I was born in Hot Spring county, below Melvern it was.  I was borned on the farm of a man named Hammonds.  But I was pretty little when he sold me to some folks named Fenton.  Wasn’t with them so very long.  You know how it goes—­back in them days.  When a girl or a boy would marry, why they’d givem them as many black folks as they could spare.  I was give to one of the daughters when she married.  She was Mrs. Samuel Gentry.

I wasn’t so very big before the war.  So I didn’t have to work in the fields.  Just sort of played around.  Can’t remember very much about what happened then.  We never did see no fighting about.  They was men what passed through.  They was soldiers.  They come backwards and forewards.  I was about as big as that boy you see there”—­pointing to a lad about 8 years old—­“some of them they was dressed in blue—­sort of blue.  We was told that they was Federals.  Then some of them was in grey—­them was the Southerners.

No, we wasn’t scared of them—­either of them.  They didn’t never bother none of us.  Didn’t have anything to be scared of not at all.  It wasn’t really Malvern we was at—­that was sort of before Malvern come to be.  Malvern didn’t grow up until after the railroad come through.  The town was across the river, sort of this side.  It was called Rockport.  Ma’am—­you know about Rockport”—­a delighted chuckle.  “Yes, ma’am, don’t many folks now-a-days know about Rockport.  Yes ma’am the river is pretty shoaly right there.  Pretty shoaly.  Yes ma’am there was lots of doings around Rockport.  Yes ma’am.  Dat’s right.  Before Garland county was made, Rockport was the capitol O—­I mean de county seat of Hot Spring County.  Hot Springs was in that county at that time.  There was big doings in town when they held court.  Real big doings.

No, ma’am I didn’t do nothing much when the war was over.  No, I didn’t go to be with my daddy.  I moved over to live with a man I called Uncle Billy—­Uncle Billy Bryant he was.  He had all his family with him.  I stayed with him and did what he told me to—­’til I grew up.  He was always good to me—­treated me like his own children.

Uncle Billy lived at Rockport.  I liked living with him.  I remember the court house burned down—­or blowed down—­seems like to me it burned down.  Uncle Billy got the job of cleaning bricks.  I helped him.  That was when they moved over to Malvern—­the court house I mean.  No—­no they didn’t.  Not then, that was later—­they didn’t build the railroad until later.  They built it back—­sort of simple like—­built it down by Judge Kieth’s.

No ma’am.  I don’t remember nothing about when they built the railroad.  You see we lived across the river—­and I guess—­well I just didn’t know nothing about it.  But Rockport wasn’t no good after the railroad come in.  They moved the court house and most of the folks moved away.  There wasn’t nothing much left.

I started farming around there some.  I moved about quite a bit.  I lived down sort of by Benton too for quite a spell.  I worked around at most any kind of farming.