[Begin Interview]
Interviewer: What is the day? I’ve lost track. Twelfth of–
Female: May
Interviewer: We’re in the home of Mr. –
Eversole: Eversole.
Interviewer: Eversole.
[pause]
Interviewer: You all got any questions you want to ask, ask them one of you now.
Interviewer: Okay. When did you first start working in the mine?
Eversole: Nineteen, July the seventeenth, 1947.
Interviewer: Did you work, was the mine right around in here?
Eversole: Blue Diamond. Kentucky.
Interviewer: What kind of work did you do?
Eversole: Loaded coal.
Female: Was it a mechanical operation or manual?
Eversole: It was hand. Manual. Hand loaded.
Interviewer: That late it was hand loaded. How did they haul it?
Eversole: Motors. Cars.
Interviewer: Pretty good size mine then, wasn’t it?
Eversole: It employed at one time about three thousand men.
Interviewer: When did it become mechanized? Or did it ever?
Eversole: It never did.
Interviewer: Worked it all out?
Eversole: Worked it out. By hand.
Interviewer: Well, I can’t wait for [ ] of the music... [laughter]...like to
hear that. [pause]Eversole: Now gentlemen we might not be the best in the world, but we’ll do,
we’ll do our best.[mumbling, then two men singing Amazing Grace]
[Then they sing another song about the village churchyard.]
Eversole: You have it, Jim.
[pause]
Interviewer: What you said about some of the tunes in there. You couldn’t...
Eversole: Some of them, you can’t, it can’t follow with the music. Instru-,
instrument and music, you can’t follow them. They’re old, old, our forefathers, it was handed down from generation to generation in Old Regular Baptist Church.Interviewer: Is everything just sung? Or does anybody play any?
Eversole: No, sir. It’s sung in the mine. Don’t get me wrong, they sang other
songs, too. But now, that’s, that’s there, always been our motto, is to sing the old songs of mining. That’s their old, that’s their way. Ever, an eternity it’s been that way since I’ve know[n], I’ve been here quite a few years.Interviewer: In a worship service, what else goes on, besides the singing?
Eversole: Well, you know, they, they always just sang two or three songs. And
have prayer and sings [singing at] the service. Over to preaching, you know.Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): Usually, he was speaking
about, that we would sing other songs, other than what’s, you know, what we call the old-fashioned songs. Usually after that we have prayer. About all the churches, they have–Eversole: Special singing.
Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): –people that, you know,
loves to sing. Sometimes maybe one or two families together. Or maybe just one family. And he’s carrying cigars...Interviewer: I was waiting for you.
Eversole: They’ll sing whatever kind of songs that they, you know, whatever
kinds of songs they like. What we would call more of a popular song. To a lot of young people this day and time, they just can’t sing these songs because they don’t know the tunes of them. They can’t never find the tunes of them. And of course, myself, at one time I had so many song[s] [to] learn. Other than, you know, if it’s not in this book. I just put them in the back of my Bible. Had one of these little zip-up Bibles. First thing I know, I had the back busted off my Bible. So, I had to print them in book. And after, usually, you know, service, you know. We’d sing two or maybe three of these songs and then have prayer and then anybody else that wants to sing, if they’ve got songs they want to sing, well, then they go ahead and sing them.Interviewer: Why do you think that these, the tunes to these and, and the lyrics
and everything, passed all these generations, and now it looks like it’s about to fade out.Eversole: It is. The old time, you’re right, mister, it is fading out.
Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): It’s fading out fast.
Eversole: When these, when these older, these older ones that like [ ] and
myself [me] that learned these songs, when they pass on, they’ll be done away with.Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): Now I love, I read it
myself. I really love to sing these old-time songs. But now I’ll tell you–Eversole: Here’s one. There’s one. Get one to set over there.
Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): : There are not very many
songs in that book that I can learn myself like he does. Although I love to sing them. But I can’t learn them and keep in tune. Because when I start trying to learn them, I mess up on the tune. I get them out of tune. Because that tune is hard to follow and learn a song, too.Interviewer: How many are in your congregation? How many would, do you have?
Eversole: You mean in the church.
Interviewer: Yes.
Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): There’s over, there’s
over a hundred listed in the book.Eversole: A hundred and thirty-five. A hundred and thirty-five or a hundred and fifty.
Eversole: They don’t all sing.
Interviewer: That’s in?
Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): Just in this one church
over here. And in our association, they’re, in our individual association, there are eight churches.Interviewer: How many, how many do you generally get on a Sunday? Or for services?
Eversole: Well, it’s just different numbers. You know what I mean. It don’t
always run on.Interviewer: Right.
Other interviewer: And you do visit around from church to church.
Eversole: Right, yes.
Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): Yeah, we go, we go to
other churches, yeah.Other interviewer: As I understand it, really the association is almost as
important the individual church.Eversole: It is. That’s where all the churches, all the preachers all gets
together, and all the members visit just one church and meets. Just something like a reunion.Eversole: I mentioned a while ago that if you could be here Sunday, following
this coming Sunday. Which would be a week from this coming Sunday, that is what, what we call reunion meeting. And it will be held over here at Huff Island. And all eight churches is supposed to be there. The members of all eight churches is supposed to be there. And that’s the nicest service that we ever have during this year, except, other than association, I guess, that we ever get that many of our members together at one time. And that’s the third Saturday and Sunday in, in June. In May. And then our association is held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That’s the fourth Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Service. When all the members in the eight churches is supposed to be, supposed to gather together at that time. Usually they all don’t, but...Interviewer: Your churchgoing was very strong when you were working in the
mines, too, wasn’t it?Eversole: Yes.
Interviewer: Was, was still the association of churches? Or different then?
Eversole: No, it’s been association of, of different churches for a hundred and
thirty-some, well, at least a hundred and thirty-some years, they’ve had established.Interviewer: Well, I meant how long have you belonged to this association?
Eversole: Oh. Oh. For years and years. I don’t know how long.
Other Interviewer: You, you, you worked in the mine right near here, didn’t you?
Eversole: Yes. Over on First Street, yeah. Back over here on First Street. Blue Diamond.
Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): : You know where
Bonneman’s at?Interviewer: Seen on the map.
Eversole: It’s on First Street.
Eversole: You turn left there and go up the crossing light. On this new highway
coming out of Hazard. If you’re coming from Hazard, the garage, car dealer, I don’t remember the name, it a highway one. Just about a quarter of a mile below that, you turn right and go up that holler to where he used to work.Interviewer: How long will the service last? Your service lasted generally?
Eversole: A couple of hours.
Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): Usually.
Eversole: Sometimes that long.
Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): About two hours.
Female: Is it in the morning?
Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): Ten o’clock, yeah.
Eversole: The services all start at ten o’clock. And all of our church work
whatsoever is done on Saturday. There are no, no work done, no way, in the church on Sunday. Our services is all ruled by the Saturdays. We don’t even rule one by the Sundays. If a Sunday, take this month for in-, instance, it come in on Sunday, but still, to us, that was just an odd Sunday. Our services is all...Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): Everything’s done but the
baptism service. They do it on Sunday.Eversole: Yeah. That’s the only work that’s done in the church whatsoever on Sunday.
Interviewer: What work? What work do you do on Saturday?
Eversole?: They hold, they hold their, their council do their–
[End Side A. Begin Side B.]
Eversole: Strict, but it’s just as strict as the Bible is wrote. And this is the
way that, that’s the way we try to keep it and...Interviewer: You, you practice discipline in terms of, is it possible anyone
would ever [ ] the church?Unidentified interviewee: Right there. All of our rules, regulations. The work
of the church. Everything that we do for a complete year, you can find it wrote in that book right there. Them books is printed, they’re published once a year, distributed to the churches enough for each member to have their own copy of that book.[pause]
Eversole: Five, once in a while they’d, they’d work time and a half shift. See,
that’s six days’ time and a half.Interviewer: The, Sundays were pretty much, and, and churchgoing was pretty much
major recreation and devotion.Eversole: Right. Right. Back during the war, I was in, in the army at that time.
They worked a few Sundays. But I was in, in the service during that time.Interviewer: Those were two beautiful songs you sang.
Eversole: They examine you, they go over to.
Unidentified interviewee (Eversole’s singing partner): You’re examined to see
that if you were...Eversole: ...qualified, even your, even your family is considered. That you are
capable of being added to the ministry.Female: Not only how well you know the Bible, but your moral leadership.
Eversole: That’s right. It’s all, all examined.
Eversole Go over to the third, third, third chapter of Timothy.
Unidentified interviewee: Second and third chapter of Timothy.
Eversole: Second and third chapter of Timothy. That’s, that’s where they go to
to– That’s where they run [both talking]Unidentified interviewee: If you desire the office of bishop, you desire good
work and must be blameless to the husband and one wife. Goes right on down telling you all these things.Eversole: And then if you were ordained in our church, you do fit them standards
or qualify according to them scripture, or you don’t be ordained.Interviewer: How long have you been ordained?
Eversole: I been ordained in this church over here about three and a half years.
I was ordained in the Christian church first, in October in ’71. And it went down. That church went down. And, and I took membership for this church over here. In other words, to stand according to their qualifications, I was just–Unidentified interviewee: Ordained again.
Eversole: I was ordained in their church, in the Regular Baptist Church. Because
sometimes, like we was talking about a [ ] a while ago, it may go on [for] months or it may go on years. And then somebody would come up and say, “Well, you didn’t do this, or you didn’t do that. You’re not standing.” In other words, you’re not keeping the faith, see? So, I just told the church now, just so that don’t happen, why, we’ll just keep everything straight and keep it running smooth. I’ll just be ordained again. So...Interviewer: There’s nothing wrong in that.
Eversole: I was, I was ordained in their church. So, they, nobody got no
comeback that everything is not going like it should be going, see. When it comes down to a church work, there’s nothing on earth that should be handled any more serious that, than, than the work of a church. Because it is, it’s a serious thing once you get to thinking about it. Go right down to the Bible and get to reading about it, there are not very many churches around in this country right around here that even, that even has a council or anything like that book there. But then, if any-, something was to come up or sometimes, you know, it usually does, they can’t say, “Well, I didn’t know this,” or “I didn’t know that” because they’ve got that book there to read. They know what it is. They’ll know what they supposed to do. They know what it takes for them to qualify or to be in good standing with the church, because they’ve got it in that book. And if they don’t read it, it’s their fault.Interviewer: I notice article eighteen of the edition, is it, says that all
members shall conduct in such– read article, the first few lines of article eighteen to us, and tell us–Eversole: Article eighteen. Let’s see. Eighteen. Yeah. [reading] Says, “All
members who can conduct and is such as may dir, dir-,dishonor the church and they fail to convince the church of that–” What does that–Interviewer: Incense
Eversole: “Incense after trial they shall be excluded. No charge of trespass
shall be brought up in the church but according to rules and dis-, laid down in Matthew eighteen, Eighteenth chapter.”Interviewer: Tell us what that means.
Eversole: Now, that’s what I was talking about. In the Bible we find if a
brother trespass against you, now that’s talking about two, two members in the church, what we’d call church brothers. Brothers in Christ. If two of our members over here in the church, if they have a falling out, if they can’t agree, or if one of them trespass against the other, we’ll just say if one of them gets out here maybe and shoots at the other one, we’ll put it in that matter. He, this one can go to him and talk to him. Then if he fails, if they fail to make it right, he can pick two more church members to go with him. According to the Bible, that in the mouth of two or three, that every word may be established. Then if he fails to hear them three and they can’t make it right, then that’s where our Saturday service comes in. On Saturday they bring it before the church and the church decides what to do with him. If they can’t settle it peaceably, then he’s excluded from the church. He’s no more a member of that church. He’s set aside. Because also in the Bible, too, we find that somebody else, one of the disciples asks Jesus, in other words, how often should he forgive his brother. And I think about seven times, he said, one day. Jesus told him seventy times seventy. In one day, if it was necessary, that he was to forgive him. And that’s why we have our Saturday services, which we call a church council. So, if any problem comes up, it’s worked out then. Not on Sundays, whatsoever. It’s taken care of on Saturday.[End Interview.]
1:00