marbles wuz a
wonderful game in mah days yo knows. Fokes wuzen so wile den.

"Ah recollect one night we went coon huntin and de boys wuz wanderin
roun and got lost. Some of de boys wuz wanderin roun tryin to git out
and couldn' so ah said: "Dar de seben star yo all jes wait and let me
fine de way out and dey say all right," "We gwina trus yo to fine out a
way out." Went on bout 200 yards and struck our fiel'. We crawled under
fence and went on, struck our coan (corn) fiel'. Den dey all reconcile
wha dey is and ah had a big laff. When ah wuz a boy ah use to drink a
little whiskey. Finally ah said that would be mah ruin. Aftah ah got
oldah ah jess decided ah'd quit. Ah nevah did do no hahm tho. Parents
didn't raise me ter drink, ah jes taken up the habit mahself. Ah use ter
steal Grandma's aigs, He! He! She use ter go ter church and tell us not
to bother anything and fore she got out er sight we'd done gone in de
hen house. We boys git dem eggs and git on out in our play thicket and
roast em and eat em and you know grandma found out where we roast dem
aigs at, and whooe if she didn' whup us. He! He! You know the wurst race
ah evah had in mah life ah wuz comin on fum Spearsville and two coach
whipper wuz layin side de road and you know dem things run me ooo-eee
till ah got tuh a stream and you know ifn hit had not bee fer dat watah
dem things woulder caught me.

"Coase mah grandma and me had had some putty good races. She tryin' ter
cotch me but ah loves her terday fer dose races we had. Mah ma died when
ah wuz one munt ole. Mah pa married agin and mah step-ma wuz mean to me
so mah grandma come an got me and raised me. Ah hant nevah been in jail.
Haint nevah been rested er nothin. Ah wish the chilluns of terday wuz
like dey wuz when ah wuz a boy. We lived in er two room log house. Our
house had a double chimney and we cooked on dat. You know we'd put a big
back stick uv wood on. Mah pa loved his big back sticks of wood to hold
the fire. Wudden no stoves at that time. We cooked on chimney fires. We
et ash cakes. Hit sho wuz good too. Granma say ash cake wuz healthy. Ah
bleve fokes ought ter eat a few of dem now. We had a putty good school
house made outn logs. Ah stop school when ah wuz in the third grade. Ah
learnt purty fair. We uster have ter take rocks an beat corn ter make
meal. We wud have ter go sometime fifty mile to git ter a griss mill. An
when we couldn't git coan mashed inter meal we wud make hominy and hit
sh