Vol. 1-Interviews-Ferko

DM inter. Mary & Tom Ferko -11- 8/7/72 Tape 6 I didn't like it DM Isn't there a superstition about women in the mines around here TF I never heard it DM Nothing about women are bad luck in the mines TF No, I don't believe any of that I don't believe in the superstitions I don't believe nuthin' DM I agree with you, it seems that a lot of people do believe that if a woman comes in the mines, especially if there are men there that it is bad luck, it doesn't make any sense to me MF I guess there are a lot of people believe in different things just like my daddy and mother they say if a picture falls off a wall somebody's going to die DM That happened at our house a couple weeks ago TF Or a black cat crossing the road something is going to happen, I don't believe nuthin' like that DM I don't know what to say about that one of our pictures fell off the wall about 3 weeks ago and nobody's died yet at least that I know of MF That's the same thing, like when we lived on the Back Street my brother was just a small baby and he had bronchitis and that was the 7th time and they said that when you get it that many times something will happen and the same day that he had the attack like that the picture fell off and my mother started cryin' she said he was going to die and he's still livin' TF Yeh but she didn't say when DM Yeh that's right we're all going to die but we don't know when TF That's like Shaeffer said he was going to put new roads thru here but he didn't say when, when he was over here DM ANd we're going to get a new weather boar but when TF That's hogwash DM And the state is alway 2 or 3 years behind their predictions, never fails

DM inter. Mary & Tom Ferko -12- Tape 6 8/7/72 I was talking to Berger up here something is going to happen next summer if they get the money they're already to go TF Hooper said the sewage is going thru for next summer DM They'll tear the town to pieces MF It couldn't be any worse than when they put the power line in DM That's true MF You should have saw this place, oh it was a mess DM I saw pictures of it TF They had power lines right along the highway and you can't even see where it is now MF They had right across the road ditches, and right along our boardwalk where we come in right down thru the lot that's why it settled TF the guys didn't fill it in underneath DM Did it all settle and you had to fill it in TF We had to put blocks right where it comes in there MF They had 2 blocks in the front there TF Go get me a cigarette, honey MF I knew you were going to say that I saw you lookin' at me TF Or I'll give you my false teeth to chew on MF Do you want a Salem DM No I have some Winstons here TF So you got lost pickin' huckleberries what a horses tail of a guy DM Well we got lost on those roads TF All you had to do was get up on a bank and you could see where you are right away MF Why didn't you talk to my husband he would have taken you'se out DM Well I thought that Monete Carlo Chevrolet was out here was your daughter so we took off TF That was my nephew

DM inter Mary & Tom Ferko -13- 8/7/72 Tape 6 MF That was next door that wasn't here DM I thought you had company, we were going to go out and do that before we came to talk to you, but we got lost out there, we lost a couple of hours and didn't have a choice if I wanted to eat I had to eat with them they wanted to charcoal some hamburgers and the whole thing took a long time so MF I saw when youse went down you could have stopped he was done eatin' dinner her just went to bed and slept all afternoon TF You didn't walk up where the water come from did yah, up along the crick DM No but I'd like to see it sometime TF You know where that water is where I told you on the left hand side where there is a trough you walk up along that trough and you come to an opening in the road and you go right thru cross and go up along the railroad track where the water comes thru, the spring down here at there's a beautiful spring that's on this side, there's a nice spring down there I take my grandchildren and catch these greenies in there oh they have a lot of fun catchin' them DM Greenies MF Yeh greenies, toads, frogs, we call them greenies because they're green DM They're all brown where I come from TF No that's a frog that's brown we call them greenies we used to eat them when we were kids DM Eat the greenies before they became a frog TF No they're frogs but they're green, we used to catch them and cut the back legs off put the skin down and make a fire and roast them to eat them MF Yeh you use to get the frog legs too DM It's hard to keep you guys on an one area question MF My daddy would take us out in the woods and take bacon and put it on a stick and make a fire roast it on a fire

DM inter. Mary & Tom Ferko -14- 8/7/72 Tape 6 TF Oh every night we use to be roastin' potatoes here make a fire and wiat till it was charcoal and the charcoal would be about that big and we'd eat the charcoal and everything DM Isn't charcoal good for you, my mother use to tell me it was TF We use to eat it and Jeez we never got sick MF Do you know what my mother use to do in the old days if the kid would get sick they would say the kid got "overlooked" and they use to take and burn it and then drop it in water and if it went TF If it floated / it went down if it stayed on top it was alright or whatit was I don't know, by God we use to do that too DM No the "overlook" wasn't that the evil-eye MF Yeh TF And then you had to turn your socks backwards so you wouldn't get "overlooked" MF That's the things they use to do in the olden days, so you won't get "overlooked" they'd say turn your socks inside out or your undies or have something inside out DM On you but inside out MF Yeh TF That's what a "ginny" is a "nigger' turned inside out DH That's what my grandpa said an Irish guy was, I guess it just depends on what part of the country you're from and he grew up in western Pennsylvania, he was a foreman in Alcoa Aluminum in Kensington, right outside of Pittsburgh for many years MF Well we were born and raise here he was born right in this house, right in that parlor there and I was born up on the Back Street in my grandmother's house they burnt that house down too DM Yes I was about to say there's nothing left buy a bunch of foundations there MF That's all, and they were nice homes, I was was just thinkin' if I would have that old furniture my grandmother use to have, them old dishes and everything, boy would

DK inter. Mary & Tom Ferko -15- 8/7/72 Tape 6 boy would that be nice now she had a lot of old stuff TF Everybody had old stuff then MF They didn't have any rugs on the floor, in the parlor they had, the carpet was thin it wasn't carpet like that it was green or red and it was flowery designs the kind that she had in the parlor TF A lot of people used burlap bags for carpets DM Burlap bags the same ones they use to make dish towels out of TF They were potato bags then brown ones DM Did you guys ever go in for decorating with feed bags that were already printed up with designs on the, curtains and MF We made pillow cases Bruno's wife use to make all the underwear for her family TF Make shorts and stuff out of them, they had a lot of chicken they use to buy a lot of feed MF Same as with my mother she use to make all that DM I saw some stuff around her Eva Sulkosky stll has some curtains made out of it, Margaret Maloney has a whole bunch of dish towels she gave us one out of the feed bag and it's beautiful right out of, all you had to do was bleach it out, wash it out that's all MF Yeh I use to make my pillow cases and all out of that DM Did you guys get any extra money when you were first married you didn't take in any boarders did you, you just lived off your check TF No, but before that everybody use to have boarders DM You said everybody TF The people that come from Europe they almost all had boarders the people would come from Europe and stay with relations MF So they'd take them in TF Like if you pee on my fence you're my relations DM Is that what they use to say about it