rent charges are made. He is old and feeble and
has poor eyesight, yet, he is self-supporting by doing light odd jobs,
mostly for white people. He has never married, hence no dependents
whatever. One of the members of the house, in which Samuel lives, told
him someone on the front porch wanted to talk with him.

From his dingy basement room he slowly mounted the steps and came toward
the front door with an irregular shamble. One seeing his approach would
naturally be of the opinion, that this old darkey was certainly nearing
the hundred year mark. Apparently Father Time had almost caught up with
him; he had been caught in the winds of affliction and now he was
tottering along with a bent and twisted frame, which for many years in
the past, housed a veritable physical giant. The winds of 82 years had
blown over him and now he was calmly and humbly approaching the end of
his days. Humility was his attitude, a characteristic purely
attributable to the genuine and old-fashion southern Negro. He slid into
a nearby chair and began talking in a plain conversational way.

"Dis is a mighty hot day white folks but you knows dis is July and us
gits de hot days in dis month. De older I gits de more I feels de hot
and de cold. I has been a strong, hard working man most all my life and
if it wasn't for dis rheumatism I has in my right leg, I could work hard
every day now.

"Does I 'member much 'bout slavery times? Well, dere is no way for me to
disremember, unless I die. My mammy and me b'long to Doctor Hunter,
some called him Major Hunter. When I was a small boy, I lived wid my
mammy on de Hunter plantation. After freedom, I took de name of my
daddy, who was a Boulware. He b'long to Reuben Boulware, who had a
plantation two and one-half miles from Ridgeway, S. C., on de road dat
leads to Longtown. My mistress' name was Effie. She and marster had four
sons, no girls a-tall. George, Abram, Willie, and Henry, was their
names. They was fine boys, 'cause they was raised by Mistress Effie's
own hands. She was a good woman and done things 'zackly right 'round de
plantation. Us slaves loved her, 'cause she said kind and soft words to
us. Many times I's seen her pat de little niggers on de head, smile and
say nice words to them. Boss, kind treatment done good then and it sho'
does good dis present day; don't you think I's right 'bout dat? Marster
had a bad temper. When he git mad, he walk fast, dis way and dat way,
and when he stop, would