nd he had a great banner, sayin', 'All needs a
pension.' In August this year I had a great vision of war in the eastern
corner of the world. I seen miles of men marchin' and big guns and
trenches filled with dead men. Gawd tells me to tell the people to be
prepared, 'cause the tides of war is rollin' this way, and all the
thousands of millions of dollars they spend agin it ain't goin' to stop
it. I live to tell people the word Gawd speaks through me.

420081

[Illustration: Charley Hurt]

CHARLEY HURT, 85, was born a slave of John Hurt, who owned a large
plantation and over a hundred slaves, in Oglethorpe County,
Georgia. Charley stayed with his master for five years after the
Civil War. In 1899 Charley moved to Fort Worth, and now lives at
308 S. Harding St.

"Yes, suh, I'm borned in slavery and not 'shamed of it, 'cause I can't
help how I'm borned. Dere am folks what wont say dey borned in slavery.

"Us plantation am near Maxie, over in Oglethorpe County, in Georgia, and
massa am John Hurt and he have near a hunerd slaves. Us live in de li'l
cabin make from logs chink with mud and straw and twigs am mix with dat
mud to make it hold. De big chimley am outside de cabin mostly, and am
logs and mud, too. De cabin am 'bout ten by twenty feet and jus' one
room.

"Would I like some dem rations we used to git, now? 'Deed I would. Dem
was good, dat meat and cornmeal and 'lasses and plenty milk and
sometimes butter. De meat am mostest pork, with some beef, 'cause massa
raise plenty hawgs and tendin' meat curin' am my first work. I puts dat
meat in de brine and den smokes de hams and shoulders. When hawg-killin'
time come I'm busy watchin' de smokehouse, what am big, and hams and
sich hung on racks 'bout six feet high from de fireplace. Den it my duty
to keep dat fire smoulderin' and jus' smokin'. De more smoke, de better.
Den I packs dat meat in hawgs heads and puts salt over each layer. Dat
am some meat!

"I mus' tell you 'bout dat whiskey and brandy. Massa have he own still
and allus have three barrels or more whiskey and brandy on hand. Den on
Christmas Day, him puts a tub of whiskey or brandy in de yard and hangs
tin cups 'round de tub. Us helps ourselves. At first us start jokin'
with each other, den starts to sing and everybody am happy. Massa
watches us and if one us gittin' too much, massa sends him to he cabin
and he sleep it off. Anyway, dat one day on massa's place all am