memories of the children she never saw again and of the slave ship.

"I know I was borned in Morocco, in Africa, and was married and had
three chillen befo' I was stoled from my husband. I don't know who it
was stole me, but dey took me to France, to a place called Bordeaux, and
drugs me with some coffee, and when I knows anything 'bout it, I's in de
bottom of a boat with a whole lot of other niggers. It seem like we was
in dat boat forever, but we comes to land, and I's put on de block and
sold. I finds out afterwards from my white folks it was in New Orleans
where dat block was, but I didn't know it den.

"We was all chained and dey strips all our clothes off and de folks what
gwine buy us comes round and feels us all over. Iffen any de niggers
don't want to take dere clothes off, de man gits a long, black whip and
cuts dem up hard. I's sold to a planter what had a big plantation in
Fayette County, right here in Texas, don't know no name 'cept Marse
Jones.

"Marse Jones, he am awful good, but de overseer was de meanest man I
ever knowed, a white man name Smith, what boasts 'bout how many niggers
he done kilt. When Marse Jones seed me on de block, he say, 'Dat's a
whale of a woman.' I's scairt and can't say nothin', 'cause I can't
speak English. He buys some more slaves and dey chains us together and
marches us up near La Grange, in Texas. Marse Jones done gone on ahead
and de overseer marches us. Dat was a awful time, 'cause us am all
chained up and whatever one does us all has to do. If one drinks out of
de stream we all drinks, and when one gits tired or sick, de rest has to
drag and carry him. When us git to Texas, Marse Jones raise de debbil
with dat white man what had us on da march. He git de doctor man and
tell de cook to feed us and lets us rest up.

"After 'while, Marse Jones say to me, 'Silvia, am you married?' I tells
him I got a man and three chillen back in de old country, but he don't
understand my talk and I has a man give to me. I don't bother with dat
nigger's name much, he jes' Bob to me. But I fit him good and plenty
till de overseer shakes a blacksnake whip over me.

"Marse Jones and Old Miss finds out 'bout my cookin' and takes me to de
big house to cook for dem. De dishes and things was awful queer to me,
to what I been brung up to use in France. I mostly cooks after dat, but
I's de powerful big woman when I's young and when dey gits in a tight
[Handwritten Note: 'place?'] I helps out.