."

Paul readily agreed to give the story of his life. "I can't git over it,
dat you done walked way out here from de courthouse jus' to listen to
dis old Nigger talk 'bout dem good old days.

"Mammy belonged to Marse Jack Ellis, and he owned de big old Ellis
Plantation in Oglethorpe County whar I was borned. Marse Jack give mammy
to his daughter, young Miss Matt, and when her and Marse Nunnally got
married up, she tuk my mammy 'long wid her. Mistess Hah'iet (Harriet)
Smith owned my daddy. Him and mammy never did git married. My granddaddy
and grandmammy was owned by Marse Jim Stroud of Oconee County, and I dug
de graves whar bofe of 'em's buried in Mars Hill graveyard.

"All I knows 'bout slavery time is what I heared folkses say, for de war
was most over when I was borned, but things hadn't changed much, as I
was raised up.

"I warn't but 'bout 2 years old when young Miss Matt tuk my mammy off,
and she put me out 'cause she didn't want me. Missy, dey was sho good to
me. Marse Jack's wife was Mistess Lizzie. She done her best to raise me
right, and de ways she larnt me is done stayed wid me all dese years;
many's de time dey's kept old Paul out of trouble. No Mam, I ain't never
been in no jailhouse in all my days, and I sho ain't aimin' to de
nothin' to make 'em put me dar now.

"In dem days, when chillun got big enough to eat, dey was kept at de big
house, 'cause deir mammies had to wuk off in de fields and Old Miss
wanted all de chillun whar she could see atter 'em. Most times dere was
a old slave 'oman what didn't have nothin' else to do 'cept take keer of
slave chillun and feed 'em. Pickaninnies sho had to mind too, 'cause dem
old 'omans would evermore lay on de switch. Us et out of wooden trays,
and for supper us warn't 'lowed nothin' but bread and milk.

"Long as us was little, us didn't have to wuk at nothin' 'cept little
jobs lak pickin' up chips, bringin' in a little wood, and sometimes de
biggest boys had to slop de hogs. Long 'bout de fust of March, dey tuk
de pants 'way from all de boys and give 'em little shirts to wear from
den 'til frost. Yes Mam, dem shirts was all us boys had to wear in
summer 'til us was big enough to wuk in de fields. Gals jus' wore one
piece of clothes in summertime too; dey wore a plain cotton dress. All
our clothes, for summer and winter too, was made right dere on dat
plantation. Dey wove de cloth on de looms; plain cotton for summer, and
cotton mixed wid a little wool for