eets and table kivers and one nice
Sunday set dishes.

"Us marry right in de parlor of de mistus house. De white man preacher
marry us and mistus she give me 'way. Ole mistus he'p me make my weddin'
dress outta white lawn. I hab purty long, black hair and a veil with a
ribbon 'round de fron'. De weddin' feas' was strawberry ice cream and
yaller cake. Ole mistus giv me my bedstead, one of her purtiest ones,
and de set dishes and glasses us eat de weddin' dinner outta. My husban'
gib me de trabblin' dress, but I never use dat dress for three weeks,
though, 'cause ole mistus cry so when I hafter leave dat I stay for
three weeks after I marry.

"She all 'lone in de big house and I think it break her heart. I ain'
been gone to de sawmill town very long when she sen' for me. I go to see
her and took a peach pie, 'cause I lub her and I know dat's what she
like better'n anything. She was sick and she say, 'Mandy, dis de las'
time us gwineter see each other, 'cause I ain' gwineter git well. You be
a good girl and try to git through de worl' dat way.' Den she make me
say de Lord Prayer for her jus' like she allus make me say it for a
night prayer when I lil' gal. I never see her no mo'.

"Me and Bob Thomas and dis husban', Josh, what I marry thirteen year
ago, hab 'bout 10 chillen all togedder. Us been lib here many a year. I
don' care so much 'bout leavin' dis yearthly home, 'cause I knows I
gwineter see de ole mistus up dere and I tell her I allus 'member what
she tell me and try lib dat way all time.

420237

[Illustration: William Hamilton]

WILLIAM HAMILTON belonged to a slave trader, who left him on the
Buford plantation, near Village Creek, Texas. The trader did not
return, so the Buford family raised the child with their slaves.
William now lives at 910 E. Weatherford St., Ft. Worth, Texas.

"Who I is, how old I is and where I is born, I don't know. But Massa
Buford told me how durin' de war a slave trader name William Hamilton,
come to Village Creek, where Massa Buford live. Dat trader was on his
way south with my folks and a lot of other slaves, takin' 'em
somewheres, to sell. He camped by Massa Buford's plantation and asks
him, 'Can I leave dis li'l nigger here till I comes back?' Massa Buford
say, 'Yes,' and de trader say he'll be back in 'bout three weeks, soon
as he sells all the slaves. He mus' still be sellin' 'em, 'cause he
never comes back so far and there I am and my folk