We went to Rampart and Lafayette Streets, to Kid Green's Hotel, and engaged a room for the evening so we could talk over many things.
Kid Green was an ex-prizefighter and was known from one end of the United States to the other. He was a good one in his day, but now he had retired on the money he'd saved. He had a pretty fair hotel, not the best in the world, but comfortable. He and I were good friends, and whenever I'd go there with a chick, he'd make room for me no matter how crowded he was. Kid Green had a reputation for wearing those "Stock Ties" which were very popular in those days; they are made of shirt goods, or silk, and are wrapped around the neck and tied with a great big knot in front. He was a master at wearing them. Every tooth in his head was gold, and there was a big diamond inserted in one of the front ones, the same as Jelly Roll Morton had. Kid Green had so much gold in his mouth they called him "Klondike," and when he smiled, you could see gold for miles and miles.
While I was with Daisy at Kid Green's Hotel I had a good chance to really check up on her. I wouldn't say that she was "beautiful but dumb," because she was pretty clever and really knew how to make money. But she was very jealous.
I figured out that during Daisy's childhood in the country she had evidently been spoiled by her parents who let her have her own way and do whatever she pleased. She would play hookey from school whenever she wanted, and she grew up without any vocation or learning at all, not even a middle grade learning, which any ordinary kid would get in life. Later I found out she couldn't even read or write. All she knew how to do was fuss and fight.
But it's a funny thing about two people being in love – whatever little traits there are, no matter how unpleasant they may be, love will drown them out. So since I realized I was in love with Daisy for sure, I did not fight with myself any longer, and I gave over to my lovely feeling for her. Because she really did move me greatly. And that was that. …
When we left Kid Green's Hotel we went straight down to City Hall and got hitched. And that was when the lid blew off.
Before we got out of the City Hall, the news had spread all over my neighborhood. The old-timers such as Mrs. Magg, Mrs. Laura, Mrs. Martin, were surprised, of course, but they were the ones who were actually glad for me. But the rest of the neighborhood, especially those old gossipers, made a beeline for Mayann.
They all upset Mayann by asking her: "Are you going to let him marry that whore?"
And Mayann (bless her heart!) told them very calmly: "Well, that's my son, and he has to live his own life." She shrugged her shoulders. "And he loves the woman enough to marry her, that's his business, and they both have my blessing. And I will also try my best to make her as happy as I can."
So the crowd, after seeing her point, agreed with her as they walked away.
After Daisy and I came out of the City Hall she caught a streetcar and went back to Freetown to pack up her clothes. I went home.
On my way I ran into Black Benny, standing on the corner in his soldier's uniform. Although the war had ended, he was still in the Army, waiting to be discharged. He was a sergeant and could give orders still to the guys who were under him. At this time he had run into another soldier who had a lower ranking than he, and the guy in civilian life was one of those snobbish kind of fellows who gave Black Benny a tough time through life. So this day Benny waited until the private almost passed him, and then Benny hollered: "ATTENTION!!!" So the guy stood at attention, while Benny went all around the block, leaving the guy with his hand up, saluting. Finally Benny came back and said, "At ease!," and the guy went away with an awful frown. But he dared not say anything to Black Benny about it. Because Benny was a man among men, you can take it from me.
When I came home, Mayann and I had a real heart-to-heart talk. First thing she asked me was: "Son, are you sure you love this girl?"
I said: "Mother, I've never been surer of anything in my whole life as my love for Daisy. She has convinced me that she's the woman for me."
"Well," mother said, "I hear she hasn't got much learning."
"Mother," I said, "what's that got to do with our being in love with each other? You must realize that I didn't go any further than fifth grade in school myself. But with my good sense and mother-wit, and knowing how to treat and respect the feelings of other people, that's all I've needed through life. You taught me that, mother. And I haven't done so bad at it. Ain't that right?"
Mayann shrugged her shoulders. "I guess you're right, son." Then she said: "You must bring your wife to me; I want to meet her."
With a palpitating heart I gave a big sigh of relief and said: "Oh, thanks, mom."
Mayann was the one I wanted the o.k. from. I didn't much care about what anybody else said.
I gave my dear mother a great big hug and a kiss, and made a beeline to Daisy. I told her of the good news, and she was so happy that Mayann was satisfied with our marriage in spite of all the old gossipers in the neighborhood.
For a month or more Daisy and I only met a different places and hotels, because we didn't have enough money to get a place of our own. Then one day we found a two-room flat over an upholstering place on Melpomene Street in uptown New Orleans. The place we had was nothing elaborate. In order to get to where we lived we had to go by way of some stairs on the outside, the alley side. When it rained, it was something awful. The garbage that had been piled there for ages by the upholsterer-landlord and the other tenants who lived in the back yard made it very unpleasant for me to go home there from work every night. But it was a place to live, and a little place of privacy, and we could call it our own. So we gladly made the best of it.
The place we lived in had two porches, a front one, and one in the back; but we called them "galleries," as the word "porch" was unheard of to us then. We lived on the second floor, and our gallery was an old one; it had begun to slant a little, and when it rained the water would run down it like down a wall.
One day when it was raining like mad, Daisy and I were in the front room listening to some new records I had just bought, new releases of the original Dixieland Jazz Band, which we were playing on an upright Victrola we were very proud of. The records were Livery Stable Blues and Tiger Rag, the first Tiger Rag to be recorded. (Between you and me, it's still the best.)
Clarence, my cousin Flora Miles' illegitimate son, was living with us at the time. He was about three years old and still in dresses. Down there all kids wore dresses until they were a real large size. Kids love to wander around a house, and Clarence was no exception. On this rainy day – big sheets of rain were falling – Clarence was playing with some toys I had bought for him. He was in the rear room, which was the kitchen for us, and we didn't notice him when he wandered out of the kitchen on to the back porch, where it was raining ter ribly hard.
All of a sudden, when Daisy and I were playing records, we heard Clarence crying frantically. So we ran to the rear door to see what was the matter. I was real frightened when I looked on the rear porch and couldn't see him, but I could hear him crying. Then I looked down to the ground, and there was Clarence coming up the steps crying and holding his head. He had slipped off the porch, it was so wet, and fallen to the ground. The average child probably would have gotten killed, but for Clarence the fall only set him back behind the average child.
That fall hindered Clarence all through his life. I had some of the best doctors anyone could get examine him, and they all agreed that the fall had made him feeble-minded. His mind is four years behind the average child's.
I took him to all kinds of schools as he grew. I also enrolled him in a Catholic school; they kept him there several months and then sent him back to me saying the same as the rest said. I got so disgusted with all the running around they were giving Clarence I decided to take over and teach him myself.