You Live & Learn. Then You Die & Forget

Born in 1891 in rural Mississippi, Ray Lum traveled the South for 60 years as a respected livestock trader and auctioneer, collecting rich experiences he retold--even at universities and folk festivals--in a colloquial, humorous and generous voice. Ferris, coeditor of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture , interviewed Lum (who died in 1977), and notes that his life ``bridged the disparate worlds of black and white, of old and new, of South and West.'' Lum's tales, organized into six chapters of narrative, might better be chopped into episodes, but they remain valuable for those interested in such folklore. His language is vivid (a cemetery is a ``marble orchard'') and his voice wise (when he loses money on an early deal, the lesson is, ``You don't absolutely have to have, you can do without''). Among many adventures, Lum bested cheating gypsies who offered a pretty but vicious horse, ate barbecued rattlesnake, made a deal for wild Texas horses and barely avoided the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde. ``I'm fine,'' said Lum in his old age. ``I just need to have my speedometer set back.'' This book lets him live on. Photos not seen by PW. (Apr.)