7

Alabama Life in a Shrimping and Oyster Shucking Camp 7

year, we only got one month's work in the factory on account of
strike and the war they had on. When we does work we gits one
cent a pound for pickin' the shrimp, an' they pays us by weighin'
the hulls instead of the shrimp.

"Ezora an' me both work in the factory when it runs. Some-
times we make four dollars or six dollars a week. When we make
seven dollars, we are doin' fine. The way we know when the
factory is going to run is they blow the whistle at two o'clock in
the mornin'."

Joe said their main food is gumbo and stews; he said they
did not like dry foods, and they had coffee all through the day.
He said they never filled their cup, but would take a sip of
strong, black coffee very often. He said they always parched
their own coffee. He and Ezora were too old for parties, he said
but, "when the young folks wanted put themselves together, they
call that a picnic."

The workers who live in this camp, do not have to pay rent,
but they do have to work for the Dorgan McPhillips Packing Company
whenever they are wanted. There is no water in the camp [begin strike through] but [end strike through] save an
artesian well, and no way of heating except the flue in each
kitchen.

Joe and Ezora's rooms were bare with the exception of an old
iron double bed, with moss mattress and dirty covers. Back of the
entrance door was a homemade cupboard filled with old dirty
clothes, and by the side of the bed was a trunk with some bed
clothes on it. In the opposite corner of the room was a foot-
long shelf holding a few papers. There were two windows in the
room, and over them hung two grey pieces of an old blanket that
served as shades. On the wall that separated this room from the

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