8

-8-

a furniture truck goin to Lakeland. But we broke a axle some place in the
woods in Polk County, an I started walkin ahead to call a garage man to tow
him in. I phoned fer one fum a fillin station, as then kep on walkin west.

"Goin thew the flatwoods a ole Ford coop ketched up with me, an drivin
it wuz a skinny red-headed woman bout 40 years old. I thumbed er fore I
seen she wuz a woman, but she stopped an picked me up any how. We got talk-
in, an I tole er I wuz lookin fer a job. She said she wuz a widder woman
with a 80-acre farm, an needed a man to help run it. Said her ole man had
up an died on er a year back, an left er the farm an a flock-a kids, an
forty head-a cattle, an she didn't know how many hawgs a-runnin the woods.
She'd been to town after rations an seed cawn; an ast me would I hire out to
her.

"I tole er I didn't love farmin a-tall, workin fum kin till can't an a-
livin on grits an hawg's vest with the buttons on—that's sow's belly.

Asked what was meant by "from kin till can't," Jaydy explained it meant
"fum the time you kin see in the mawnin till you can't see at night," and
proceeded:

"But she lent over agin me kinda clost, an said if I'd come an work
fer her I wouldn't hafta work moren eight hours a day, an she'd gimme $30
a month an board, with plenty ham, an chicken, an pie, an anything else I
wanted. I reckoned she muata ben kinda bad off fer a man any how, the way
she kep snugglin up to me in the seat, an me ugly as a skint buzzard.

"She wuz a homely ole varmint her sef, with her buck teeth, an long
nose, an freckly neck. But by then I wuz so dad-blamed hongry my belly
wuz growin fast to muh backbone, an me broke as a jaybird. So I tole er
I'd hire out to er fer a while, an maybe longer.

"By good dusk we got to her farm, bout a mile back fum the road in a

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