The Forward of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD

As the town is the nation in seed, (The southeast Alabama town of Aven becomes a character itself as this novel unfolds an almost 30 turn-of-the-century year story  (1887-1916) which saw a fallow wilderness introduced to the American Industrial Revolution. Growing from a population of less than 200 to almost 10,000 in a few years, it is a tale about how a solitary frontier Wiregrass "dirt road sport" with a fourth grade education and an unquenchable thirst for domination goes from a side job as a teenage pawnbroker to become a corporate psychopath who expanded his power to the point where he was able to control the entire population of Aven through finance, politics and property ownership.)

so is a strong man the kernel of the town. 

(The novel never leaves the point of view of the character of Buck Bannon, a man whose values were forged through the childhood trauma produced by a life dominated by preparing, planting, nurturing and harvesting a field of cotton every year for the first eighteen of his life. With his actions and inner monologues over the course of 34 chapters and 11 interludes, we experience Buck's unsentimental vision of urbanization manifest itself.)

The life of the strong man is the beam from which the vigor of the town is projected, and, since the progress of man is by nature episodic, so a town may leap one year and stumble another. Robust in peak times, bloodless in the valleys, the commonwealth ebbs and flows with the temper of its men.

The lusty, always greedy, sometimes fumbling fingers of the strong man enrich the country in spite of his motives, as the earthworm's blind and selfish groping mellows the soil. (Just as the earthworm was born to instinctively consume waste and turn it into the black gold of fertile soil, so Buck Bannon's innate lust for power enriches those who share the streets of Aven with him.)

Those other men, those who grovel and hesitate, live only within the boundary of their fears, in a dusty husk of a world, until the strong man comes, saying,

"I will build for myself, and if the public harvest follows my private vice, then join me at the board and leave it gratified." (In the novel's last chapter,Buck described his deep insatiable hunger to his wife, "The town's growing and I'll build more stores and buy more land, and make more money, as long as anybody makes it. I'll get mine all right, even if there are more face cards in the deck nowadays." (clippings from the September 9, 1911 DOTHAN EAGLE and from the August 16, 1914 MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER)

 Chapter 3:

Chapter 3 begins the next segment of the book a little over a year after Buck's arrival in boomtown Aven. The hick from the sticks who'd never even seen a train a few months before now recognizes each engineer's whistle and pawning those railroad men's pocket watches is the new crop country boy Buck is tending now. Harvest time is every railroad man's payday and Buck knows he's on the path to riches because he's "willin' to live like a hog in the back of Green's store, and stayin' lonesome because you can't make money by lendin' to friends."

While working up the courage to ask the richest man in town for a loan, Buck reflects upon his new life as he walks down one of Aven's new residential streets. Aven has grown from a row of wooden shacks across from a railroad depot. Fresh water from a spring a half mile away from the depot has led to the construction of a whiskey distillery and with it a new commercial district to compete with the one containing the store where Buck works. Aven hasn't progressed to the point of actually having a bank so negotiations for Buck's first business loan will occur on the front porch of Amos Longshore's big house.  Longshore's daughter answers Buck's knock at the door and this results in Buck discovering he wants a little more from Longshore than just his money. As he watches the pretty girl walk down the hall to go get her father, Buck craves what he sees, "like finding rock candy in the syrup bucket."

 from page 31 of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD:

"Couldn't forget Jernigan." His mouth twisted wryly. "Or Bascom Wooten." Wooten coming that night so many months ago and tapping on the small window at the back of Green's store. His great raw slab of a face screwed up with embarrassment as he held out his heavy railroading watch, and his coarse rumble. "You kin hold this watch for the two dollars an' git three back on payday." Buck felt again the quick urge to be generous, to say, "Keep your watch and just pay me back the two," because Wooten was a friend. Then, again, came the quick knowledge and the awe that he had found the short cut; and again he knew the bite of shame as he had known it when he carried the watch slowly back towards the lamp that sat on the goods box at one end of his cot.

"OUT OF PAWN" (from the December 30, 1946 DOTHAN EAGLE) 

 In 1818, Mobilians were still illegally smuggling African slaves into the U.S. through the Spanish in Pensacola. General Jackson ruined one of their schemes when he captured the slave ship Constitution under the guns of Fort Barrancas during his possession of Pensacola in the First Seminole War. At the same time two more slave ships at sea were captured by U.S. Navy Lieutenant McKeever who turned them over to U.S. Customs officer Curtis Lewis (McKeever was the Navy man who first saw the Royal Navy's North American Invasion Fleet come over the horizon at Dauphin Island in 1814 and Curtis Lewis made the first U.S. chart of Mobile Bay and he married Major Farmar's granddaughter who was heir to a claim to all of Dauphin Island. Lewis was probably the one who named the Baldwin County shoal across from Sand Island light REVENUE POINT.) . Both McKeever and Lewis made claims for prize money from the U.S. government for these slaves. After an incredible series of frauds and forgeries, all of the Africans ended up being illegally sold into slavery in Alabama. Gilbert Russell (namesake for Russell County, Alabama and the U.S. Army commander who supervised the 1815 Andrew Jackson-ordered execution of the Tennessee militiamen on the shore of Mobile Bay) was made a U.S. Deputy Marshall  to try to reclaim the slaves on behalf of the U.S. government. Four of these unfortunate Africans were allegedly transported through Tuscaloosa in 1821 on their way to Tennessee. (from the May 19, 1821 NATCHEZ GAZETTE)

 Mosasaur scenes from JURASSIC WORLD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YvOvwLd694

 

Ratso: https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Ratso_Rizzo

Rico's Dream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC2crLlclNA

Top 10 Tuscaloosa RV Parks:  https://rvshare.com/blog/top-10-campgrounds/tuscaloosa-alabama/

#1~ Tannehill State Park:  https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tannehill+Ironworks+Historical+State+Park/@33.2489734,-87.0700985,1015m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xabf4667d63cdc0d2!8m2!3d33.2449748!4d-87.0690749

#2~ Lake Lee:  https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sanders+Ferry+Rd,+Alabama+35401/@33.1927315,-87.6310539,1006m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x88860444fbab061b:0x2f52b6b377ad9aa9!8m2!3d33.173718!4d-87.6368206

#3~Cottonmouth Ridge:  https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bee+Branch/@33.1893933,-87.4193947,243m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8888ae498f3598cf:0x9ad0b19e9c678bd2!8m2!3d33.1815752!4d-87.4095477

#4~ Lake Lurleen: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lake+Lurleen/@33.2933126,-87.6889056,4026m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x88861a696c4f6707:0x21e8908915009022!8m2!3d33.2954789!4d-87.6796865

#5~ Burchfield Branch: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Burchfield+Branch+Park/@33.3842782,-87.2943859,315m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x4535bd0898e17dc5!8m2!3d33.4399053!4d-87.3726247

#6~ Deerlick Creek:  https://www.google.com/maps/place/Deerlick+Creek+Campground/@33.2566721,-87.4388161,4022m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!3m7!1s0x0:0xa3109b6f19b373c6!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d33.2566721!4d-87.4388161

#7~ Moundville:  https://www.google.com/maps/place/Moundville+Archaeological+Park/@33.0064951,-87.6323443,2018m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x670fa023a46c2072!8m2!3d33.0027163!4d-87.6280528

 

1900: The Birth of Downtown Dothan ( originally slated to cross West Main near South Alice,  the story goes that Buck Baker got inside information on the Central of Georgia change of route through Dothan with the rails crossing East Main near present-day College/South Appletree, bought up the right-of-way and made a fortune sellin' it back to the Central of Georgia) 

from page 86 and 87 of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD

"I just left Ed Puckett," he said. "You know him. Used to be with the railroad here. Surveyor."

Joe Bannon nodded and crossed his legs.

"I thought I recognized a fellow gettin' off the train," Buck went on. "An' Ed told me about it. This fellow's from up North and he's the one came down to buy the land for the new spurs last year."

His father frowned and started to speak, but Buck kept talking.

"He ain't workin' for the same road no more." He leaned his head back and his lips hardly moved. His  eyes were hard and dark.

Joe Bannon's expression changed slowly and he eased himself down on the bench. He reached for his pocketknife and tobacco, but kept his eyes on Buck.

"Buyin' land?" he said, calmly.

Buck nodded and took one step nearer his father. He leaned over and spoke rapidly in a voice that he tried to hold low and tight to keep from shaking.

"This is what it is. He's hired Ed to do the surveyin' and he's goin' to start pickin' his route next week. He hasn't told Ed for sure which way he's headin', but the line's runnin' from Albany to join up with the road to Mobile. Naturally they'll hit Aven. Me and Ed figured everything and there ain't but one way for him to come."

He stopped and wiped his forehead, breathing deeply, and pushed his hair back.

"He'll cross Basin Street within two blocks of the store I wanted to buy. He'll build a depot, and a freight yard, and that section of town'll grow up crazy as a plum thicket."

Buck stopped and straightened up then with a half-smiling triumph in his eyes. Joe Bannon pulled his beard carefully out to the longest strand and looked at it curiously for a moment. He looked up and nodded.

"Buy it. I got the money."

"No, sir," Buck said quickly. "Let's go whole hog. I'll throw in my old store and the new one as collateral so I can buy it without help." He watched silently as his father nodded. "Then," he said, "you get out this afternoon and tomorrow morning and buy, quiet-like, all the ridge land you can northeast of town. They'll hunt ridges. Don't buy anything but poor land with a good stand of timber on it. We'll sell the timber first thing, then, by God, we'll have 'em hooked. They'll condemn at a price that'll give us a profit on the land deal, then we'll have the timber sale on top of it. Buy it right into Aven long as the price is right, they we'll sit tight and let 'em come to us."

Joe Bannon stared at his son for a moment and his eyes were puzzled, not with the business, but puzzled as if he were trying to place a stranger in his memory. He laughed low.

"I'll do it," he said, an slapped his knee. "It looks like a big gamblin', but I'll do it. But how come this afternoon?"

"I sent Ed off with a gallon of whiskey," Buck said. "Told him to take half of it out to Colt Peterman's place in the country, and he could have the rest. He'll be drunk for two days and won't have a chance to tell it in town. That'll give us a two-day jump on the rest."

 This portion of a 1923 MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER cartoon is an incredible exposition of the people and buildings that served as models for the fictional Aven, Alabama created in Dougie Bailey's imagination for his novel DEVIL MAKE A THIRD. The Malone-Harrison Ford dealership in the top left is still standing on the corner of S. St. Andrews Street and E. Crawford. St. Andrews Street is ST. SIMON STREET in DEVIL MAKE A THIRD. That car dealership was founded as Dothan Carriage Company in 1894 by Captain G.Y. Malone. Captain Malone was the model for AMOS LONGSHORE . To the right of that is a depiction of 63 year-old Dothan Police Chief Tobe Domingus who was the model for TOBE PARODY. Tobe is turning a mechanical traffic signal to "GO" as he hand-signals a mule (possibly a City of Dothan owned animal) labeled "Hotel Project" to stop. The Houston Hotel was not constructed until 1927. Above the mule is a building labeled Municipal Auditorium which was the model for the AVEN OPERA HOUSE.

Below this section of the cartoon is a depiction of the Hotel Martin (model for HARRISON HOUSE) on East Main (model for BASIN STREET). The tents on the roof of the hotel indicate some sort of party is going on. From the crowd of men in front of the hotel yelling "Packed tight!" and "A room! A room! My kingdom for a room!", it's easy to assume that the legs hanging out of the Hotel Martin windows are female ones. The character labeled "Danny" climbing the ladder with a load of bricks is Dan Baker, the model for JEFF BANNON. He's yelling to the crowd, "Sorry folks-we're adding on as fast as we can." Additions to the hotel trail off into infinity. The character on top of the first addition is labeled "Dug." holds a trowel and yells "More mort", "mort" meaning mortar. This is Dug Baker, the model for HEARN BAKER. (from the November 14, 1923 MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER)

 My Panama City buddy, Kenneth Redd, had an article published in last week's Panama City News-Herald concerning the impact of the BANANA KING, Minor C. Keith, upon commerce in Bay County. As owner of the Bay Line, Keith also had quite an impact upon Dothan. Dothan had a vested interest in the Bay Line. Keith's partner in much of his business in the Tri-States was W. C. Sherman, namesake of Panama City's old DIXIE-SHERMAN HOTEL. At the time that Keith bought the Bay Line about 1917, W.C. Sherman lived in Dothan. Keith spoke to the Dothan Chamber Commerce dinner in 1919 to promote the idea of extending the Bay Line all the way to Birmingham. Keith's dream of turning Panama City into the Gulf's greatest banana port fell through because rail rates to Tampa were cut making it the most profitable place to build a great banana port on the Gulf. Keith also donated 35 acres on St. Andrews Bay near Lynn Haven so Dothan's Bob Jones could build BOB JONES UNIVERSITY.(clippings from November 9, 1938 DOTHAN EAGLE, and )

from the June 23, 1926 SELMA TIMES-JOURNAL

from the July 10, 1919 ABBEVILLE HERALD

clippings from November 9, 1938 DOTHAN EAGLE

 When the original Tuscaloosa street grid was laid out 200 years ago during the spring and summer of 1821, that were only two streets that were marked off in a due north to south direction. Those were East Margin Street (present-day Queen City Avenue) and West Margin Street (present-day MLK, Jr. Boulevard). These two streets ran along the township section lines. All other streets were laid out parallel to the angle of the intersection of Broad Street (present-day University Boulevard) and Market Street (present-day Greensboro Avenue). In about 1886, the city changed the name of East Margin to Queen City Avenue to commemorate the opening of a new railroad route called the QUEEN & CRESCENT ROUTE which connected Cincinnati with New Orleans. Tuscaloosa was along the Chattanooga and Meridian division of this route so to promote the new route the city renamed East Margin Street to Queen City after Cincinnati, popularly known as "Queen City of the West" because of a Longfellow poem. It is also my understanding that at the time, many Cincinnati investors began to speculate in Tuscaloosa real estate. There's an incredible Civil War story behind all this. The greatest Tuscaloosa collector of Civil War memorabilia I know of has his office walls covered in Erlanger Bonds, the bogus cotton futures bonds Confederate spies sold all over Europe to finance the Confederate cause. Well Erlanger was busy after the war because he financed the syndicate that created the QUEEN & CRESCENT ROUTE in the 1880s.

 from page 30 of Matt Clinton's Scrapbook:

In the spring and early summer of 1821 the survey began. Dr. W.S. Wyman says that Dr. William A. Cochrane is  our authority for knowledge about the survey. Cochrane stated that the survey started at the boat landing. A road running in a southeasterly direction was laid off as far as the brow of the river hill. From that point a street 132 feet (two chains) wide was surveyed [ed. note: a standard survey chain is 66 feet long]. Roughly, it was perpendicular to the direction of the Warrior River flows. That street was called Market Street [ed. note: present-day Greensboro Avenue]. At right angles it was laid off a street, also 132 feet wide, called Broad Street (sometimes called Main Street) [ed. note: present-day University Boulevard]. Other streets in the square mile that was original Tuscaloosa were surveyed in conformity to these two. These streets are 99 feet (one and one half chains) wide.

from page 31 of Matt Clinton's Scrapbook:

In DEVIL MAKE A THIRD, a 19-year-old Buck Bannon learns the ropes of the Aven's short-loan game during his first 16 months in this small railroad boomtown. Payday came only once a month for railroad men but a brakeman with a sudden thirst for liquor and an urge for female companionship discovered it was ALWAYS PAYDAY  down at Green's Store as long as your credit was good with young Buck Bannon.

from page 29 and 30:

They walked in silence for a moment, until Jake suddenly grinned.

"What the hell," he said, "it's pretty good to have a place to go, though. When you got to have it, I mean."

The other pushed up the bill of his cap.

"It'd be all right," he admitted, "if the danged fool handn't learnt us railroadin' men can't work unless we got our watches. Someday, by God, I'm a 'goin' to leave him stuck with mine and buy me another'n."

"He'd just sell it for a profit," his friend said. "Nope," he went on, "we're stuck. Borrow two dollars and pay fifty cents interest ever' week. Why he don't even want the two dollars. Just that damned fifty cents."

The moon was riding high and shining half-way through the length of Green's store when they got to the shuttered doors, and looked through the small windows.

They could see the light in the back, and by it, the quiet figure, leaning against a counter making marks in a little book, and scuffling his feet at mice that were no longer afraid of him.

Jake suddenly laughed.

"Son of a gun's figurin' how much all us railroaders owe him," he said. "Been there ever' payday for over a year."

He tapped on the glass and saw the figure push away from the counter, still looking at the book, and walk slowly towards the front.

from the November 28, 1935 DOTHAN EAGLE

CHAPTER THREE of  DEVIL MAKE A THIRD

Page 31:

Buck stood still and listened to the frantic screaming of the engine as it breasted Tate's Hill. He couldn't hear it , but he could see it in his mind- the rocking whip of the drive shaft as it churned the big wheels around in a shower of sparks. He could see the shuddering jerk of each loaded car as sand was dropped and the wheels bit into a few inches of traction. 

from the November 28, 1935 DOTHAN EAGLE 

 

"Central of Georgia three years later" should read CENTRAL OF GEORGIA 13 YEARS LATER

from the Wikipedia link: 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and a lack of trailing wheels. Due to the large number of the type that were produced and used in the United States, the 4-4-0 is most commonly known as the American type, but the type subsequently also became popular in the United Kingdom, where large numbers were produced.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-4-0

Page 31:  "the rocking whip of the drive shaft as it churned the big wheels around in a shower of sparks.  

drive shaft of a steam locomotive

Page 31: "as sand was dropped and the wheels bit into a few inches of traction." 

The sand dome or sandbox held the sand that was delivered to the driving wheels by way of pipes. 

#7 is the sand dome (sandbox)
#19 is the opening of the sand pipe

"more and more folks here lettin' grass grow in their yards. Mother wouldn't have it."

 page 32 :  "It's growin' crazy as a gourd vine flingin' out a creeper now and then and stores and houses hitchin' on whenever they feel like it." (from the August 15, 1929 Dothan Eagle) 

"That's Jernigan on the cord. He gives it that laughin', wheedlin' twist"

"the goods box at one end of his cot"

"dressed up like a travelin' dentist"

"like a scope of timber"

"like a colored woman with a bundle on her head"

"like findin' rock candy in a syrup bucket"

"narrow, black string tie"

"Nobody ever knocked a man in the head for a sack of candy"

"like the eyes of a chicken who wants to cut out some light"

"for some doctorin' in Atlanta"

"began to pare his nails"

"What makes you think I'd rob a man because I had him where the hair is short?"

"You like to make a dollar"

"He wondered if Longshore would rise to that"

"I ain't got time to stop and build bridges when I come to a creek. I've got to jump to stay on schedule"

"Don't whine. A thief's a thief."

CHAPTER FOUR

"the jangle of the banjo, played day and night behind the thin partition that separated the whites from the colored folks' side"

"louder near the curved slot through which the bartender shoved drinks to the Negro customers"

"It stingeth like an adder and biteth like a serpent." (Proverbs 23: 29, 30, 32)

"the bottle of white corn whiskey"

"like a quick wisp of steam blown across his face from the kettle at syrup-making time"

"the patches of turpentine oozing from the pine looked like blisters"

"I'm a' goin' pi'rootin' "

"kiss all the girls and run climb a tree an' wait for them to cut me down."

"throwing the rain-washed roots of the sycamore trees up high like a sick steer's ribs"

"odors of frying fish, onions and hush puppies"

"kerosene lamp on a goods box"

page 38 and 39 of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD: 

He stumbled now and then. The liquor and something else was boiling inside him and throwing off powerful  big bubbles that wanted to come out in long yells. He felt good and loose-ankled and full of the devil and he needed to undo his collar.

It was shoving him when he reached Baptist Bottom.

Baptist Bottom lay between him and Mabe's Place. It crouched at night under a sullen fog, a few clapboard shacks, shrinking in the sun and swelling in the rain. Mist rose from stagnant water that drained off the higher ground of the white folks and ponded in the bottom. The fog held too long the odors of frying fish, onions and hush puppies. It rose and dulled sights and sounds.

Even the sudden high-pitched yells from the Puddin' House were muted and sounded farther away than they really were. They always yelled in the Puddin' House. It was the only place for colored folks alone. A scuffle and a giggling laugh in the bushes near the narrow street came to Buck like an echo that had no beginning. And the preaching. There was always preaching in the Bottom and now a voice rode low through the mist, hardly mumbling beyond the crowd.

Buck was passing the preaching, just outside the Puddin' House, when the sudden bawl of the preacher caught him.

"An' this is the last word," it came, grumbling low but strong. Buck stepped closer and saw the huge figure gather itself as if to lunge at the crowd, and in the light of a kerosene lamp on a goods box he saw the muscles in the thick black throat strain for volume.

The preacher thrust his big head straight forward and glared at the crowd, holding his voice. Then he blasted out the last word.

"You got to walk the muddy streets of Aven 'fore you kin walk the golden streets of Heaven."
"Here, Big Time, preach me some hell-fire and alligator teeth"

"Ain't you kinda lit up, Boss?"

"Like a country church."

"Boss, whore ladies like a little something on the side. Now I got a pair o' fine billy goats, Boss, which'd make mighty pretty pets down yonder."

Page 40-42 The description of Mabe's Place "I figgered even a goat'd ruther live in a house full of ready women that lay in the road."

"corn-shuck mat"

"Hey, Mabe! Company."

"a newel post to put it by"

INTERLUDE #2

"rubber-tired buggy"

"more and more folks here lettin' grass grow in their yards. Mother wouldn't have it."

"It's growin' crazy as a gourd vine flingin' out a creeper now and then and stores and houses hitchin' on whenever they feel like it."

"That's Jernigan on the cord. He gives it that laughin', wheedlin' twist"

"the goods box at one end of his cot"

"dressed up like a travelin' dentist"

"like a scope of timber"

"like a colored woman with a bundle on her head"

"like findin' rock candy in a syrup bucket"

"narrow, black string tie"

"Nobody ever knocked a man in the head for a sack of candy"

"like the eyes of a chicken who wants to cut out some light"

"for some doctorin' in Atlanta"

"began to pare his nails"

"What makes you think I'd rob a man because I had him where the hair is short?"

"You like to make a dollar"

"He wondered if Longshore would rise to that"

"I ain't got time to stop and build bridges when I come to a creek. I've got to jump to stay on schedule"

"Don't whine. A thief's a thief."

CHAPTER FOUR

"the jangle of the banjo, played day and night behind the thin partition that separated the whites from the colored folks' side"

"louder near the curved slot through which the bartender shoved drinks to the Negro customers"

"It stingeth like an adder and biteth like a serpent." (Proverbs 23: 29, 30, 32)

"the bottle of white corn whiskey"

"like a quick wisp of steam blown across his face from the kettle at syrup-making time"

"the patches of turpentine oozing from the pine looked like blisters"

"I'm a' goin' pi'rootin' "

"kiss all the girls and run climb a tree an' wait for them to cut me down."

"throwing the rain-washed roots of the sycamore trees up high like a sick steer's ribs"

"odors of frying fish, onions and hush puppies"

"kerosene lamp on a goods box"

page 38 and 39 of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD: 

He stumbled now and then. The liquor and something else was boiling inside him and throwing off powerful  big bubbles that wanted to come out in long yells. He felt good and loose-ankled and full of the devil and he needed to undo his collar.

It was shoving him when he reached Baptist Bottom.

Baptist Bottom lay between him and Mabe's Place. It crouched at night under a sullen fog, a few clapboard shacks, shrinking in the sun and swelling in the rain. Mist rose from stagnant water that drained off the higher ground of the white folks and ponded in the bottom. The fog held too long the odors of frying fish, onions and hush puppies. It rose and dulled sights and sounds.

Even the sudden high-pitched yells from the Puddin' House were muted and sounded farther away than they really were. They always yelled in the Puddin' House. It was the only place for colored folks alone. A scuffle and a giggling laugh in the bushes near the narrow street came to Buck like an echo that had no beginning. And the preaching. There was always preaching in the Bottom and now a voice rode low through the mist, hardly mumbling beyond the crowd.

Buck was passing the preaching, just outside the Puddin' House, when the sudden bawl of the preacher caught him.

"An' this is the last word," it came, grumbling low but strong. Buck stepped closer and saw the huge figure gather itself as if to lunge at the crowd, and in the light of a kerosene lamp on a goods box he saw the muscles in the thick black throat strain for volume.

The preacher thrust his big head straight forward and glared at the crowd, holding his voice. Then he blasted out the last word.

"You got to walk the muddy streets of Aven 'fore you kin walk the golden streets of Heaven."
"Here, Big Time, preach me some hell-fire and alligator teeth"

"Ain't you kinda lit up, Boss?"

"Like a country church."

"Boss, whore ladies like a little something on the side. Now I got a pair o' fine billy goats, Boss, which'd make mighty pretty pets down yonder."

Page 40-42 The description of Mabe's Place "I figgered even a goat'd ruther live in a house full of ready women that lay in the road."

"corn-shuck mat"

"Hey, Mabe! Company."

"a newel post to put it by"

INTERLUDE #2

"rubber-tired buggy"