They hired
theyselves where they pleased. They colle'ted they pay, an' the onliest
thing the owner took was enough to support they fam'lies. They all
lived in our yard, it was a great big place, an' they wimmen cooked
for 'em and raised the chilluns.

"You know, they lays a heap o' stress on edication these days. But
edication is one thing an' fireside trainin' is another. We had
fireside trainin'.

"We went to church regular. All our people marched behind our owners,
an' sat up in the galle'y of the white folks church. Now, them that
went to St. James Church behind their white folks didn' dare look at
nobody else. 'Twant allowed. They were taught they were better than
anybody else. That was called the 'silk stockin' church. Nobody else
was fitten to look at.

"My mother was the laund'ess for the white folks. In those days ladies
wore clo'es, an' plenty of 'em. My daddy was one of the part Indian
folks. My mammy was brought here from Washin'ton City, an' when her
owner went back home he sold her to my folks. You know, round
Washin'ton an' up that way they was Ginny (Guinea) niggers, an' that's
what my mammy was. We had a lot of these malatto negroes round here,
they was called 'Shuffer Tonies', they was free issues and part Indian.
The leader of 'em was James Sampson. We child'en was told to play in
our own yard and not have nothin' to do with free issue chil'en or the
common chil'en 'cross the street, white or colored, because they was'nt
fitten to 'sociate with us. You see our owners was rich folks. Our big
house is the one where the ladies of Sokosis (Sorosis) has their Club
House, an' our yard spread all round there, an' our house servants, an'
some of the bes' artisans in Wilmin'ton lived in our yard.

"You know, I'm not tellin' you things what have been _told_ me, but I'm
tellin' you things I _knows_.

"I remember when the Zoabbes company came from Georgia here to
Wilmin'ton an' they had all ladies as officers.[1]

"I remember when the Confederates captured part of the Union Army at
Fort Sumter, S.C., and they brought them here to Wilmin'ton and put
them out under Fourth Street bridge, and the white ladies of
Wilmin'ton, N.C. cooked food and carried it by baskets full to them. We
all had plenty of food. A warehouse full of everything down there by
the river nigh Red Cross Street, an' none of us ever went hungry 'till
the war was over.

"I remember when Gen'ral Grant's Army came to the river. They mounted