took up de fuss,
an' folkses in de yard can't hyar de fuss. De patterollers would git
you iffen you went offen de premises widout a pass, an' dey said dat dey
would beat you scandelous. I seed a feller dat dey beat onct an' he had
scars as big as my fingers all ober his body.

I got one whuppin' dat I 'members, an' dat wuz jist a middlin' one. De
massa told me ter pick de cotton an' I sot down in de middle an' didn't
wuck a speck. De oberseer come an' he frailed me wid a cotton-stalk; he
wuz a heap meaner ter de niggers dan Massa Dick wuz. I saw some niggers
what wuz beat bad, but I ain't neber had no bad beatin'.

We libed in log houses wid sand floors an' stick an' dirt chimneys an'
we warn't 'lowed ter have no gyarden, ner chickens, ner pigs. We ain't
had no way o' makin' money an' de fun wuz only middlin'. We had ter
steal what rabbits we et from somebody elses [TR correction: else's]
boxes on some udder plantation, case de massa won't let us have none o'
our own, an' we ain't had no time ter hunt ner fish.

Now talkin' 'bout sompin' dat we'd git a whuppin' fer, dat wuz fer
havin' a pencil an' a piece of paper er a slate. Iffen you jist looked
lak you wanted ter larn ter read er write you got a lickin'.

Dar wuz two colored women lived nigh us an' dey wuz called "free
issues," but dey wuz really witches. I ain't really seen 'em do nothin'
but I hyard a whole lot 'bout 'em puttin' spells on folkses an' I seed
tracks whar day had rid Massa Dick's hosses an' eber mo'nin' de hosses
manes an' tails would be all twisted an' knotted up. I know dat dey done
dat case I seed it wid my own eyes. Dey doctored lots of people an' our
folkses ain't neber had no doctor fer nothin' dat happen.

You wuz axin' 'bout de slave sales, an' I want ter tell you dat I has
seen some real sales an' I'se seed niggers, whole bunches of' em, gwin'
ter Richmond ter be sold. Dey wuz mostly chained, case dey wuz new ter
de boss, an' he doan know what ter 'spect. I'se seed some real sales in
Warrenton too, an' de mammies would be sold from deir chilluns an' dare
would be a whole heap o' cryin' an' mou'nin' 'bout hit. I tell you
folkses ain't lak dey uster be, 'specially niggers. Uster be when a
nigger cries he whoops an' groans an' hollers an' his whole body rocks,
an' dat am de way dey done sometime at de sales.

Speakin' 'bout haints: I'se seed a whole lot o' things, but de worst
dat eber happen wuz 'bout twenty years ago when a han'ts hand hi