en dey goes ter de kitchen whar mammy am cookin' she cuss dem out an'
run dem outen her kitchen. Dey shore am a rough lot.

I aint never fergot how Mis' Betsy cried when de news of de surrender
come. She aint said nothin' but Marse Peter he makes a speech sayin'
dat he aint had ter sell none of us, dat he aint whupped none of us bad,
dat nobody has ever run away from him yet. Den he tells us dat all who
wants to can stay right on fer wages.

Well we stayed two years, even do my pappy died de year atter de
surrender, den we moves ter Marse Peter's other place at Wake Forest.
Atter dat we moves back ter Neuse.

Hit wus in de little Baptist church at Neuse whar I fust seed big black
Jim Dunn an' I fell in love wid him den, I reckons. He said dat he loved
me den too, but hit wus three Sundays 'fore he axed ter see me home.

We walked dat mile home in front of my mammy an' I wus so happy dat I
aint thought hit a half a mile home. We et cornbread an' turnips fer
dinner an' hit wus night 'fore he went home. Mammy wouldn't let me walk
wid him ter de gate. I knowed, so I jist sot dar on de porch an' sez
good night.

He come ever' Sunday fer a year an' finally he proposed. I had told
mammy dat I thought dat I ort ter be allowed ter walk ter de gate wid
Jim an' she said all right iffen she wus settin' dar on de porch
lookin'.

Dat Sunday night I did walk wid Jim ter de gate an' stood under de
honeysuckles dat wus a-smellin' so sweet. I heard de big ole bullfrogs
a-croakin' by de riber an' de whipper-wills a-hollerin' in de woods. Dar
wus a big yaller moon, an' I reckon Jim did love me. Anyhow he said so
an' axed me ter marry him an' he squeezed my han'.

I tol' him I'd think hit ober an' I did an' de nex' Sunday I tol' him
dat I'd have him.

He aint kissed me yet but de nex' Sunday he axes my mammy fer me. She
sez dat she'll have ter have a talk wid me an' let him know.

Well all dat week she talks ter me, tellin' me how serious gittin'
married is an' dat hit lasts a powerful long time.

I tells her dat I knows hit but dat I am ready ter try hit an' dat I
intends ter make a go of hit, anyhow.

On Sunday night mammy tells Jim dat he can have me an' yo' orter seed
dat black boy grin. He comes ter me widout a word an' he picks me up
outen dat cheer an' dar in de moonlight he kisses me right 'fore my
mammy who am a-cryin'.

De nex' Sunday we wus married in de Baptist church at Neuse. I had a
new white dress, do times wu