Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1884-06-26
OLD-TIME NEGROES.
Remembrance Of the Days When
They Courted in the Cotton.
Darkles I'm Old Vlrginny..
Great Grandchildren
New Teeth.

LOUISVILLE fO6C
Typical oid-tinie negroes are Ben Wicklihe
and his centenarian wife, Charlotte. The
old man is little squatty negro with an ex-
trenIely bald head, whose only covering Is
two little tufts Of white wool over each ear.
Charlotte, his older but better half is in per-
feet keeping with the old man, and has been
bis companion for seventy years Both date
their birth back in the eighteenth century.
The old man fixes his age at liz. while his
wife stands pat and goes him three better at
115. When the reporter entered the old man
was seated in an arm chair, looking stead
tasty into the fire, while his wife lay upon q
bed near by, resting her shriveled hand low
ingly upon the barest part Of his head.
Il understand, uncle, that you are over 100
years old" began the reporter.
"Yes, sonny; de ole man is pretty ole Pse
seen generations Of men die and not soul
lives now that was young in my days
How old are you"
"Well, it's been calculated different ways.
and has not been fixed lower than 112 years
After long counting, the people Of Bards-
town, where l come; from, fixed 1t at desc
Gggers" 50
How far back can you rememberT
Il can go way back to the first war, when
Gen. Washington whipped the English"
Did you see any Of the fghtingr
No, but | remember the soldiers coming
back from the war dressed in buckskin coats
l was quite big boy then. reckon II years
old. When was young the country was all
woods and Injins There was only one house
in Bardstown when l was a boy, and this
place was no larger than Bardstown is now
when was pretty well grown When old
Master Wickiiffe died he was q white headed
old man, and was Just few years younger
than hin. He died too long ago to think
about. 1t must be nigh forty years"
How did you come to marry the old
woman"
This caught the ear of the old woman,
and, rising up in bed, she demanded o
woman's right to inform on all questions re-
la.ing to so tender a subject.
sonny, you see, Use Virginny Niger,
and they can't grow pretty niggers nowhere
but in ole Virginny. Then / moved TO
Bardstown ! jest caught de eyes of all the
darkies and SGT them crazy. One day, as
was knocking through dc fields with bum
die Of cotton on my head, Ben looked up
from his hoe, and, fixing his eyes on me;
watched me till was out Of sight De next
day Ben cum to de cal bin and tole me that
was de prettiest thing he eber seed. Desc
little feet and that old cotton dress, which
was so short dat l neber liked it, was what
caught de ole mans eye. There were seven
other niggers arter me at the time but ]
liked Ben de best, even though j was three
years older"
"How many children had your
Sixteen. Only five Of dem are alive now,
and the youngest is 50 years old Desc five
are ali living in dis city with thirty-two
children, and all Of desc are married and
got children, and desc got children again"
"How many great-grandchildren have
you:"
God only knows. My stock of numbers
runs out before get half round. I've seen
dc foth generation of my children. Jane
Cook, one Of my great-grandchildren, living
on Twelfth and Rowan, has son 6 years
.old.n
"They tell me that the old-time Negroes
teeth never have been known to wear QUIT"
IL doesn't know about dat never had a
rotten tooth in my head, and never had one
to drop out, but have not bad tooth in
desc old gums for many years. They jus,
wore out and blew away"
allow is the old mans teeth."
"Oh Lord bless you sonny. he's a-teething,
the old baby; just think of it' Here the old
woman fairly shook with laughter, and
Slapped the old man several times on the
head in the height Of ecstasy Maybe YOU
don't believe it, sonny, but it is a fact, and
can't help laughing when / think Of the old
rascal getting n new set of teeth. 1t looks
like he intends living forever"
As evidence, the old man stood up, and
curling back his upper lip, allowed the scribe
to insert his finger to establish the fact and
allay all doubt. From the front part Of the
upper gum extend two ivory incisors, abou;
a quarter Of an inch beyond the gums
He's just like a teething baby, too" the
old woman continued, "and when they were
cutting he was 50 cross and peevish we didn't
know what to do with him"