Mill Pond.
Sometimes after a big meeting dey would baptize twenty four at one
time. No slaves run away from Marster. Dey didn't have any scuse to do
so, cause whites and colored fared alike at Marster's. We played base,
cat, rolly hole, and a kind of base ball called 'round town.

"Dr. John McNeill looked after us when we were sick. We used a lot of
herbs an' things. Drank sassafras tea an' mullen tea. We also used
sheep tea for measles, you knows dat. You know how it wus made. Called
sheep pill tea. It shore would cuore de measles. 'Bout all dat would
cuore measles den. Dey were bad den. Wus den dey is now.

"I saw Wheeler's Cavalry. Dey come through ahead of de Yankees. I saw
colored people in de Yankee uniforms. Dey wore blue and had brass
buttons on 'em. De Yankees an' Wheeler's Cavalry took everything dey
wanted, meat, chickens, an' stock. We stayed on wid Marster after de
war. I've never lived out of de state. We lived in de same place ontill
old Marster an' Missus died. Den we lived wid deir relations right on
an' here. I am now on a place deir heirs own.

"Ole Marster loved his dram, an' he gave it to all his slaves. It sold
for ten cents a quart. He made brandy by de barrels, an' at holidays
all drank together an' had a good time. I never saw any of 'em drunk.
People wan't mean when dey were drinking den. It wus so plentiful
nobody notices it much. Marster would tell de children 'bout Raw Head
and Bloody Bones an' other things to skeer us. He would call us to de
barn to git apples an' run an' hide, an' we would have a time findin'
him. He give de one who found him a apple. Sometimes he didn't give de
others no apple.

"I married Ellen Johnson May 22, 1865 de year de war went up, an' my
wife is livin' as you see, an' able to be about. I'm not able to work,
not able to go out anywhere by myself. I know I cain't las' much longer
but I'm thankful to de Lord for sparin' me dis long."

AC

N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
No. Words: 346
Subject: TINA JOHNSON
Story teller: Tina Johnson
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt

[Illustration: Tina Johnson [TR: Man named Tina, or wrong photo.]]

TINA JOHNSON
Ex-Slave Story

An interview with Tina Johnson 85, S. Bloodworth Street, Raleigh.

"I wuz bawned in Richmon', Georgia 'round eighty-five years ago. My
mammy wuz named Cass an' my father, dat is my step-father wuz named
John Curtis. I got de name of John