mountain smoking one of Victors cigarets, I had never knowed her to smoke a cigaret before.
By God I will run this farm, she said.
Ethel! Ivy! Come in here now girls and holp me, Granny Rowe said then, and we done what all she said. You never know what you can do iffen you dont have to do it, now thats the truth. Granny Rowe sent Ethel up to the spring for water whilst we undressed Daddy and when Ethel come back, we warshed him off. He was so little it was like warshing a little bitty child, or a little shadder of a man, it did not seem like our daddy. And then Momma come in with the white wool berrying socks and we put them on him, and his good black suit, and his tie. Granny wet the comb and parted his hair but when Momma saw it she screemed, she said it was parted on the wrong side, so Granny changed it. Momma wuldnt tuch him herself now, she just cryed and cryed. We had to do everthing.
They was a lot of people coming up the holler by then, they was all out in the yard by the daffodils wich was blooming ther crazy heads off. Then Momma got the berrying quilt and they rapped him up in that, his own Momma had made it, years before. When Momma got it up out of the hope chest they was a nother quilt in ther that I had not seed before, a real pretty mostly blue crazy quilt, and I said, I have never seed this quilt before nether, and Momma said no, this-uns for me, and so we left it laying rigt ther.
Now I think this is awful Mrs. Brown, do you? I will not keep a berrying quilt nor any socks, so holp me God. I think it is awful, I had to warsh his face, we put quarters on his eyes to keep them shut, after Victor and them lifted him into the coffin and Granny Rowe tyed a rag under his chin to keep his mouth closed, and put a camphor cloth acrost his nose and mouth so he wuldnt turn black.
Garnie come in at this time and wuldnt hardly leave Daddy alone a minit so it got to be his job to stay there by the coffin and get that rag ever oncet in a wile and put more camphor on it. Beulah culdnt stand the smell, she went over on the other side of the house to lay down, she was feeling faint anyway.
The house was the fullest of people Mrs. Brown that it has ever been before or since. Everbody come up there from Home Creek, Mister Delphi Rolette and his crazy wife who acted like she was the one dying, she took on so, and all the Foxes including Oakleys sweet momma Edith and Oakley hisself and Dreama and Ray and his daddy, and bald-headed Thurman Conaway who has got a goiter and his wife Maxie who was a Breeding, and all ther children. They was about ten children out in the yard, so Victor went up in the loft and got down that old blowed-up hog bladder for them to play with. Daddy used to make us a playball outen the hog bladder ever time we killed a hog.
Poor little old Johnny and Danny was scarred to death, they hadnt hardly ever seed no other kids, they hung back and helt onto each other just peeping around the side of the house. When you see a whole passel of children like that, you know for sure it is something wrong with Danny, he goes along slaunchways as I said.
Then Green Patterson come up here, and Stoney Branham and a bunch of other men from the store that had knowed Daddy all ther lifes and used to play poker and tell tales with him afore Momma put a stop to him drinking so. This was Dove Yates and Troy Counts and Woody Elswick and a whole bunch of others, and they had brung some likker, and the women had brung food. Lord it was the mostest food you have ever seed, devilled eggs and chicken and dumplings and sweet tater pie and blackberry jam cake and such as that, setting all over ever place, and that little Garnie he et and et. And Daddy in his coffin was laying there in the middle of it all, with his eyes shut down by silver money and his mouth covered up by the camphor cloth.
Momma sat by him in a strate-back chair and helt his hand. Finely she had let Ethel and me pin back her hair, and she had put her lace coller
By God I will run this farm, she said.
Ethel! Ivy! Come in here now girls and holp me, Granny Rowe said then, and we done what all she said. You never know what you can do iffen you dont have to do it, now thats the truth. Granny Rowe sent Ethel up to the spring for water whilst we undressed Daddy and when Ethel come back, we warshed him off. He was so little it was like warshing a little bitty child, or a little shadder of a man, it did not seem like our daddy. And then Momma come in with the white wool berrying socks and we put them on him, and his good black suit, and his tie. Granny wet the comb and parted his hair but when Momma saw it she screemed, she said it was parted on the wrong side, so Granny changed it. Momma wuldnt tuch him herself now, she just cryed and cryed. We had to do everthing.
They was a lot of people coming up the holler by then, they was all out in the yard by the daffodils wich was blooming ther crazy heads off. Then Momma got the berrying quilt and they rapped him up in that, his own Momma had made it, years before. When Momma got it up out of the hope chest they was a nother quilt in ther that I had not seed before, a real pretty mostly blue crazy quilt, and I said, I have never seed this quilt before nether, and Momma said no, this-uns for me, and so we left it laying rigt ther.
Now I think this is awful Mrs. Brown, do you? I will not keep a berrying quilt nor any socks, so holp me God. I think it is awful, I had to warsh his face, we put quarters on his eyes to keep them shut, after Victor and them lifted him into the coffin and Granny Rowe tyed a rag under his chin to keep his mouth closed, and put a camphor cloth acrost his nose and mouth so he wuldnt turn black.
Garnie come in at this time and wuldnt hardly leave Daddy alone a minit so it got to be his job to stay there by the coffin and get that rag ever oncet in a wile and put more camphor on it. Beulah culdnt stand the smell, she went over on the other side of the house to lay down, she was feeling faint anyway.
The house was the fullest of people Mrs. Brown that it has ever been before or since. Everbody come up there from Home Creek, Mister Delphi Rolette and his crazy wife who acted like she was the one dying, she took on so, and all the Foxes including Oakleys sweet momma Edith and Oakley hisself and Dreama and Ray and his daddy, and bald-headed Thurman Conaway who has got a goiter and his wife Maxie who was a Breeding, and all ther children. They was about ten children out in the yard, so Victor went up in the loft and got down that old blowed-up hog bladder for them to play with. Daddy used to make us a playball outen the hog bladder ever time we killed a hog.
Poor little old Johnny and Danny was scarred to death, they hadnt hardly ever seed no other kids, they hung back and helt onto each other just peeping around the side of the house. When you see a whole passel of children like that, you know for sure it is something wrong with Danny, he goes along slaunchways as I said.
Then Green Patterson come up here, and Stoney Branham and a bunch of other men from the store that had knowed Daddy all ther lifes and used to play poker and tell tales with him afore Momma put a stop to him drinking so. This was Dove Yates and Troy Counts and Woody Elswick and a whole bunch of others, and they had brung some likker, and the women had brung food. Lord it was the mostest food you have ever seed, devilled eggs and chicken and dumplings and sweet tater pie and blackberry jam cake and such as that, setting all over ever place, and that little Garnie he et and et. And Daddy in his coffin was laying there in the middle of it all, with his eyes shut down by silver money and his mouth covered up by the camphor cloth.
Momma sat by him in a strate-back chair and helt his hand. Finely she had let Ethel and me pin back her hair, and she had put her lace coller
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