18

17.

to have a water pipe run into his house, and I paid him $10 to let
me tap it. Now, all the colored folks below here comes to my house
to get their water. They are supposed to pay me 25¢ a month, but
sometimes they don't pay me a cent. Oh, well, it's all right how the
white folks run things. They always have run things in the South,
and they always will. They've been considerate enough of the
colored folks in the past, but for the last few years they haven't
let us have any work to do for 'em. If I had ever voted against 'em
I would think that might be the matter, but I never voted in my life
and don't expect to. I just don't know what's the matter.

"This used to be a respectable section of town. Distinguished
people have been reared out here, but since the city put that old in-
cinerator and the abattoir down here, decent people have to go away
from here to get a breath of pure air. However, we ain't bothered
with the scents like the people up on the hill, for we are below the
smokestack. Yet they'll send a man to your house as often as once
every week to inspect sanitary conditions while they are raising such
a bad smell in the neighborhood you can't hardly stay on your own
premises. As far as I know, there are no gamblers or bootleggers
living in our neighborhood, nor have we ever been bothered with
much of that. I guess the bad scents are too much for their business.

"Did you ever hear how Lickskillet got its name? Well, I
was told that years ago a mighty peculiar man lived in this section.
He lived all alone and never associated with his neighbors. He did
his own housework, and his only cooking vessel was a skillet. Instead
of washing the skillet, he always just licked it clean. Folks seeing

1875