ruman would
die it hurt so bad. I know that don't sound reasonable that a white
man in a Christian community would do such a thing but you can't
realize how heartless he was. People didn't know about it and we
dassent tell for we knowed he'd kill us if we did. You must remember
he owned us body and soul and they wasn't anything we could do about
it. Old Mistress and her three girls was mean to us too.

One time me and my sister was spinning and old Mistress went to the
well-house and she found a chicken snake and killed it. She brought it
back and she throwed it around my sister's neck. She jest laughed and
laughed about it. She thought it was a big joke.

Old Master stayed drunk all the time. I reckon that is the reason he
was so fetched mean. My, how we hated him! He finally killed hisself
drinking and I remember Old Mistress called us in to look at him in
his coffin. We all marched by him slow like and I jest happened to
look up and caught my sister's eye and we both jest natchelly
laughed--Why shouldn't we? We was glad he was dead. It's a good thing
we had our laugh fer old Mistress took us out and whupped us with a
broomstick. She didn't make us sorry though.

Old Master and Mistress lived in a nice big house on top of a hill and
us darkies lived in log cabins with log floors. Our dresses was made
out of coarse cloth like cotton sacking and and [TR: sic] it sho'
lasted a long time. It ort to been called mule-hide for it was about
that tough.

We went to church sometimes. They had to let us do that or folks would
have found out how mean they was to us. Old Master'd give us a pass to
show the patroller. We was glad to git the chance to git away and we
always went to church.

During the War we seen lots of soldiers. Some of them was Yankees and
some were Sesesh soldiers. My job every day was to take a big tray of
food and set it on a stump about a quarter of a mile from our house. I
done this twice a day and ever time I went back the dishes would be
empty. I never did see nobody and didn't nobody tell me why I was to
take the food up there but of course it was either for soliders [TR:
sic] that was scouting 'round or it may been for some lowdown dirty
bushwhacker, and again it might a been for some of old Master's folks
scouting 'round to keep out of the army.

We was the happiest folks in the world when we knowed we was free. We
couldn't realize it at first but how we did shout and cry for joy when
we did rea