“I heard my mudder say dat the mistress was a fine woman, but dat de marse was rigied [TR:  rigid?].

“De white folks did not help us to learn to read or write.  De furst school I remember dat wuz accessbile was foh 90 days duration.  I could only go when it wuz too wet to work in de fields.  I wuz bout 16 years when I went to de school.

“Der wuz no church on de plantation.  Couldn’t none of us read.  But after de surrender I remember de furst preacher I ebber heard.  I remember de text.  His name was Charles Fletcher.  De text was “Awake thou dat sleepeth, arise from de dead and Christ will give you life!” I remember of one of de baptizing.  De men dat did it was Emanuel Sanders.  Dis wuz de song dat dey sing:  “Beside de gospel pool, Appointed for de poor.”  Dat is all I member of dat song now.

“I heard of de slaves running away to de north, but I nebber knew one to do it.  My mudder tole me bout patrollers.  Dey would ketch de slaves when dey were out late and whip and thress dem.  Some of de owners would not stand for it and if de slaves would tell de massa he might whip de patrollers if he could ketch dem.

“I knowed one colored boy.  He wuz a fighter.  He wuz six foot tall and over 200 pounds.  He would not stand to be whipped by de white man.  Dey called him Jack.  Des wuz after de surrender.  De white men could do nothin’ wid him.  En so one day dey got a crowd together and dey shoot him.  It wuz a senation[TR:  sensation?] in de country, but no one was arrested for it.

“De slaves work on Saturday afternoon and sometimes on Sunday.  On Saturday night de slaves would slip around to de next plantation and have parties and dancin’ and so on.

“When I wuz a child I played, ‘chicken me craner crow’ and would build little sand houses and call dem frog dens and we play hidin’ switches.  One of de play songs wuz ‘Rockaby Miss Susie girl’ and ’Sugar Queen in goin south, carrying de young ones in her mouth.’

“I remember several riddles.  One wuz: 

  ’My father had a little seal,
  Sixteen inches high. 
  He roamed the hills in old Kentuck,
  And also in sunny Spain. 
  If any man can beat dat,
  I’ll try my hand agin.’

“One little speech I know: 

  ’I tumbled down one day,
  When de water was wide and deep
  I place my foot on the de goose’s back
  And lovely swam de creek.’

“When I wuz a little boy I wuz follin’ wid my father’s scythe.  It fell on my arm and nearly cut if off.  Dey got somethin’ and bind it up.  Eventually after a while, it mended up.

“De marse give de sick slaves a dose of turpentine, blue mass, caromel and number six.

“After de surrender my mother tole me dat the marse told de slaves dat dey could buy de place or dey could share de crops wid him and he would rent dem de land.

“I married Lizzie Perry, in Perry County Alabama.  A preacher married us by the name of John Jemison.  We just played around after de weddin’ and hed a good time til bedtime come, and dat wuz very soon wid me.