Full Text of the Excerpt

ALLEN TULLOS:

Did you have a phonograph machine? A record player?

JESSIE LEE CARTER:

Ones that you'd crank, you know. We had one of them. We'd buy the records and play them.

ALLEN TULLOS:

Do you remember Jimmie Rodgers?

JESSIE LEE CARTER:

Yeah, we had some records of him.

ALLEN TULLOS:

And the Carter Family?

JESSIE LEE CARTER:

And the Carter Family. My uncle used to tease us and tell us, Aunt Maybelle was our Aunt Maybelle, but she wasn't. We was different Carters.

ALLEN TULLOS:

But you don't remember there being any fiddle players or banjo players that lived here?

JESSIE LEE CARTER:

No, I don't remember any of them. We never did have any player in here. But that had, let's see what they call it…I believe it was Textile Hall. And music people would come there. But I never did go.

ALLEN TULLOS:

Why didn't you go?

JESSIE LEE CARTER:

Well, we just never did start going.

ALLEN TULLOS:

It wasn't because your father…

JESSIE LEE CARTER:

No, they'd a let us to went if we wanted to went, but all of us crowd of girls and boys would get together on Saturday evenings and Sunday after church, and just get a crowd together and enjoy theirselves that way. We'd go, maybe, to my grandmother's house or to my uncle's house, or stay at home and all of them'd come to our house. We'd all get out and play games. We enjoyed that.

ALLEN TULLOS:

What kind of games?

JESSIE LEE CARTER:

Well, we used to play, "Ring Around The Roses"—I guess that's a old one, too. And "Drop The Handkerchief". Little boys, you know, used to pick up their handkerchiefs when they'd see it drop, you know. They're supposed to kiss the girl they got it. Of course we was bashful then 'cause we wouldn't want the boys to kiss us. But they'd grab us and kiss us anyhow. We'd play tag. We'd run around. We'd have a big ring out here to the barn, and if he couldn't catch you, he didn't get to kiss you. But if he caught you, he could kiss you.

ALLEN TULLOS:

Did you play ball?

JESSIE LEE CARTER:

No, they never did play ball. Well, our brothers would. They'd get out and play ball, uh huh. Now, the girls didn't play ball, but I had a girl, a daughter of mine. Lord, she was the biggest ball player ever was. She'd rather get out and play ball than eat when she was hungry.

ALLEN TULLOS:

What kind of ball?

JESSIE LEE CARTER:

Baseball. Each team would want her on their side. She was a good ball player.