Hudson, Selby (1898-1987) |
Worcester County Library: Local History and Genealogy Collection, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, MD
|
Interviewee: |
Selby Hudson (1898-1987) |
| Interviewer: |
Katherine Fisher |
| Date of interview: |
1984 December 4 |
| Length of interview: |
45 Minutes, 57 Seconds |
| Transcribed by: |
Lisa Baylous |
| Preferred Citation: |
“Name, Oral History Collection, Date of Interview, Worcester County Library, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, Maryland.” |
Topical Terms:
Church
Domestic Life
Farming
Transportation
Worcester County (Md.)—History
Worcester County (Md.)—Social life and customs
Location Terms:
Shingle Landing (Md.)
Whaleyville (Md.)
INTERVIEW BEGIN
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Today is Tuesday, December (unintelligible)—
SELBY: (unintelligible) when I was born. I was born back over here, about two miles, on a farm. And, uh, and, uh, before I started school, the next spring, or, um, we moved out here on (unintelligible). Out here on, um, (unintelligible)—and, uh, we lived there three or four years. Then, my father bought a farm—on out in the country towards (unintelligible). And that’s where I was raised. And, uh—
INTERVIEWER: Was your father a farmer?
SELBY: Yes. And, uh, when the war come on in 19-8, 17—that’s after I had the blood poisoning. I went to Wilmington to work in, uh, (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Oh! You did? Ok.
SELBY: (unintelligible) drafted. But, I wasn’t called. The, uh, first draft was from, uh, twenty-one, I think, to thirty-one. And the next draft was from eighteen to forty-five. And, uh, I went to work in the shipping yard. And, I never was called. Uh, I guess I would have been if (unintelligible)—(unintelligible) on the account of my leg. Then, I worked in a sh-, a ship yard in ’17. The last part of ’17. And then, in ’18, (unintelligible) come home. (unintelligible) (unintelligible) And, uh, (unintelligible) just come home. And I stayed home that winter. And, the next spring, I went down to Virginia to cutting timber for a man by the name of Davies in Salisbury. We used to cut it and bring it up to the railroad station in a little boxcar and ship it to Salisbury (unintelligible). (unintelligible) Then, I…When it got wet in the river that fall, we had to quit and come home—and, um, I stayed that winter…No, I didn’t, neither. That fall, after I’ve come home, there was a couple fellas that worked up in (unintelligible) on boats and stuff—wanted me to go back with them. So, I went back with them. And, I stayed there with that company for nineteen years.
INTERVIEWER: Goodness! (Coughing) My! (Coughing)
SELBY: In 1937, the Eastern Shore was building this piece of land down here near Berlin. I quit that company and come with the Eastern Shore. It was Eastern Shore Public Service—at that time. And, I stayed there until I retired—in, uh—
INTERVIEWER: When did you—
SELBY: --’65.
INTERVIEWER: All right. Well!
SELBY: So, I’ve been retired (unintelligible)—
INTERVIEWER: Nearly twenty—
SELBY: --(unintelligible) January, be twenty years.
INTERVIEWER: Twenty years retired.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: My goodness! Now, I’d like to ask you something about when you, before you went to school. Back when you were just a tiny boy. What sorts of things did you have to do on the farm? Did you have chores to do? Did you have work to do on the farm?
SELBY: I worked from the time I was up (unintelligible)—
INTERVIEWER: You d—
SELBY: (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: You did?
SELBY: My chores, when I was going to school. (Unintelligible) home and feed the team at night. Watered it down and cut (unintelligible). At that time, we cut (unintelligible). We don’t, uh, they don’t grow fodder and stuff, and save if like they used to. We used to cut our tops off and tie them and strip the blades and stack them. About all you’d ever seen is a stack of fodder or not.
INTERVIEWER: I think so. Yes.
SELBY: (Coughing) Then, we (unintelligible) back to the team in the wintertime. And, we growed our own hogs. (unintelligible) milk cow for our milk and butter. And we had our chickens for our eggs. Sometimes, they sold some of the eggs. So, uh…Things are not like they used to be. We had, we had, uh, in the cut wood. We cut wood, too. In that day, it wasn’t no such thing as a (unintelligible) stove. But, uh, I can see my mother now, uh, come up to the house for dinner, that old cook stove. Hot in there.
INTERVIEWER: I’ll bet so. You, and she had to use it in the summertime, too. Didn’t she?
SELBY: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: That, that would have been hot.
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: My dear!
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Did you have any brothers and sisters?
SELBY: Yes. I had one brother and one sister.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Were they—?
SELBY: They both died early. In their thirties.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, they did?
SELBY: Mm hmm.
INTERVIEWER: My. (Unintelligible) Um, what was your father’s name? Your name is Selby Hudson.
SELBY: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: What was your dad’s name?
SELBY: John (Payne) Hudson.
INTERVIEWER: (Payne).
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Oh, ok.
SELBY: Mm hmm.
INTERVIEWER: Uh—
SELBY: And, my name is John Selby.
INTERVIEWER: And, you are John Selby.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Um, what was your mother’s name?
SELBY: Katherine. Kay they called her Kay—for Katherine.
INTERVIEWER: What was her name before she was married?
SELBY: Powell.
INTERVIEWER: She was a Powell.
SELBY: Mm hmm.
INTERVIEWER: So, she was from around this area, also?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember any of your grandparent’s names?
SELBY: Oh, I can remember my great grandmother.
INTERVIEWER: You can? What were their names? Who were they?
SELBY: (Batey).
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: (Batey).
INTERVIEWER: (Batey). All right. That’s a local name for—
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: --around here, too.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Uh, were did you go to school?
SELBY: Where did I go?
INTERVIEWER: Uh huh.
SELBY: You see this building right back here? That long building?
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
SELBY: That’s where I went to school.
INTERVIEWER: Oh! Right there!
SELBY: Mm hmm.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Um, how far did you have to walk?
SELBY: Walked two miles from out in the country.
INTERVIEWER: You did?
SELBY: Weren’t no such thing as school buses—in that day.
INTERVIEWER: Right. It got cold. Didn’t it?
SELBY: I’ll say. And, uh, feet be wet—when you get to school. I sat there around that potbelly stove. Them days, uh, we didn’t have no heat and stuff like they got today. And, old potbelly coal stove. (unintelligible) with that. The teacher would ask you to shake the stove down and, and go get coal.
INTERVIEWER: Uh huh. (Unintelligible)
SELBY: (unintelligible) stuff. Yeah. Now, (unintelligible). Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, really?
SELBY: Sometimes, you got to shake that stove down.
INTERVIEWER: All right. Now, what does ”shake the stove down” mean? I, I don’t know.
SELBY: Well, it had grates in there and you had a thing that sh-, worked them grates back and forth. That would cause the ashes to go down in the pit. See? That would (unintelligible) that bar up, you know—and (unintelligible) bottom door and put coal on it. And, close your top door. That would give it draft to draw through there—bring it up.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. See, I don’t know these things. That’s why, that’s why we like to talk to you. Um, were there…About how many children were in the school around here then?
SELBY: Well, now, I don’t know, exactly. See, there were two rooms in this school.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, there were?
SELBY: Uh huh.
INTERVIEWER: Oh! Ok.
SELBY: There were two rooms. Miss Angie Hudson— taught the first grade primmer through the (coughing) third grade. (coughing) And then, they rented a, a building around here by this old church. It’s gone, now. And, after you left Miss Angie’s room, you went to her. And then, when you left her, you went to what is called a higher…I think it was about eleven or twelfth grade. (Unintelligible). (unintelligible) then. And, after a while, they built another school, one room school, on that school lot. Then, later years, when they come at the bussing schools— Why, well, in fact, they built a school up here. And, uh, then they moved all of them up there—(unintelligible) they moved that school., that one-room school—up on the hill for the colored. At that time, they was—
INTERVIEWER: Separate.
SELBY: They separate; you know?
INTERVIEWER: Right.
SELBY: And, uh, they started bussing, you know—and everything, so…
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Um, was there a church in Whaleyville—
SELBY: Oh, yeah—
INTERVIEWER: --back when you were growing up?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah. There’s always been a church here.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. The Methodist? Was it a Methodist church?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah. And there used to be a church around here, back (unintelligible). In fact, two churches here.
INTERVIEWER: Oh! I didn’t know that.
SELBY: But, now—the Methodist church is still here. But, the Presbyterian church, that belonged to the…oh, this place (unintelligible) or something or another--(unintelligible). Uh, they took it over. (coughing) I forget what they call that church around there now.
INTERVIEWER: All right. But, it’s not a Presbyterian church?
SELBY: No. No.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: No.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Is it a Greek Orthodox? It’s not a Greek church, is it? No.
SELBY: I don’t think so.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. I can see it from (unintelligible).
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: Yeah. (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: (unintelligible) Um, what would you do for fun and entertainment as a young boy around here?
SELBY: Well, when I was going to school, we played a little baseball in the spring of the year—and shoot marbles.
INTERVIEWER: Did you shoot marbles?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Were you good at it?
SELBY: Well, sometimes, I have (unintelligible)—
INTERVIEWER: (unintelligible)
SELBY: --from the, from the mark.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, boy!
SELBY: Once in a while, not, not too often—but, uh, there wasn’t much (unintelligible) going on them days. Go in the woods and play and, uh, woods on a Sunday afternoon, you know. Hide and seek. But, uh, there was no football or anything, and (unintelligible)—and I, I, I (unintelligible) don’t even like to look at football because—
INTERVIEWER: You don’t?
SELBY: --I don’t understand the game.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Boy. Not much fun to watch it if you don’t—
SELBY: No.
INTERVIEWER: --understand it.
SELBY: No.
INTERVIEWER: Huh! Was there any place around here to go ice-skating?
SELBY: Oh, yeah. In the wintertime—down (unintelligible) the river.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, right. The river’s right—
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: --down here.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Did you like to ice-skate?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, Valentine’s Day—we always claimed that the teachers didn’t let us off half a day (unintelligible) out of school.
INTERVIEWER: Oh really?
SELBY: She let us out a half day—-of the morning, then we had to be back at noon—until school was out that afternoon. Most, most teachers—
INTERVIEWER: Would do that.
SELBY: --would do, would (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Uh huh. Aww. Did you, um…In the summertime, was there a place to go swimming?
SELBY: Well, in the summertime, my father and three or four more neighbors, had a, a, a sand—fish net, and we used to go down to the St. Martins River sown by Showell. Uh, what do you call it? Shingle Landing.
INTERVIEWER: All right. (Unintelligible) that.
SELBY: And, uh, two or three men would go the night before—from, uh, I’ll say the middle of August when they get their crops (unintelligible). And, we’d have fish fries.
INTERVIEWER: You would?
SELBY: Two or three men would take his (unintelligible)—and go down there and fish overnight. And, the next morn--the next day, the women and all would go down there—and clean these fish. And, uh, they had potatoes and cornbread and—fry these fish right down there.
INTERVIEWER: And cook them right there!
SELBY: And, that was our outing.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, I think so!
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, that’s neat! Um, you (unintelligible)—
SELBY: (unintelligible) three or four times doing, um, sometimes (unintelligible) until Father’s Day.
INTERVIEWER: Uh huh. You, you’d be able to go that often.
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: That’s good.
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Well, would you go in swimming while you were down there?
SELBY: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Would, would the women go swimming? Would the ladies go in the water?
SELBY: (coughing) At that time, (coughing) (unintelligible) didn’t have bathing suits, wore dresses—or overalls and shirts. Now, you don’t see them running around stark naked—like they do today.
INTERVIEWER: That’s right. My dear. Yeah. Well, that fish fry, that sounds like fun.
SELBY: Oh, that was. That was a great gathering, too.
INTERVIEWER: (unintelligible) My, goodness. Was, was there a store on Whaleyville if you had to come to the store to get something?
SELBY: Yeah. But, the old store is still standing right there—
INTERVIEWER: Ok. It has boards over the windows now.
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: I saw that.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: But, that’s the same store.
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Aww.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Who had that store? Do you remember?
SELBY: (Wimble) Brothers. They, uh, had that store and they had a mill down there.
INTERVIEWER: A mill?
SELBY: A mill. A sawmill. Saw lumber. Made—made strawberry crates. And, uh…(unintelligible) had a, they had a whole (unintelligible) town showed up. You (unintelligible) or you (unintelligible) down to the store. (Unintelligible) There wasn’t much money as in them days. I worked down here to (unintelligible). Ten cents an hour. For—
INTERVIEWER: Ten cents an hour?
SELBY: Ten cents an hour.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, my dear!
SELBY: (unintelligible) lumber. In the wintertime, after I got big enough—went away. I worked down here at the mill to (unintelligible) winter.
INTERVIEWER: I’ll be darned! Now, you, did you, did you…How far did you go in school? Did you stop—
SELBY: Seven, seventh grade.
INTERVIEWER: Seventh grade.
SELBY: Seventh grade.
INTERVIEWER: And, that was typical for boys to stop then?
SELBY: Well—
INTERVIEWER: Because they worked.
SELBY: At that time, in the spring of the year, when it come time to work in the field, you had to quit school. And, when you stay in the seventh grade three or four years, them little kids half your size—was in the same—
INTERVIEWER: Grade.
SELBY: --you, you felt like (unintelligible)—
INTERVIEWER: Should be.
SELBY: --(unintelligible) school.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Good point.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Well, now, at the mill down here, did they, did they start with regular trees and then break them down? Ok.
SELBY: Yeah. That was quite a (unintelligible), quite a mill down there. They, uh, sawed the lumber, then, uh, worked it down to, to, uh, crate size. And they had a (unintelligible) machine—
INTERVIEWER: They did?
SELBY: --and they, um, made these strawberry baskets, you know. Completed the whole crate.
INTERVIEWER: The whole crate. Ok.
SELBY: Trays and all. (Coughing) Did you ever see a strawberry crate?
INTERVIEWER: I have.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: I’ve seen one now at an antique shop.
SELBY: Aww.
INTERVIEWER: But, I have seen them. Now, where did they get their trees from?
SELBY: River swamp.
INTERVIEWER: All right. They lumbered them right out of the swamp?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever do any lumbering out here? Did you help with that?
SELBY: No. I never—
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: --no. (Unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Now, the swamp around here, you know, that people refer to…Is it the Pocomoke River?
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Swamp?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Is it…It’s really swampy—
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: --in there.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: All right. I’ve never been at the river this end.
SELBY: Mm hmm.
INTERVIEWER: You know, down towards Snow Hill and Pocomoke, it’s more woodsy.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: But, it really is a swamp. Are there any stories or legends you heard about it up here?
SELBY: No. You know, uh, I guess it’s been ten or fifteen years ago, uh, they dug that river swamp out, you know. All the way to the Delaware line.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah. They did.
SELBY: I know a fella that dug that. Lives in Snow Hill. (unintelligible) know him. I don’t know if you heard of him. Paul Williams.
INTERVIEWER: All right. I have heard of him. Yeah. Ok. I don’t know him, but—
SELBY: He had, uh, (unintelligible), uh…when he was working, I think, for the— (cough) –while he worked for the (unintelligible) for a while, but, I don’t know who he was working for when they dug that—(unintelligible). But, he’s the one that (unintelligible)—
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Ok.. That’s good.
SELBY: He’s the one that, uh, got (unintelligible) on, and worked on those.
INTERVIEWER: Is he really?
SELBY: Mm hmm.
INTERVIEWER: I’ll be darned!
SELBY: And then, I was born the same year.
INTERVIEWER: You were.
SELBY: Yeah. Don’t tell him I told you, he sixty- eighty-six.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. I won’t tell him.
SELBY: (unintelligible) eighty year old, you know. He went to church (unintelligible). And, uh…Preacher…come up to the pulpit and said, “Now, I understand there’s a man in here eighty years old today.” That was his birthday.—“Stand up, Mr. Williams.”
INTERVIEWER: (Laughing) Aww. That’s good.
SELBY: (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Yeah. It takes some getting up to. Isn’t it? Uh…Where did you meet your wife? Was she from around here?
SELBY: No. She was from Milburn.
INTERVIEWER: Milburn
SELBY: Mm hmm. I was working on a (unintelligible) we were working at Milburn—unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: All right. And, uh, how many children did you have?
SELBY: One.
INTERVIEWER: One.
SELBY: Mm hmm.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. And, what’s his name?
SELBY: John.
INTERVIEWER: John.
SELBY: John Selby (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Junior.
SELBY: Junior.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. You’re, you’re Senior and he’s Junior.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: (unintelligible) Um…
SELBY: He was born 1924. I got married in ’22. I was married fifty years in, uh,’72.
INTERVIEWER: For goodness sakes! That’s a long time.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: It is, indeed.
SELBY: My wife’s birthday was in June. We got married in, uh, February. I was married fifty years and she passed away the following—November.
INTERVIEWER: Aww. Goodness gracious (unintelligible). Um—
SELBY: Yes, we had a good life together.
INTERVIEWER: What brought you back to Whaleyville?
SELBY: Well, one reason, I was working on boats and we were moving around, renting. And, uh, we were down in Norfolk—-up the James River. Done a job up there. Took us about a year. Then, we come in Norfolk and I rented an apartment in there. And, I heard about this place (unintelligible)— (unintelligible). (unintelligible) at that time. (Coughing) He wanted to sell it. And, I come home and he made a deal with Woodcock—uh, real estate man—in Salisbury. And, I went to see Sam and he told me he sold it, or made a deal. He had some project down at Ocean City and Woodcock had some. So, he trade him this place (unintelligible) down in Ocean City. With Woodcock. So, um…He, he, he got in touch with Woodcock and, uh, his sales done come down and all, but (unintelligible)—
INTERVIEWER: (unintelligible)
SELBY: --(unintelligible) But, one reason why I told my wife when we left Norfolk, getting ready to leave after we got someone for (unintelligible) because most of the time, one of my boy’s story school—-had to change school a couple of times a year. I said that we got to get settled down somewhere. (unintelligible) this way.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Ok. (Unintelligible) Well, now, was your dad, were your mom and dad still alive when you came back?
SELBY: Oh, yeah—yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, well, that was really nice for them, then—
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: --to have you back. Ok.
SELBY: Yeah. Mom, back then, dead about eleven years—
INTERVIEWER: My! She—
SELBY: And, uh—
INTERVIEWER: --must have really—she must—
SELBY: Mom was ninety-two years old—
INTERVIEWER: She was? My goodness!
SELBY: My dad, he’s been dead about fifteen years. Eight-eighteen years, maybe. (coughing) And, he’d have been ninety. He died in November. If he lived till February, he’d have been ninety.
INTERVIEWER: My! Well, that is really did live nice old ages. They did, indeed…Um…Did…If you all had to go to town for something that you couldn’t get here at Whaleyville, where would you go? To Berlin or Salisbury?
SELBY: What? In them days?
INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Back in the old days. More back, you know. Before the—
SELBY: (unintelligible) we used to come to the store—for anything (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Back here. Ok. Would they have sold, like, shoes?
SELBY: (coughing)
INTERVIEWER: Oh, they did?
SELBY: Oh, yeah. They sold shoes (unintelligible) a general store—
INTERVIEWER: A general store. Ok.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: So, you didn’t have to go to Salisbury—
SELBY: No. No.
INTERVIEWER: --for things?
SELBY: (unintelligible) cultivators.
INTERVIEWER: Oh! That, too?
SELBY: (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: My, goodness!
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: They did have everything!
SELBY: (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Clothing, too?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: All right. Do you remember when your dad, or you, got your first car?
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Did your dad have one?
SELBY: Model T Ford.
INTERVIEWER: He did? Where did he get his car?
SELBY: Well, I was s-, I was sixteen. You could get your license then at sixteen. (unintelligible) and, uh, I got my license. Dad bought a car—(unintelligible) three hundred seventy-seven dollars.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, my dear! It’s a lot different now. Isn’t it? My dear. Did you, did you (unintelligible)—
SELBY: An old cranking job.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, it was? Oh, goodness! Did you enjoy that?
SELBY: Oh, boy! Yes, sir!
INTERVIEWER: Oh, dear!
SELBY: I was the only one that had a license. When I went away and stayed about a year, my brother, he took over, then, see. Then, when I come home, I saved a little bit of money while I was working away. Every other Saturday night, he had to have a car. So, I saved enough money to buy myself a, a brand new buggy and a new (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: You did?
SELBY: Yeah. So, when I couldn’t get the car, I drove the horse.
INTERVIEWER: All right. But, you were driving it in style.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: (unintelligible) Now, did…speaking about horses, did your dad keep a team to work on the farm with and then another horse for the buggy? Or, did they use the same one?
SELBY: Well, we had a pair of mules and, uh, and another horse. But, we worked the other horse in the field, too.
INTERVIEWER: Oh. You did work it, too?
SELBY: Yeah, but that was (unintelligible) pair of mules.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. What were their names?
SELBY: What?
INTERVIEWER: What were their names? You named the mules, didn’t you?
SELBY: Well, the horse’s name was Tom.
INTERVIEWER: Tom. Ok.
SELBY: Yeah. Let’s see. What was the mule’s name? I can’t think—to save my life.
INTERVIEWER: Could you work the horse and the mule together?
SELBY: Oh, yeah.
INTERVIEWER: They, they didn’t mind?
SELBY: No. No. No. Most of the time, we worked the mules together.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. But, you could do it—
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: --the other way?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Now, you all didn’t use oxen…or did you?
SELBY: No. No, we never did use oxen. (Break in the recording) There was no rooster crow. And, uh, Mr. Bob Lewis lived up there and he seen the car and knew they must have been lost. And, he hollered, and they come out, walking towards him. He said he was the prettiest man he ever seen. (Laughing)
INTERVIEWER: I know so!
SELBY: And, he wasn’t very good-looking. But, he was (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: You know so!
SELBY: Said he was the prettiest man I’d ever seen.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, dear! Oh! That was something! Goodness. Well, now, uh, up, up this way, you didn’t do anything with boats—
SELBY: No. No.
INTERVIEWER: --or anything. Ok.
SELBY: No.
INTERVIEWER: Didn’t do that at all. And, you didn’t go over to Public Landing?
SELBY: No. No.
INTERVIEWER: You went to Shingle Landing—
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: --for your (unintelligible)—
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: What was at Shingle Landing? Just the water and the beach or—
SELBY: Yeah. Well, it used to be an old (unintelligible) way back, years ago, before my time. (Coughing) The old sailing boats—they used to come up here and load grain. Way back, years ago. But, not, not in my time—not in my time. The old building was…I went down there some time ago. But, the old building, it’s gone, now.
INTERVIEWER: All right. But, that was when you were gone—
SELBY: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: --the old building—
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: (unintelligible) ok. All right. Well, I can’t—(Break in the recording) Ok. Your church burned in ’40?
SELBY: Uh huh. (Unintelligible) been ‘40. I know…Uh, maybe it was ’41. ’42 it was built back again—
INTERVIEWER: Oh, dear! How did that happen?
SELBY: It’s exactly the same print from the old church was.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Ok. There weren’t…Were there any other big fires in Whaleyville that you remember?
SELBY: No. No.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: No.
INTERVIEWER: Because, I know Berlin had several real bad fires.
SELBY: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: And, Snow Hill did.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: And Newark did.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: So—
SELBY: Uh, Salisbury, you know.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, right!
SELBY: --at one time (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: (unintelligible) Right. Well, then, Whaleyville was fortunate not to—
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: --have that. Well, then, Whaleyville, when you were growing up, was quite a little community. Wasn’t it? It had p—it had more people than it has now?
SELBY: Whaleyville hasn’t grown very much.
INTERVIEWER: So, it stayed the same.
SELBY: Exactly the same thing and—now—it was when I was a boy.
INTERVIEWER: Isn’t that something?
SELBY: Except in, uh…Well, one or two, three new houses been built. So, right through here, that used to be dirt road. In the wintertime—you couldn’t hardly get up and down it with a team.
INTERVIEWER: I’ll bet not.
SELBY: No.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, my! Oh. Well, do you remember when the road was paved?
SELBY: I don’t know what year it was, but when they first, uh, started—they used to get loads of, uh, oyster shells— And, uh, people would volunteer with their teams and stuff, and come and unload it, and—spread it along the road. It went up (unintelligible) the hill. And, uh, as far as a stone road— And now this—
INTERVIEWER: Ok. I’ve got (unintelligible).
SELBY: (Unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Ok. (unintelligible)
SELBY: I don’t know what year it was paved, tell you the truth.
INTERVIEWER: Well, did the oy—
SELBY: Now, ever, every road is almost paved, is paved roads.
INTERVIEWER: I know. Did the oyster shells help?
SELBY: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Them wheels, them iron wheels—helped grind them up. Made nice roads.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Oh! All right. What else…I think—(Break in the recording) Tell me about a camp meeting because I’ve never been. Did they have them around here?
SELBY: Oh, yeah! We had one over to Bethel.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. What would happen?
SELBY: Well, they had tents. They had a Tabernacle. (unintelligible) Then, there was tents all the way around this (unintelligible). And, people…there would be tents and they would move out in these tents and live there for a week at a time. Well, they say they move out on a Sa—Friday, and Saturday’d be the first night of the camp meeting. And, they’d stay there until the following Monday. Week.
INTERVIEWER: Monday a week.
SELBY: Yeah—
INTERVIEWER: Oh, my goodness!
SELBY: --they’d stay there a week. They’d cook and then they had a boarding tent. You could go there and—get your meals if you wanted to or you could cook—
INTERVIEWER: Cook your own.
SELBY: Yeah. And, they had one in Willards. And, they had one in Parsonsburg. (unintelligible)…I’ll say…maybe (unintelligible) a little bit. We could cook it at the camp meeting.
INTERVIEWER: Well, did you look forward to that?
SELBY: And, they, they were crowding around and round and round and you’d catch a girl—catch a girl on the promenade— And, you liked the girl and you liked her. Some of them met them and liked them—and, all in all, you went together for a couple of years and got married.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, for goodness sakes!
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Well, I had no idea! Now, did they have preaching—
SELBY: Oh, yeah.
INTERVIEWER: --on things, too?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: At night?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Would they be local preachers or would they be men that would come in from different places?
SELBY: Well, most of the time, it was local preachers, but then, they, once in a while, they—(unintelligible) preacher—
INTERVIEWER: Somebody—
SELBY: --another man, you know. (unintelligible) some, you know. (unintelligible) that would draw more people, you know.
INTERVIEWER: All right. To hear somebody new…
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah. And they had singing and stuff. (unintelligible) just like a church.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. But then, during the day, you could socialize.
SELBY: No. At nighttime—
INTERVIEWER: At nighttime, too?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Oh.
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Good.
SELBY: They had services at nighttime.
INTERVIEWER: Uh huh. Oh, good.
SELBY: And, on the…I can remember, in the circle—there’d be a post (unintelligible) and step, and, uh, I’d get these lighted (unintelligible) and get them going for the, for the lights—see. Then, after a while, they had these, uh, kerosene lights, you know. There were no electric in them days.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Now, tell me what a lighter (unintelligible) is.
SELBY: Well, it’s a pine, mostly. Pine dies and (unintelligible) limbs goes off— Well, there’s a knot there, and if a tree is old enough—(unintelligible) turn to (unintelligible)—but juicy. But, it’d burn, see.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Because of (unintelligible).
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Oh! Ok!
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Good.
SELBY: (coughing)
INTERVIEWER: Well, those camp meetings—
SELBY: And, they had, uh, (unintelligible) and the (unintelligible) crossroad. They used to have a camp over there. But I never went…I did go to, down near to Fenwick, close to Fenwick. That was one time. But, I mostly always go to either (unintelligible) or Bethel. It was closer.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. It was closer.
SELBY: So, we had to drive it, them days.
INTERVIEWER: Right. And your whole family would go?
SELBY: Oh, yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Everybody.
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Now, would these have been held, like, in August?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: After the crops were (unintelligible)—
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: --so you could go?
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Ok. (unintelligible) oh, dear. Well, good! I’m glad you remembered that! That was neat! (Break in the recording)
SELBY: (unintelligible) cattle—and, uh…There’d be a lot of (unintelligible) in the pounds and stuff. And, way back in the olden days, you used to (unintelligible) that up, haul it out, and that’s what they used for the fertilize. And, uh, in the spring of the year, come out and taken that out and hauling that out and putting them in little heaps. And then, they, they, they, what they call (unintelligible) and then, they cross it out and then they put a little manure in the (unintelligible)—drop the corn—take a load— (unintelligible) though it. Pull the dirt—over and cover it.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah. ‘Cause you did all of that with horse and walking. Didn’t you?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: That would take a long time.
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: And you would spread the manure in the spring? Or would you put the manure on in the fall?
SELBY: In the spring.
INTERVIEWER: In the spring. Ok. Ok. And that’s all you used for fertilizer?
SELBY: Huh?
INTERVIEWER: That’s the only fertilizer you used.
SELBY: In them days—
INTERVIEWER: Way back.
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
SELBY: Yeah…Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Well, did they use lime? Did they use lime on the fields back then?
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. They did do that.
SELBY: Yeah. It was different kind of lime than what we get now.
INTERVIEWER: It is?
SELBY: Yeah. Used to come in carloads (unintelligible). You had to get in there and shovel it out and take it out—and (unintelligible) out (unintelligible), and, uh, it was (unintelligible). Then, you would have to load it—then spread it. But now, this (unintelligible) come in bags, you know, and put it in the spreader—spreader. Boy, there was an awful lot of hard work in them days.
INTERVIEWER: It sounds—
SELBY: But, they didn’t mind working. Now, now they don’t want to work.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Yeah. That’s true. No, well, that was, that was hard and dangerous doing all that lime because you breathed it all in.
SELBY: Yeah. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: You did, indeed.
SELBY: (unintelligible) many time of the night be cold (unintelligible) the dark.
INTERVIEWER: Isn’t that something?
SELBY: Come up to the house and get (unintelligible) that old cook stove. Get warm. Be tickled to death when night comes.
INTERVIEWER: Mm hmm. Because you needed to get to sleep because it was going to start the next day all over again. Oh, dear! Oh! Well…
SELBY: Yeah. I got (unintelligible) come out to town of a night…(unintelligible) all day. Then, we’d say, “Laws. I’m going to bed early tonight.” After supper, get washed up (coughing) walk out (unintelligible) the store, sit around there and talk until that night train would come—nine o’clock. Then, we would go home, walk home.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, my dear! And, that was fun. Wasn’t it?
SELBY: Huh?
INTERVIEWER: That was fun—
SELBY: Well, (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: That was entertaining. Yes.
SELBY: I did what I had to do.
INTERVIEWER: That’s right.
SELBY: But, boy, (unintelligible) I’m going to bed early tonight.
INTERVIEWER: Aww. That’s good! Well, I thank you.
SELBY: Your welcome.
INTERVIEWER: I had—
END OF INTERVIEW