Howell, Ben

Description

voice Collected by Merlin Mitchell Ben Howell Transcribed by Mary C. Parler Austin, Texas December, 1950 Reel 71 Item 3 When I was a kid we'd go out to visit grandfather every weekend in the summer. And I had a cousin out there that was a real humdinger—liked to hunt—-with dogs. So did I. The fall of the year we'd get out with those dogs and hunt coon and possum. We were caught out one night in a rain. We crawled into an old gin—up into the attic of an old gin—and it was full of hay. We got our dogs up there—we was all wet—and we all bedded down in that hay. We got warm and went to sleep. Sunday morning the niggers used this gin for a place of worship. They came early and stayed late. Some would come and cook their breakfast there. There was a long tall nigger had a long arm and a very long fore-finger. He'd stand on the feedbox down there and point right directly to heaven. He said, "I just wants to know if you's all prepared. If Gabriel was to blow his horn this morning would you be ready? Brothers and sisters, I is ready. If he was to blow that horn right now, I'd be ready. How many is ready to go?" So I'd peeked down through the crack and seen what was going on. And we had a fox horn, so I thought I'd test this nigger preacher. So...

From Collection

Ozark Folksong Collection

Record Contributed By

University of Arkansas