. Then I nussed some of her grandchillun. Mr. Brice
Waters in Columbia is one of them grandchillun.

"Marse Wade went off to de war and got shot in de hip, but he jined de
calvary (cavalry) soon after and was away when de Yankees come through.
De Yankees burned and stole everything on de place. They took off all de
sheep, mules, and cows; killed all de hogs; cotch all de chickens, ducks
and geese; and shot de turkeys and tied them to deir saddles as they
left. De gin-house made de biggest blaze I ever has seen. Dere was short
rations for all de white folks and niggers after dat day.

"In 1870 I was still dere wid Marse Wade and Miss Tilda, when de devil
come along in de shape, form, and fashion of a man. He was name Simon
Halleg. I was young then, and a fool, when I married dat no 'count
nigger. Us had two chillun, a boy, Allen, and a girl, Louise. Louise
sickened and died befo' she was grown. Allen married and had one child,
but him and de child are dead. My husband run away and left us.

"About de time of de great cyclone, Miss Tatt Nicholson, a cousin of
Miss Tilda, come down and took me to Chester, to be a maid at de
Nicholson Hotel. I liked de work, but I got many a scare while I was
dere. In them days every hotel had a bar where they would mix whiskey
and lemons. Men could just walk up, put deir foots on de brass rail of
de bar counter and order what they want, and pay fifteen cents a drink.
Sometimes they would play cards all night in de bar. One night an old
gent stopped his wagon, dat had four bales of cotton on it, befo' de
hotel. He come in to get a drink, saw a game going on and took a hand.
Befo' bed time he had lost all his money and de four bales of cotton
outside.

"No, I didn't work in slavery times. Chillun didn't have to work. De
only thing I 'members doing was minding de flies off de table wid a
brush made out of peacock tail-feathers.

"All de slaves had to go to church at Concord twice every month and
learn de Shorter Catechism. I has one of them books now, dat I used
seventy-five years ago. Want to see it? (She exhibits catechism printed
in 1840 for slaves.)

"I left de hotel and come back to Miss Tilda Brice. I married Jacob
Stewart then, and he was a good man. Us had no chillun. He been gone to
glory eight years, bless God.

"Yes, sir, I 'members de earthquake. It set a heap of people to praying
dat night. Even de cows and chickens got excited. I thought de end of de
world had come. I ji