“Its de devil makes folkses do bad, and dey all better change and serve God-a-Mighty, so as he kin save ’em before its too late.  I b’lieve folkses ’haved better dem days dan dey does now.  Marstar made ’em be good ’round his place.

“When us turned Marster’s watch dogs loose at night, dey warn’t nothin’ could come ’round dat place.  Dey had to be kept chained up in de daytime.  Sometimes Marster let us take his dogs and go huntin’ and dey wuz de best ’possum trailers ’round dem parts.  When dey barked up a ’simmon tree, us allus found a ’possum or two in dat tree.  Sometimes atter us cotched up lots of ’em, Marster let us have a ’possum supper.  Baked wid plenty of butter and ’tatoes and sprinkled over wid red pepper, dey is mighty good eatments.  My mouf’s jus’ a-waterin’ ’cause I’m thinkin’ ’bout ’possums.

“Yes Ma’am, us had corn shuckin’s, and dey wuz big old times.  Evvybody from plantations miles ’round would take time out to come.  Sometimes de big piles of corn would make a line most a half a mile long, but when all de Niggers got at dat corn de shucks sho’ would fly and it wouldn’t be so long before all de wuk wuz done and dey would call us to supper.  Dere wuz barbecue and chickens, jus’ a plenty for all de Niggers, and corn bread made lak reg’lar light bread and sho’ enough light bread too, and lots of ’tato pies and all sorts of good things.

“Atter da War wuz over, dey jus’ turned de slaves loose widout nothin’.  Some stayed on wid Old Marster and wukked for a little money and dey rations.

“Pa went down on the Hubbard place and wukked for 40 dollars a year and his rations.  Ma made cloth for all de folkses ’round ’bout.  Dey fotched deir thread and she wove de cloth for 50 cents a day.  If us made a good crop, us wuz all right wid plenty of corn, peas, ’tatoes, cabbage, collards, turnip greens, all de hog meat us needed, and chickens too.  Us started out widout nothin’ and had to go in debt to de white folkses at fust but dat wuz soon paid off.  I never had no chance to go to school and git book larnin’.  All de time, us had to wuk in de fields.

“Ku Kluxers went ’round wid dem doughfaces on heaps atter de War.  De Niggers got more beatin’s from ’em dan dey had ever got from deir Old Marsters.  If a Nigger sassed white folkses or kilt a hoss, dem Kluxers sho’ did evermore beat him up.  Dey never touched me for I stayed out of deir way, but dey whupped my pa one time for bein’ off his place atter dark.  When dey turned him loose, he couldn’t hardly stand up.  De Yankees jus’ about broke up de Ku Kluxers, but day sho’ wuz bad on Niggers while dey lasted.

“I wuz ’bout 21 years old when us married.  Us never had no chillun and my wife done been daid for all dese long years, I don’t know how many.  I can’t wuk and I jus’ has to stay hyar wid my daid brother’s chillun.  Dey is mighty good to me, but I gits awful lonesome sometimes.

“No Ma’am, I ain’t never seed but one ghost.  Late one night, I wuz comin’ by de graveyard and seed somethin’ dat looked lak a dog ‘ceppin’ it warn’t no dog.  It wuz white and went in a grave.  It skeered me so I made tracks gittin’ ’way from dar in a hurry and I ain’t never bean ’round no more graveyards at night.