| Summary: | Folder contains 7-page essay transcribed for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the late 1930s.-
• Mre. Beeeie Heley Koore, (writer)
MrS, Josephine C. Woods, (revisor)
Published in Mountain egle
Deoember, 1925,
Intereeting Happenings, Paet and Present.
A bout City of Jasper.
As a ten year old ohild living in the beautiful, oultured,town
of Earietta, Georgia, I first beoame a regular reader of the .ountain
Eagle. The editor had eeen my name on the desk in his offioe and had
mailed a oopy to me. This paper has been a weloome vistor eaoh week
during all the intervening years.
When my father's family moved to Jaeper we oame somewhat on tha
installment plan, Curtis ,my brother. ooming early in Pebruary, uma
and the other ohildren a month later and Papa following in another
month.
Coming by the best route then available, we left 'arietta at
mid night going northweet to Chattanooga, ohanged oare and turned
souThweet to Birmingham, thenoe north on the oabooee of a train to
Warrior Station where we spent the night.
Very early the next morning, my unole's trusty negro man-of-all
work, Unole Plant, drising two powerful mules, pete and Tobe, to a oover
ed wagon, oalted for us and ws started on our thirty-three mile overland
trip to Jasper. Beoause of my mother's frail health my uncle had
a trundle bed with feather mattress and quilts in the wagon andmamma
lay down during most of the journey, while I sat in state with the
baby on the driver's eeat and the in-between ohildren ware tuoked
in vaoant spaoee around wraps, baggage and bedding. To all of us
Unole Plant and his mules were a source of great amusemunt.we had
never heard a noisy coachmau before and w eoftly giggled at the
many "Whoa Pete's, Get Up Tobe's~
KallllDa was impaU.ant to reaoh our destination but no amount
of urging oould induce Unole Plant to overdrive his precioue mules.
We had to epend the night at a house on the way. UY little sister's
had never eeen an open log room such as the kitchen was and much
to our mother'e discomfort one of them oalled out in her ohiltieh
voioe, "0, they have a light in the hen-houle". The big houae
oonaiated of two rooms with a roaring fire in that ocoupied by the
fami1F. but none in ours.We ohildran were tired after our travels
that we slept all unoonoioue of the sweet potatoes that had been put
in our mattress, evidently to prevent their freezing.
How glad we weaa to reaoh Jasper, and to great my Mother'S brothera
and their wives whon she had not seen for so many years.
It ie almost impossible for us of this progressive, modern
"biggeat little city of tha south" to vieualise the Jasper of thosa days,
The town was more oom~aotly built than today. The only house east of the
creek were • , Gravlee~oottage. ooouping praotioally the eame site
as the two etory home of to-day, Captain Long's oolonial mansion.
Colonel Appling's residenoe and~. usgrove~home.
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• A frame oourt house stood in the plaoe of our present palaoe of
justioe, there were small stores with spaoes between on three sides ~
the squaee, most of the stores having front porohes whioh were popul~
sitting rooms for the proprietors and unhasting friends. The post
offioe was in the rear of one of these storas •
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Our home like the other homes in Jasper was oeiled but had neith~
been painted or papered. There were three outside doors and ths only
bay window in the oounty at that time.
Between us and the publio square stretohed the "bone yard", a very
beautiful gro.e. During oourt week. this grove was a hitohing plaoe
for the oountry people where a thriving business in horse swapping was
oarried on and muoh drinking and oarousing.
Amouns the first vistors in our house were Mrs. Sheriff Laoy and
sons. I reoall my admiration of their stylish appearanoe. tho tha
only details I remember now were the long white stookings and etrap
slippere worn by the boye. Other early oallers not so modish in dress
were just as kindly in their weloome to us. Thare weee two eisters whoee
ooatumes were unusual ae to head, hands smd feet. They were sun bonnets.
"half-handed" home-knit white yarn gloves and rubber over shoes instead
of shoes and stookings.
Very soon after our arrival in Jasper, I found mysslf, as I thought,
a young lad" for there was a "sociable" at Mrs. Stovall's and I
rsoieved the following note,
"Complements of E. P. Rosemond to Mis. Beseie Halay
and would be pleased to escort you to the sooiable at Mrs. Stovsll's
to-night".
'ith my parents'permission I aocepted.It was satur&&y. ~aroh 31. I
donned my white pique skirt and wina-colored wool Noffolk jaoket, and
outwardly oalm but with a fluttering heart "went with a boy" for the first
time. It was the caatum then for a gentleman at night, to plaoe his left
arm upon hie breast and extend his elbow far outward and for the lady
he was eIoorting to place her right kand gently within the loop th~
formed. We went through the ceremony with dignity and studied uno
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At thie debut party of mine I'met the society oontingent of Jaspsr,
ranging in age from twelve to thirty. Amoung those present were Dr. Stovall
and Nancy Dodson who afterwards beoame his wife, ollie Little, Carlos owen,
Laila Gamble, J. Harvey Cranford,lour future mayor for many years), Ella
StanleylYre R. W. Gordon) and also Jasper's first "tooth dentist", Dr.
~. H. cAnnally.
A few nightslater, there was a patty. I was invited but young people
in those days didn't have "dates". very girl looked forward to a "not"
and the notewas saldom sent more than a few hours bafore tha funotion.
As time pasead and the town grew ths nots oarring businee. beoame
a profitable induatry for the small boys of the community that they mada
themselves a peet by soliciting ordars and the young men in self defanoa
requirad their messengers to warrant the notes, that is, guarantae an
affirmatiwe answe"the oustomary niokle being paid only upon this provieo.
Ths youngeeters soon developed an almost unoanny working psyohology ae to
whoaa answers they oould safely warrant.
my father's to keep th e
I raoieved my note that aforesaid night
I aocepted. Now, it wae a life-long ouetom of
from • A. B. Stovall and
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olook from fifteen to thirty minutes faet, and that unluoky night the
olook had already etruok eight when my eeoort, a Beau B~!mmel, in neatneee
and etyle put in hie appearanoe. MY Father eaid "It'e going on eight
o'olook.too late to gO&O a party. "and from his decieion there was no
appeal. Another time when I had a note I wae advised to reply."MY parente
think I am too young to go with the gentlemen, and you know I must obey
the fifth oomman4ent~ With these parental handicaps to say nothing of my E
red hair anf freckles. is it any wonder I was never a society belle,
Jut youth is a defeot too rapidly overoome and there were many good times
for me after all.
In addition to Sunday Sohool singings. sooiables, amd parties. other
divereions of the ypungpeople were walks to the old oemetary. Rabine'
spring, Aoademy Hill and Childere spring: buggy riding, a little later mOE
elegantly disignated as "driving "and oocaeional hayride and most fasoinating
of al1,ee~enA~.Uncle S am and Aunt Luoy were always ready to
ohaperon us. and Unole Sam was a geniue with the banjo, qUitar and
violin while all of us joined in einging "Juanita. en you and I wsre
young. ~ggie" In the gloaming" Goad-bye. my lover. good bye".
UBny delightfull functions ~hve gra.ed Jaspsr's oalender during our
residence here. The moet elaborate amoun~ those in earlier days was a
party given by rxs. • st o1ey. famous as housewi~e. oook amd hostess.
It r~ined h rd t at nig t and thsre were no carriages nor cars but my
parents yielded to my entreaties to let me go any way.
Barbeoues and her own seventy-eight bdr*hday anniversary on the la~
gay parties ineide, long tablee~laced in the hall and lavishly furnnished
with all good things to~r sereairere who could seldom take her
by surprise- these were some or the hospitalitiss of Yrs. Musgrove.
away
A4~tifying invitation sent to a dozen couples~baok yonder was
th!S,_" Dr. and ~s. Haley cordially invite you to attaok with us the
CUB&M QUEEN and her fleet of 0 SIDES. The battle will be fought under
the blaok flag for no quarter will be given." Great wae the hilari*t
and hearty the onelaught when the dining room doors were opened and the
gnests beheld a black flag prQwdly floating over a great fort of watermelons
of the varietiee named in the invitation.
An elaborate affair wae the banquet at the re idenoe of £r. and
s. John B. Long in honor of the locating co tte for labame College.
To grace the occaeion. the firet etate flag outeide of Montgomery wae
made and displayed. There were speech making and feasting. everybody
there helping Jaeper to put her best foot forward in the effort to
eeoure the new etate school.
llrs. Zue Long, a frequent and oordial hostese, alwaye saw the
funny side and convuleed her friends with laughter. She pre.ended to be
highly indignant beoause some of her appreciative, tho tactl s gnests
in bidding her good night had eaid, " We've had suoh a pl..sant time for
you have suoh a nice large house for a party".
I could go on and on of the lovely parties we had in those days.
Juet to mention a few more was the first Halloween party in Jasper
given by Yrs. D. L. Stovall. the elegant one in compliment to s.
~llie Kirk(now on e of the University chaprone) given by the mysteriuus
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W.E.X.L.A.O.J. club whose membership coneieted of the youngwbladee"
of the town.
In September, lege the ,olden wedding of Mr. and wre. Samuel Sander.
was oelebrated. Another brillant funotion of later years was the Golden
wedding in Bovember 1916 of the late Senator John Holl~ Bankhead and
Mrs. Bankhead. Preparations werebeing made for month. ~efore hand,
hundrede of invitations were iseued, an elegant feaet wae se7Tsd, guest.
oame outeide the state, gifts poured in from everywhere, but the remembrance
whioh attracted the most attention was a great bunch of magnifioent
red roses with cards eimply engraved wThe President and l~e. Woodrow
Wileon".
Ths oulmiUiiion and or owning evsnt in Jasper was our walker Oounty 0
Oentinnial only last year. (1924).
Perhaps the greatest indoor sport in Jasper during many years preoeding
the days of the railroad Wle the arrival, opening and distribution
of the mail. A star route driver. ae he WlS the then, left warrior Station
at one o'olook one day, apent the night at Demoorat,(now Sumiton) and
reaohed Jaeper at eleven the next morning. Leaving Jasper at one o'obook
the same sohedule was made baok to warrior. The news of his arrival
spread like wildfire, evsrybody rushed tt the posto"io. and when the
postmaster opened the pouoh, he oalled eaoh pieoe of mail as he oome
to it, and there Wle no delay in the delivery.
There were twn ohuroh buildinge, the Baptist being part of the present
Sorews hotel on fourth avenue and the e&boditt, aow the two etory building
on the southeaat oorner of fifth avenue and se.enteenth etreet. The u.
upper floor Wle used as the Masonio Lodge and the lower floor by the
ohuroh. The Baptist ohuroh had a large front poroh and both ohurohee had
two door., the men'e on the left and the women's on the right, and eaoh had
oorrespo.ding "~n" oorners for the brethern and sisters. It would have
been rank hereey for a woman to sit on the men's side and almost as bad
for a man to venture on the women's side. The young people, espeoially
when they were keeping oompany disoreetly oooupied middle ground. that is
the oentral tier of pews.Beither ohuroh had servioes every Sunday and the
Baptists were several times without a pastor.
The most oordial relatione existed between the two demon1Dation.,
every body going to the Kethodist Sunday sohool in the morning ~d to
the Baptist in the afternoon. a had the same lessons in the two sohools,
but the questions were asked from the different quarterlys. Yr. Sheriff La~
wa. ~ teaoher for years, a. often in one Sunday Sohool as the other.
Unuaual were the rslati••• of denominational oo-op ration existing
between two neighbors pastors of recent years. Both were buey about "our
Father's" business, yet both were famous for working with there hands as ~d
well. Brother Hagood kept several cows, running a small dairy and was
his own mil)maid but when he went to the State and Southern Convsntions, D~
Ponder of the Presbyterian ohurch, kindly aoted for him in that capaoity.
How about that as a modern instanoe of the traditioaal "milk of human kind.
ne.s!W
In the early days Amens were frequent and fervent and so earnest
in their own devotions were those who made them that some of their
respon.e. occasio?ally sounded inappropriate. Judge Gamble, of the heroic
~~.~~g1{D c~untenance, merely smiled blandly when the joke was told
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se Alberta Lee, a young "oman of
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on him that as the other minister in the oloeing serTioe of a
protraoted meeting, prayed,"O,Lord it may be the last time we shall
meet together," the ~neacher-Judge fervidly ejaoulated,"Amen, Lord
grant it".
Baptist and Uethodist churoh membere in those days were not in
good standing if they engaged in even the square and oonzta danoe,
but most of our young folks ware inTeigled all unawares into that
last named wordly amusement. "Twistifioation" was soon unmasked as the
Virginia reel, so oertain deTotees introduced an innocent singing
game whioh became extremely popular, until it too "as unmasked. The
classic words to this game were;
"Dogs in the wood,treeing up a squirrel,
MY true lOT'S, the beauty of the world".
As they were merrily, earnestly sung eTer and over, faster flew
the light fantastict~oes$&n,dall went merry as a marriage bell.
Oharadee was the next society fad and what fun they were. Sometimes
there was the excitement of choosing sides and again the merry challenge,
"Boys against the girl's" or vice versa.
One of the greatest charaoters in Jasper and espeoially in the
ohurches was"Hanny Lee ADDer Jane Oath Ryne aay Rier Eason. She attended
every service and made hereelf oonspicuous in all. atever the proposition,
ahe was the first to aocept it and "as a great trial to the ministers.
The "door to the Baptist ohurch "as opened" one morning and she went
forward a8 a candidate for membership. Dear old Dr. Samuel Henderson,
a saintly man of God, was the preacher and he looked troubled as he said,
"lily sister, aren't you a member of the ethodist church?" Oherry was
her ready response:"O,yes,but I want to put myselfunder the watch care
of all the churches. The Jethodist ohuroh is a very good church to live
by, but it "on't do to die by. I want to git on the good ship of Zion
and go sai11n' home to glory" •
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Jasperh a been fortunate in its colored population. Amoung the oldtimcre
were Aunt Betty Oobb, "hoae da hter, ~andy stil. li es hebe, and wh~
whoee son, Jack early felt the call to preach, went to Peine Oollege,
AUgusta, Ga. becoming a minister and editor and editor of prominence
before his untimely death: nut inah,whose quaint curtsy and"Yes'm bless yo~
were always so refreshing; Kenrietta Cook a prOUd, ambitious and reserved
who owned her ownneat oottage with its lagge lawn and beautiful trees;
Aunt ellie Perry, most faithful of servants and a true christian,
Aunt Julia Gaines, a priVileged character, priding herself upon her age
which doubtless did eveItually reaoh the cent~y mark. en asked how
old she was she always replied, with a proud toss of her head, "Over a hun~
red". and once she added,"I guess I'se two hundred".
Jasper first stenographer was
an unusual personality.
A few months after we came to Jasper I began my career as a school
mistress and from that time through my orlr ar service as a teacher in the
Walker County High Sohool, ~ h~ve numbered amoung my pupils t"o generations
of our leading families. For some years I had pupils older than myself.
first school was wae a tiny, one-room house which stood about where
~~mh~~i~~i~;e~ ~ow. Its one window wae toward the west, and the house was
u y and August that it "ell deserved the name "Tar ~iln
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music
ago?
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Institute"bestowed upon it by ~ sympathizing relatives. There was notown
olock and neither teacher nor pupil owned a timepiece, so when two of ~ big
boys patched a hole in the roof they left a slit ia it so we oould still
tell by the sun mark on the floor when ~ dlmiss at twelve and four. A later
High Sheriff of Walker was amoung ~ pupils. Later when I was teaohing
nglish and Eduoation in the Jaoksonville State Normal Sohool. JUdge Gamble
and Judge Shields offered me a larger salary and other inducements to
oome home and teaoh their five ohildren, Frank and Foeter, May, Maude and
John*ie Bee, Other pupils who were admitted to the olass were; Griffin
Lamkin, Earnest Laoy, Mollie MoDade, Ella Duffie, Everett oGuire, uat~e
Appling, Paul and Franoilla Haley
Jasper has been undoubtedly a good training ground for men and women
who have later won prominenoe elsewhere. Sam Earle Greene, the eminent
jurist of Birmingham and JeffersoD County. began his oareer here. K. M•.
Williamson, who taught here, later went to the esleyan university, Kiddleto.
u, ConneotiouR, as professor of Philosophy. Henry Vanoe started his
newspaper work on the Mountain Eagle and is now with thw Birmingham,Ne.
Two of our oitizens were of national fame; L. B. MUsgrove, ooal
mageate and Prohibition leader and Senator John Hollis Bankhead, father
of good roads, whose splen"d monument, Bankhead Highway, extends acro~
the continent.
Beoause she spent part of her ohildhood in Jas~er and beoause her
distinguished father is "Our Billy" we ola~ Tallulah Bankhead, the
olever young actress, who has won laurels on two oontinents.
Others who grew up in Jasper were, Griffin Lampkin, a suooessful
lawyer in Birmingham; Kenneth Lampkin, a professional musician inNew York
City; Frank Gamble, a prominent attorney in Pennsylvsnia;Owen Gamble, a
physioian and s.rgeon in Albany, New York;Will and Bert Rosemond. successful
physioians in Birmingham and many others too numerous to mention.
ay I not properly olose my long ramble with"Jasper Town" the
as well as the words of which were ~ mother's tribute some years
Jasper Town
"There's a town in Alabama in the ooal and cotton belt
ere the fox. the deer and 'possum roam around,
And the breeses from the pine trees on our oheeks
, are ever felt;
'Tis our dear, progressive Jasper Town.
Chorus
o.our dear old J8sper town, with its hills and vales so fair
And the bal~ breezes floating on the ai.,
You may searoh the world around and there'll never yet
be found
Dearer plaoe than our old Jasper Town.
Sweet song-birds sing a carol waking us at early morn
And the mocking-bird a lullaby at night.
And the streams and ferns a~d flowers as thfY shimmer
and adorn
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