hen I wuz 'bout eight years old, dey 'lowed it wuz high time I wuz a
larnin' somethin', an' I wuz sont to de little log schoolhouse down in
de woods. De onliest book I had wuz just a old blue back speller. Us
took corn an' 'tatoes 'long an' cooked 'em for dinner, for den us had to
stay all day at school. Us biled de corn an' roasted 'tatoes in ashes,
an' dey tasted mighty good.

"Us had corn pone to eat all de time, an' on de fust Sunday in de month
us had cake bread, 'cause it wuz church day. Cake bread wuz made out of
shorts, but dem biscuits wuz mighty good if dey wuz dark, 'stead of
bein' white.

"Us had big gyardens, an' raised all sorts of vegetables: corn, peas,
beans, 'tatoes, colla'ds, an' turnip greens. Us had plenty of milk an'
butter all de time. An' Marster made us raise lots of cows, hogs, sheep,
an' chickens, an' tukkeys.

"Dey warn't no ready made clo'es or no vittuls in cans at de
sto'keepers' places, an' us didn't have no money to spend, if dey had a
been dar. Us didn't have nothin' what us didn't raise an' make up.
Cotton had to be picked offen de seed, an' washed an' cyarded, den ma
spun de thread an' wove de cloth an' sometimes she dyed it wid ink
balls, 'fore it wuz ready to make clo'es out of. De ink Marster used to
write wid wuz made out of ink balls.

"I wuz still little when my ma died. De white folks' preacher preached
her fun'ral from de tex' of Isaiah fifth chapter: fust verse, an' dey
sung de old song, "Goin' Home to Die no Mo'." Den dey buried her on de
place, an' built a rail fence 'roun' de grave, to keep de stock from
trompin' on it. Sometimes several owners got together an' had one place
to bury all de slaves, an' den dey built a rail fence all 'roun' de
whole place.

"Hit wuz just lak bein' in jail, de way us had to stay on de place,
'cause if us went off an' didn't have no ticket de paddyrollers would
always git us, an' dey evermore did beat up some of de Niggers.

"I 'members de Klu Klux Klan good. Dey kept Niggers skeered plum to
death, an' when dey done sumpin' brash dey sho' got beat up if de
Kluxers cotched 'em.

"One time de Kluxers come by our place on de way to beat a old Nigger
man. I begged 'em to lemme go wid 'em, an' atter a while dey said I
could go. Dere wuz horns on de mask dey kivvered up my head wid an' I
wuz mighty skeered but I didn't say nothin'. Atter us got dar, dey tied
de old man up by his hands to de rafters in his house. He wuz beggin'
'em to let hi