“Yes Sir, Mr. McKinney, I has been in Phillips County fer pas forty-five years and I is now pas eighty-five.  I wuz a grown en settled man when I fust cum here en hed chillun nigh bout growd.  Dats how cum me ter com here on er count of one of my boys.  Dis boy he cum befo I did en hed done made one crop en dat boy fooled me ober here from Mississippi.  Yo know how dese young bucks is, allus driftin er roun en he hed done drifted rite down dere below Marvell on de Cypress Bayou, en war wukin fer Mr. Fred Mayo when he writ me de letter ter cum ober here.  I guess dat yo has heard of Mr. Fred Mayo dat owned de big plantation dere close ter Turner.  Well dat is de man whut ay boy wuz wid and atter I cum I jined up wid Mr. Mayo en stayed wid him fer two years en I wud er ben wid him fer good I rekkin iffen I hadn’t wanter buy me er place of my own, kase Mr. Fred Mayo he wuz a nathal good man en treted all he hands fair.

“When I cided ter git me er little place of my own, I went en got quainted wid Mr. Marve Carruth kase he hed er great name wid de niggers, en all de niggers in dem days dey went ter Mr. Carruth fer ter git de advice, en Mr. Carruth he hoped me ter git de place up de road whut is mine yit.  Dere neber wuz no white man whut wuz no better dan Mr. Marve Carruth.  No Sir dat is a fac.

“Yo see, Capn, I wuz borned en raised in de hills of Mississippi, in Oktibbawa County not so fer frum Starkville, en dat wuz a ole country time I hed got grown en de lan hit wuz gittin powful thin, en when I cumed ter dis state en seen how much cotton de folks mekin on de groun, en how rish de lan, I jist went crazy ober dis country en stayed rite here en mobed my fambly rite off.  Folkses hed cotton piled up all er round dey houses en I cided rite off dat dis war gwine ter be my home den.

“My ole Marster wuz Tom Davis en Capn dere warnt never no finer man whut ever libed dan Marse Tom.  Marse Tom wuz lubed by ebery nigger dat he hed, en Marse Tom sho hed a passel of em.  He had bettern two-hundred head en de las one dey crazy bout Marse Tom Davis.  He war rather old frum my fust riccolection of im, en he neber libed meny years atter de war.  Marse Tom he owned a grete heap er lan.  His lan hit stretch out fer God knows how fer en den too he hed de big mill whut runned wid de water wheel whar dey saw de lumber en grine de meal en de flour.  Dey neber bought no flour en dem days kase dey raised de wheat on de place, en all de meat en nigh bout ebery thing whut dey hed er need of.  Marse Tom he tuk de best kine er care of his slabe people en he neber blebe in buyin er sellin no niggers.  Dat he didn’t.  He neber wud sell er one, en he neber did buy but three.  Dat is er fac, Capn, en one of dem three whut he bought wuz “Henry” whut wuz my own pappy, en he buyed Henry frum Mr. Spence kase Henry hed done got married ter Malindy, whut wuz my mammy.  Dat is whut my Mammy en Pappy dey bofe tole me.