of good buttermilk to drink.

"My young bosses, when I lived in the Kennedy family would take the dogs
and let me go coon hunting at night with them, and what big times we
had. The possums were skinned and cooked in a big kettle hung over the
fire, then taken out and put in a big oven to take. A piece of streaked
meat was put in and a small pod of red pepper--My-My what eatin' we had!

"We fished with a stock pole and a twine string. We had big times
hunting fishing worms for bait. We used to catch Hockney, Hads and
Chubs. My mistus would not let me go fishing on Sunday, but I would slip
off and go anyhow. I nearly always had a good string caught and I would
tie them to a branch on the creek until the next day; then I would go
fishing and in about two hours I would come back with the fish, and she
would say, "Wes, you had good luck today"; and I would say, "Yes Mistus,
I did", but never did I tell her when I caught the fish.

"My first wife was Lou Burnsides and we had five children: Eliza,
Fannie, George, Julia, and Jennie. All of them are dead but two. I have
no children by my present wife.

"I never saw a slave whipped or in chains. My boss did not believe in
that kind of punishment. If the children needed whipping, it was done
like all other children are whipped when they need it.

"The first colored preacher I recall was named John Reed, a Baptist
preacher at Paint Lick. I joined the church at Lowell, not very far from
here. The preachers name was Leroy Estill, a "Predestinerian".

"Marse Woods had five children, two boys and three girls, none of them
are living.

"We were glad when the news came that we were free, but none of us left
for a long time, not until the Woods family was broken up. My father
hired me out to work for my vituals and clothes, and I got $25.00 at the
end of the year. I do not remember of any wedding or death in my old
masters house.

"I believe in heart-felt religion and prayer. The Good Book teaches us
we must be prepared for another world after this. I want to go to Heaven
when I die, and I try to live by the Bible."

Bibliography:
Interview with Wes Woods, Ex-Slave of Garrard County.

COMBINED INTERVIEWS:
Customs: By Counties
Slavery: Local History and Dialect

ANDERSON CO.
(Mildred Roberts)

Story of Ann Gudgel (age unknown):

"I doesn't know how old I am, but I was a little girl when dat man
Lincum freed us niggahs. My mammy neber tole us our age, but I know