Yes, sir. Us niggers was fetched here 'ginst our taste. Us fell
de forests for corn, wheat, oats, and cotton; drained de swamps for
rice; built de dirt roads and de railroads; and us old ones is got a
fair right to our part of de pension.

"My marster, in slavery times, lived on de Wateree River. He had a large
plantation and, I heard them say, four hundred slaves. He was a hard
marster and had me whipped as many times as I got fingers and toes. I
started workin' in de field when I was a boy fifteen years old. De work
I done was choppin' de grass out of de cotton and pickin' de cotton.
What's become of them old army worms dat had horns, dat us chillun was
so scared of while pickin' cotton? I never see them dese days but I'd
rather have them than dis boll weevil I's pestered wid.

"My marster's name was Tom Clark. My mistress was a gentle lady, but
field niggers never got to speak to her. All I can say is dat de house
slaves say she was mighty good to them. I saw de chillun of de white
folks often and was glad they would play wid us colored chillun. What
deir names? Dere was Marse Alley, Marse Ovid, Marse Hilliard, and Miss
Lucy.

"Old marster got kilt in de last year of de war, and Miss Margaret, dat
was our Mistress, run de place wid overseers dat would thrash you for
all sorts of things. If they ketch you leanin' on your hoe handle,
they'd beat you; step out of your task a minute or speak to a girl,
they'd beat you. Oh, it was hell when de overseers was around and de
mistress nor none of de young marsters was dere to protect you. Us was
fed good, but not clothed so good in de winter time.

"My pappy didn't b'long to de Clarks at de commencement of de war. Old
marster done sold him, 'way from us, to Col. Tom Taylor in Columbia.
After de war, he run a shoe repair shop in Columbia many years befo' he
died. His name was Douglas Taylor and dat is de reason I took de name,
Mack Taylor, when I give in my name to de Freedman's Bureau, and I's
stuck to it ever since.

"I members de Yankees. Not many of them come to Miss Margaret's place.
Them dat did, took pity on her and did nothing but eat, feed deir
horses, and gallop away.

"Us was never pestered by de Ku Klux, but I was given a warnin' once, to
watch my step and vote right. I watched my step and didn't vote a-tall,
dat year.

"Mr. Franklin J. Moses was runnin' for governor. Colored preachers was
preachin' dat he was de Moses to lead de Negroes out of de wilderness