wed on an underskirt she was making for herself from
old sugar sacks. Her manner was cheerful; she seemed to get genuine
enjoyment from the interview and gave us a hearty invitation to come to
see her again.

"I was jes a chile" she began, "when de white folks had slaves. My ma an
her chillen wuz the onliest slaves my marster and mistis had. My pa
belonged to some mo white folks that lived 'bout five miles from us. My
marster and mistis were poor folks. They lived in a white frame house;
it wuz jes a little house that had 'bout five rooms, I reckon. The house
had a kitchen in the backyard and the house my ma lived wuz in the back
yard too, but I wuz raised in my mistis' house. I slept in her room;
slep' on the foot of her bed to keep her feets warm and everwhere my
mistis went I went to. My marster and mistis wuz sho good to us an we
loved 'em. My ma, she done the cooking and the washing fer the family
and she could work in the fields jes lak a man. She could pick her three
hundred pounds of cotton or pull as much fodder as any man. She wuz
strong an she had a new baby mos' ev'y year. My marster and Mistis liked
for to have a lot of chillen 'cause that helped ter make 'em richer."

I didn't have much time fer playin' when I wus little cause I wuz allus
busy waitin' on my mistis er taking care of my little brothers and
sisters. But I did have a doll to play with. It wuz a rag doll an my
mistis made it fer me. I wuz jes crazy 'bout that doll and I learned how
to sew making clothes fer it. I'd make clothes fer it an wash an iron
'em, and it wasn't long 'fo I knowed how to sew real good, an I been
sewing ever since.

My white folks wern't rich er tall but we always had plenty of somep'n
to eat, and we had fire wood to keep us warm in winter too. We had
plenty of syrup and corn bread, and when dey killed a hog we had fine
sausage an chitlin's, an all sorts of good eating. My marster and the
white an collored boys would go hunting, and we had squirrels an rabbits
an possums jes lots of time. Yessum, we had plenty; we never did go
hongry.

"Does I remember 'bout the Yankees coming?, Yes ma'am, I sho does. The
white chillen an us had been looking fer 'em and looking fer 'em. We
wanted 'em to come. We knowed 'twould be fun to see 'em. And sho 'nuf
one day I was out in de front yard to see and I seed a whole passel of
men in blue coats coming down de road. I hollered "Here come de
Yankees". I knowed 'twuz dem an my mistis an