“No’em, don’t believe in anything lak dat much.  We use to sprinkle salt in a thin line ’roun Mars.  Ballinger’s house, clear ’roun, to ward off quarellin an arguein’ an ol’ Miss Ballinger gettin a cross spell,—­dat ah members, an then too;—­ah don believe in payin out money on a Monday.  You is liable to be a spendin an a losin’ all week if you do.  Den ah don’ want see de new moon (nor ol’ moon either) through, de branches o’ trees.  Ah know’ a man dat see de moon tru de tree branches, an he were lookin’ tru de bars ’a jail fo de month were out—­an fo sumpin he nevah done either,—­jus enuf bad luck—­seein a moon through bush.”

“Ah been married twice, an had three chillens.  Mah oles’ are Madge Hannah, an she sixty yeah ol’ an still a teachin’ at the Indian School where she been fo twenty-two yeahs now.  She were trained at Berea in High School then Knoxville; then she get mo’ learnin in Nashville in some course.”

“Mah wife died way back yonder in 1884.  Then when ah gets married again, mah wife am 32 when ah am 63.  No’am, no mo’ chillens.  Ah lives heah an farms, an takes care ob mah sick girl, an mah boy, he live across the lane thah.”

“No’em, no church, no meetin hous fo us culled people in Kentucky befo’ de wah.  Dey wuz prayin folks, and gets to meetin’ at each othah’s houses when dey is sumpin a pushin’ fo prayer.  No’em no school dem days, fo us.”  “Ol Mars., he were a preacher, he knowed de Bible, an tells out verses fo us—­dats all ah members.  Yes’em Ah am Baptist now, and ah sho do believe in a havin church.”

“Ah has wuked on steam boats, an done railroad labor, an done a lotta farmin, an ah likes to farm best.  Like to live in Ohio best.  Ah can vote.  If ah gits into trouble, de law give us a chance fo our property, same as if we were white.  An we can vote lak white, widout no shootin, no fightin’ about it—­dats what ah likes.  Nevah know white men to be so mean about anythin as dey is about votin some places—­No’em, ah don’t!  Ah come heah in 1912.  Ah was goin on to see mah daughter Madge Hannah in Oklahoma, den dis girl come to me paralized, an ah got me work heah in Lebanon, tendin cows an such at de creamery, an heah ah is evah since.  Yes’em an ah don’ wanto go no wheres else.”

“No’em, no huntin’ no mo.  Useto hunt rabbit until las yeah.  They ain’t wuth the price ob a license no mo.”  No’em, ah ain’t evah fished in Ohio.”

“No’em, nevah wuz no singer, no time.  Not on steamboats, nor nowheres.  Don’t member any songs, except maybe the holler we useto set up when dey wuz late wid de dinner when we wuked on de steamboat;—­Dey sing-song lak dis:” 

  ’Ol hen, she flew
  Ovah de ga-rden gate,
  Fo’ she wuz dat hungrey
  She jes’ couldn’t wait.’

—­but den dat ain’t no real song.”

“Kentucky river is place to fish—­big cat fish.  Cat fish an greens is good eatin.  Ah seen a cat fish cum outa de Kentucky river ’lon as a man is tall; an them ol’ fins slap mah laig when ah carries him ovah mah shoulder, an he tail draggin’ on mah feet.—­Sho nuf!”