, and we has barbecue pig and roast
sweet 'taters and dumplin's and pies and cake. Dey all eats dis grand
supper till dey full and mammy give me de luck charm for de bride. It am
a rabbit toe, and she say:

"'Here, take dis li'l gift,
And place it near you heart;
It keep away dat li'l riff
What causes folks to part.

"'It only jes' a rabbit toe,
But plenty luck it brings,
Its worth a million dimes or more,
More'n all de weddin' rings.'

"Den we goes to Marse Watson's saddleshop to dance and dances all night,
and de bride and groom, dat's us, leads de grand march.

"De Yankees never burned de house or nothin', so Young Marse and Missie
jes' kep' right on livin' in de old home after freedom, like old Marse
done 'fore freedom. He pay de families by de day for work and let dem
work land on de halves and furnish dem teams and grub and dey does de
work.

"But bye'n-bye times slow commence to change, and first one and 'nother
de old folks goes on to de Great Beyon', one by one dey goes, till all I
has left am my great grandchild what I lives with now. My sister was
livin' at Greenville six years ago. She was a hundred and four years old
den. I don't know if she's livin' now or not. How does we live dat long?
Way back yonder 'fore I's born was a blessin' handed down from my great,
great, grandfather. It de blessin' of long life, and come with a
blessin' of good health from livin' de clean, hones' life. When
nighttime come, we goes to bed and to sleep, and dat's our blessin'.

420057

[Illustration: Lewis Jones]

LEWIS JONES, 86, was born a slave to Fred Tate, who owned a large
plantation on the Colorado River in Fayette Co., Texas. Lewis'
father was born a slave to H. Jones and was sold to Fred Tate, who
used him as a breeder to build up his slave stock. Lewis took his
father's name after Emancipation, and worked for twenty-three years
in a cotton gin at La Grange. He came to Fort Worth in 1896 and
worked for Armour & Co. until 1931. Lewis lives at 3304 Loving
Ave., Fort Worth, Texas.

"My birth am in de year 1851 on de plantation of Massa Fred Tate, what
am on de Colorado River. Yes, suh, dat am in de state of Texas. My mammy
am owned by Massa Tate and so am my pappy and all my brudders and
sisters. How many brudders and sisters? Lawd A-mighty! I'll tell you
'cause you asks and dis nigger gives de facts as 'tis. Let's see, I
can't 'lect de numbe