December.

"Jus' 'bout dat time dey started shippin' de darkies to Texas. My
marster moved to Travis County, Texas, and tuk all his slaves wid him. I
was too young to 'member, but my mother, she told me 'bout it.

"It wasn' long after we was on Marster Alexander's new place in Travis
County, till one night a man rode up on a hoss and stole me and my two
brothers and rode away wid us. He tuk us to Bastrop County and sold us
to Doc Duvall. Marster Duvall sold my brother right after he bought us,
but me and John, we stayed wid him till de slaves was freed.

"On Marster Duvall's plantation de slaves all lived in log cabins back
of de big house. Dey was one room, two rooms and three room cabins,
dependin' on de size of de family. Most had dirt floors, but some of 'em
had log slabs. We had dese ole wooden beds wid a rope stretch 'cross de
bottom and a mattress of straw or cotton dat de niggers got in de fiel'.
We had lots to eat, like biscuit, cornbread, meat and sich stuff. Most
times dey made coffee outta parch cornmeal. We had gardens and raised
most of de stuff to eat.

"I herds sheep and is houseboy most of de time. When I was ole enough, I
picks cotton. I was jus' learnin' when de slaves was freed. Marster
Duvall had over 500 acres in cotton and he kep' us in de fiel' all de
time, 'cept Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

"Dey had meetin' and dances Saturday nights. I was too young to 'member
jus' what de songs was, but dey had a fiddle and played all night long.
On ever' Sunday de niggers went to Church in de evenin'. Dey had a white
preacher in de mornin' and a cullud preacher in de evenin'.

"Marster Duvall would whip de niggers who was disobedience and he jus'
call dem up and ask dem what was de trouble, den he would whip dem wid a
cowhide or a rope whip. We could go anywhere iffen we had a pass, but if
we didn' de paddlerollers would ketch us. They was kinda like policemen
we got today.

"In slavery, dey traded and sold niggers like dey do hosses and mules.
Dey carry dem to de court house and put dem on de block and auction 'em
off. Some sold for roun' $3,000. It was hard to sell one wid scars on
him, 'cause nobody wanted him. I seen 'em come by in droves, all chained
together.

"When de slaves was free dey was sho' happy. Dey all got together and
had a kin' of cel'bration. Marster told dem if dey wanted to stay and
help make de crop, he'd give 'em 50 cents a day and a place to stay.
Some tuk him up on dat and