Finally things got so bad that I had to get some work in the village, but
that was not what we wanted. We wanted a farm. Finally, I managed to get a
little lumber by working for a sawmill, and built a little two-room house.
Pa had one room and we the other. We cooked out in the open just as we do
now. Part of this time I worked on FERA but I didn't like that either for
as I said I wanted to farm. I decided to look for a better place and when
I found this location we moved right in. We just took what we could carry
in the car. Didn't have much to leave behind anyway and we could not move
the house even if we tore it down. This has suited us exactly and we
wouldn't think of moving.
"Pa died and we had to borrow money for his expenses and that was hard to
do for we hardly knew anybody. The doctor helped us by taking Pa to his
hospital without any payment and he helped us to borrow money. We are
still trying to pay it back but don't make much headway because cash is so
scarce. I might get a job in town, but we like it out here too much. It
might be better for Rosa's health if we moved in town where she could have
fresh meat and milk, but she doesn't like that life either and she would
not take the diet when she could have it before we came down here, so why
move when this is just what we have always wanted? This land around the
lake and in the swamp is much better than the white sand for farming.
Water is easier to get here, too. We drink the lake water and use it for
all our needs, why not? It's as pure as any city water, and costs us
nothing. What few vegetables I raise I usually manage to sell and that
suits us better than to eat them, for then I can buy some fresh meat and
milk for Rosa. Rosa thinks her anemia is aggravated by this location, but
doesn't want to move. So we've tried to study diets for anemia to make
things as good for her as possible. I have wanted to get a cow but haven't
had the money. Thought a man was going to let me have one for her feed for
awhile but when he found out how far out we live and in the swamp he
wouldn't let us have her. Said a cow would die in the swamp. I don't see
why, we have lived here quite awhile and it hasn't hurt us any."
Henry spoke vaguely of paying some attention to the phases of the moon
when planting. "I put in my crops at regular times and pay no attention to
the climate here. Get all my seeds and information from New Jersey. Some
people say I should follow the native methods but I don't know much about
them and don't want to ask. If I ask anyone they would be sure to start
coming out here to see how I am getting along and we do not care for
visitors nor any interference with our ways."
They stated that they did not go to church as they lived so far away and
then, too, they didn't like the crowds. They like to read, especially
fiction and western stories, and often read magazines through a second
time, then carefully save them for fuel. Henry would like to have enough
money to buy parts to make a radio. "We do not bother with the newspapers
for the news is stale when we get them. There is nothing much to interest
us anyway, for what the other fellow is doing is no concern of ours.
"Politics don't interest us either, though along about election time I try
to find out what my party is doing and I always vote its way in national
matters. I don't fool with local politics. What are they to me? Guess the
men my party selects are always qualified for the positions or they
wouldn't be chosen by the party. I never talk politics; it does no good
and seems such a waste of time. A fellow won't change his views just on
account of talk and often gets mad, and it's just too much trouble.
"We like the isolation and the quiet here. We both enjoy this life and the
natural surroundings so much we feel that it more than makes up for any
little luxuries we might have in town. Even if we had plenty of money I
think we would continue to live out here. There is so much more to this
life than many people would think. Take that fringe of blue flag lilies
along the lake over there, there's nothing so pretty in the cities and
that is just one of the many things. After all, one might as well have the
kind of life he likes for that is about all that counts anyway."
Ed Moore
Venus, Florida
11/22/38
Barbara Berry Darsey
Text from: Library of
Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection
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