Yessum, mistress," he replied.

"Daddy Luke, can you _kill_ the snake?"

"Yessum, mistress."

"Daddy Luke, can you _kill_ the snake?"

"Yessum, mistress."

"Shoot!!"

He took careful aim and fired. The huge reptile rolled to the floor.

When the men returned to the yard to work near the woodpile, the mate
was discovered by one of the dogs that barked until a log was moved and
the second snake killed.

[HW: In those days] small snakes were not feared and for several years
it was customary for women to carry a tiny green snake in their bosoms.
This fad was discontinued when one of the women was severely injured
through a bite on her chest.

Phil remembers when the stars fell in 1833. "They came down like rain,"
he said. When asked why he failed to keep some, he replied that he was
afraid to touch them even after they became black.

[TR: The following paragraphs contain many crossouts replaced by
unreadable handwritten edits, and will be indicated by: 'deleted words'
replaced by ??.]

Freedom was discussed on the plantation [TR: ??] for many years before
the Civil War began. As contented as [TR: 'they' replaced by ??] were
[TR: 'there was something to look forward to when they thought of'
replaced by ??] being absolutely free. An ex-slave's description of the
real cause of the Civil War, deserves a place here. It seems that
Lincoln had sent several messages to Davis requesting that he free the
slaves. No favorable response was received. Lincoln had a conference
with Mr. Davis and to this meeting he carried a Bible and a gun. He
tried in vain to convince Davis that he was wrong according to the
Bible, so he finally threw the two upon the table and asked Davis to
take his choice. He chose the gun. Lincoln grasped the Bible and rushed
home. Thus Davis _began_ the war but Lincoln had God on his side and so
he _ended_ it.

One of Gov. Towns' sons went to the army and Phil was sent to care for
him while he was there; an aristocratic man never went to the war
without his valet. His [HW: Phil's] duty was to cook for him, keep his
clothes clean, and to bring the body home if he was killed. Poor
soldiers were either buried [HW: where they fell] or left lying on the
field for vultures to consume. Food was not so plentiful in the [TR:
'army' replaced by ??] and their diet of flapjacks and canned goods was
varied only by coffee and whiskey given when off duty. All cooking was
done between two battles or during the lull