. Gran'mammy went up an' laid her hand on her head, but she
shook it off.

"De tears was runnin' down Mis' Laughter's cheeks. 'Mammy,' she say,
'I'se sorry--I loves you, Mammy.'

"Mis' 'Riah turned her face to de wall an' her back on Mis' Laughter.
She ain't never opened her eyes. 'Bout dat time de sun come out from
behin' dem black wings of shadow an' Mis' 'Riah's soul went on to glory
to meet Marse Ned.

"Yes'm, Mis' 'Riah sho was proud, but Gran'mammy say 'twon' no war dat
brung all dat trouble on her, she say 'twas de wind dat come down de
chimbley de night she was bawn--de no'th wind dat blowed de ashes 'bout
de hearth."

N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: Mary Hicks
No. Words: 535
Subject: A GOOD MISTRESS
Teller: Henrietta McCullers
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt

A GOOD MISTRESS

An interview with Henrietta McCullers, eighty-seven
years old, of 531 E. Davie Street, Raleigh, North Carolina.

"I wus borned roun' eighty-seben years ago in Wake County. Me an' my
mammy 'longed ter Mis' Betsy Adams an' my pappy 'longed ter Mr. Nat
Jones. I think dat Marse Nat had a whole passel o' slaves, but Mis'
Betsy ain't had more'n six or seben.

"Yo' ax me iffen Mis' Betsy was good ter us? She wus so good dat I
loved her all her life an' now dat she's daid I loves her in her grave.

"We et de same rations what she et an' we slept in de same kind o' bed
she slept in. I knows dat sometimes she'd have company an' she'd do a
heap o' extra fixin'; but she ain't neber fix better fer de company dan
fer us.

"She'd let us have a co'n shuckin' onct a year, an' of course, we had a
heap of prayer meetin's an' a few socials. She ain't wanted her niggers
ter dance case she am such a good Christian, but she let us have candy
pullin's an' sich.

"When de wuck warn't pushin' she'd let us go fishin' an' swimmin' an'
all, only we jist waded, case we ain't used enough ter de water. Yo'
know dat niggers am natu'lly skeerd o' water anyhow.

"Iffen de wuck wus pushin' we wucked from sunup till dark an' Mis'
Betsy wucked too. Man, she wus a wuckin' woman, an' she made us wuck
too; but I loves her better dan I does my own chilluns now, an' dat's
one reason dat I wants ter go ter heaben. All my life when I done a bad
thing I think 'bout Mis' Betsy's teachin's an' I repents.

"I plowed an' dug ditches an' cleaned new groun'; an' hard wuck ain't
neber hurted me yit. De master wus too puny t