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Transcript on deposit at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Library
Citation of this interview should be as follows:
“Interview H-0247, in
the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007,
Southern Historical
Collection, The Wilson Library,
University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill”
Paul and Pauline Griffith were married in 1927 in Greenville, South Carolina. Paul's family moved from Mauldin, South Carolina, to the area in 1905 in search of work. Initially, his father worked as an overseer on a cotton plantation, but in 1912, when the Judson Mill was built, he became a machinist for the mill while his mother went to work as a weaver. Pauline's family moved to Greenville in 1915 from Hendersonville, South Carolina. She and her family found that it was increasingly difficult to survive as farmers, so they moved to Greenville so that her father could work in the Judson Mill. Both Paul and Pauline describe growing up in Greenville as well as the conditions they faced in the Judson Mill, where both spent their entire working careers. They also describe the changes in technology and work strategies in the mills from the 1920s to the 1970s; how life in Greenville changed during the Great Depression and World War II; and the importance of religion in their lives.
Paul and Pauline Griffith spent their working careers in the Judson Mill in Greenville, South Carolina. They offer an overview on conditions in the mill and how the work changed from the 1920s into the 1970s.
[START OF TAPE 1, SIDE A]
The place to begin, I guess, would be with you, Mr. Griffith. If you could recall anything, if you will, about your grandparents, or where you grew up, your parents, where you all lived, or any memories that you might have.
You want me to start now?
Yes, sir.
We come here at Judson Mill in 1905. This was a plantation where this
mill was built. That's where we [pause]
Where the office is.
Where the office is now. This mill was built in 1912. And so I've been around here practically all my life.
What do you know about why it was your parents came here?
They worked on the farm.
They were both born down near Mauldin.
Mauldin, South Carolina, yes.
They grew up on the farm?
Yes.
What kind of crops do you reckon they used to grow?
Cotton and corn, and something to eat.
How old were they when they came here? You say 1905 is the year. You were told that they came to Greenville? How old would they have been approximately?
About thirty years old, somewhere along in there.
Was there any particular reason why they left the Mauldin area and came here?
No. They just came. You know how farmers does.
Your father was a kind of an overseer. Would that be a true?
Yes, plantation, yes.
Who was the man that owned it?
A fellow, Seely, owned the land.
How big a place was it?
Oh, I guess there was about a hundred acres in here, or more.
Did he own that place a pretty long time, Mr. Seely?
I don't know how long he owned it.
Who was working on it mainly? Who was farming it?
Colored people.
Colored people.
They grew cotton.
Do you reckon some member of their families had been here since the Civil War times?
I imagine there was, yes, back then.
What was you father's job in relation to the black people that lived here?
He see'd that they had a different job to do, just like the overseer. And at picking cotton time, all of them went together and picked cotton, and the corn, and stuff like that.
Do you think they just had one big cotton field or did each of the tenants have a separate patch?
It was just one big field of cotton and one big field of corn, and other vegetables they want to grow, too.
And did each of the black families have a separate house that they lived in?
Yeah, a separate house.
And do you know what kind of a house your parents had?
Well, it was a frame house, an old frame house.
How many rooms were in it?
I guess it had about four or five, something like that.
Just one floor?
One floor, yes.
You had one sister and one brother? What were their names?
We called him Bill, W.T. Griffith.
Was he the older brother?
The oldest one, yes. He was five years older than I was. And my sister's name is Dot Hawkins now.
Dorothy.
Dorothy.
When was she born?
Oh, I believe 1915.
Do you remember anything at all about building the mill, or buying the land here to build the Judson Mill?
I forgot who built it, but anyway they started building the mill in 1912. I forgot who first started off. I don't know whether Milliken had anything to do with that then or not. But sometime in years to come, Milliken got a hold of it.
What about your father? What did he do when they built the mill?
Well, he helped build the mill. He knowed something about machinery and he went into the machine shop. Then he became what we called a ‘second-hand’ back then—kinda like a boss.
What would a second-hand do? What kind of authority did he have back then?
Well he had the authority to tell people what to do, and if you didn't do it, he'd just get somebody else.
Was he a second-hand in a particular department?
In the machine shop.
What did they do in the machine shop?
Well, maybe a piece would break off a loom, or something like that. Then they'd bring it to the shop. They'd fix it in the machine shop, all kinds of things.
How was it that he had some experience with machinery?
Well, he worked on all kinds of machinery before then. Then after he got it there he just picked it up more.
Was it mostly farming machinery that he had worked with before?
Yeah.
Had he ever done anything else besides farming?
No, not that I know of.
Do you remember at all the mill being built?
Yeah, I can remember they started putting up walls when I was a little fella.
Did they build these houses at the same time they built the mill?
I believe it was about 1913 when they built these houses, or somewhere along in there.
So you were about seven years old. Did you all move into one of these houses?
Yeah. Right across the street, and two rooms. And another person had two rooms, back then.
Was it a house pretty much like this one?
Just the same. They just started building them over there, you see. That side over there was built first.
Were these houses divided so that two families could move in?
There's a hall through here.
And there would be two. . . .
Two rooms.
On each side.
Now some family on the next street had five rooms. And one person had three rooms, and another person had two rooms.
Sometimes a family would take the whole house?
Just according to how big the family was.
What about when you started to school? Did you go to school when you were here in the Judson Mill?
They just had one room.
How old were you when you started?
I was about six or seven, somewhere along in there.
Do you remember much about that?
Not too, too much.
All the different children would be in the same room?
Uh huh.
How many grades?
Then they just again have school. . . you help me a littl bit on that, Polly?
Well, I imagine maybe one through fourth grades, in the same room.
What about your mother? Did she work in the mill?
Yeah, she worked in the mill.
What was her job?
Weaver, she weaved.
Do you remember her talking about her work?
Yeah. When she first went to work, her and my daddy married, she worked in the mill five cents a day. Five cents a day before her and my daddy married. Then they got to making more.
Where would that have been?
Right down here at Conestee, right down there pretty close to Mauldin. Had a little mill down there.
What was she doing down there? What job would that have been?
I don't know.
But that's where she had first gone to work?
Uh huh.
When she came up here, what kind of looms do you remember that she was running back then?
I was small. I don't know nothing about that then.
Do you remember her talking about how many looms she had run?
No, I don't.
What time would she have to get up to go to work?
They'd blow a whistle up there at five o'clock to wake the people up, and you had to go to work at six o'clock.
And they worked ten hours a day.
And they got off an hour for dinner. Then five hours on Saturday.
She would come home for dinner? And your father, too?
Yeah.
Then they would get off work about five o'clock? And the whistle would blow?
About five o'clock. In the morning about five o'clock.
And in the evening, too, to get off?
No, I don't think it would blow again.
And there was really just one shift of workers?
At that particular time, yeah. Then a little bit later on, they put two shifts.
Do you remember when that would have been? About the time of World War II, or World War I or after that? I'm just curious, was she still working there when they had two shifts?
I don't believe so. She died in 1925.
Did your mother work in the mill all the time until her death?
No, her health went bad.
So she had to retire from the mill?
Yeah, she had to quit.
What was the trouble?
Oh, she had an operation I think. Gall bladder trouble back then; they didn't know much about that back then like they do now.
Was there anybody that looked after the children while she was working in the mill?
No. We had to stay at home. We [laughter]had to stay at home;
They kept up with you?
Yeah.
Well, their ages were separated several years apart, so really I guess your brother, Bill, was almost old enough to look out for the younger two of you?
Yeah.
How many grades did Bill finish in school?
Oh, about the same thing.
And your sister?
Well, my sister finished school.
High school?
High school, yeah.
Where did she finish high school?
Slater, South Carolina.
How did she get up there?
After my mother died, my sister was small, and my daddy married again. And they moved up the country here about fifteen miles, further up the mountains there, called Slater Mill. J.P. Stevens owned that mill up there.
They owned it later? Did they buy it later?
They built it new. In 1928 my daddy moved up there. He married in '27. Me and my wife here married in the same year. He married about the first of the year, and we married the 28th of May of the same year.
We married on my nineteenth birthday [laughter]
Where did you all marry?
At Preacher Gualt's parsonage.
His name was Gualt?
Uh huh. G-U-A-L-T.
What job did your father have with the Slater Mill?
About the same thing.
He was in charge of the machines?
The machine shop, uh huh.
Do you remember your mother ever talking about what the conditions were like inside the mill?
Well, she said when she first went to work, she had to have a box. She was small and she had to have a box to stand on and reach what she was doing.
How old was she when she started? That would have been before she moved up here.
Oh, I don't know. She was pretty small.
I believe he does a better job than I can.
I think you all both do fine.
Thank you.
Why don't we get you to go back in the same way that Mr. Griffith has, if you can, and remember some of your early memories about where you grew up and family and what your family did and things like that.
We lived in the country in Hendersonville and they raised corn and beans. It was just generally vegetables mostly in that area. And they had apples. They raised chickens. My daddy was just a farmer. And they raised hogs. We grew everything we ate right there at home, except you know, the commodities you'd have to buy in the store. It was quite a treat to get to go to the store. Because everything was made at home, and the things from the store were outstanding to all those kids. We looked forward to go shopping sometimes with my dad. They used to sell eggs to buy other things, you know. They swapped eggs instead of money.
For coffee.
For coffee and sugar and things like that. I remember them telling about
the first car that came through there. My two sisters were going to the
store with a basket of eggs and they saw this car coming. It frightened
them so that they ran up the bank to see it go by, so it [laughter]
We had a happy home life. My father was a Christian man, and my mother. We went to church and that was one of the main things in their lives.
What church did you go to?
At first we didn't have a church. We went over the hill, over a mountain. My daddy would carry me on his back. It was in my aunt's home. They had Sunday school then. They just had a worship service. And finally there was a church built in our area. And my uncle, on my grandmother's side, was the pastor. He had twin boys, Elbert and Albert. It was just a good country church.
Was it any particular denomination?
It was Baptist, uh huh, and they'd have prayer meetings and singings and different things, you know, to go to. We would go in a wagon, and that was quite a treat, you know, to get to go to church in the wagon. That was a big day.
How often would you go?
To church?
Yes. Would it be every week that you'd get to go?
Yes. We had service every week. We had a good happy life. Our community in which we lived, the people were thoughtful of each other. We had good fellowship among our neighbors, friends.
When was it that you came to Greenville?
When I was about seven years old, and I was born in 1908.
Why was it that your family came here?
Well, the crops were kind of failing at that time, and they thought that it would be better to move. It was a necessity to move and get a job, rather than depend on the farm. That's why we came.
Can you remember at all your parents trying to make it on the farm? Did they want to come to the mill? Or would they have rather stayed on the farm?
Well, they would have preferred to stay on the farm, but you've heard of famines in the Bible. It was kind of like that. We could have survived but it wouldn't have been easy. So they thought it would be easier for the family to come. My two older sisters worked, and my father.
They started to work as well as your father?
Yes, they were weavers. My daddy worked in the. . . what was that shop he worked in?
I forget what department it was.
It's where they dyed the yarn.
It was here?
At Judson.
What about your mother? Did she work in the mill?
No, sir, she never worked in the mill at all. And my mother was never in the hospital.
She looked after the children?
Yes, she looked after us and kept the home.
Did she have a garden?
Yes, sir, she had a garden. She had pigs. Coming from the country, they
used to allow us to have a place where we could have
She was in charge of the garden and your livestock?
Yes, sir.
Did she can food?
Yes, she did. We canned up food, you know, and helped out, just like in the country, only it was on a smaller scale.
Did you ever notice any difference between the people who had moved here from the mountains where they had grown a lot of vegetables and different kinds of crops before, and the people who were more accustomed to growing cotton, who hadn't grown so many different kinds of things?
Well, I was amazed at the cotton. I couldn't imagine it growing like it
did. And as I got a little older, I had some friends whose daddy had
some cotton. I tried picking some to see how much money I could make. I
picked thirteen pounds and I thought I had picked a bale [laughter]
Were there any differences between the people that had come from the mountains and those who were cotton people?
Well, I couldn't tell any difference. At the time that we came to the mill, the mill people had a good standard that the people had to live by. There were no roughnecks allowed in the village. They were choice people. You didn't even have to lock your doors. If you wanted to go to town or somewhere, you could just go to town and come back, and everything would be there.
Would that be true for the several mill villages at that time?
I guess it was. It was for this one. Because the
[END OF TAPE 1, SIDE A]
[START OF TAPE 1, SIDE B]
Do you know why it was that your mother and father chose to come to this particular place?
I had an aunt that lived here, and she worked in the plant. She's the one that got the jobs for them at the time.
How did she do that?
Well, she contacted the bosses at the plant. And we lived in the house with her. She lived on one side and us on the other. There was just a hall in between.
Was she living by herself?
No. Her husband and three children. But we all lived in the same house, except for the hall.
Until they could get another house. They was building more houses then.
How did you arrange your half of the house? I guess you had five or six people living. . . .
I guess that house had six rooms. We had three and our aunt had three. Our brothers were small enough that we didn't have too much problem. They were younger then. I was the youngest girl.
What about the houses then? Did they have any kind of utilities, electricity, water?
Not at that time. And the floors were open. You [laughter]
That there was when they was in the country.
Yeah. And they didn't have any insulation of any kind back in the mill houses at that time.
You're talking about the mill house when you moved here? That you could see through the floors?
No, sir. In the country. But back then, we couldn't afford linoleum floor
coverings, or any rugs. And we would save our water that we washed with,
suds, and scrub the whole house and both porches. That was the way we
lived back in that day and we didn't think anything about it. I had
washed many a time—the entire house, porches and all—and after a while
when the clothes begin to dry, bring them in and iron them, all in the
same day [laughter]
About your aunt: what job did she have in the mill?
I think that she worked in the cloth room.
She put in a word then with the bosses. Who would that have been exactly? Like a second-hand or an overseer?
I don't know. See, I was small.
And so your father and your two older sisters?
Worked.
And they went to work immediately?
Yes.
And what did they do?
They were weavers. My daddy worked in the dye room.
What was it like for them when they first went into the mill? Do you remember them talking about that, what they saw, and felt, and heard?
They were scared [laughter] [laughter] [laughter] [laughter]
She's talking about the weaving room. When you haven't been used to it
and a person goes in there, you can't hardly hear. You just have to get
accustomed to it. That's the way she was. She just had went to work,
maybe a day or two. It takes you several days to catch people's
voices
But he was a good boss. He was a good overseer. He had a gruff voice, and a great big built body, but he was real mild in his nature towards people. I enjoyed working.
What was his name?
Tidwell.
And he was overseer of the weaving room.
Yes he was. He was Mr. John Tidwell. And he was a mighty good overseer. But later it was right funny. We had this seat, you know, where you could sit? And we all got our looms running and just for fun, we played like we was sitting down—you know how young people are. And this time, a Mr. Copeland had come to be the bigshot. Mr. Tidwell had moved on. And he looked down the alley and saw us, and he got so mad. Here he come, like to scared us to death. And we ran over there and got our looms started. He balled us everyone out. He liked to scared us to death. So from there out, we didn't try that trick no more.
You all were just playing a joke?
You know how young people are? They'll just play like they're going to
do. We could not set in each other's laps without the swing a-falling.
We was just playing like we would, you know. There were about five of
us. Boy, he got us all [laughter]
Explain how that seat worked.
Well, like the loom is on this side, the leather would be fixed to the
seat, and it'd be fastened securely. Then over here would be something
to hang it up on and make a seat out of it. But normally it just hung by
the loom, all the way. When we'd get tired, we could rest a littlewhile.
That was back then, during John Tidwell's time. [laughter]
What was his first name, do you remember?
Copeland? I don't remember his first name.
I don't remember either.
It was kind of cruel, but we sure knew to tend our own work and to stay on it.
Let me just go back, so I can understand what you all were doing. You were pretending you were sitting in each other's laps?
Yeah. Playing like it. You know, just like the seat was here, you know. And we just stooped over kind of like we was sitting in each other's laps. We really weren't.
All five of you in one seat?
All one another. [laughter]
It was just about this wide apart, the looms on this side and looms on that side, and this strap come over here. Like I'm sitting here. Then the other kind of put themselves right on up like this.
We was just playing like, and we was all young, right in there. You have to have some fun as you go along with your work, to make it interesting.
You were hoping that he would catch your eye, really, or somebody would see you all doing this?
No, we weren't thinking about that. We was just having fun. We wasn't
doing it for anybody's attention. We were just playing with each other,
just having fun. Young people play leap frog, and different things, you
know, and we was just doing that. Because the one over him, word gets
around. And they didn't allow people to be abused back then, which was
wonderful. I think it's nice for the people to get to
You said the word would get around: would he hear this from some of the workers, perhaps?
They probably would, you know. We wouldn't say anything about it, but you know word does get around. If the boss is good and kind, it gets back. And if he abuses, that also gets back.
In other words, you all could really have a lot to say about who the boss was. The people who were weaving or working in the weaving room had something to say, at least, about whether a good boss got to stay, or one that was bad had to leave? Would that be true?
No. Not back then. Not necessarily. But the one over the top watched so closely until he could sense what was going on. He was just a wonderful person, Mr. Bobo. He was real good. To see that working conditions were what they should be.
Take Bobo. When people go a-quitting, he'd be wanting to know what's the matter. See, he had a second-hand under him, over the people. And if that second-hand was too hard on the help, and they go to quitting—see, there'd be several mills around and a person could just quit and go to another mill. And when several do go, he'd be calling somebody in, wanting to know what's the matter with the help.
That's the way he found out.
So really the workers did have a lot to say about things indirectly.
Yeah.
So people would start quitting, and they'd have to make some changes.
Yes they would, because back then, if you wanted to go down in and work,
all you had to do was go over and ask for a job and
Did the different mills have different reputations at different times about one being a better place to work than another? Some overseer being a better one to try to work for or things like that?
I imagine they're about the same.
I think they're about the same. They kind of work together, you know, kind of like a unit. Different plant managers checked with the others, and it's about the same.
We should go back a bit to your coming in to learn how to weave. Did someone teach you? Who did you work with?
My sister, Vita. They put me with her and she had the looms, and all her
looms were in one alley.
How many looms were a set of looms back then?
Well, I believe there was about twelve back then, don't you, Paul?
Somewhere along in there.
And so you started out operating twelve looms?
Yes, sir.
What kind were they?
They were the Crompton-Knowles.
And so they were those box looms? What were you making, do you remember what you first learned how to make?
I think it was more of a plain weave back then, don't you, Paul?
Yeah, it was a plain weave then.
Yes, it was plain weave at that time, but later they put more fancy on.
Were you running several colors when you started?
No, just one.
But you were still working on a box loom?
On a box loom, uh huh. But, see they could fix it where it would use just the one shuttle. Or if it was a pattern that needed to put in designs, they could use all of the boxes, to come up.
So you were really operating as if it had been an ordinary Draper, plain loom.
Uh huh.
You weren't using but one of the shuttles. That's interesting.
They didn't have magazines on them then. We had to thread our shuttles. And we had to watch when the yarn on the shuttle was about out. If we'd catch that and stop it off and put in another bobbin, we'd make better quality.
Before it ran out?
Uh huh. There was a lot of watching we had to do, you know, to keep up with it.
Did they have what they used to call the ‘suck shuttle’, do you remember that, where you had to kind of suck the thread through the hole in the shuttle?
No. Ours had a kind of an eye, and we had to have spindle in the shuttle, and we'd have to pull that up and put the bobbin on there, and push it down and pull it.
Through that eye.
Pull it through the eye of the needle from the shuttle. And then we'd have to put it where it wouldn't make a bad start of it, you know. It was usually best to begin it from the side. Then there wouldn't be a place in the cloth.
If there was a place in the cloth, what would it look like? What would they call that?
That would be where you started up. I know I had long hair and one time,
accidentally, some of my hair—I could have been combing my hair at the
time, or some could have dropped down. And so one time I had to go to
the cloth room. They said, "Pauline, we appreciate your doing a good job
weaving, but please don't let any more hair get in." [laughter]
See, if you don't catch that, it makes a little thin place, like a thread out. That's what it is: just that thread.
In cloth, a lot of times, it sold for first quality, but having been a
weaver, I can tell when it isn't. Because a lot of times you pay for
first-quality cloth, where there would be a thread out, or where they
had drawn the ends wrong in the warp and
Do you remember when you switched over from running the twelve looms into learning the different kind, or fancier, weaves?
Yes, I worked on crepe finally. But first I worked on, I believe, was
casket lining. It was real fine. And the warp was [laughter] [laughter]real
fine. You could hardly see it. It was wrapped funny.
Her mother wouldn't let her court until she was sixteen. And her sister was two or three years older than she was. So I courted her some, and Pauline went along, so that's the way we got to going.
Where would you all go, when you were courting?
Mainly to church. And they used to have a playground, they called it, up
here in the mill yard. And they had swings.
The mill would sponsor it?
Yes. They kept it up.
It was real nice.
In the meantime, over here—we call it the gobbler's knob—every Fourth of July, they'd have a big to-do over there, with firecrackers. They'd have a greasy pig and baseball game over there.
It was right funny: we went to a church get-together, and they had a
womanless wedding. That's before Paul and I got engaged. And so coming
back, we took a girlfriend of mine home, you know, after going to this
meeting, and Paul proposed to me coming back from a womanless wedding
[laughter]
I was in one. And they fixed me up with a young girl.
Yeah. He was in a womanless wedding then years later, after he had
married. I got him all fixed up and put lipstick on him, and got him a
pink hat and a pink dress. I did fine, until I got down to his feet, and
I couldn't find shoes big enough [laughter]
Did they put a black face on then? At some of those womanless weddings, they paint their faces black.
Oh, they had a black mammy and she ‘Boo-Hooed’ at the wedding. It was real funny.
All of them were men.
I said that was right funny that we was coming back from the womanless wedding and he decided he'd propose.
Were you all walking, or riding back?
We had to walk. We didn't know what automobiles were back then.
They used to have a street car run on a train track, and that was our transportation to go to town.
Would you ever go in together to see movies? When you were courting?
A few times, not much.
My mother was real strict, and she knew which way I went. And his mother, in her lifetime, was real strict, too. So we had to tow the mark. So we didn't have too much excitement in life.
You didn't get to go to dances?
No, sir. Nothing like that.
Did the mill have a band that it sponsored back than, with all the brass bands, or anything like that?
No. I don't think they did. Like I say, they sponsored baseball leagues. Each mill had a ball team.
Did you ever play on one of those?
No, I didn't. I used to box some.
Box? They used to have golden glove tournaments at different mills in towns, didn't they?
Yeah.
Do you all remember what they called these hillbilly bands—string bands that played for dances in people's houses?
They didn't allow that here.
They didn't allow it?
No
There used to be some medicine shows sometimes.
Coming through.
And they'd put on a little dance or program or something and we'd go see that, you know.
And they would have a couple of musicians, and someone holding up a bottle of medicine?
Yeah.
And putting on a show?
But they didn't allow nothing in the village, what I mean, house-to-house thing, or anything. They'd let them come through.
They were really strict in that day.
Sometimes I've heard of different string bands having shows at the school house or something like that. Do you remember that? Performances? A band like Bill Monroe's or something?
[END OF TAPE 1, SIDE B]
[START OF TAPE 2, SIDE A]
Well, let me go back again, before we can too far away from it, and talk about the weaving job and what that was like. At the time, you say that you all were making plain goods on the Crompton-Knowles looms, how many looms would have been making this? All of the looms in the mill, or maybe half of them? Would some be making the plain and some the fancier goods? It looks like they weren't using these looms up to their full potential.
Well, they had different sections that had different materials. Now, some materials could be woven with a drier temperature, and some had to have more humidity. And they had to put them accordingly.
Well, when you were making the casket linings, how many of the shuttles were you using?
One.
Still just one. Do you remember the first time that you used more than one shuttle?
Well, it wasn't too long. The looms over next to us were weaving handkerchiefs, and it wasn't long until they put me on the handkerchiefs, because they could put somebody on the plain weave better, and they needed someone on the handkerchiefs. That was interesting. We made beautiful handkerchiefs.
Four boxes?
Some of them had three and some four. Just according to what kind of handkerchiefs they were making.
On the end of the loom, the boxes would come up and come out, you know, according to what design.
Had to make a chain to make them boxes go up at a certain time—different
ones—and then they'd drop down.
And that's what you were doing, making the pattern chain?
Yes.
We'll catch up with that, and get you to tell us about that. Let me ask
one or two more of these questions. How many sets of looms do you reckon
were making the plain goods at the time you were making them?
About four of five alleys.
Yes, about four of five alleys.
I guess there was about thirty looms in an alley.
So maybe one hundred twenty-five, to a hundred and fifty looms.
In a section. Weaving all that one time.
That's real helpful. Who made the decision that twelve looms was a set?
The designers would decide how many looms a person could run, I would think. And Paul worked closely with the designers office.
Maybe we should go back now and kind of catch up where we left off with you, Mr. Griffith. We can start back I think at about the time you started to work. How old were you when you started?
I was going on about seventeen.
That was about 1923? And you started out here at the Judson?
Yes.
What was your first job?
Laying up filling in the weave room.
Could you describe what you would do?
Well. They had a box at the end of the loom, to keep the bobbins in the place, the bobbins with the yarn, so the weavers could get it when they wanted it. I guess I had about four or five alleys I had to keep different. . . .
That's not the same as filling the magazine, is it?
No.
That was before they put the automatic magazine on there?
Yes.
You were just putting the bobbins down where the weavers could get it?
In a little box, about a foot wide I reckon, and about a foot high. I had to keep so many bobbins in there.
How was it that you got your job?
Well, after that I changed jobs and I got to putting those chains together, and make a different design or colors.
But before that, how was it that you got your first job laying out the filling? Who did you talk to?
Well, my daddy helped me get that.
Let's see, you had gone to about the ninth grade?
About eighth or ninth, somewhere along there.
Did you go right to work after you stopped school?
Yes, uh huh.
So you didn't ever have any other kind of paying jobs before this, did you?
No. I've been in mill work like that ever since. Then I got my left eye hurt. I learned this job for building them pattern chains before I got my eye hurt and they just kept me on there.
How did you hurt your eye?
A nail flew up and hit me in the eye.
When you were working here at home?
At the mill.
Could you tell me about that?
I was helping a fella take down a harness, draw it in. When she got
through with it we just put it on the truck. We had an extra piece. One
side of it was stationary, and another place was loose.
What year did you have the accident?
1926. Last day of November, 1926.
What happened? Did you go to a doctor? Did the mill help?
Yeah. They seen what happened, and they rushed me to a doctor, Dr. Carpenter. We called him the old man. He had a boy, retired here a couple of years ago, Carpenter. We called him the old man.
Was he the mill doctor?
No, just an eye doctor.
He was a specialist.
A specialist. And he worked on it, and he didn't give me nothing for pain. He just got me up there about six o'clock. He got me in that chair, put me back where you put your head back there. The way he had his knee and everything, he worked on that thing. I grit my teeth hard while he was doing all that, so my jaw stayed sore for four or five months. It tore my nerves up some.
Was there any kind of accident coverage, insurance, for the mill?
No. Buddy, he won't give me nothing. But I finally got a thousand dollars out of it.
Did you lose part of the sight of it?