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[Audio starts at 24:08}
GEORGE STONEY: OK, we'll -- then we'll go out.
MASON LYNCH: All right.
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah, just go out there. OK, now where are we going?
LYNCH: We're going to down on the East Catawba Street to see if Ms.[Myrtle
Brown?], Ms. Eva Helens, they used to work at the Chronicle Mill.GEORGE STONEY: How did -- how long have you known them?
LYNCH: Ever since I was a small child.
GEORGE STONEY: (laughter) OK.
LYNCH: I'll see,(moves away from mic; inaudible).
GEORGE STONEY: Start it up.
LYNCH: (inaudible)
00:25:00GEORGE STONEY: Yeah, start it up. I think just go ahead. Just go ahead for a
little while. Just move round here. OK, now tell me again where we're going.LYNCH: We're going down on the East Catawba Street to see Ms. Myrtle Brown,
Ms., uh, Eva Helens, and maybe Ms. Helen [Levin?].GEORGE STONEY: OK.
LYNCH: They used to work at the Chronicle Mill years ago. (inaudible)
GEORGE STONEY: You haven't got the earphones, have you, Jamie?
JAMIE STONEY: I'm listening to it in my ear on the speaker.
GEORGE STONEY: OK. OK. So how are we coming through, OK?
JAMIE STONEY: I'm getting a little garbled on yours, but we're double
tracking on the other mic.GEORGE STONEY: OK. Now, you were telling me about Mr. Lineberger.
00:26:00LYNCH: Mr. Lineberger hired me at his barber shop. Uh, I'll show you the
barber shop. No, I can't. The barber shop's tore down, but, uh, he was -- I was sitting in the barber's chair getting a haircut, and Mr. Lineberger come in and talk in March, they wanted Mr. [Larson?] to cut his hair. Uh, we was in a hurry and he wanted to cut his hair, but Mr. Larson told me it'd be a few minutes. And so he sat there and waited, and he started talking to me, and he asked me where I was working. I told him, and he said, "When are you going to work for me?" I said, "Tomorrow." He said, "Well, come on up to my office and talk to me." So I went up there and talked to him, and then he sent me up to the [atmay?] number one to see Jim Frasier. And I went in that night to work for him. He said that they -- it was the first man that he had ever hired, 00:27:00off in the street. And especially in a barber's shop to go to work for him.GEORGE STONEY: (laughter) Now, you knew his father. Tell us about the father.
LYNCH: Oh yeah. His father was a good man. That there is where the barber shop
used to be. It's tore down now. His father, Mr. AC Lineberger, was a, uh, good man. He was an ol-- older gentleman. He knew mill work, he treated his people good, very good. He knew everybody that worked for him, he'd come around to the mill, s-- speak to the union. He would r-- had a chauffeur, he drove a Lincoln, and he, uh, would -- had the chauffeur take him, ride to mill villages at least once the week. Uh, see how the villages was, and find out where you could -- where the w-- you know, what was going on.GEORGE STONEY: Now, we're going down into the Chronicle Village, are we?
00:28:00LYNCH: There, uh, faced. Now, right here, right here is a sign that I was
telling you about.GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
LYNCH: That's where the Mr. William Chronicle, uh, that descended to where he
was killed at. The old house sit down in the hole there, and there's a spring right down at the bottom of the hill that used to be there, where they got the water at. And that's where the mill, the Chronicle Mill, got its name. All this right here is the (inaudible). This pill, part right here --GEORGE STONEY: Mm-hmm.
LYNCH: -- was a new part of it. This front section here, up to about where that
drainpipe, is new. But the rest of it, this is all new right here. But the older parts, you can see -- you may see the tower. All this is the older part, and the ti-- right there is the tower.GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
LYNCH: Can you see it?
GEORGE STONEY: No, we can't -- can't quite.
LYNCH: Um, ca-- yes -- yes you can. Turn around, look, see, back up there.
GEORGE STONEY: Oh, yeah. Well, we'll get us another shot of that. We'll get
a separate shot, I think. 00:29:00LYNCH: All right. Now, this is all the old Chronicle Mill --
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
LYNCH: -- ha-- homes. Uh, they're remodeling them and selling them. And some
of the people's bought them and remodeled them and fixed them up.GEORGE STONEY: And where did you live?
LYNCH: Right h-- right here. Not that house, but right here -- right here in
front of this red lane --GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
LYNCH: -- the next house down there is the house I was born and raised in. It
sat right here. They moved it back to put the new road in here. The Lutheran Church used to sit right here. It's a bank building now.GEORGE STONEY: Now, that's where you went to church, in the Lutheran church?
LYNCH: Yes. Right here is where I went to school, is a Lutheran school. Uh, East
Belmont school. This is where the Grounds live, and the [Hilts?]. This is not a mill home, but it's one that they had bought and moved into after they left the mill. 00:30:00GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh. OK. Let's go and see if they're there.
LYNCH: All right. She not going -- (inaudible).
GEORGE STONEY: Just a moment, (inaudible).
(audio gap)
LYNCH: -- vision.
GEORGE STONEY: About, uh, textiles, mills in the early '30s. And --
LYNCH: Uh --
GEORGE STONEY: -- uh, we understand you remember something of those times. (laughter)
EVA HELMS: (laughter) I don't know if I know or not!
LYNCH: (inaudible)
HELMS: I was working, but I don't --
LYNCH: You -- she worked at the --
HELMS: Ah.
CREW: Huh.
LYNCH: -- Chronicle years and years.
GEORGE STONEY: Yes. Uh-huh.
LYNCH: Is Miss Myrtle still living?
HELMS: Yeah. But she do forgets things, you can (overlapping dialogue;
inaudible) her.GEORGE STONEY: Yeah. OK. OK. Uh, OK.
HELMS: Come on in!
GEORGE STONEY: OK.
HELMS: If you have some questions, I'd like to help you out that way.
GEORGE STONEY: OK. Good.
HELMS: I put up the air conditioning, I didn't think it was hot out -- col--
00:31:00hot out --GEORGE STONEY: Mm-hmm.
(audio edit)
GEORGE STONEY: Where does she live?
HELMS: Uh, about -- you know what? I don't know if you'd call it Holly
Avenue. Ah, right behind the c-- uh, Climax Mill.LYNCH: Climax Mill.
HELMS: In the third house, I believe.
LYNCH: Hey, Ms. [Myrtle?].
HELMS: [Myrt?], you know who this is?
MYRTLE BROWN: I do.
LYNCH: You know who I am?
BROWN: (inaudible) But I haven't seen you in years. At the time. I know you!
HELMS: You know him? Well, you got to tell us his name.
BROWN: He looks familiar.
HELMS: She don't really (inaudible). (laughter)
LYNCH: Do you remember the twins that live at the Chronicle?
BROWN: [Osmos and Leech?], oh no, not those.
LYNCH: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. (laughter)
GEORGE STONEY: (laughter)
BROWN: As many times as I'll spank you. (laughter)
LYNCH: (laughter) Spanked me, and (inaudible) -- and fed me, and looked at the --
BROWN: (recording interference) Oh, mercy, I would have never knowed you.
00:32:00LYNCH: This gentleman's taking, uh, these, uh, writing -- doing a television
of the people that used to work at the Chronicle Mill years ago.BROWN: Yeah.
LYNCH: And Miss [Avery?] and you, and, uh --
BROWN: Garvey.
HELMS: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
LYNCH: Garvey, and Miss [Vonager?].
HELMS: No garden. See --
LYNCH: Garbage.
HELMS: -- you worked around there.
BROWN: (inaudible)
LYNCH: Well, that's right. I --
BROWN: You didn't work with the Chronicle.
LYNCH: Well, he lived there, though.
BROWN: Oh yeah, he stayed with them.
LYNCH: All right.
HELMS: OK.
LYNCH: Is there anybody else you know of that's still living?
HELMS: Christine Carver.
LYNCH: Where does she live?
HELMS: She lives on [UN?] Drive.
BROWN: He ain't taking pictures. (inaudible) name of those there.
LYNCH: (laughter)
BROWN: Give them a half, every day, (inaudible).
HELMS: Come on in and sit down! (laughter)
BROWN: Y'all sit down. Oh, hello, how are you?
(overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
GEORGE STONEY: This is Judy Helfand. Judy.
JUDY HELFAND: Hi.
GEORGE STONEY: This is her son.
BROWN: (inaudible)
JUDY HELFAND: OK.
LYNCH: They all in this. Any more that you know?
HELMS: Well, uh, they had a lot of people. Sarah Bail.
LYNCH: Where does she live?
HELMS: Right down on First Street.
BROWN: And Helen.
00:33:00HELMS: And Helen worked in the thirds.
BROWN: Yes, she did.
GEORGE STONEY: What did you do in the mill in the '30s?
BROWN: I was one of the all over the mill. I pieced up behind the doffers, I
spun in the well. Uh, anywhere they were needing me, that's where I was at. (laughter)GEORGE STONEY: How old was it -- were you when you first started working in the mill?
BROWN: Fourteen.
GEORGE STONEY: (laughter)
BROWN: Fourteen years old.
GEORGE STONEY: What did you do then?
BROWN: Well, you know, I learned to spin. And then I got to piecing up behind
the doffers.HELMS: Well, now, ain't that pretty (overlapping dialogue; inaudible).
BROWN: I -- and then, from them all, I just learned anything I could. (laughter)
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah. Uh, do you remember what t-- time that was, what year that
was, when you've -- when -- when were you born?BROWN: Um, around 19-- four -- four.
GEORGE STONEY: Four. You were born in nineteen-four.
BROWN: Yeah.
GEORGE STONEY: Then you started working in 1918.
BROWN: Yeah. Uh, that -- uh, yeah, in the war.
GEORGE STONEY: That's right.
BROWN: That's when I was a-workin' --
00:34:00GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
BROWN: -- during the war. We -- we lived down there in the --
HELMS: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
BROWN: -- with the -- that home [goes over the breeze?].
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
BROWN: We...
LYNCH: You know where we went?
BROWN: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
LYNCH: You know where we passed the mill coming down there?
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah. Uh-huh.
LYNCH: The first house on the right was for (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) live.
BROWN: That's where I lived.
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah.
BROWN: Lived there for years.
LYNCH: Years and years.
GEORGE STONEY: Do you remember what you got paid when you first started working?
BROWN: Ooh, think I was --
HELMS: You didn't get paid, did you?
BROWN: Yeah, I lear--
HELMS: You was learning?
LYNCH: Nellie.
BROWN: Nellie. It was just -- just nearly nothing, though, but I forgot.
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
BROWN: About two or three dollars or something.
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah.
BROWN: But I'm not sure then about pay.
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
HELMS: (inaudible) taking pictures. (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
BROWN: I couldn't swear to that, but --
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah.
HELMS: But who -- yeah.
LYNCH: It wasn't much. I know back earlier, they used to make --
BROWN: Didn't make nothing no way. The one that knowed how then. (laughter)
00:35:00LYNCH: They made about eight or ten --
GEORGE STONEY: Uh.
LYNCH: -- eight or ten dollars a week, then the -- the --
BROWN: That's right. Y'all have two.
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
LYNCH: -- the [Abbots?], the, uh, seemed like the, uh, s-- session men and boss
men made just a little bit more, about 12 daily.BROWN: That's right. I forgot.
GEORGE STONEY: Mm.
LYNCH: And --
BROWN: But I just went (inaudible).
HELMS: Now, I don't -- h-- 1930. I sent help.
BROWN: Oh, oh. I learned how to everything in the mill. I (overlapping dialogue;
inaudible) around the room, spinning around.HELMS: [Her and Rose is ba-- her and Rose?] is the same age.
LYNCH: No.
F1: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
BROWN: (inaudible) sat behind the dark room.
LYNCH: Yeah.
BROWN: I'm just here and there. (laughter)
(overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
LYNCH: Is in the '40s.
HELMS: Well, for (inaudible). I just got to thinking, uh, she graduated from
high school during the war. World War, right on --LYNCH: Who did?
HELMS: Helen.
LYNCH: Helen?
HELMS: She wasn't working in the '30s.
LYNCH: She wasn't? I didn't put her name down.
BROWN: No she didn't.
HELMS: Didn't he (inaudible)?
LYNCH: No, I didn't --
HELMS: Or Helen Brown?
LYNCH: No, I didn't put her name down.
GEORGE STONEY: But, now, you remember -- you were there earlier. Do you remember
what happened when t-- they stopped having the 11-hour day and went down to the eight-hour day? 00:36:00BROWN: Oh, yeah. We had the marks. (laughter)
LYNCH: When Social Security come in, we were --
BROWN: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
LYNCH: -- happy. (laughter)
BROWN: That's right. We got more pay, too.
LYNCH: We got more pay, the pay went up. They had -- we started paying Social Security.
BROWN: All right.
LYNCH: And then --
HELMS: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
LYNCH: -- yeah, it wasn't much, but it --
(overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
LYNCH: -- so much out of the paycheck. And then they -- after that, well, then,
they started getting a little s-- uh, better and paying us a little more, eh?GEORGE STONEY: Mm-hmm.
LYNCH: And then after the -- Roosevelt when in, and, uh --
BROWN: Yeah.
LYNCH: -- the Depression was over, then they -- things started climbing then.
BROWN: But you know, they were good there.
GEORGE STONEY: They were good to you?
BROWN: Yes, they was.
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
BROWN: All us -- all us young girls, you know, they start at the front of it, (inaudible).
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
BROWN: We get up there, get our job in there, running again -- we run out to the
store. (laughter)LYNCH: About three center, and, uh -- uh --
BROWN: That's right! That's what we buy.
LYNCH: -- three center in the sentiment than what --
00:37:00HELMS: Yeah. And we had -- you know, they were real good to us.
LYNCH: Mm-hmm.
HELMS: They never did fuss for us young'ins, we got called them.
LYNCH: Mm-hmm. They had, uh, the store -- (recording interference), and we set
out in front of the mill, and, uh --BROWN: That's right.
LYNCH: -- some of them, would s-- uh, they'd smoke, they'd smoke --
(recording interference)
GEORGE STONEY: You didn't smoke, huh?
BROWN: (laughter) Unh-unh.
LYNCH: (inaudible)
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
LYNCH: And Miss Avery used to spin in the spinning room.
BROWN: I was, too.
LYNCH: Yeah, you was, too. And I used to aggravate her all the time. Id' go up
to her, and pull her, because they wore aprons.BROWN: Yeah.
LYNCH: I'd go up and pull her apron like this, and --
(audio edit)
BROWN: Oh, yes. No.
LYNCH: (speaker in background; inaudible)
BROWN: We had a good time, now that's the truth.
LYNCH: For, uh, [Georgia Bank?].
BROWN: We didn't work -- young'ins lie, play more than they work, and
that's the truth.LYNCH: And, uh, Mr. [Reinhart?] had us work (overlapping dialogue; inaudible).
BROWN: And they were really good to us.
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah.
HELMS: Yeah.
(overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
00:38:00BROWN: They tell us sometime, but not all. They were living down in (inaudible). (laughter)
(recording interference)
GEORGE STONEY: Uh, should we ask them to be quiet while we're talking here?
(background dialogue; inaudible)
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah. Just a moment.
BROWN: But I heard --
GEORGE STONEY: I've got to get her to tell a --
(jump in audio)
GEORGE STONEY: Ah.
BROWN: We got set -- we'd get up our work, well, we go where we wanted to.
Anywhere. And we lived in that first house (inaudible) the mill --GEORGE STONEY: Mm-hmm.
BROWN: I could go home, go back to (inaudible). Wasn't a-workin'. They were
real nice. I wasn't in -- in the help.GEORGE STONEY: How much schooling did you get?
BROWN: I went to the ninth.
GEORGE STONEY: That's a lot of -- of schooling, uh, at that -- back at that
time, wasn't it?BROWN: Well, yeah, but you see, I was 39.
GEORGE STONEY: Mm-hmm.
BROWN: And I'd go, s-- take my exams, maybe I'd be off that day.
00:39:00GEORGE STONEY: I see.
BROWN: The way I got mine.
GEORGE STONEY: Well, that's -- uh, as I say, that's unusual, a lot of
education for that time.BROWN: Oh, yes.
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
BROWN: See, I was determined I was going to learn to read and write. So when I
get -- you know, at night, I'd study my books, and get up my lessons, and I'd go to school. The next day, I could do it. Didn't take but a good few minutes. And I'd go home and go to work.GEORGE STONEY: Hmm.
BROWN: Well, I worked hard, tooth and nail, (inaudible). (laughter)
GEORGE STONEY: How many hours did you work?
BROWN: Well, I don't think I worked that -- I couldn't work long doing all
that. You know?GEORGE STONEY: When did you go to work?
BROWN: I go to work at 6:00.
GEORGE STONEY: And you come home at what time?
BROWN: Well, sometimes 10:00, sometimes 11:00.
GEORGE STONEY: Mm-hmm.
00:40:00BROWN: Then I'd w-- stay out, and maybe I'd go back later on in the
afternoon and work a few hours. But I wouldn't work over -- all day long, I didn't work eight hours. Now, they were real good, to us young'ins, day and night.GEORGE STONEY: Mm. (laughter)
BROWN: I wasn't the only one. I go, I'll settle this. (laughter) And had a
ball. (laughter)GEORGE STONEY: When were you born?
BROWN: Nineteen-four.
GEORGE STONEY: And you first started working in the mill when you were how old?
BROWN: Uh, let's see. My daddy died 1918. I worked all of it. I didn't work
for a time, no time, because I went to school. I come home, and then they let us work Sunday night. And sometimes, I wouldn't work for maybe a month or more. They were real nice.GEORGE STONEY: What did you do with your money?
BROWN: (laughter) I spent it. (laughter)
00:41:00LYNCH: We all did (overlapping dialogue; inaudible).
BROWN: And that was a dumb person there as a kid.
GEORGE STONEY: (laughter)
BROWN: You know, that's all it was.
HELMS: And it was hard times, then.
BROWN: I know!
GEORGE STONEY: Did you have to give part of your money t--
(recording interference)
CREW: Rolling.
GEORGE STONEY: Tell me about Mr. Lineberger.
BROWN: Well, I tell you, I don't know t-- when come around, you know, that's
that only time we'd ever see him. And he'd come around, come in, always (inaudible). He was real nice. He'd stop and talk to us, and pat us on the head, you know, young'ins like. And he was a real love. I -- I can tell you that. And I guess other people will tell you that he was working at that time. I best say he (inaudible) I don't know, hey, worse than he is.GEORGE STONEY: Now this is Mr. AC Lineberger, wasn't it?
BROWN: Yeah.
GEORGE STONEY: And then you worked for Joe later?
HELMS: No!
BROWN: Nuh-uh.
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah.
00:42:00BROWN: We didn't work for Joe. See, Joe had been up there too long, I don't think.
HELMS: Yes, he had been.
BROWN: He had a hand in it, you know, but what I mean --
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah, sure. Yeah.
BROWN: -- he didn't come around.
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah. Yeah.
BROWN: But now Mr. -- old Mr. Lineberger, he come down the mill about every week
or so. He'd go all the way, all through it. He'd stop and talk to us, and pat us on the back. He -- he's nice. This -- everybody liked him. (background speakers;, inaudible) Of course, it's been a long time since I worked. (laughter) (inaudible)GEORGE STONEY: Mr. Lynch? Mr. Lynch?
LYNCH: Yes.
GEORGE STONEY: Please be quiet just a moment. Yeah? Ah. And you were telling me
about the -- tell me, what was it like to work in the mills then?BROWN: Oh, we enjoyed it. You know, young girls like we like that, but we had a
00:43:00boss. (laughter) He'd come up on us, and, uh, so one, they had it on us all. (laughter) We -- you know, like, and talk to a lady, and they didn't care for us to talking, as long as we run our job, they -- that was it.GEORGE STONEY: And what was your job?
BROWN: Oh, I could spin, spool, piece up behind the doffers. I done all that.
You know, at certain times, that one of them was out, well, I could do that job too, I learned how to do that.GEORGE STONEY: And what did -- what did you get paid?
BROWN: Oh, we -- (laughter) I'll never forget this thing. When I first started
off, it was about $4 a week, I believe now. I'm not sure about that, but nannies, we'd get a little order and we'd draw a little more. 00:44:00And when I quit down there, I was a-makin' 30-some dollars a -- over 30-some dollars.GEORGE STONEY: When did you quit?
BROWN: Oh, gosh, oh no, when did I quit? I got sick and had to quit. But I was
making about --HELMS: I don't remember
GEORGE STONEY: Do you remember what -- when Roosevelt came in, and they cut the
hours, um --BROWN: Eight hours. Oh yeah, I remember that. (laughter) It was all the shouting
at that time. (laughter) But I was making pretty good when I quit, you know? But I just can't tell you exactly what because I done forgot.GEORGE STONEY: What was it like in the -- in the Chronicle Village?
BROWN: Oh, it was nice. And we -- everybody (inaudible) the family. And we had
good neighbors, and we never did have no trouble. I don't my -- y-- us young'ins would fight sometimes, but, uh, they -- everybody seemed like they were just good neighbors. (inaudible) We lived in that house for s-- for the 00:45:00(inaudible) (laughter) over there, down that first half. That's where I lived. I lived there for years.HELMS: (inaudible)
GEORGE STONEY: Could you tell us -- tell us about your education?
BROWN: Well, we went to school. We -- we had to go to school. Our parents made
us go. We'd go schools, and then I'd come home and go to work. Yeah. I went to sixth grade like that.GEORGE STONEY: And how far did you go in school after that, after the sixth grade?
BROWN: I didn't go -- uh, seventh. I wouldn't go no more. That was my fault.
I done the work, made me money. (laughter) Young'in like (inaudible).GEORGE STONEY: And --
00:46:00BROWN: And then my daddy died, and my mother was a widow woman, and they was
younger -- her and my two brothers and me. So I had now. I -- I had to go to work to help support. And then my brothers, two of my brothers, one of them is older than me, he worked all the time.GEORGE STONEY: And what was it like in the mills? Was it hot, or was it --
HELMS: It was hot. (laughter)
BROWN: E-- I know it now.
HELMS: Hot. (laughter)
BROWN: But in there, we didn't mind it. We had a ball all the time. Us kids,
like, you know how kids is. It didn't bother us. Didn't need.GEORGE STONEY: Well, after Roosevelt came in, uh, it was cut down to eight hours.
BROWN: Oh, we had a ball that time. Uh, we really had a ball.
GEORGE STONEY: And you -- you made more money, I believe, then?
BROWN: Oh yeah. We made more money. (inaudible) forgot exactly how much it was,
00:47:00but they raised it -- our wages in the -- so all -- then the raised the wages. They give us a little more t-- well, us kids, you know, we -- they'd raise us every once in a while. They were good days. Now, they were good b-- to us.GEORGE STONEY: Now, in the -- round about that time, in 1934, there was a big
lot of confusion here. There was an actual strike. Do you remember that?BROWN: Oh yeah, I remember that strike. Yeah. But I didn't strike at the
Chronicle. They were all -- I tell you, they're always nice to you there now, I don't care what nobody says.(background speakers; inaudible)
HELFAND: What was that?
HELMS: No, don't (inaudible).
GEORGE STONEY: You -- you said that they shut the mill down?
HELMS: (inaudible) shut it down, (inaudible) they shut --
00:48:00BROWN: Oh yeah, then it stopped. No, there going to be trouble, they'd stop us.
HELFAND: OK. Can we say that again?
GEORGE STONEY: Uh, could you say that again for me? If --
HELFAND: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
BROWN: You know, when they found out the young -- be some kind of trouble or
something, they'd stop it for a day or so. They were real nice. I tell you, they good people to work with. I don't care what nobody tells you.GEORGE STONEY: Did you ever go to any of the big parades or meetings that they had?
BROWN: No.
HELFAND: George?
BROWN: I didn't do that.
JUDY HELFAND: They know something.
GEORGE STONEY: OK. (laughter)
BROWN: They were real nice to you, I know that.
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah.
BROWN: So not -- not super intenders, that you -- not that -- the -- that they
can beat.GEORGE STONEY: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, let me go and talk to your sister just a moment.
HELMS: Oh, I don't know nothing to do with that. (laughter) Uh, me and Mason
was talking about different things. (laughter)GEORGE STONEY: Yeah. Well, uh, tell me, when did you start working in the mills?
HELMS: Well, let's see, when --
00:49:00BROWN: Well, I wasn't going to go tell you something --
HELMS: Well, I went -- I went to work, and then I'd have to stop, go to
school. You know?BROWN: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) (laughter)
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah.
HELMS: I just -- let me tell you, I just don't mind tell you, I don't know.
GEORGE STONEY: When d-- when were you born?
HELMS: Twelve, 1912. I wouldn't remember a whole lot of that, but I didn't
want to. I just -- I'd go get my old book when I want to think of anything at the Chronicle that they give us out there, Mr. [Stow Brooks?]. And that's all.GEORGE STONEY: Oh, you have one of those books that Mr. Stow gave you?
BROWN: Yeah. Once.
GEORGE STONEY: Could we look at -- could you show it to me?
BROWN: Yeah.
GEORGE STONEY: Oh yes. I've seen this before. Have you read it?
HELMS: Yeah, some of it.
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
00:50:00HELMS: I skipped about. (laughter)
GEORGE STONEY: So this tells you the story of the -- of the s--
HELMS: Yeah, the mill started, everything, yeah.
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh. When did you get this?
HELMS: Oh, I don't know, but I had that a long time. They give everybody in
the mill one.GEORGE STONEY: And I noticed it has the pictures of all the Stow family, and the --
HELMS: Yeah, yeah.
GEORGE STONEY: -- their house.
HELMS: Yeah.
GEORGE STONEY: But the-- there are no pictures of, uh, the millhouses in here.
HELMS: No, I don't think there are.
GEORGE STONEY: But you see, that's one of the differences. What we're trying
to do in our picture --HELMS: (inaudible)
GEORGE STONEY: -- is to tell the story of the workers, uh, the people who worked
in the mills, as well as the people who -- who built them and owned them, you see? That's the difference maybe, in what we're trying to do now. 00:51:00HELMS: Yeah. I was trying to think, did we ever -- h-- her picture of the house?
GEORGE STONEY: Of your house?
HELMS: A mill house.
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh. Do you have any pictures of your -- your sister and
yourself in those early days?HELMS: (laughter) I could show you my (inaudible) there right now. (laughter)
GEORGE STONEY: What about sharing one of your sister?
HELMS: Yeah, I got one of her, but you know my brother, Raymond.
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
HELMS: They wrote a whole lot about him. You know, they named that mill down
there after him. [Helms Plant?].GEORGE STONEY: I didn't know that. No. Why did they name that after him?
HELMS: Well, because the [Stows Robert?] -- this year, Robert up here, he called
up and said, [Max?], just -- would it be all right with us if they named it after him.GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
HELMS: And, uh, and they -- well, they done a lot of writing mill then, and took
pictures of him. But now he's dead now.GEORGE STONEY: Was he a supervisor there?
00:52:00HELMS: No. Him and Mr. Stow, they just -- Mr. Robert Stow.
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah.
HELMS: This boy's his daddy. They was friends, and so that's all (inaudible).
GEORGE STONEY: That's interesting, that they should name a mill after one of
the -- one of the employees.HELMS: Yeah.
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh. How did it make you feel?
HELMS: Well, it made me f-- it made us all feel good. L-- you know, to think
that they thought that much of him, they named one after him. Yeah.GEORGE STONEY: Could you tell us about what it was like, uh, growing up in the
Chronicle, uh, village?HELMS: What it was like?
GEORGE STONEY: Mm-hmm.
HELMS: Well, I just thought, uh, we done c-- went up like a normal child.
GEORGE STONEY: (laughter)
HELMS: We had friends and we went places, and things like that. Um, well, went
to school, what was -- you know, stayed together, what was that age and what 00:53:00grade, and all that fance. And just like any --GEORGE STONEY: Now, what -- what --
HELMS: -- like it was now. Of course, there wasn't no -- we didn't know what
dope and things was.GEORGE STONEY: Nothing but whiskey.
HELMS: Huh?
GEORGE STONEY: Did they -- did they let people drink in the mill village?
HELMS: Now, I can't answer that. My -- my people didn't, because my mother
didn't allow that. My mother was a Christian lady, she -- of course, my daddy died when I was real small, I don't remember him.GEORGE STONEY: Well, my daddy was a prohibitionist, too. And, uh, (laughter) oh,
he was strong against that. I guess everybody in those old days was, was -- weren't they?HELMS: Yeah. I imagine so.
GEORGE STONEY: Yeah.
HELMS: Because we didn't have it in our house at all.
GEORGE STONEY: And I remember, uh, a story you might find on my granddaddy, uh,
led the -- the whole prohibitionist movement in Kentucky. (laughter) Uh, so that 00:54:00I -- uh, I understand what you mean about that. Yeah. Uh, you were wor-- when did you start working in the mills?BROWN: When I was 14.
HELMS: When I was 14, in the summertime.
GEORGE STONEY: When you were 14. Uh-huh. And then you worked full time when you
were 16?HELMS: Was that when -- n-- no, because I couldn't -- I went to work full time
when I went on the six -- six hour long (inaudible). I can't tell you now --GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
HELMS: -- what time it was, I think, because I mean when it was.
GEORGE STONEY: Uh, you were saying that you remembered something about that big
strike. Could you talk to us about that?HELMS: Well, they had a union, and all the rest of them was striking, unless
they didn't strike after, they just stopped it down. For a while, I don't remember how long, but I know they dropped weights and everything, and they put 00:55:00up National Guards around it, around our door, and they come after a few of us, and we went in there, and went to work, went back to work. That's all I can tell you, because I didn't fool with that, either.GEORGE STONEY: Do you remember any of the guardsmen?
HELMS: No, I don't.
GEORGE STONEY: We ask -- I'm asking you that, because in some places, we found
that the g-- that the girls in the mill got to know the guardsmen pretty well.HELMS: No, I don't -- I don't know many of them.
GEORGE STONEY: Uh-huh.
HELMS: You know, they had them, um, down here at this mill, down there on the
road a lot. [Anarka?]. Was it the [Hose Mill?]? I guess it was, down on -- one of them mills down there. But see, we didn't go down there. We stayed up here, the long.GEORGE STONEY: Did you feel that that was a -- a kind of a threat?
00:56:00HELMS: Now, I don't know. Now, I don't know if I did or not.
(overlapping dialogue; inaudible)
GEORGE STONEY: OK.
