ft. Yes Mam, he prayed whilst he was
dere, but he et too. Dem prayers must'a made him mighty weak.

"Marster Joe Campbell, what lived in our settlement, was sho a queer
man. He had a good farm and plenty of most evvything. He would plant his
craps evvy year and den, Missy, he would go plumb crazy evvy blessed
year. Folkses would jine in and wuk his craps out for him and, come
harvest time, dey had to gather 'em in his barns, cause he never paid
'em no mind atter dey was planted. When de wuk was all done for him,
Marster Joe's mind allus come back and he was all right 'til next
crap-time. I told my good old marster dat white man warn't no ways
crazy; he had plumb good sense, gittin' all dat wuk done whilst he jus'
rested. Marster was a mighty good man, so he jus' grinned and said
'Paul, us mustn't jedge nobody.'

"When marster moved here to Athens I come right 'long wid 'im. Us
started us a wuk-shop down on dis same old Oconee River, close by whar
Oconee Street is now. Dis was mostly jus' woods. Dere warn't none of
dese new-fangled stock laws den, and folkses jus' fenced in deir
gyardens and let de stock run evvywhar. Dey marked hogs so evvybody
would know his own; some cut notches in de ears, some cut off de tails
or marked noses, and some put marks on de hoof part of de foots. Mr.
Barrow owned 'bout 20 acres in woods spread over Oconee Hill, and de
hogs made for dem woods whar dey jus' run wild. Cows run out too and got
so wild dey would fight when dey didn't want to come home. It warn't no
extra sight den to see folkses gwine atter deir cows on mules. Chickens
run out, and folkses had a time findin' de aigs and knowin' who dem aigs
b'longed to. Most and gen'ally finders was keepers far as aigs was
consarnt but, in spite of all dat, us allus had plenty, and Mistess
would find somepin' to give folkses dat needed to be holped.

"When us come to Athens de old Georgy Railroad hadn't never crost de
river to come into town. De depot was on de east side of de river on
what dey called Depot Street. Daddy said he holped to build dat fust
railroad. It was way back in slavery times. Mist'ess Hah'iet Smith's
husband had done died out, and de 'minstrator of de 'state hired out
most all of Mist'ess' slaves to wuk on de railroad. It was a long time
'fore she could git 'em back home.

"Missy, did you know dat Indians camped at Skull Shoals, down in Greene
County, a long time ago? Old folkses said dey used to be 'round here
too, 's