Helen Mussleman (F)
(4:18) Mrs. Mussleman describes working on a farm in the early 1900s in Florence, Alabama.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive Interview with Helen Mussleman March 4, 2008 Florence, Alabama Conducted by Freda Daily Clip 6 Freda Daily: Do you remember any toys from your childhoo...
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library
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| Online Access: | https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/oral_hist/id/212 |
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Electronic |
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Oral Histories Collection |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Oral histories -- audios and transcripts |
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Oral histories -- audios and transcripts Helen Mussleman (F) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Oral histories -- audios and transcripts Farming |
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(4:18) Mrs. Mussleman describes working on a farm in the early 1900s in Florence, Alabama.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Helen Mussleman
March 4, 2008
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Freda Daily
Clip 6
Freda Daily: Do you remember any toys from your childhood at all? Did your dad make you toys, or, what about toys?
Helen Mussleman: No. I made my playhouses. We made them out of rocks and brooms and pieces of glass and plank or whatever we could get and find and that’s what we played with, and lids and make mud pies put in that and pretend. We did that up at school, too. We had it out in the woods, we had us a playhouse in the woods up there.
FD: No doll?
HM: No doll. I, when I was about, let’s see, nine, ten years old, when we lived down Copeland Hollow my daddy went and got groceries. He came in he had a doll this big. The groceryman gave it to him. That was my first doll. Oh, and my sister, now, before that, my sister that married the Crunk and he was working at Wilson Dam and then they went over and moved in the houses Wilson Dam built for some of them, you know, they had electricity and all that stuff. Well, she started getting me a doll at Christmas; that’s when I first starting getting dolls. And I didn’t play with them, I kept them, they was tied in the box and I’d play with them, but I wouldn’t soil them, and kept them hanging on the wall. That’s when I first started getting a doll. But, then when we was down at that place, that’s the first doll that came that way, was through my daddy, was this lady sent it. Oh, yeah. And I worked in the fields, I worked, hoed cotton, hoed corn, and helped set out the[inaudible], yeah, I helped in the fields. My daddy taught me, he had, he had these, these little crops, you know, my brothers fixed it, how to pull fodder, shuck corn, pull fodder, all that stuff. And after I married, my husband’s father was sick that year, in 1935, they had a farm across the road, and my husband and I, he was farming it, you know, and I went with him every day to the field, I don’t care what kind of job he was doing, I was with him, and we shucked corn. And this day we was gonna go pull fodder and his daddy said, “Charlie, she can’t do that, pull fodder, that’s too hard.” I said, “Yeah, I think I can, I know how.” And we come back to the house at dinnertime, he went in there and said, “Dad, she run off and left me a-pulling fodder.” Said, “She stayed ahead of me the whole time.” And I said, “Yeah, I knew how to pull fodder.” And we was hauling it in one day and he‘s sitting on the porch and I was up on top of it and my husband was driving and me and the fodder all was right there, right across the road from the house, it’s before we crossed the road, we went sliding off on the ground, had to pick it all up. I’d throw it up to him in the loft, you know, and he, and I’d ride the old mule over in the pasture, couldn’t beat her on the way over there, he was old Sam, and get the cow, and the cows in the evening, you know. And they’d, coming back to the house, come like this, where they’d get the cows down the lane to the house. And I’m telling you, what was aggravating when you milking those cows, and you got, you about through, and they switch you across you eyes with their old cat tails full of cockleburrs. Whew. Have you done that?
FD: Yes. Yes.
HM: Oh, one got me caught in the crib one day. And it had a crib, you know, where the floor had had piled cotton seed over of course and stuff and I went in there, going out there to milk, and to get the cotton seed, I’d go in there to get some.
FD: And what are you going to do with the cotton seed?
HM: Well, I’d go give her some, you know, to eat, with a bucket. Here she come in behind me and there I am in there and here she is, half of her in there and half of her out. And I can’t get out. And I’m up in the corner and I thought what am I gonna do to, but I had to beat that old cow, I had to beat that old cow in the head, then beat, beat her in the head and everywhere to try to back her out of there so I could get out.
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| title |
Helen Mussleman (F) |
| titleStr |
Helen Mussleman (F) |
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Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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FLCPLoral_hist212 |
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https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/oral_hist/id/212 |
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http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/oral_hist/id/212 |
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1782468788527038464 |
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Helen Mussleman (F)Farming(4:18) Mrs. Mussleman describes working on a farm in the early 1900s in Florence, Alabama.Florence-Lauderdale Public LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryHelen Mussleman2008-3-4sound; textaudio/mp3; text/pdfEnglishPart of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Collection.Contact the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to use.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Helen Mussleman
March 4, 2008
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Freda Daily
Clip 6
Freda Daily: Do you remember any toys from your childhood at all? Did your dad make you toys, or, what about toys?
Helen Mussleman: No. I made my playhouses. We made them out of rocks and brooms and pieces of glass and plank or whatever we could get and find and that’s what we played with, and lids and make mud pies put in that and pretend. We did that up at school, too. We had it out in the woods, we had us a playhouse in the woods up there.
FD: No doll?
HM: No doll. I, when I was about, let’s see, nine, ten years old, when we lived down Copeland Hollow my daddy went and got groceries. He came in he had a doll this big. The groceryman gave it to him. That was my first doll. Oh, and my sister, now, before that, my sister that married the Crunk and he was working at Wilson Dam and then they went over and moved in the houses Wilson Dam built for some of them, you know, they had electricity and all that stuff. Well, she started getting me a doll at Christmas; that’s when I first starting getting dolls. And I didn’t play with them, I kept them, they was tied in the box and I’d play with them, but I wouldn’t soil them, and kept them hanging on the wall. That’s when I first started getting a doll. But, then when we was down at that place, that’s the first doll that came that way, was through my daddy, was this lady sent it. Oh, yeah. And I worked in the fields, I worked, hoed cotton, hoed corn, and helped set out the[inaudible], yeah, I helped in the fields. My daddy taught me, he had, he had these, these little crops, you know, my brothers fixed it, how to pull fodder, shuck corn, pull fodder, all that stuff. And after I married, my husband’s father was sick that year, in 1935, they had a farm across the road, and my husband and I, he was farming it, you know, and I went with him every day to the field, I don’t care what kind of job he was doing, I was with him, and we shucked corn. And this day we was gonna go pull fodder and his daddy said, “Charlie, she can’t do that, pull fodder, that’s too hard.” I said, “Yeah, I think I can, I know how.” And we come back to the house at dinnertime, he went in there and said, “Dad, she run off and left me a-pulling fodder.” Said, “She stayed ahead of me the whole time.” And I said, “Yeah, I knew how to pull fodder.” And we was hauling it in one day and he‘s sitting on the porch and I was up on top of it and my husband was driving and me and the fodder all was right there, right across the road from the house, it’s before we crossed the road, we went sliding off on the ground, had to pick it all up. I’d throw it up to him in the loft, you know, and he, and I’d ride the old mule over in the pasture, couldn’t beat her on the way over there, he was old Sam, and get the cow, and the cows in the evening, you know. And they’d, coming back to the house, come like this, where they’d get the cows down the lane to the house. And I’m telling you, what was aggravating when you milking those cows, and you got, you about through, and they switch you across you eyes with their old cat tails full of cockleburrs. Whew. Have you done that?
FD: Yes. Yes.
HM: Oh, one got me caught in the crib one day. And it had a crib, you know, where the floor had had piled cotton seed over of course and stuff and I went in there, going out there to milk, and to get the cotton seed, I’d go in there to get some.
FD: And what are you going to do with the cotton seed?
HM: Well, I’d go give her some, you know, to eat, with a bucket. Here she come in behind me and there I am in there and here she is, half of her in there and half of her out. And I can’t get out. And I’m up in the corner and I thought what am I gonna do to, but I had to beat that old cow, I had to beat that old cow in the head, then beat, beat her in the head and everywhere to try to back her out of there so I could get out.
http://server15947.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/oral_hist,212 |