“Tell you mo’ about the ole times?  Lawd, honey, times has changed so frum when Ah was young.  You don’t hear of haints as you did when I growed up.  The Lawd had to show His work in miracles ’cause we didn’t have learnin’ in them days as they has now.  And you may not believe it but them things happened.  Ah knows a old man what died, and after his death he would come to our house where he always cut wood, and at night we could hear a chain bein’ drug along in the yard, jest as if a big log-chain wuz bein’ pulled by somebody.  It would drag on up to the woodpile and stop, then we could hear the thump-thump of the ax on the wood.  The woodpile was near the chimney and it would chop-chop on, then stop and we could hear the chain bein’ drug back the way it come.  This went on fur several nights until my father got tired and one night after he heard it so long, the chop-chop, papa got mad and hollered at the haint, ‘G——­ D——­ you, go to hell!!!’ and that spirit went off and never did come back!

“We’d always know somebody wuz goin’ to die when we heard a owl come to a house and start screechin’.  We always said, ’somebody is gwine to die!’ Honey, you don’t hear it now and it’s good you don’t fur it would skeer you to death nearly.  It sounded so mo’nful like and we’d put the poker or the shovel in the fire and that always run him away; it burned his tongue out and he couldn’t holler no more.  If they’d let us go out lak we always wanted to, Ah don’t ’spects we’d a-done it, ’cause we wuz too skeered.  Lawdy, chile, them wuz tryin’ days.  Ah sho is glad God let me live to see these ’uns.

“Ah tried to git the ole-age pension fur Ah sho’ly needed it and wuz ’titled to it too.  Sho wuz.  But that visitor jest wouldn’t let me go through.  She acted lak that money belonged to her.  Ah ’plied when it first come out and shoulda been one of the first to get one.  Ah worried powerful much at first fur Ah felt how much better off Ah’d be.  Ah wouldn’t be so dependent lak Ah’m is now.  Ah ’spects you know that ’oman.  She is a big black ‘oman—­wuz named Smith at first befo’ she married.  She is a Johns now.  She sho is a mean ’oman.  She jest wouldn’t do no way.  Ah even tole her if she let me go through and Ah got my pension Ah would give her some of the money Ah got, but she jest didn’t do no way.  She tole me if Ah wuz put on Ah’d get no more than Ah wuz gittin’.  Ah sho believes them thats on gits more’n 75c every two weeks.  Ah sho had a hard time and a roughety road to travel with her my visitor until they sent in the housekeeper.  Fur that head ’oman jest went rat out and got me some clothes.  Everything Ah needed.  When Ah tole her how my visitor wuz doin’ me she jest went out and come rat back with all the things Ah needed.  Ah don’t know why my visitor done me lak that.  Ah said at first it wuz because Ah had this house but honey what could Ah do with a house when Ah wuz hongry and not able to work.  Ah always worked hard.  ’Course Ah didn’t git much fur it but Ah lak to work fur what Ah gits.”