tion was the property of Marse John or his father, William H.
Crawford, I don't know, but I am sure there was an overseer, and I am
quite sure it was a very large plantation. You know the town of Crawford
was named for my white folks. The only thing I can be sure of, from my
own memory, is of the things that took place here in Athens.

"Breakfast had to be served promptly at 7:30. When that 9:00 o'clock
bell sounded at night, God bless your soul! You had to be in your
house, and you had to be in bed by 10:00 o'clock. Marse John never
punished but just two of his slaves that I can remember, but I have seen
them get several good whippings. They were Ned and William, Aggie's and
Lucy's boys, and Marse John cowhided them for misbehaving.

"There were jails during slavery time, but Marse John kept his slaves
straight himself and did not allow any of them to be taken to jail. I
have never seen slaves sold, but I have seen droves of them marching by,
being taken to Watkinsville to be sold.

"No! No! Oh! No! You had better not dare let white people know that you
could read, in those days. I remember one colored man, Alfred Evans, who
used to read the Bible during slavery time. All the learning I have, I
got after we were made free. There were two colored churches in Athens;
one was Baptist and the other was Methodist. Yankee ladies came down
from the North and taught us to read and write. I have often considered
writing the history of my life and finally decided to undertake it, but
I found that it was more of a job than I had expected it to be, and then
too, I would have to tell too much, so I thought best to leave it alone.

"I went to church but very little during slavery time. However, I dearly
loved to go to Sunday school, and never missed an opportunity of
attending. One of our Sunday school songs was worded something like
this:

'I want to be an angel,
And with the angels stand.'

"My favorite song began:

'Around the Throne in Heaven,
Ten Thousand children stand.'

"OO! Yes, I know how they buried folks in slavery time. For caskets they
used straight, white pine boxes that they called coffins. They didn't
have funerals like they do now. A preacher would say a few words at the
grave and then he prayed, and after that everybody sang something like:
'I will arise and go to Jesus.' I was a singer in my younger days.

"All I remember 'bout Negroes going off to the North was when their
masters took them a