“I was too little to know much about de war but, little as I was, dere’s one thing dat’s still as fresh in my memory now as den, and dat’s how people watched and waited to hear dat old Georgia train come in.  Not many folks was able to take de papers den, and de news in ’em was from one to two weeks old when dey got here.  All de men dat was able to fight was off at de front and de folks at home was anxious for news.  De way dat old train brought ’em de news was lak dis:  if de southern troops was in de front, den dat old whistle jus’ blowed continuously, but if it was bad news, den it was jus’ one short, sharp blast.  In dat way, from de time it got in hearin’, evvybody could tell by de whistle if de news was good or bad and, believe me, evvybody sho’ did listen to dat train.

“Times was hard durin’ de war but from what I’ve heared de folks dat was old folks den say, dey warn’t near as bad here as in lots of other places.  Yes Mam!  Sho’ I kin ‘member dem Yankees comin’ here, but dat was atter de war was done over.  Dey camped right here on Hancock Avenue.  Whar dey camped was mostly woods den, and deir camp reached nearly all de way to whar Milledge Avenue is now.  Us chillun was scared to death of dem soldiers and stayed out of deir way all us could.  My Marster, Mr. Stevens Thomas, hid all of his family’s silver and other valuables dat could be put out of sight, for dem Yankees jus’ went ‘round takin’ whatever dey wanted.  Dey stole all kinds of food out of de homes, went into de smokehouses and got hams, and cotched up de chickens.  Dey jus’ reached out and tuk what dey wanted and laughed about it lak dey hadn’t been stealin’.

“Dem Yankees brought de smallpox here wid ’em and give it to all de Athens folks, and dat was somepin awful.  Folks jus’ died out wid it so bad.  Dey built a hospital what dey called de ‘pest house’ out whar de stockade is now.  It was rough and small but I reckon it helped some.  It warn’t near large enough for all de folks dat was sick wid smallpox at one time, and so dey finally got to whar dey used it jus’ for de colored folks, ’cause it seemed dat smallpox went harder wid dem dan wid de white folks.

“When de war ended us didn’t leave Mr. Stevens Thomas.  Ma kept on cookin’ and wukin’ ’round de house, and Pa wuked lots for other folks, larned to do brick-work, build walls, and things lak dat.  Atter he got to be a brickmason he allus had plenty to do.

“Marbles was de favorite game of de chillun dem days but us never got to play much lak chillun does dese days, ’cause times was so hard right atter de war dat as soon as chillun got big enough dey had to go to wuk.  Some of our very best times was at de old swimmin’ hole.  Us dammed up dat little crick right back of whar de Seaboard Depot is now and it made a fine pool to swim in.  It was cool for it was shady off down dar in de woods, and us spent many a hour dar on days as hot as dis one is.  When dey missed us at home, dat was de fust place dey thought of when dey come to hunt us.  I had some mighty good times in dat crick and I couldn’t begin to count de duckin’s I got dar and de whuppin’s my Ma and Pa give me for stayin’ so long.