We didn’ eat eggs only on Sunday mornin.  Me and mah sis et together in de same plate.  We didn know whut knives and forkes wuz den.  We et wid our fingahs.

Ah had a good ole pa too.  He died a long time ago.  Ah member one night he started tuh whoop mah brudder and mah pa and mah brudder had hit.  So mah brudder runned off, an de marster called ole Dinah, Dinah wuz a dog yo know but Dinah was a big dog ovah the other dogs yo know and dem dogs went and got me brudder and dem Newtons sho did beat him.  But twasnt long befo mah pa taken sick and died aftuh dat.  An when we wuz goin ter bury mah pa lamme tell yo what happened:  Two turtle doves flew roun the wagon three times, den dey flew right on top uv mah pa’s coffin box an hollered three times; and yo know mah sistuh died bout three days aftuh dat.  Ah didn’ bleave in signs till den.  Ah know mah pa always bleaved in signs cause ah know when hit would start lightnin and thunderin round dat place of ourn mah pa would always make us stop.  He say twas bad luck.  An ah know when evah a dove would holler at night he’d tell us jes tuh tie a knot in th’ south cornuh uv de sheet and he would hush.  An we would do hit an he would hush.  Yo kno hits bad luck fuh dem tuh holler roun yo place.

Oh we use ter have lots o sheep, at least ole mistess did.  We made all of our wool clothes from dem sheeps wool and let me tell yo somethin else, ah think ah got some sheep wool in mah trunk now ah had hit fifty years.  Hits good fer sores if yo has er cut on yo han’ or feet or if blood poison set up jes take a little piece of dat wool an put a piece of fire on hit and [HW:  put] some [HW:  on] the sore parts and chile, honey, hit will git well right now.

Chile ah had use ter ruther go ter dances than ter eat.  Ah’d go ter dances an git early dare and heah dem fiddles.  Uh, my! ah jus couldn make mah foots act right.  We use ter dance sixteen sets.  We’d be er dancing and hit would sound so good.  Someone would say swing de one yo love bes but ah wouldn swing de one ah love best cause ah didn want anyone tah know him.

On Sunday mornin dats when we play.  Ole marster would put a rope cross fer us ter jump and we’d line up.  The rope wuz bout five feet high and chile if we didn’ jump it we’d catch hit.  O-o-o-o-oooo.  We had ter run.  He line up two at a time an he say one fuh de money, two fuh de show, three tuh make ready and fo’ tuh go.  An yo talk bout runnin.  We had ter run.  He would make us box and de one dat git whooped is de one dat would haft ter box till he got whooped and we had ter whoop three times befo’ stoppin.  Oh chile, ah had a time when ah miz a chile.

Interviewer:  Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed:  Luke D. Dixon
                    DeValls Bluff, Ark. 
Age:  81