TRANSCRIPT

WW - Wes[ley] Washington, interviewee / LR - Lyn Royce, interviewer

LR: How did you manage with all those kids in that house?

WW: Well, it was tough. It was tough. What we used to do was, my Dad used to turn around, and we had a big garden, monstrous garden, ye had te have a monstrous garden. Turnips, potatoes, uh, onions, uh, squash, you name it. And, we'd plant all that stuff, 'n so many of us'd go in and weed, 'n, and you had 3 and 4 weedin', it was no time at all, you got a big monster garden, all the weeds are out of it. Okay. When the, when the vegetables start comin' up, and the turnips and the squash, we'd turn around, my Dad would dig a, a big hole, out in the yard and turn around put some straw there.

LR: Okay...

WW: Put the turnips in there.

LR: Oh, okay...

WW: Put the squash in there. And everything. Then my Dad used to turn around, cut it over with, with straw. And then cover it over with earth. 'Cause we had a ice box.

LR: Okay, okay...

WW: You know? Ice box...

LR: Right.

WW: ...no 'fridges 'cause we couldn't afford it. And had somethin' like a, out the back yard, way out the back, we had somethin' like a fruit cellar. We had somethin' like a fruit cellar out the back. And then we had chores, uh, winter time, uh, my mother'd say, 'Okay, go get me 2 turnips.' And we'd go out there, and we'd take the hammer and we'd bust through the snow and bring in turnips. And bring 'em into the house.

LR: Okay; so you, so you actually used the ground as like a freezer, we'd use a freezer now.

WW: Yeah. As a freezer, yes.

LR: Wow!

WW: Yeah. Big...

LR: ...I've never heard of that before...
WW: Yeah; a big; I remember! Big, BIG! Cover it all up with straw and, uh, earth and then we'd have to pound out and get it; and, and, go over the other corner and get somethin' else.

LR: Wow. That's quite... So, did; now; so did you go grocery shopping the way we would go grocery shopping at all? Or did you...

WW: Grocery shoppin', grocery shoppin' was ye...years later. I mean we couldn't, we couldn't, um, like the... 19, 1958, uh, uh, 2460, I'm gettin' numbers here, was a Dominion Store, on Lundy's Lane. 2460 Lundy's Lane? That was a Dominion Store. And Dominion was there. Okay. Dominion would turn around and go against A&P that was at the corner of Valleyway, Valleyway and, and Victoria Avenue. They'd turn around and they'd have a sale. And all the little; Haines Meat Market at 2475 Lundy's Lane, they had a little meat market there. Busy store. Those 2 stores would put the rivalry on; 'n... have big sales on, for a month and a half, until they closed the small stores. Push 'em right outta business. And they, and they didn't exist no more. That happened for years and years. We, we'd, we'd go ta; we went to a store on Main Street, at the corner of Main, Main and Culp Street, and their name was Reid's, Reid's Grocery Store; ye had sawdust, about a foot and a half. Mr and Mrs Reid, Mrs Reid just died last year and she was 97. Ah; we'd go there, Mr Reid, and he'd steaks and all the best of foods. But, he seen us, he seen us there, we were poor. My Dad, my Dad and I would go on up to Main Street, stand across the street, and wait till Mr Reid, uh, pulled the curtain down to say the store's closed and then we'd take, uh, a big bag, coal bag, and we'd walk across the street's store, go in to the store, Mr Reid, some of the people, 'Oh, I don't want the bones,' he'd say, 'Aw, you don't want that;' and he'd throw it over the corner. Okay, that's good, that's food for us. And he'd pile the bones up and then he'd cut 'em for us, big bones like that, he'd cut 'em for us, and throw 'em in the bags. And my Dad and I, we used to turn around take big bags, and we'd walk home. My mother used to turn around, cut all the meat off it and make soups and all that stuff. And, and, and, uh, as it, as it turned out, Mr & Mrs Reid, the grocery store, that's what saved us for years.

LR: Wow...