Eunice Smelcer, Emerts Cove, Sevier County, Tennessee
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Eunice Smelcer, apparently in her mid to late 20s, was living in Emerts Cove, in Sevier County, Tennessee when recorded in 1939.
[transcripption copyrigh Michael Montgomery and Paul Reed, 2017]
[S = Eunice Smelcer; I = Interviewer Joseph Hall
I: Uh, could you tell us your name, please?
S: My name is Eunice Smelcer, and uh, and Willie Stinnett is my grandfather, and I’m very glad to say it.
I: You have a good grandfather.
S: Yes sir.
I: Do you have children?
S: Yes, I have two, a boy and a girl.
I: How did you amuse yourself when you were a girl, Missus Smelcer?
S: Uh well when, till I was twelve years old, I went to school, but I didn’t like it.
I: You didn’t like school?
S: No, I never did like school, I wanted to, I wanted to be part-Indian and go a-hunting, I liked to squirrel hunt.
I: So would you tell us a little bit about a squirrel hunt?
S: Yeah, anything you want to know of.
I: Uh so would you go with boys or would you go with girls?
S: No, I goed myself.
I: You went by yourself?
S: Uh-huh.
I: Did you take a dog along?
S: No, I want a gun.
I: Uh, so you would kill them then?
S: Yeah, I reckon you'd call it that, I, I, I killed six uh one day.
I: Six squirrels one day?
S: Uh-huh.
I: What was the weather like that day?
S: Well, it was pretty and sunny and quiet.
I: Pretty and sunny, what do you think is the best weather for squirrel hunting?
S: Anything in the world for me, I have good luck anytime.
I: You have good luck anytime?
S: Uh-huh.
I: Some of them say that the best kind of weather to squirrel hunt in is uh, a kind of foggy day.
S: Well, I just have as good luck at one time as I do another, and uh, uh I take my kids with me and, and I have as much fun with them as I do if I was by myself.
I: Do you use uh long-range bullets?
S: No, I use a double-barreled shotgun.
I: A double-barrel shotgun?
S: Uh-huh.
I: Do you do any possum hunting or coon uh coon hunting?
S: Uh-huh.
I: Coon hunting?
S: Uh-huh.
I: Tell us a little bit about possum hunting and coon hunting when you do it.
S: Uh well you do it when uh, after it goes to frosting, when the uh, when the fur gets ripe, then is when you want to catch them for the market, uh unless you want to eat them, and we don’t like to eat them.
I: You don’t like to eat them?
S: Huh-uh.
I: Well, what does possum meat uh taste like?
S: Well, it tastes like something I never tasted before.
I: Did you ever eat any bear meat?
S: Yes.
I: Uh how do you like bear meat?
S: I like it.
I: What does it taste like?
S: Well, it tastes similar to hog meat.
I: Similar to hog meat.