il dat corpse was put in de grave.
When de preacher had done said a prayer, dey all sung: _I'se Born to Die
and Lay Dis Body Down_. Dat was 'bout all dere was to de buryin', but
later on dey had de funeral sermon preached in church, maybe six months
atter de buryin'. De white folkses had all deir funeral sermons preached
at de time of de buryin'.

"Yes Mam, I 'members de fust money I ever wuked for. Marster paid me 50
cents a day when I got big enough to wuk, and dat was plumb good wages
den. When I got to whar I could pick more'n a hunnerd pounds of cotton
in one day he paid me more. I thought I was rich den. Dem was good old
days when us lived back on de plantation. I 'members dem old folkses
what used to live 'round Lexin'ton, down in Oglethorpe County.

"When us warn't out in de fields, us done little jobs 'round de big
house, de cabins, barns, and yards. Us used to holp de older slaves git
out whiteoak splits, and dey larnt us to make cheer bottoms and baskets
out of dem splits. De best cheer bottoms what lasted de longest was dem
what us made wid red ellum withes. Dem old shuck bottoms was fine too;
dey plaited dem shucks and wound 'em 'round for cheer bottoms and
footsmats. De 'omans made nice hats out of shucks and wheat straw. Dey
plaited de shucks and put 'em together wid plaits of wheat straw. Dey
warn't counted much for Sunday wear, but dey made fine sun hats.

"Whilst us was all a-wukin' away at house and yard jobs, de old folkses
would tell us 'bout times 'fore us was borned. Dey said slave dealers
used to come 'round wid a big long line of slaves a-marchin' to whar
dere was gwine to be a big slave sale. Sometimes dey marched 'em here
from as fur as Virginny. Old folkses said dey had done been fetched to
dis country on boats. Dem boats was painted red, real bright red, and
dey went plumb to Africa to git de niggers. When dey got dere, dey got
off and left de bright red boats empty for a while. Niggers laks red,
and dey would git on dem boats to see what dem red things was. When de
boats was full of dem foolish Niggers, de slave dealers would sail off
wid 'em and fetch 'em to dis country to sell 'em to folkses what had
plantations. Dem slave sales was awful bad in some ways, 'cause
sometimes dey sold mammies away from deir babies and famblies got
scattered. Some of 'em never knowed what 'comed of deir brudders and
sisters and daddies and mammies.

"I seed dem Yankees when dey come, but I was too little t