bout how he tuk all de gals
away from de other boys and how dem boots hurt him dat it looked lak he
never would stop. When he finally did stop laughin' and shakin' his
sides he said: 'Dat's all right Abraham. Don't never let nobody beat
your time wid de gals.' And dat's all he ever said to Abraham 'bout it.

"When my sister got married, us sho did have a grand time. Us cooked a
pig whole wid a shiny red apple in its mouth and set it right in de
middle of de long table what us had built out in de yard. Us had
evvything good to go wid dat pig, and atter dat supper, us danced all
night long. My sister never had seed dat man but one time 'fore she
married him.

"My Daddy and his cousin Jim swore wid one another dat if one died 'fore
de other dat de one what was left would look atter de daid one's fambly
and see dat none of de chillun was bound out to wuk for nobody. It
warn't long atter dis dat Daddy died. I was jus' fourteen, and was
wukin' for a brick mason larnin' dat trade. Daddy had done been sick a
while, and one night de fambly woke me up and said he was dyin'. I run
fast as I could for a doctor but Daddy was done daid when I got back. Us
buried him right side of Mammy in de old graveyard. It was most a year
atter dat 'fore us had de funeral sermon preached. Dat was de way
folkses done den. Now Mammy and Daddy was both gone, but old Marster
said us chillun could live dar long as us wanted to. I went on back to
wuk, 'cause I was crazy to be as good a mason as my Daddy was. In
Lexin'ton dere is a rock wall still standin' 'round a whole square what
Daddy built in slavery time. Long as he lived he blowed his bugle evvy
mornin' to wake up all de folkses on Marse Frank's plantation. He never
failed to blow dat bugle at break of day 'cep on Sundays, and evvybody
on dat place 'pended on him to wake 'em up.

"I was jus' a-wukin' away one day when Cousin Jim sent for me to go to
town wid him. Missy, dat man brung ne right here to Athens to de old
courthouse and bound me out to a white man. He done dat very thing atter
swearin' to my Daddy he wouldn't never let dat happen. I didn't want to
wuk dat way, so I run away and went back home to wuk. De sheriff come
and got me and said I had to go back whar I was bound out or go to jail.
Pretty soon I runned away again and went to Atlanta, and dey never
bothered me 'bout dat no more.

"De onliest time I ever got 'rested was once when I come to town to see
'bout gittin' somebody to