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REMINISCENCE
(Georgia)
Tom's note:
Leola Bradley, who wrote this autobiographical life history, came to the
Writers' Project as part of a series of WPA jobs. She apparently met
the qualifications, but did not have any vocational writing experience.
Her background was in music. The story here gives some insight into
the attitudes and ideas that she brought to her job as a Writer. One
of the life histories she authored described her brother. That life
history is titled Recovery.
"My childhood was not very different
from that of the average child. I was born down in Dublin, Georgia,
Laurens County. My father was a Pharmacist there for forty-five years. I
was one of seven children - four brothers and two sisters. My mother was
one of the most devout Christians I have ever known. Father was a fine man
too, but somehow children, as a rule look more to the mother for spiritual
guidance. There has never been a happier home than ours was. Large
families are happier than small ones I think. We had our squabbles as most
children do. Sometimes we were sad then again we were glad. We loved a lot
and fussed a lot. We lived comfortably but not luxuriously. Father did not
believe in indulging children too much.
"My father and mother were both musical and with only one exception all of
the children inherited that talent. Most of us had good voices and we
played not only on the piano but other instruments. We had an old organ
that had been handed down to my father from generations back. We would
gather around at night and sing to mothers accompaniment. When we were old
enough to take music lessons a piano was bought.
"I was the youngest girl so my brothers and sisters thought I was the
favorite, but I really don't think there was any preference shown.
"Father, in those days did not believe in Public Schools, so along with
three or four other families, we went to a private school. This teacher
has now retired and lives in Milledgeville, Georgia. Since I went to this
private school, I did not have to wait until the required age to enter, so
began very early. After several years we entered the public school, and as
I was well advanced, I graduated very young.
"I displayed a decided talent for music, at any rate every one thought so,
and I was given every advantage both in piano and voice.
"I was too young, my parents thought, to go away to college so they
decided to keep me at home a year.
"Funny how little things can turn your whole life.
"One night I was in bed just recuperating from a cold, the telephone rang
and it was the school Superintendent under whom I had graduated. He had
been called over long distance by a superintendent of a school, in a
neighboring town, asking him to recommend a music teacher. The one they
had run away and married.
"Well, to make a long story short I went down there to finish out the
term. Never did any one feel so little and helpless as I did, when I
started out on my first job. I never will forget my trip down to this
place. I went on the train and though it was only a short distance, I had
to change trains at a little junction. Well, much to my dismay when I
reached this junction my train had left me. There was nothing to do but
spend the night. I knew this depot agents wife, so he carried me to his
home for the night. To go back a little I tried to dress myself up to look
the part of a dignified teacher. I had a hat with a feather on it, of
which I was very proud. That night we went up the street to visit some
friends. When we returned there were feathers - feathers all over my room.
Much to my chagrin the cat had gotton hold of my cherished hat and torn
the feathers completely up. The next morning we got up, found some ribbon
and fixed my hat and I went on my way, reaching my destination around
eleven o'clock.
"In a small town the teacher forms, to a certain extent, the social life
of the community so every one was curious to know how the new music
teacher was going to look. I learned this later.
"As no one met me at the train, I walked up the street to the little
hotel, which was only a short distance. On my way I passed two men who
scrutinized me rather closely, not rudely, but in an interested sort of a
way. They were not old as we term age today but were considerably older
than I - nice looking, well dressed. I hurried by but unfortunately I
dropped my bag. As I paused to pick it up I heard this remark. 'You can
have her, Drew. I'm not running a kindergarden'. I did not dare look back
to see which one made this remark but it wasn't long before I found out.
Well, anyway he changed his mind before the year was out. Five years later
we were married.
"I did not accept a teachers place the following term for I wanted to go
to college. In September I went away to a College and Conservatory of
Music out in Mississippi. People wondered why I didn't go to one of our
fine Georgia Schools but there were several reasons. One was, I was given
a scholarship. Then, too, after the first year I was given a tutors place
in the Conservatory and helped pay my own way through school. I went there
four years and the last term I was a full fledged teacher. I was young to
be on the faculty, but I have always been a hard worker and conscientious,
so I think I made good. During that time I was also studying. The third
year I was there I took my AB degree and my BM degree, majoring in voice.
The fourth year I took a BM degree, majoring in piano.
"Well, I had promised Mr. Bailey I would marry him as soon as I finished
college, but when I came home that summer my mother begged me so hard to
stay at home with her a year, I did. I felt that I was due her that much.
Mr. Bailey didn't like it much but he couldn't do anything about it, so he
waited.
"I was elected to teach piano and voice in my home town school, so in that
way, I could work and still be with my mother. My fiancee was not very far
away in the little town where I had done my first teaching, so I got to
see him several times a week. I've never regretted staying with my parents
that year. I was really too young to marry anyway.
"The following June I was married. I won't say that my married life began
with the very brightest outlook - that is too broad a statement, but I do
know it seemed to me I was the happiest creature on earth. I just wondered
if it would last. Well, in one respect it did. It was not unmixed with
clouds, adversities and disappointments. We all have those if we live long
enough. Our love was the one bright star that was never dimmed. But there,
I'm getting ahead of my story.
"Mr. Bailey was a big merchant in a small town. He had only a high school
education, but his many years of experience had taught him more, perhaps,
than he ever would have learned in books. He was a number of years older
than I - loved home and at meal-time and at night he loved to be there.
"People thought we would not be congenial for while I loved my home, I was
not quite so settled in my ways. Those things adjusted themselves.
"He did not know one note from the other, nor could he carry a tune, but
he learned to love opera and other cultural things as well an I. In other
word the longer we lived together, the more congenial we became.
"Our first baby, a girl, was born when we had been married about two and a
half years. That same fall we made enough to finish paying for our
business. He did not have it entirely paid for when we married.
"Our next goal was a home of our own. We were paying rent then. I was a
little inclined to want a car first. Numbers of my young friends had them;
but my husband insisted that a home was more important right then. In
January just as the World War broke out, we built our home. I see now, it
was a mistake to have built the kind of home we did, in such a small
place. I could not see what the future held for us. It never occured to
me, but what we would both always be there and times just as prosperous as
then.
"Like most merchants, Mr. Bailey prospered during the war. Afterwards,
though, there was a terrible slump in merchandise and our business
suffered a terrible blow. We took it with a smile; we just cut down our
mode of living, but were just as happy.
"My husband was old fashioned in his ideas of what women should and should
not do.
"One night he came home from work with
a part cross and part hurt expression on his face. I was worried for he
was usually in a good humor. I didn't say anything, just waited for him to
speak. 'Well', he said, 'I was certainly hurt end surprised at something I
heard this afternoon.' Why, what have I done, I said? 'I never thought the
time would come,' he said, 'when my wife would take part in politics.'
"Well, I didn't vote that year. After that his views began to change and
soon he was taking me to the polls every election day. I don't take any
active part in politics, but I vote my convictions. I think every woman
should do that. I am interested in public affairs, but I don't go wild
over elections like some people. Of course, I think we all get a 'kick'
over seeing our man go in.
"I didn't do any work outside of my home the first years of our married
life. It wasn't necessary from a financial standpoint. My husband thought
I had plenty to do, to look after our home and little girl. I took an
active part in church affairs. I am naturally religiously inclined and was
reared in that kind of atmosphere. I kept up my music, especially voice. I
did lots of club work too. At one time I was first District Director in
the Georgia Federation of Music Clubs. So, even though I lived in a very
small country town, my activities were not confined to my environment.
"My husband was unusual in this respect. He was very ambitious about my
voice. Not many men would consent for their wives to leave them and go
away for three months at a time to study. Well, he did, and not only that,
he gave me the money. One thing, he knew that I had been accustomed to a
larger town and felt that I needed a change. So instead of taking just
pleasure trips each summer, I would go away to study.
"One summer I spent in Atlanta. I had only one child then, so I took a
little apartment and kept house for three months. He spent his vacation
with us and also came up for week-ends. I look back on that as being one
of the happiest summers of my whole married life. I studied under Miss
Lula Clark King. She is still teaching in Atlanta. She helped me lots.
"The next summer I went to the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago,
Illinois. I continued my voice lessons and also studied Public School
Music. The following summer I completed that course. I don't consider any
musical education complete now without Public School Music, in fact; even
school teachers now have to know how to teach it.
"After I completed this course in Chicago, I began coming to the
University of Georgia summer school. That was during the time when the
University had such a fine school of music. They had one whole week during
each summer devoted to Grand Opera, concerts etc. The best of talent was
assembled here for that week. It was truly a gala occasion. Mr. George
Folsom Granberry, of New York, was director of the School of Music, and
also directed Opera. He was nice to me and I feel that I owe more to him
than any musician I have ever contacted. He gave me outstanding parts in
Opera. That helped to broaden my musical career more than all the study I
had had. I kept that up for seven consecutive summers. Sometimes, I would
feel badly over spending so much money on myself, but the time came later
in life when I was truly glad that I had not spent my time in idle
pleasure.
"We were a little disappointed that our family was so small, for we still
had one child. I like large families when you can give them what they need
to become good citizens. Just as we had resigned ourselves to just one
child, along came a little boy. No need to tell you we were happy, we were
just thrilled to death. We named him Louie for his father.
"About that time I began to realize that finances were getting bad. Mr.
Bailey said little about it, but I knew he was worried, though he tried to
hide it. Our business had never quite recovered from the depression
following the war.
"I had had several opportunities to help out the family budget by
teaching, but my husband would not consent on account of the children. I
was soon to find out, that life was not always to be as carefree as it had
been so far. When our boy was one year old, he was stricken with colitis
in its worst form. I nursed him, with the help of friends, for four weeks.
He began to get better, but was in a terribly weakened condition. Then he
developed double pneumonia. I felt that we could never pull him through
that, but we did. The Lord certainly must have spared him for some good
purpose. I don't know yet, for in some respects, he has had one of the
sadest lives of any child I've ever known.
"Well, troubles never come singly. Since then my life has been full of
adversities. Before Louie had regained his strength, our little girl was
rushed to a neighboring town for an emergency appendix operation. All this
sickness was a terrible strain on us, mentally, physically and
financially. When Mary was able to return home from the hospital and
little Louie was on the road to recovery, we thought surely our troubles
were over for a while.
"One afternoon a short while later, I was on the porch with the baby, when
two ladies drove up to the house. They introduced themselves, told me they
were looking for a voice teacher, and asked if I would consider taking
them. Well, I said, I have taught a good bit in my life, but not lately. I
then told of all the sickness I had had, and what a care my children were.
They insisted, so I finally told them I would teach them.
"They lived twenty miles away and were to drive over twice a week for
their lessons. That was the beginning of my returning to my profession.
Soon other pupils began coming and in a short while I had all the pupils I
could teach, right in my own home.
"It was the wisest decision I ever made too, for in November we lost our
business. Mr. Bailey did a big credit business. That, along with the
depression, just ruined him. That left us about where we first started
out. We had our home though, and I was teaching, so we still felt that we
had much to be thankful for.
"Well Mr. Bailey soon got him a job traveling, selling flour and
feed-stuffs. He didn't make anything like the money we had been accustomed
to having, but with my help we managed. Once more we thought our
difficulties were over, for a while at least.
"One night we were sitting at the supper table and all at once he began
gasping for breath. His face was ashy white. I hurried him to the room,
ran to the phone and soon the doctor was there. I have never seen such
suffering as my husband endured. The doctor sat by him all night, and just
before dawn he seemed to rest a little easier. When the doctor left, he
told me that the trouble was Angina Pectoria, and in the worst form. I
began to realize then what was before me, two children and a husband, who
could likely be taken from us at any time.
"I was elected to teach piano-voice and public school music, in a school
sixteen miles away. I knew it meant leaving my home and children, a good
part of the time, but I accepted the place. It seemed that some kind
providence was coming to our rescue in every emergency. I taught there in
the same school for seven years, commuting in my car. Most of that time
Mr. Bailey was not able to work and I was the only support. He helped me
lots with the children. Mary, of course, was in school, but little Louie
was not old enough, so he was his dady's constant companion.
"After about six months my husband was able to go to work again. He bought
out a small grocery store and things began to look brighter for us.
"Mary graduated from high school, and then came the question of sending
her to college. With the help of a sister of my husbands, we entered her
at the University of Georgia. I brought her to Athens on Monday, September
25th. The following Wednesday night she was called back. The death angel
visited our home, taking the beloved husband and father. Even though I
knew for several years he would probably go suddenly and at any time, I
was not prepared for it. He dropped dead on his way home from work; little
Louie and his dog were the only ones with him at the time. Those were
truly dark days for us, and for a while, it seemed that I just could not
take up life again. But I did, for I had my two children to live for and
who had to depend on me for everything. Mary returned to the university
after a week, and I resumed my teaching. Louie too was in school, had just
entered. That fall was the loneliest I ever spent, but we made the best of
it. I took a couple in to board with us and that helped lots.
"Mr. Bailey did not leave us a great deal. He had borrowed on his
insurance, always hoping he would get in physical condition to take out
more. But he never did. We owned our house though and had a few thousand
in cash. I was not afraid of the future for I felt capable of earning a
living for my children. Money takes wings though when sickness comes. When
Mr. Bailey had been dead only three months, Louie was taken desperately
ill, 'pneumonia!' the doctor said. After a few days though we noticed a
slight swelling in his hip and he began complaining of pain. As soon as we
could we got him to a hospital for Xray. Ostromylitis was the diagnosis,
bone infection in the worst form. For six months it was a battle between
life and death. Then, too, I was faced with the possibility of his being a
cripple even if his life was spared.
"Doctors, hospital, nurses and operations played havoc with my little bank
account for I gave him the best attention I knew how. The strain was
beginning to wear me out both physically and financially. I was trying to
teach all day and stay with him at the hospital at night. I saw he was
getting no better at that place, so with the help of friends, I got him at
the Scottish Rite hospital at Decatur. That was the saving of him. He was
there for two years. They let me bring him home for Christmas, but I
carried him right back. That is truly a wonderful place. It's true he is
left a cripple, but had it not been for the Scottish Rite he would not be
here now. He is still under their care. I have to carry him back at
intervals for examinations. In another year he is scheduled for another
operation on his hip. That is to try to lengthen his limb and correct his
limping.
"When he was dismissed from there it seemed that there was nothing for me
to do, but give up my teaching and stay at home with him. He was on
crutches and had to have lots of special care. So I resigned my job. Thats
how it happens that I am not teaching today I guess. You know when you
once get out of your profession, it's hard to get back especially at my
age. There are so many teachers without jobs.
"After Mary finished her second year at the University of Georgia I
decided to give her a secretarial course. I took her to Washington D.C.
and entered her at Strayers Sea School. She lived with my brother. She was
very lucky for through influence of some political friends there, she got
a job in three months time. It was only a short time though before she
fell in love, almost at first sight, and married. That was a blow to me at
first, but on second thought I was really happy over it. Then when I met
her husband I was even more so. Yes, she married a fine man and into a
fine family. Her husbands father is American Consul General to Liepzig,
Germany. I feel so sorry for him now during this European crisis. They
have not been able to hear from his parents since early in August. 'That
is off my subject though.'
"Finances were getting so bad with me that on the advice of friends of
mine, I moved to Athens, Georgia. My idea was to open up a boarding house.
I thought I could do that and be at home with my crippled child, too.
Well, thats the last thing I should have done. I know how to keep a nice
house and set a nice table, but I knew absolutely nothing about the
financial side of it. I opened up a lovely place on Prince Avenue, and
right there is where I lost the last of my little savings. The sad part
is, I even sold my little hose in South Georgia and invested it. That too
was gone. Then I began losing my nerve and my health. My boy too had
several severe attacks of illness and that took more money. I saw there
was no more boarding house for me, so I stored what I had in the way of
furniture, sold part of it, and began looking for work
"As a last resort I went down to the Welfare Office and was certified for
WPA work. My sister-in-law took my boy for me and found a little boarding
school and put him there until I could get work. He just has to have good
care. My first WPA assignment came right out of a clear sky - as they all
do for me. I had given up hopes. Imagine my chagrin when I opened up my
slip and read - 'Library Project' - book repairer 25¢ per hour. Of all
things in the world I had never done, mending a book was the most
unthought of. I soon learned it to be very fascinating work. Just to make
an old book to look like new was really worth while. Anyway I was learning
something I never expected to know. It was hard work and not much pay
either, but it was honest. That project closed in two months. From
September 10th to January 3rd of this year, I was without work. I can
hardly tell you how I managed. My boy did not suffer though for he was
still in this little school. By the way, it is a Catholic School and they
certainly do take good care of him. He learns rapidly down there. You see,
two years of his school life was spent in the hospital so he is behind in
his studies.
"The WPA is a wonderful plan, I think, to give employment to people who
really need it. The greatest trouble with me, it has not been continuous
work. I get so behind with finances between jobs. Then too, while no one
expects a big salary on WPA, I would like to make enough to give my boy
the necessities of life. His shoes alone cost me twenty dollars per pair,
besides the fare to Atlanta to get them fitted.
"My next WPA job began January 3rd of this year. It lasted six months, and
the pay was better than on the first one. I liked that fine. I was a field
worker on the Real Property Survey. We made two surveys of Athens.
"At first I felt funny going into all kinds of places and contacting all
sorts of people, but I got over that. I have to meet people, so on the job
I certainly had a good opportunity and made a lot of friends. I was not
accustomed to walking either, but I learned to do that too. Since working
on that survey I feel that I know every mook and corner of Athens.
"Well, that job closed and I was wondering what I would do next. It seemed
for six weeks that I wouldn't do anything. Again unexpectedly came another
slip assigning me to what was then called the Federal Writers' Project.
Since then it has been changed to Georgia Writers' Project. I like it very
much especially the interviews and the research work. As for my writing -
well I'm trying, but I'm afraid those people in Atlanta think I'm
hopeless.
"I think President Roosevelt is a wonderful man in many, many respects,
especially his conceiving the idea of helping the unemployed. I appreciate
the work, but of course I prefer private employment and I am striving for
it all the time. There are other WPA jobs I might be better suited for.
Music is my profession and of course I prefer something that I can do
well. In other cities I understand, there are projects for musicians.
Athens does not have one however.
"My mode of living of course is not what it once was, but my ideals are
just as high. Money does not mean everything and even doing without
luxuries does not kill. I attend church regularly and when Louie is at
home he goes with me. We are both members of the First Methodist Church
and I sing in the choir there. I can't take any part in social functions
any more nor in club work. I don't have the time or money, but those are
not essentials anyway. My one ambition now is to see my boy grow into
manhood, with just as high aspirations as his parents had.
REMINISCENCE
Written By:
Mrs. Leola T. Bradley
Research Field Worker
Georgia Writers' Project
Athens -
Edited By:
Mrs. Maggie B. Freeman
Editor
Georgia Writers' Project
Athens -
WPA Area - 6
October 10, 1939
September 27, 1939
Mrs. Louie D. Bradley (White)
424 South Lumpkin Street
Athens, Georgia
Ex-teacher - WPA Worker
Bradley -
Text from: Library of
Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection
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