his master and after the war his father hired him out to the
Riley Ranch on Seco Creek, above D'hanis. He then bought a farm in
the slave settlement north of Hondo. He is 89 or 90 years old.

"I'm mixed up on my age, I'm 'fraid, for the Bible got burned up that
the master's wife had our ages in. She told me my age, which would make
me 89, but I believe I come nearer bein' 91, accordin' to the way my
mother figured it out.

"I belonged to George Harper, he was Judge Harper. The' was my father,
mother and two boys. He brought us from Mississippi, but I don' 'member
what part they come from. We settled down here at Gonzeles, on Peach
Creek, and he farmed one year there. Then he moved out here to Medina
County, right here on Hondo Creek. I dont 'member how many acres he had,
but he had a big farm. He had at least eight whole slave families. He
sold 'em when he wanted money.

"My mother's name was Mary Harper and my father's name was Ike Harper,
and they belonged to the Harpers, too. You know, after they was turned
loose they had to name themselves. My father named himself Grant and his
brother named himself Glover, and my grandfather was Filmore. They had
some kin' of law you had to git away from your boss' name so they named
themselves.

"Our house we had to live in, I tell you we had a tough affair, a picket
concern, you might say no house a-tall. The beds was one of your own
make; if you knowed how to make one, you had one, but of course the
chillen slept on the floor, patched up some way.

"We went barefooted in the summer and winter, too. You had to prepare
that for yourself, and if you didn' have head enough to prepare for
yourself, you went without. I don' see how they done as well as they
done, 'cause some winters was awful cold, but I always said the Lawd was
with 'em.

[Handwritten Note: 'used']

"We didn' have no little garden, we never had no time to work no garden.
When you could see to work, you was workin' for him. Ho! You didn' know
what money was. He never paid you anything, you never got to see none.
Some of the Germans would give the old ones a little piece of money, but
the chillen, pshaw! They never got to see nothin.'

"He was a pretty good boss. You didn' have to work Sunday and part of
Saturday and in the evenin', you had that. He fed us good. Sometimes, if
you was crowded, you had to work all day Saturday. But usually he give
you that, so you could wash and weave cloth or such.