family declared that she would be a
hundred this August. She is an ex-slave and Mr. John Wright of Louisiana
was her master.

"Yas'm chillun I'se a hunnerd years ole. Ah was one of the las' young
niggers on marster's plantation. Mah job was nusin the chillun. Ole
Marster's father was livin in them days and he fought in the Resolution
War. Yasum he did. He was rail old and my mother chawed fer him jes like
she did fer her baby. I'se seen more hardness since I got old than ah
ever did in mah life. Slavery wuz the easiest time of all. Mah muthas
name was Charity and she wuz the family cook, yasum an ah wuz the nuss
girl. I tuk care of the chilluns. Ole marster's wife lost her mind and
they had to watch her all the time. Did you ask they send her to the
sylum? No man Thar warn't no sylums in them days and anyway ole marster
had plenty of niggers to wait on her and take care of her and watch her
sos she wouldn't git out and git hurt. She did slip out one time and ah
was totin the flour from mill from the gate to the kitchen and she
grabbed hit away fum me and throwed hit all ovah me and rubbed hit in
mah face good and then laughed at me. Then she run and got in the creek
and set down in the watah and the niggas had to git in thar and git her
out. Hit made her sick and old marster sho did git them niggers fer
lettin her git out.

"I sho wish all times could be slavery times. Ah had everything nice
then.

"I had some chillun. Ah cant count em but ah can name em. Joe, Habe,
Abram, Billy, Johnny, Charity and Caline. Ah makes mah home here with
Charity, she is mah baby chile and she is fifty.

"You asks is ah afeard of haints? Ah'v never taken no frightment off'n
em. Ah'v lived in houses other folks couldn't live in but ah'v never
lived that way that I had to run from haints.

"Ah lived jes like a millionaire when ah lived in slavery times, seed
more hardness since I got old than I ever did in mah life."

Then we left aunt Dilcie with her snuff and went to find _Aunt
Jane Carter_.

After rambling around in Rock Island quarters we at last found Jane
Carter. She was living with her grand daughter and was sitting out in
the yard with a bunch of her great-grand-children. She was so deaf that
we were not able to talk to her, much to our disappointment. The
granddaughter told us that she was 106 years old and that Mrs. Roscoe
Taunton's granfather was Jane's old master.

We later saw Mrs. Taunton and she told us that Jane had