ll dey would drive us niggers tuh de pond
pen an dey had er big block in de pen an dey put one uv us niggers on
hit at a time. Bid us off tuh de highest bidder. Mah ole boss wuz a
gambler. People talk bout dis gamblin an drinkin bein a late thing--dem
white fokes done hit way back yonder 90 years ergo, cause mah ole boss
gambled me off, ah clare he did. Gambled me off one Sunday mornin'. Ole
Boss made whiskey jes like dey do tuhday.

Black preachers couldn' preach tuh us. Ole boss would tie em tuh a tree
an whoop em if dey caught us eben praying. We had er big black washpot
an de way we prayed we'd go out an put our mouths to der groun an pray
low an de sound wud go up under de pot an ole boss couldn' bear us. De
white preacher would call us under a tree Sunday evenin tuh preach tuh
us. Dis is whut his text would be: "Mind yo mistress." Den he would ceed
tuh preach--"Don't steal der potatoes; don't lie bout nothin an don'
talk back tuh yo boss; ifn yo does yo'll be tied tuh a tree an stripped
neckid. When dey tell yuh tuh do somethin run an do it." Dat's de kind
uv gospel we got.

We cooked on fiuhplaces in er iron pot; cooked bread in a ubben. We had
ash cakes. We et purty good.

Ah didn go tuh school. Ah wuz awful sly. Ah wanted tuh learn tuh read so
ah hung eroun ole mistess when she wuz teachin huh chillun tuh read. Ah
listened an when she put de book down an went out ah got de book. Ah
kep' hit up till ah learnt tuh read. Ah been teachin one Bible class in
Curtis 42 years. Some uv em dare ask me how ah learnt tuh read so good
an ah tole dem dat a person dat couldn' learn tuh read in a hunnert
years ought tuh be daid.

Ah wuz twenty-two when de silver war broke. Ah know when hit started
but ah don' know whut hit wuz erbout. All I know Jeff Davis an Abraham
Lincoln wuz de two presidents. Lincoln wuz somethin like regular
president an Jeff Davis wuz somethin like er confedric president or
somethin. Ah didn' know jes how hit wuz. Jeff Davis ah think wuz er
rebel and Lincoln republic. When de fight come up dey wuzn fightin tuh
set de niggers free, ah don' think. At de time dey wuz fightin ovah de
Union but aftuh de slave owners wuz gwianter take de innocent slaves an
make dem fight on dey side. Den Lincoln said hit wouldn' be. So dat when
he sot em free. Whoopee! Yo ought ter seed dem Yankees fightin. Aftuh de
battle wuz ovah we would walk ovah de battle groun' an look at de daid
bones, skellums ah think dey called