layin' marbles an' 'fore I knowed it,
it wuz dinner time. When I got home, Mist'ess wuz mad sno' 'nough.
Marster cotch me an' wore me out, but Mist'ess never touched me. I seed
Niggers in de big jail at Watkinsville an' in de calaboose in Athens.
Yes Ma'am! I seed plenty of Niggers sold on de block in Watkinsville. I
ricollects de price of one Nigger run up to $15,000. All de sellin' wuz
done by de sheriffs an' de slave Marsters.

"Marster Fred Lucas sold his place whar he wuz livin' in town to Major
Cook, an' moved to his farm near Princeton Factory. Atter Major Cook got
kilt in de War, Marse Fred come back to town an' lived in his house
again.

"No Ma'am, dey warn't no schools for Niggers in slav'ry time. Mist'ess'
daughters went to Lucy Cobb. Celia, my sister, wuz deir nurse, an' when
all our little missies got grown, Celia wuz de house gal. So when our
little missies went to school dey come home an' larnt Celia how to read
an' write. 'Bout two years atter freedom, she begun to teach school
herself.

"Us had our own churches in town, an' de white folkses furnished our
preachers. Once dey baptised 75 in de river below de Check Factory;
white folkses fust, and Niggers last.

"Oh! dem patterrollers! Dey wuz rough mens. I heared 'em say dey would
beat de stuffin' out of you, if dey cotch you widout no pass.

"Yes Ma'am! dar always wuz a little trouble twixt de white folkses an'
Niggers; always a little. Heaps of de Niggers went Nawth. I wuz told
some white men's livin' in town hyar helped 'em git away. My wife had
six of 'er kinfolkses what got clean back to Africa, an' dey wrote back
here from dar.

"Us had parties an' dances at night. Sometimes Mist'ess let Celia wear
some of de little missies' clo'es, 'cause she wanted her to outshine de
other Nigger gals. Dey give us a week at Christmas time, an' Christmas
day wuz a big day. Dey give us most evvythin': a knot of candy as big as
my fist, an' heaps of other good things. At corn shuckin's Old Marster
fotched a gallon keg of whiskey to de quarters an' passed it 'round.
Some just got tipsy an' some got low down drunk. De onliest cotton
pickin' us knowed 'bout wuz when us picked in de daytime, an' dey warn't
no good time to dat. A Nigger can't even sing much wid his head all bent
down pickin' cotton.

"Folkses had fine times at weddin's dem days. Dar wuz more vittuls dan
us could eat. Now dey just han' out a little somethin'. De white folkses
had a fine time too.