y
for de water and, God A-mighty, I don't want any sich 'gain. Dere am
men carryin' de dead off da field, but dey can't keep up with de
cannons. I helps bury de dead and den I gits sent to Murphysboro and
dere it am jus' de same.

"You knows when Abe Lincoln am shot? Well, I's in Nashville den and it
am near de end of de war and I am standin' on Broadway Street talkin'
with de sergeant when up walk a man and him shakes hands with me and
says, 'I's proud to meet a brave, young fellow like you.' Dat man am
Andrew Johnson and him come to be president after Abe's dead.

"I stays in Nashville when de war am over and I marries Tennessee House
in 1875 and she died July 10th, 1936. Dat make 61 year dat we'uns am
togedder. Her old missy am now livin' in Arlington Heights, right here
in Fort Worth and her name am Mallard and she come from Tennessee, too.

"I comes here from Tennessee 51 year ago and at fust I farms and den I
works for de packin' plants till dey lets me out, 'cause I's too old for
to do 'nough work for dem.

"I has eight boys and three girls, dat make eleven chillen, and dey
makin' scatterment all over de country so I's alone in my old age. I has
dat $17.00 de month pension what I gits from de State.

"Dat am de end of de road.

420031

[Illustration: Sarah Ford]

SARAH FORD, whose age is problematical, but who says, "I's been
here for a long time," lives in a small cottage at 3151 Clay St.,
Houston, Texas. Born on the Kit Patton plantation near West
Columbia, Texas, Aunt Sarah was probably about fifteen years old
when emancipated. She had eleven children, the first born during
the storm of 1875, at East Columbia, in which Sarah's mother and
father both perished.

"Law me, you wants me to talk 'bout slave times, and you is cotched me
'fore I's had my coffee dis mornin', but when you gits old as I is, talk
is 'bout all you can do, so 'scuse me whilst I puts de coffee pot on de
fire and tell you what I can.

"Now, what I tells you is de truth, 'cause I only told one little lie in
my whole life and I got cotched in it and got whipped both ways. Oh,
Lawd, I sho' never won't forget dat, mama sho' was mad. Mama sends me
over to Sally Ann, the cow woman, to get some milk and onions. I never
did like to borrow, so I comes back with the milk and tell mama Sally
Ann say she ain't got no onions for no Africans. Dat make mamma mad and
she goes tell dat Sally Ann Some