and git a good hold on it,
and dey would turn it loose. It took a purty good holding to stay wid
it, I can tell you.

All de ladies rode horseback, and dey rode side-saddles. I had a purty
side-saddle when I growed up. De saddle seat was flowered plush. I had
a purty riding habit, too. De skirt was so long dat it almost touched
de ground.

We spun and wove all our clothes. I had to spin three broaches ever
night before bedtime. Mother would take bark and make dye to give us
different colored dresses.

Red oak and sweet gum made purple. Bois d'arc made yellow or orange.
Walnut made a purty brown. We knitted our socks and stockings, too.

We celebrated Christmas by having a big dance and egg-nog for ever'
body.

During slavery young colored boys and girls didn't do much work but
just growed up, care-free and happy. De first work boys done was to
learn to hitch up de team to Master's carriage and take de young folks
for a drive.

My older brothers and sisters told me lots of things dey done during
slave days. My brother Joe felt mighty big after freedom and strutted
about. One day he took his younger brother, Ol wid him to where father
was building a house. Dey played 'bout de house and come up to where a
white man and father was talking. De white man was rolling a little
ball of mud in his hands and he just pitched it over on Ol's foot. It
didn't hurt him a mite, but Joe bridled up and he started to git
smart, and father told him he'd break his neck if he didn't go on home
and keep his mouth shet. Father finally had to whup Joe to make him
know he was black. He give father and mother lots of concern, for dey
was afraid the Ku Kluxers would git him. One day he was playing wid a
axe and chopped off brother Ol's finger. Mother told him she was going
to kill him when she caught him. He took to de woods. His three
sisters and two neighbor girls run him nearly all day but couldn't
catch him. Late in de evening, he come up to a white neighbor's house
and she told him to go in and git under de bed and dey couldn't find
him. Curtains come down to de floor and as he was tired he decided to
risk it. He hadn't much more dan got hid when he heard de girls
coming. He heard de woman say, "He's under de bed." He knowed he was
caught, and he put up a fight, but dey took him to mother. He got a
whupping, but he was shocked dat mother didn't kill him like she said
she was. He didn't mind de whupping. He growed up to be a good man,