The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1962-05-04

seat.
eff you put anything in there
say that gal is Christian wo-
man do you hear" "Mary and
that girl are the best friends
I've got in the world" "That's
right she feeds me and what
with the county 1 still can't get
BY" "How's a man going to
feed a mule and himself on $50
a week?" "I've gone hungry
to feed the mule" "You put that
in your paper!"
John said he was 90 because
he knew that the "Lord said
honor your father and mother
so that your days might be be-
longed." "I've done my part of
badness though" We asked
John if he had ever had a
whipping as boy and he said.
"That's all l did get" "That's
why l growed up manly"
John said he was never
much of a lover because a
man that works from sun to sun
is too tired for any sech bust
ness" 81 had two children;
they were girls. -. that's
right they're both dead" "Me
and my wife always got along
except when she grabbed my
collar" 81 don't even let white
folks or whoever it is to grab
my collar" 81 spent the night
in Jail for that. when / hit
her" 81 didn't spend but a
night in Jail and my conscious
felt better"
John says it was his only
brush with the law. There was
the time he first passed the liq-
uor store to "see all those
pretty bottles all shiny there
like magic" Washington Wood
ley pulled a bill from his sock
and bought a pint of Standard
Stock. 81 saw the policeman
watching me but didn't think he
notice" "Seems like 1 couldn't
take a drink unless it was fore
I left town." 81 maybe had just
one. it took a while to get
that old tape and stick off. {.
cut it with a knife" "'The
policeman he saw me just chug
and ask what 1 do" 81 told
him l heard he was best law
man here about the county. !.
said everybody say what a fine
man he was. ! didn't know
him." II offered him a drink
and he says get out of town
with that bottle John Woodley."
John says he got out of town
but that the thing wasn't over.
"Somehows that drink got the
best of me-" "Mary she gave a
bolt on Burnside road and / fell
in the garbage swill." II still
had my bottle and after the
first / got SO / liked it in there"
whenever noon lunch time
came 1 tried to get out but the
cold air hit me when ] got out
of the swill so bad that l just
sunk down easy-like and stay
ed" "It was about up here to
my neck" "My sister she pulled
me out just before dark and
washed me off,"
John Woodley says his drink
ing days are over now. The old
character rises at about three
or five in the morning because,
as he says, 81 got in the habit
when / was a cap'n." He feeds
Mary and then trudges across
the road to slop his nieces pigs.
The three days a week when he
bitches Mary up for a trip to
town are his real ''hard work
days." John says he has an
agreement about his garbage
collections. "They don't charge
me and / don't charge them"
Nobody makes any money, but
that's how it is"
There are few of us in Man
teo who don't know John. His
wagon has bounced the bottom
of every child who is large e.
nough to climb aboard when the
cries of "Wait for me John
Woodley" sprout from the bush
es and back yards of the town.
| If you've lived here long e.
nough John knows your grand
father by name and your papa
as his son. On a summer after
noon when the children are a.
sleep he and Mary ride the
streets like two dark phantoms
| in a fog of sunlight, looking
for the garbage and trifles
which are his living. He asked
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