Vol. 4-Interview-Zosack

W. Brown interviewing Susie Zosak -68/12/7 Tap 3-1

WB Did you hear that anywhere besides your father?

SZ Yeh, they say that on Christmas Eve that animals speak, I feel that draft from upstairs. I'm goin' to close this door, we didn't fuss so much but some people they had lots of different things, you don't need that many soups or all that stuff, they made much more.

WB I was interested in what you said that the animals speak, I've heard that before but did a lot of Slavish people give their animals something to eat that evening

SZ I don't know what the others did but my father when before Easter when we were having the baskets blessed, I guess this is the first year that I didn't have blessed.

WB How did you get it blessed?

SZ Well you take it up to the priest and get it blessed and, this one you didn't hear about, but first I got everything ready but I didn't take it up I had to go all the way up to up to (blank?) or take it up to church so I didn't but you bake bread and you have a round loaf of bread and you put salt in, it's good to have blessed salt, and the chalk. They say it's in the story book and I believe that if you put a chalk mark around maybe you sign your soul to the divvel or what but if he stands in that even that man signs his soul to the devil, the devil wont cross that chalk mark to get him, do you believe that

WB I've heard that before

SZ You heard it sure that's how, we would take a piece of chalk and put it in the basket that we would have blessed before Easter you make like a cheese, like a custard and you get about 24 eggs and about a quart and a pint of milk and you put in on the stove and you just, I always make it, this time even for myself but I ate it, it's very good it's like a custard if I have time before you go may I'll make one, you put a pound of water and you beat up the eggs and milk and a little salt and a little sugar and you put the pan in a boiling water so

Wain Brown interviewing Susie Zosak -78/12/72 Tape3-1

it would boil like a cooker you have a canner a cooker but we'd make a big pot so I'd have to put the water in a (?) but if you put it right on the stove it would get burned on the bottom, would get black marks to it so you'd put it in hot water and they put it in cloth like they make cheese, do you know how they make cheese from sour milk, did you ever see how they make it from skim milk, you know the cottage cheese that you buy well that's what they make it from sour milk, we used to have a cow and you know that milk, you didn't put it in other containers, you had crocks, yeh a 4 qt. crock we didn't sell all the milk so you put that in first of all and you know in the summer when it was hot and the cow would lay down on the hot coal dirt you had to wash the thing off and had to was her whatchcall it

WB Udders

SZ Yeh and wash that off nice maybe she had a little crack or something you put on some butter that wasn't salted unsweetened butter before you got to milk her I could milk a cow, we had one here and that bugger she almost killed me so then when you put the milk down in the cellar the best thing to do, see we didn't have no ice, there was no ice man, so I used to take the milk even when I sold, one time when we had a cow I sold about 9 qts. but not long because the cow kicked and Pop got rid of her right away, I hated it I'd rather get a book now and then and have that because it came to about $40 a month when we sold it and we had enough of our own see it was genuine guernsey, well she wasn't registered but her people, I mean her mother was because Coxe's had her and when Coxe's went out of business my husband went down and bought this first calf and you know she wasn't in, Gregory bought her, Gregory down on the farms there when I asked how's the cow, most of the cows that you get should get 3, 4 qts. at a time the one gave you 10 qts. at a time because she was a regular Guernsey and the milk was good that you can ask his he said "I never drink milk that came fresh from the cow but this milk is different," it had a regular Guernsey taste

W.Brown interviewing Susie Zosak -88/12/72 Tape 3-1

WB Now I wanted to ask you about that chalk mark that intrigues me now first of all tell me about the chalk, it was just regular chalk?

SZ It was just chalk and we had it blessed.

WB And the priest would bless it?

SZ It was in the basket that we had blessed, you could have it blessed on the Blessed Mother's Day when they blessed flowers and things you know and they blessed Palms you could have it blessed then you know but we used to put it in the basket when we had that cheese made from eggs and butter cheese, cottage cheese, whatever came from the cow, you know, and bread and we'd put salt do you know what my father used to do, he'd take a quart and a pint can and put salt in, he was like old people he came from over there and I guess there was witches there, I don't know but he would always put some of that salt in the chop or bran, some cows you'd gather up slop and spill everything but when we had a cow we never did that we never had slops like that so we would just give her maybe pour that water into the chop or give it to her dry, she would eat it dry, you couldn't give her too much because she would blow up, you know but some you'd put the chop in the thing, he would even go down to the stable and with that blessed chalk he'd make crosses over the door and when the priest comes

WB And that would bless the cow then?

SZ That wouldn't bless the cow but it would keep the witches away but there wasn't no withches, there was no witches in Humboldt

WB How about Eckley, were there any witches in Eckley?

SZ Oh no, I don't kow but snyway there was a family(?) and we got that guernsey cow and she gave a bucket full and I don't know when I was goin' up the goin' up the thing I even showed it to them and I'd say now that's what you call a cow, it was we never had a cow that good and that good of a milk, their cow didn't give that much I wasn't even afraid to show it to them

W.Brown interviewing Susie Zosak -98/12/72 Tape 3-1

We had a Jersey cow and she only gave half that amount but Jersey milk is all butter, and the Holstein would give you lots of milk but it was watery we had a cow that gave lots of milk that was watery not very rich, she was a Holstein

WB But do you think there was any witches in Eckley?

SZ No, maybe once upon a time there was an old Irish woman lived up by, I don't know but anyway my sister she lived up on the Back Street Mrs. (?) she went across the street and there was a butcher and it was hard to buy a pound of meat, he had his own customers and he had real nice meat there was another butcher but he wasn't very clean, you know, so so somebody asked her for a paper bag and then when she came home somebody said well that lady's supposed to be a witch and my sister has a cow on the Back Street and and the lady across the street had a cow but I don't know if she'd do anything, they were just crazy ideas then she went back and asked for the piece of paper that she needed it she was scared.

WB So there wasn't any witches in Eckley, how about were there any Powwowers?

SZ No they had to go someplace for the Powwowers, you know what there used to be a guy in Upper Lehigh and when I got married and had little children I couldn't eat and had no appetite, there was nothing wrong, just had no appetite so I went to Upper Lehgh I got (?) and I scared myself I thought I must be gettin' weak there was a lady that lived, and she did get T.B. and it scared everybody she was sick and run-down and well I must have it too because I'm skinny and can't eat and then Josephine (?) we had the same doctor and I told Dr Corlie I have T.B. I'm so skinny and he said, "I'm tellin' you, you don't," but he said, "Go to Dr. Neals he was Dr. Neals doctor, I walked to Dr. Neals and he gave me a tonic and I started eatin' right away when he gave me a tonic I got used to the darn tonic and couldn't eat again, and I had to work because I had little children so then on my own thing we went to Upper Lehigh there was a guy that used to cook all kinds of Herbs, well he was a Powwow too because my mother was a mid-wife in Humboldt 4-miles from Hazleton and when the kid was little and it would get, we used to

(Patent Medicare??) Wain Brown interviewing Susie Zosaak -108/12/72 Tape 3-1

call it (?) it was like wastin' away like it didn't pick up whatever sometimes the mother's milk didn't agree with it at that time every mother nursed her babies, you know and sometimes he milk wasn't the right thing for it, maybe it didn't agree with it but anyway my mother used to go to, there was a lady in Freeland she was a pretty good a pretty (?) woman Mrs. (?) , she would go to her, when this man was there he was a Powwower. ?

WB Do you remember what his name was?

SZ Some would remember that lived in Upper Lehigh or maybe some of these people around there

WB Now when was this about 1910?

SZ About 1920 maybe because I was married in 1913 well we went down there to his and I thought I had T.B. and on the way down I scared myself so much that I was goin' to go to Lock Haven (White Haven?) that's what I was talkin' to my sister when we went to church and we went to this Powwow guy and he said, "Lady I don't have the cure for T.B. and he said, " You don't have no T.B." and when we came back from there I wasn't even sick

WB Well what did he do for you?

SZ Nothin' he just took it off my mind, he just said I didn't have T.B. and that was enough, he said, "I have no cure," he said, "You know what you do get yourself a bottle (I'll never forget) Dill's Balm of Life," that was a that you grease, that must have brought the blood circulation up because that wasn't even a tonic that was stuff that you rubbed when you had rheumatism it wasn't poison but he said a couple drops in water, they were like Hoffman drops, only one man made Hoffman drops that smelled like, I don't know, you can't buy it no place, there was only one druggist and he made it himself and afterwards if you had a pain in the stomach there was kind of a thing there that helped your stomach, you know what I mean, I don't know what he made it from but later on you couldn't buy it because this man made it himself he was a druggist and he