ome and whupped her and sont de
clothes back to ma. She never tried to run off agin.

"Jack Gist, a slave of Gov. Gist, run away once and lived in a cave fer
five months befo' de white folks found him. He went down on 'de forest'
and dug a cave near de road in sight of de Harris Bridge which still
spans de Fairforest Creek at dat p'int. De cave wasn't dug on Governor
Gist's land, but on a place know'd den as de old Jackson place. In de
mid hours of night Jack come to see his friends and dey give him things
to eat. When dey got him he had a hog, two geese, some chickens and two
middles of meat. Cose de hog and de middles was stole.

"One night he was crossing de Fairforest Creek on a foot-log and he met
Anderson Gist, one of de Governor's slaves. Dey talked fer awhile. Next
morning, Anderson come wid his marster to de cave whar Jack was. Dey
took all his things on to de big house, and he was whupped and put back
to work. Governor Gist and our marster was good to deir slaves and dey
didn't punish 'em hard like some of 'em did. We had lots more den dan we
has had ever since.

"I never went to de field till atter freedom come. Dey wasn't hard on us
in de fields and I liked to work. We worked mostly from sun-up till it
was too dark to work. Marster's youngest girl, Mary Jane Young, married
Mr. Dave Lane. Dey didn't have a wedding.

"My grandpa was a African and he talked real funny. He was low, chunky,
fat and real black. He went around a lot befo' he died. He was de father
of my mother, Clora. Granny, his wife, was called 'Fender' and she died
de first year of freedom. She was sold and lived on a neighboring
plantation. We went to see her every Saturday. Ma would always take us
to see her, and if we didn't git to go, she come to see us. We liked to
go, and Marse always give us a pass. De patrollers watch us like a hawk,
but we had our passes and we told dem if dey bothered us our marster
would handle 'em. He would, too, 'cause dat was 'de law'. Granny Fender
was good looking. She wore purty beads, earrings and bracelets, and
wrapped her head up in a red cloth. Her eyes and teeth flashed and she
was always jolly. Sometimes we stay all night, but most de time we come
back home. When she come to see us she always stay all night. All de old
folks had real religion den, and it kept 'em happy. Folks now are too
fancy fer religion and it ain't real. I has real religion and nothing
don't worry me. I feels happy all de time over