ader like he wuz g'wine
to sale a cow or sometin and then he would come back to git the slave he
wanted. This wuz the way my mothers' brother and sister wuz sold. When
the other masters at other places sold a slave they put the slave on the
auction block and the slave trader had a long whop that he hit them with
to see if they could jump around and wuz strong. The largest and brought
the money.
"I wuz a slave nineteen yeahs and nine months but somehow or nuther I
didn't belong to a real mean pet of people. The white folks said I was
the meanest nigger that ever wuz. One day my Mistress Lyndia called fer
me to come in the house, but no, I wouldn't go. She walks out and says
she is Gwine make me go. So she takes and drags me in the house. Then I
grabs that white woman, when she turned her back, and shook her until
she begged for mercy. When the master comes in, I wuz given a terrible
beating with a whip but I did'nt care fer I give the mistress a good'un
too.
"We lived off to the back of the masters house in a little log cabin,
that had one winder in the side. We lived tobly well and didn't starve
fer we had enough to eat but we didn't have as good as the master and
mistress had. We would slip in the house after the master and mistress
wuz sleeping and cook to suit ourselves and cook what we wanted.
"The Mistress had an old parrot and one day I wuz in the kitchen making
cookies, and I decided I wanted some of them so I tooks me out some and
put them on a chair and when I did this the mistress entered the door, I
picks up a cushion and throws over the pile of cookies on the chair and
mistress cane near the chair and the old parrot cries out, Mistress
burn, Mistress burn, then the mistress looks under the cushion and she
had me whupped but the next day I killed the parrot, and she often
wondered who or what killed the bird.
"I've seen whole pigs roasted before open fire place and when it wuz
done we would put a nice red apple in its mouth and the big white folks
company that come would eat of this delicious dish. Sometimes we had to
bake pies for a week to supply the company that wuz invited to our
masters and mistresses house. They served elaborate dinners and hundreds
of guest were invited.
"My master wuzn't as mean as most masters. Hugh White was so mean to his
slaves that I know of two gals that killt themselfs. One nigger gal
sudie wuz found across the bed with a pen knife in her hand. He whipped
another nig
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