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THE BOARDING HOUSE
(Georgia)
Tom's note:
This life history has the most extensive handwritten editing of any that
I've come across so far, and much of it was difficult or impossible to
read. In the end, the story related was worth the effort expended in
trying to come up with as readable a transcription as possible.
Mrs. Brittain's large two-story house
is painted brown and trimmed in yellow. A sign on the front of the house
reads: "Rooms and Meals, very reasonable." This boarding house is near the
business part of town, and is convenient for the business people and
students. The small yard was freshly spaded and a few flowers showed the
effects of recent transplanting.
A slender black- headed girl answered my knock on the door. "May I speak
with the manager of the boarding house?" I inquired.
"That's mother," she replied. "She's in town right now, but will be back
in a few minutes. Won't you come in and wait for her?"
We went through a narrow hall, and [?] up the long stairway to the second
floor, as we passed [?] way to the dining room. She placed a rocking chair
near the heater, and asked if I would have a seat [?], for it was rather
cool out, and she was sure I must be chilled. She excused herself, saying
that she had to order some things from the store that the cook needed to
finish up the dinner.
The large room was clean and attractive. Its walls were light cream in
color, and the woodwork and doors were painted to resemble oak. Crisply
fresh curtains were draped over cream window shades at the three large
windows. A linoleum square of dark brown and green was on the floor, and a
few pictures decorated the walls. The long dining table, covered with a
clean white cloth, extended almost across the room, and in the center of
it, was a vase of artificial sweet peas, that was of surprisingly natural
appearance. Other furniture included a large buffet, china closet,
frigidaire, and radio. Besides the chairs placed around the dining table,
there were four large rocking chairs in this room. A card table, folded up
and leaning against china closet, and a chinese checker board on the
buffet, were evidence that the dining room is also used as a living room
part of the time.
A small fox terrier entered and at once came to see if it knew me. As I
patted the dog's head, a large black cat came, and jumped in my lap, and
wanted a share of the caresses. The cook came in to get some dishes, and
seeing the cat and dog, laughed, "Lawsy Missy," she said "you done been 'dopted
in dis fambly, 'cause dat black cat sho don't make friends wid every body
dat come hyar."
Mrs. Brittain came in, and her daughter explained that I had been waiting
for sometime to see her. Handing her daughter some packages, telling her
to take them to the cook at once. She turned to me and said, "Just let me
get off my coat and hat, and I'll be right back.
When she returned, I saw her as a tall, dark headed woman of good figure
and medium weight, dressed in a dark crepe frock. Her long hair was
dressed in the very latest style, with two braids circling her head.
I explained the purpose of my visit and she laughed heartily, "Well, after
sixteen years of running a boarding house, I still have plenty of problems
to face, and everybody else that is in this kind of work has them. But
I've been able to make a living, and make ends meet, so I guess I've done
pretty well.
"I was reared on a farm, and lived there until long after my husband died.
As I owned our home, and my son was large enough to help me manage the
farm, we lived there, he married. Then I moved to town, for I didn't see
how I could run a farm by myself. My oldest daughter was also married and
my other two girls were too small to help. I had my mother to take care of
too, and like every one else I came to town.
"The first year after I left the farm, I did practical nursing. I was busy
all the time and of course I didn't earn anything near as much as a
graduate nurse. But I did make $15 a week and board, and with that I was
able to support my mother and two girls. I don't know if you know anything
about nursing, but it's hard work.
"I had to be away from home all the time, day and night, and I hated to
leave mother and the children by themselves, especially at night for
mother was old and her health was very bad. After thinking about
everything that I knew how to do, I realized the fact, that I was better
at cooking than anything else, and that is when I thought of a boarding
house.
"But still I didn't really know anything about keeping boarders, and to
get a little experience in this I worked seven months for a woman who ran
a large boarding house. When it was time to think of starting my children
to school again, I rented a large house and started to taking boarders. I
guess I was lucky, for I soon had a house full, but even at that, it was a
hard pull for I had gone to some expense in getting more furniture and
linens than I had to have.
"After getting it started and running very nicely, I got a good cook, and
then I went back to nursing. I worked for one of the doctors here for a
long time. Of course, it wasn't regular, mostly just his maternity cases.
In this way I was able to keep going until I had paid up all my bills.
Yes, it was hard, but I have always been used to work, and I'd rather work
hard any day than sit down and wait for some one else to do for me.
"I stayed there in that place for a
little over a year, and then I rented a larger house a little nearer in
town. I was really making good there, and stayed for about two years in
that location. I had a full house all the time, as well as just the
outsiders that took their meals with me. But even boarding houses are like
any other kind of business. Some one is always trying to outdo you.
There's plenty of competition. This was true in my case. My rent was $30 a
month - rent wasn't as high then as it is now. A woman just below me on
the same street was running a boarding house, too. She was always wanting
to know how I managed so well, and how could I keep my boarders so long,
as hers were just coming or going all the time. I told her that I did most
of my own work and that my children helped when they were out of school.
We didn't pay out everything we took in to servants, and our personal work
and attention helped to keep satisfied boarders.
"Even at that, she wasn't satisfied and told the man I was renting from,
that she would give him $15 a month more than I was paying. He came to me
and told me of her offer, and said that I could stay on if I wanted to pay
the extra money. I didn't feel able to do that, so I told him I'd just
move and she could have the house. I rented this house and have been here
ever since.
"The other woman moved in, took part of my boarders, as I did not have
room for all of them here. It never pays to try to undermine any one, for
in a very short time, she was almost without any boarders at all. My old
ones that I left with her had all gone away. Many of them got rooms near
enough to enable them to continue taking their meals with me. It looked
like bad luck hit that poor woman who got the house from me. I was really
sorry for her, for she just kept going from bad to worse, and few years
ago she was so up against it that she drank poison and died before they
could get her to a hospital.
"But, let me tell you one thing, I do not have any drinking in my house.
Not if I know it. I have had plenty of them to think they could get by
with their liquor in my house, but they soon find out that I mean
business, for they have to get out, and if they don't get out when I tell
them to, then I show them that I can have them put out. But I have very
little trouble, for in all of my sixteen years, the law has only been in
my house three times.
"One of those times I had to call the police to get a man. I didn't know
what was wrong with him, but the officers knew him and they said he was a
dope fiend. We thought he was crazy and all of us were afraid of him.
That's the only time I've ever had any one like him, and I hope that I
won't ever have a dope addict to contend with again.
"One of the greatest problems in this kind of work is keeping dependable
help, for this is such hard work. They may have some afternoons off but
how they do hate to come early in the mornings. Most of my boarders are
all working people, and they want breakfast served not later than seven
o'clock. My days' work starts around 5:30 to 6 in the morning. I usually
get the breakfast started before the cook gets here, but she's pretty good
and it's never much after six when she arrives.
"We have dinner from 12 to 2, as we have a good many students for meals,
and most of them meet here by two o'clock, but when they can't she fixes
their plates and puts them in the warming closet on big old wood burning
range. She is off every afternoon until time to start the supper. The best
proof that she is smart and a good cook, is the fact that boarders all
like her and are always giving her something.
"I got sick about four years ago, and was in the hospital for sometime
after a major operation. I had to let my boarders all go then, for it was
a long time before I was able to look after the house. I really started
back long before I should have because they begged so hard for me to come
back. They said they would just do any way for it was just like home here.
They are all very nice to me.
"Oh, yes, I've lost money many, many times, and in large amounts too. When
I've tried to help some of them out, especially if they were out of work,
sometimes then they have slipped out owing me a month's board and some
beat me out of more than that, but for every one that does that way. I
usually find some one else that is a good honest payer.
"When a certain plant near here opened up again after it had been closed
for awhile the man that came here to run it made arrangements with me for
his meals. Well, I never got a cent for them. But I was not the only one
he caught, for he used the firm's money, gave the help bad checks, and
owed everyone in town that had let him have anything on credit. Yes, he
got out of it some way. I never could understand how. The help finally got
their money from the owners, but none of the rest of us were so lucky, for
he had nothing for us to get it out of.
"Everyone is not like that, only last Sunday I had four girls in for
lunch. I knew the girls, as they eat here quite often. I was busy when
they went out, and one of the girls put a bill in my pocket, as she went
out, saying that she was paying for all them. It was sometime before I had
time to check up, and then I found that she had gave me a $5 bill instead
of the $1 that she owed me. I called her, and told her of the mistake. She
had missed the bill, but didn't know where she had lost it. She sure did
thank me and said, 'but if you hadn't called I would never have known how
I lost it, for I was sure I gave you a $1 bill.'
"I have some boarders that have been with me for 7 and 8 years, and there
are other people that have just been having meals here for that long. I
don't see much difference in now and when I first started out with a
boarding house. I mean in the expenses of it. Some things are higher, rent
for one thing. Of course, groceries go up and down all along. Meats are
the same way. I don't have a garden, but I get fresh vegetables all the
time, mostly from the farmers when I can for having lived on a farm I know
how it is for a farmer to get cash for produce.
"I also get a good deal of my meat from farmers. I like it, for I was used
to growing my own meats at home and these purchases help me as much as
they do them for I get food cheaper and they get the money for things they
need. Many of these farmers that I trade with send their children to me
when they enter school here. You know, I appreciate that for it makes me
think they have confidence in me, and I try not to betray that trust.
"I have different rates for my boarders. My daily rate for board is $1,
but the weekly rate is $6. By the month it is $25 for men, $20 for women
and students. Meals are 25¢ each, and you know I make good on those meals.
The other houses around here say they do not see how I can clear any
profit the way I feed but I do.
"Yes, it's hard work. You come in contact with all classes of people, both
good and bad, but when I get some rough ones in, I get them out again. I
ask all my boarders to respect my house as they would their own home. What
class of people had I rather have? Well, I think the working class suits
me the best. They are more considerate. I guess it's because they have to
work and know how I work too, and then the students that I have are very
quiet. My boarders are all congenial, and every night they play cards and
checkers. Some just sit around and play the radio, or read and study.
"I keep fires in the diningroom and the livingroom for them, but if they
have fire in their rooms then they furnish that themselves. I have plenty
of hot water all the time. There is one bathroom upstairs and another
downstairs.
"I try to make them all feel at home. They all like to tease me and play
jokes on me, but it's all done in the friendliest manner. However, if
someone gets the best of me, the others don't like it a bit, but they'll
tease me themselves right on. For instance, not long ago just at lunch
time when most of them were here, a very nice looking middle-aged man, who
said he was a Methodist preacher came here with a young man that he said
was his son. He said they were going to be in town for a few days and
wanted a room and meals.
"I happened to have a vacant room that I showed him. He liked it and said
they'd take it. Well, they had lunch, came back for supper and were so
friendly and nice that everyone liked 'em. After sitting around and
talking for a while they said they were tired and were going to their
room. That was the last we saw of them, for instead of going to their room
they left.
"Oh, yes, the boys sure did tease me about that. You see I am a Methodist
too, and they told me that if that had been a Baptist preacher he'd have
paid for his meals." She laughed and continued: I told them that if they
had been Baptist they would have at least slept part of the night, instead
of leaving a good bed like that. But now, I'll have to stop and help my
cook get dinner on the table for these boys of mine are always hungry. I
want you to stay and try one of my lunches."
I thanked her and said if she didn't mind I would like to very much.
The boarders began coming in, and every one was friendly and had something
to say to each other. Several girls who work in the stores came together,
and discussed their work and the picture they were going to see that
evening.
A group of students came talking about tests they had during the morning.
Some thought they made passing marks others were not so sure. Discussing
the questions and what they had answered, one of them said, "Well, I sure
have flunked that test if you all are right." They all laughed and told
him to do better on the afternoon test.
A [?] youth came in and said, "Well, folks, the music man's in town."
Everyone looked at Mrs. Brittain and laughed. I wondered what the joke
was.
Just as fast as one group finished eating the table was [?] for the next,
and they didn't stop coming until about two o'clock. Then plates were
fixed for two students that had not been able to come [?]. Several trays
had[? ? ? ?] there was plenty to eat, most anything that one could ask
for, even two desserts. Never before had I bought such a lunch for as
little as 25¢.
[? ?] was almost over, when a well groomed old man came in. He was greeted
affectionately by them all, "Am I too late for lunch, " he inquired. Mrs.
Brittain told him she was sure they could find some food for him. He then
wanted to know about a room. That matter was arranged too, when one of the
boys said, "Put him in the room with me. We'll be all right." The old man
said, "That's all right with me for that boy has been needing a spanking
for sometime and now I'll have a good chance to see that he gets it."
After they had all departed, Mrs. Brittain's daughter laughed and said,
"That's the music man. We all like him. He tunes pianos for the music
houses here, and teaches music. We tease mother because he is a widower
and really wants to get married. He seems to like us for he stays with us
every time he's in town."
Mrs. Brittain seemed much amused, "Well," she began, "from what a man told
me the other night, I'll never be able to marry again." Asked for [her?]
explanation, she continued, "I think I told you that I didn't allow
drinking here. A new man had only been here a few days. And while he knew
my rules on that matter he thought he would get by with it.
"[I noticed him?] when he came in beastly drunk and went to his room very
late one night. But after he reached his room, he stumbled over the chairs
and tables, and fell out of bed. I heard the boys laughing, so I got up
and went upstairs. I told the drunkard he would have to get out.
"I'm not going out of this room," he defied me. [? ?] things and get out
right now or I'll have you put out. [? ? ?] and he finally left. When he
got to the door he [looked?] at me and respectfully said, 'It ain't no
wonder you're a widow. I don't see how your husband lived as long as
eighteen years, if he had to stay with you.' I [?] him that if my husband
had ever been in his condition, that he wouldn't have lived that long.
"I have had a good many boarders to leave without paying and some have
sent the money back to me. One man left sometime ago. He had been out of
work and owed me over a hundred dollars. He got work in another place, and
he sends me money every week. I like to help people that way if I think
they are the sort that really appreciate it.
"I don't clear so much [?] profit, but I do make a living, and don't owe
anybody. Yet, I have had some awful large bills to pay.
"I thought I would never get through paying doctors, and hospital bills. I
lost my mother and I had to pay all the bills connected with her last [?]
and funeral, but the Lord has been with me for they are paid.
"I sent my daughter to Atlanta for a business course. That cost me over
three hundred dollars for school and board. My other daughter is married
and there is just two of us at home now.
In spite of all my heavy expenses, I still don't have too little to divide
with others. Not so long ago, there was a family near here that was in
awful poor circumstances. The little boy got his arm broke and they were
really up against it. I carried them a box of groceries, and when I saw
just how badly in need they were I went around to all the neighbors and we
all together got them the things they really needed; food, and clothes, as
well as coal and wood.
"I even gave away my daughter's best coat. I just couldn't help it. A
woman came here, asked for something to eat. It was cold and raining. I
gave her something to eat and the coat. Yes, my daughter raved, said I
would give away my head, and it wasn't a week until she gave her other
coat to a girl that didn't have one. I had to buy her another coat, but
I'm glad that she can think of other people also.
"I have had a hard time. Although we have never been without the things we
really needed. I just can't refuse to help others when they need it. Some
of them around here, say 'I just don't see how you give so much, and
especially when I bought two old women a pair of shoes and to tell the
truth I had to have one pair of them charged. But any way I paid for them,
and helped two boys out in the country get up some clothes so that they
could go to school.
"Then there was the old blind man. He needed an operation on his eyes. The
doctors told him that if he could get a place to stay, they would treat
his eyes and then operate, and not charge him anything. Poor old man, he
didn't have anything to pay for [food and room?]. Nobody else would take
him. So I did, and he stayed here ten weeks. I didn't miss the little he
ate. When he got ready to go to the hospital my boarders and I got [ya?]
the clothes he needed. Now the old man can see how to walk by himself and
doesn't need anyone to wait on him. No, I didn't lose anything by taking
care of him. The boarders were awfully nice to him and looked after him at
night, and I wish you could see how happy that old man is. He comes to see
us occasionally and we feel well paid for what little we were able to do.
"I don't feel like I have lost anything in helping people. The Lord has
been good to me. I've worked, yes, but He keeps me able to work and has
looked after me so far and I still have confidence in Him. I know He will
still help me if I do what [? ? ? ? ? ].
There is a cotton buyer that takes his meals here. Last week I said
something about buying some cotton to fix over some quilts. When he came
in to lunch the next day, he brought me a large box of cotton. When I
asked how much it was, he wouldn't let me pay for it. "Why couldn't
someone do you a favor one time?" he asked and added, "you are always
doing something for someone else."
"Last Christmas there was a family in this neighborhood, with five
children in it. The father was out of work. They had no cash, very little
to eat, and no prospects of Santa Claus making a visit there. I fixed a
box for each of the children. One of my neighbors said, 'Mrs. Brittain how
in the world can you give away so much? I can hardly meet my bills. I
don't know why it is, I just can't keep any boarders, and what are here
don't pay half of the time.'
"But this neighbor of mine doesn't take an interest in her work. She will
not fix for her boarders as I do. She will get out for her bridge and
other pleasures and let her work go undone. I don't know which is right.
She or I. But I just can't find time for much pleasure on the outside. I
go to church sometimes, when I am so tired out at night I go to a show.
That helps. And I do enjoy visiting, but it is mighty seldom that I have
the time for that. I'm busy from the time I get up in the morning until I
go to bed at night. I do all my sewing and that takes quite a bit of time.
"I've managed to give all of my children a fair education. The two oldest
girls married young, before they finished school, and one of them now is
doing the very same thing I'm doing. She lost her husband and she is here
in town, running a boarding house to try to get her boy and girl through
the university."
As we were talking one of her neighbors came in and from the conversation
she was also taking in boarders and I wondered as I listened how the woman
that I board with judges me; if I am rated as a good boarder or one of the
kind that is so much trouble and expects too much for the money. It was my
first time to listen to their side of it and I enjoyed it.
The visitor said: "Mrs. Brittain, I never hear you complain about your
boarders and I don't see why. Mine are never satisfied.
"I can't cook a thing to please 'em, and they are threatening every time
they come in to get 'em another place to stay. I just get so mad I don't
know what to do. Why, they can use more towels, and the laundry bill is
tremendous. I just can't stand it. And you know they even want me to keep
a fire in the living room at night, just so they won't have to buy any
coal themselves. It's outrageous. They grumble about everything.
Turning to me she said, "Young lady, did you ever have to put up with
running a boarding house?" No," I replied, "I am just one of the
boarders." Mrs. Brittain laughed and said, "Well suppose you tell us just
what kind of a boarder you are. Do you pay your board without grumbling?
Are you hard to please? Does it take a lot of towels for you?"
Looking at the merry twinkle in her dark brown eyes, I knew why she was
asking all these questions, and I answered in the same spirit, "Well, as I
board with a policeman's family I am afraid not to pay, but as to being a
good boarder I am afraid to say. And as to eating, the biggest trouble
there is, they think I should eat more than I do, and are always after me
about that. Many extra things are fixed for me to tempt my appetite and
I'm grateful to my [?]
Mrs. Brittian laughed again, and said, "Well, I should think then that you
rate as a good boarder."
The woman didn't stay very long after that didn't discuss her boarders any
more, and when she was gone, Mrs. Brittian said, "I shouldn't have asked
you those questions, but I'm a pretty good judge of people and you
answered just as I wanted you to. She really is hard on her boarders. Yet,
we do have to put up with a lot of things to keep boarders satisfied."
"Just a few weeks ago, a man came in here one night for supper and a place
to sleep, and he just had fifty cents. I did not have an extra bed. He
wanted to know if I couldn't fix him a cot in the hall or anywhere [?]. It
was cold and raining. I felt sorry for him. I gave him his supper, and
fixed a cot in the hall upstairs for him. The boys laughed at me and told
me I was too easy. They were right that time, for he slipped out the next
morning with about eight dollars worth of clothes stolen from the boys.
Yes, he got away and I made the things good, for it was my fault that he
was there. The boys didn't want me to pay for the things. They said I
couldn't help it, but I felt like it was nothing but right for me to pay
them for I was the one that put him there."
The two boys came in for the late lunch that had been prepared for them.
They said "We're hungry. Did the cook leave anything for us? Mrs. Brittain
replied, "Now, you know she did for I think you boys must be her special
pets, for she's looking out for your plates before any one else eats" They
laughed, "Don't you think it pays to stay on the good of the cook?" one
said. "I'll bet you haven't lost any more eggs," was the parting shot of
the other young man as she went to get their plates.
While [? ?] one of them said to me: "Mrs. Brittain is dear old thing and
just like a mother to us all. She's good to everyone. But we do like to
tease her, and she's a good sport; she can take it. About the eggs; our
cook was off sick and sent another cook in her place. The first night
after supper, she asked Mrs. Brittian if she couldn't just take her supper
home and eat while she rested. Mrs. Brittain said that would be all right,
and anxious for the servant to have enough food, she went back in the
kitchen to give her more before she left. The cook insisted that she had a
plenty, but went to sit the plate down on the cabinet, and when she did,
eggs began to roll down her sleeves and hit the floor. She must have had
at least a half a dozen up her sleeves. She was scared so bad, she didn't
wait for her supper. She sold out. Mrs. Brittain had to scrub the floor
and that cook didn't come back.
Mrs. Brittian [?], "Look out boys, how you talk to this woman you may get
yourself in trouble," she warned them, "for she is writing a story of our
boarding house. They asked what she had told me, and then said, "Oh, well!
Can we tell you a few things about this place?" I assured them that I
would be glad to listen.
One laughed and said, "Well, he told you about the eggs, I'll tell you
about the wood.
Mrs. Brittian cooks with wood, and having lived on a farm she still buys
her wood from the farmers, and keeps a good supply on hand all the time.
She was out one afternoon when another cook was here, and that nigger was
helping herself to wood. Yes, mam, she loaded up a wagon full. A policeman
came by and asked what she was doing. She told him that she worked for
Mrs. Brittain and that she furnished her wood. He didn't know what else to
say, but he told Mrs. Brittain about it and said he had noticed her
sending wood out several times.
"Then one time she took a woman and her son in for a couple of days
because they didn't have anywhere else to stay. But when they left the
room was awfully clean. Yes, mam, it was. Even the linen off of the bed
was gone. If we didn't have to get back to our class, we could tell more
about this place here. Mrs. Brittain is easy in some ways but we sure know
better than to come in tight."
As the two young men went out the door, a small boy apparently between two
and three years old came in calling, "Granny!" She smiled and said, "This
is my grandson."
He said he wanted to see Granny, 'cause I loves my Granny and her's good
to me." Soon he was asking, "Got any candy, Granny?" His grandmother
smiled, [?] he persisted, "How 'bout a nana?" Before she could answer, his
older sister came in. "He cried until we just had to bring him to see
"Granny and Fritie, " she said, [? ? ? ?] the fox terrier came running and
jumped all over the little boy. They were both very happy to see each
other. Mrs. Brittain gave him some candy and a banana and he went out to
play with the dog.
After the children went out, Mrs. Brittain said, "We run up on many
problems in a boarding house. The greatest one is good help. I have a good
cook now. I pay her $4 a week, and feed her and her little boy. My laundry
bill runs from a dollar a week up, and has been as much as three dollars.
That is just for bed linens, towels, and table linens. Our personal things
we wash ourselves. Lights and water are reasonable, considering how [?] we
use them.
"A good many of the business girls get their lunches from us and suppers
too. I can feed so many more than I can keep here, for I do not have
enough rooms. Of course, I could get a larger and much nicer place further
out from town, but I don't really think that it would pay for so many of
my boarders could not go far out for their meals. I also feed lots more of
the students than you saw today. Many of them do not come for lunch.
"Besides [??] who came to the house, I sent out enough lunches last week
to bring in between nine and ten dollars and that is doing pretty good. My
daughter has been doing some of the government work, but they put some of
them off lately and as she was one of the last ones to go on, she was put
off, but she hopes to get back soon.
About two years ago, a blind boy stayed here for sometime. Not long ago,
he was walking by here and heard me talking. He recognized my voice and
came back to see me. I was really glad to see him for he was a nice boy
and I liked him. He was very little trouble even if he was blind, and was
never blue about his trouble.
"Some people that are the best able to pay, are the first ones that will
try to beat you out of something. But others will pay good. I had a man
that boarded here for sometime. He got out of work, and had to leave town.
He owed three months board when he left, and I did not hear from him for
six months; then one day I received a money order for every penny that he
owed.
"About the same time another man left the same way, owing me $50? but I
haven't had a line from him, but that just shows the difference in the two
men. One wanted to pay and did pay. The other didn't care. Still I try not
to judge too hard for we never know just what the circumstances may be.
"I had a crowd of brick layers boarding here. Their board was paid in
advance. They knew my rules on drinking, but thought if they paid in
advance I couldn't do anything about it. But I just gave them their money
back and told them to get out the next day. They begged, but it didn't do
any good for that was one time that I was not easy.
"One man married twice while he boarded with me and he still eats lunch
here. He and his first wife separated and got a divorce. Several years
later he married again and this time it was a girl that had lunch here
every day. He lives too far out to go home for [?], so he still eats lunch
here, and just real often she comes back with him.
"Some traveling men will get you if they can. They are quicker than most
anyone else. I had a shoe salesman here. He seemed very nice. He said he
only got his check once a month. He stayed here while he worked the other
towns near by. The cook was doing his washing. I guess maybe he got his
check, I don't know, but the day he said he was to get it, he went out and
did not return. He had slipped his clothes out with his samples and the
cook and I were just out of luck.
"I had another couple staying here with me when they got married. They
both got out of work for a long time and got behind in their board. He
finally got work in Virginia and asked me if he could go and send my money
back. I told him to go ahead. Just as soon as he could get work he sent me
every penny that they owed. And they never come through Athens without
stopping to see me.
"I have learned many things in running a boarding house. One is that it is
very hard work, work that keeps you going from the early morning hours
until late at night. One thing I have not been able to learn very well and
that is to turn away people that I feel like really needs help.
"But I do now require traveling people and others that I don't trust very
much to pay in advance. I guess if I had done this long ago I would saved
something. I try to never worry over what has been done that can't be
helped.
"I am thankful that my health is so much better and that I can still run
my boarding house for it means my living to me and my daughter, and I only
hope I'll be able to continue to work. But I hear the cook in the kitchen.
I didn't know the time had passed so quickly."
Realizing that she wanted to see about her supper, I thanked her for the
story, told her how much I enjoyed the lunch, and the very pleasant day.
As I left, she came out on the porch with me and said, "It's been a
pleasure to have you and I hope you'll come back again. But you really
should stay for I see the music man coming"
***********
(Copied by M.S.E.
Feb. 10, 1939)
LIFE HISTORY
February 7, 1939
Mrs. Texie Gordon
363 E. Hancock Ave.
Athens, Georgia
Boarding House Mgr.
Grace McCune, writer
Text from: Library of
Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection
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