Hawkins (1934, 1935, 1946)

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I copied the important materials today. Only one thing seems certain--"Hawkins" DOESN'T come from Chicago.


30 November 1946, THE NEW YORKER, pg. 75:
_A REPORTER AT LARGE_
_HAWKINS IS INSIDE_
(Pg. 78, col. 2--ed.)
"Hawkins is inside tonight," she said. "I only got five shots."

"It's still early," Miss Palmer said.

"Who's Hawkins?" I asked.

"Oh, that's just an expression that means things are bad," Miss Cook said. "I picked it up from the musicians. There used to be an amateur drummer down in Washington named Hawkins who was always getting some band to let him sit in with them. He was so terrible that when everything was going wronf in the joint the musicians got to saying that Hawkins was inside. When things were jumping, they'd say Hawkins was outside. Well, so far as I'm concerned, he's inside every place on the Street tonight."


21 December 1934, BALTIMORE SUN, "Down the Spillway" by John O'Ren, pg. 14, col. 7:
NEITHER friend nor stranger is safe from my inquiries since I first embarked on the enterprise of ferreting out the derivation of "Hawkins," meaning a bitter wind, something disagreeable, or a bogeyman, as defined by our cook.

While my efforts thus far have been marked by a signal lack of success, a friend the other day contributed an interesting analogy. I was telling him of my theory that "Hawkins" is descended in its present form from the name of Sir John Hawkins, British admiral and slave trader--due, no doubt, to the fear he inspired among the Negroes with whom he dealt. My friend countered this by telling me of the use of Oliver Cromwell's name today in Ireland.

The dictator and his cropheads, not content with terrorizing the cavaliers, so conducted themselves among the Irish that even to this day his name is anathema to any true son of Erin. Hence, when some child has been particularly naughty, so says my friend, its nurse will bring it to time with the threat: "Oliver Cromwell will get you if you don't behave."


27 December 1934, BALTIMORE SUN, "Down the Spillway" by John O'Ren, pg. 10, col. 7:
_Dear Spillway:_ I have a very faint gleam of light to throw on the darkness of the saying "Hawkin's (sic) is outside" when the wind is biting cold. My young colored cook says that her old father always used the expression when he was alive, and that her mother thinks he meant that there was a mean old man going by. Why not your British slave trader?
CONSTANT READER.
Baltimore, Dec. 24.

IT LOOKS as though we were on the right track, or, as the youngsters say, a "hot trail."


5 January 1935, BALTIMORE SUN, "Down the Spillway" by John O'Ren, pg. 10, col. 7:
_Dear Spillway:_
I am a little late telling you what I know about Hawkins, but Christmas and one thing and another delayed me.

I remember, as a small child, hearinf adult members of my family--of Virginia stock for many generations--say on a day when the wind was particularly high and cold, "Hawkins is certainly out today." I have heard similar expressions from Negroes, but I have never had the impression that Hawkins was of African origin. It was my idea that the darkies had borrowed him from the whites.

This idea is strengthened by what my wife tells me. She is English, and spent her early years in Devonshire and South Wales, and she says that Hawkins was frequently mentioned there when the wind was especially nippy.

But who Hawkins is and why he should be the personification of a sharp and cutting wind, neither she nor I, nor anyone else I have talked to, has any explanation whatever. I hope your researches may discover the answer. At least the gentleman seems to be widely, if rather unfavorably, known.
W. G. M.
Norfolk, Va., Dec. 31, 1934.


8 January 1935, BALTIMORE SUN, "Down the Spillway" by John O'Ren, pg. 10, col. 7:
_Dear Spillway:_
In the interest of the advancement of science, I recently asked a venerable Negro named Clarence Thomas (!--ed.) whether he had ever heard the expression "Hawkins is outside."

He replied in the affirmative and said that his old father had frequently used this quaint expression to indicate that the weather was inclement, cold and windy. I then asked him what his notion was as to the etiology of this bit of folklore. He replied that he did not know.

I beg to remain, sir, your obedient servant, always willing to aid in the advancement of the sum total of human knowledge.
SCIENTIST.
Baltimore, January 6.

I'LL BET he said: "Etiology, Marse Scientist? Etiology? That's sumpin' we all just ain't studyin' a-tall!"


9 January 1935, BALTIMORE SUN, "Down the Spillway" by John O'Ren, pg. 10, col. 7:
_Dear Spillway:_
In the long, long ago when I was an apprentice on an Eastindiaman--we spelled it that way then; it was in the late eighties--I used to hear great yarns about a famous Pirate Hawkins, a native of Penzance, Cornwall, England, from our old sailmaker, who also said Hawkins was an ancestor of his. Hawkins always chose the worst of weather to make his raids in the English Channel and about the Cornish coast. Thus, I expect, he became a second Flying Dutchman to the weather-wise. I began my sea life in 1889 and ended it in 1920. Happy New Year!
W. J. FARRER.
Colonial Beach, Va., Jan. 6.

WELL, the consensus is--whatever the Research Department may ultimately report--that Hawkins was a devil of a fellow, and again I am disposed to offer my apologies to the most excellent members of his family for ever bringing up the subject.