t out of it,
and packed it up. There was no such thing as mining salt like they do
now. It would take from August first till about the middle of September
to get it. Ox team won't make more than about twelve miles a day. The
people would make up a wagon train and go and come together. People in
those days didn't believe a horse would pull anything but a buggy, so
they used steers mostly for heavy pulling. They ran all gins and
thrashers by horse power and the running gear was all made out of wood.
A lot of people say you couldn't make a wooden cotton press that would
pack a bale of cotton. You can make a wooden press that will break a
bale in two. Of course the gin was made out of metal. But they made the
press out of wood."

Slave Schooling

"The slaves were not allowed to learn anything. Sometimes one would be
shrewd enough to get in with the white children and they would teach him
his a-b-c's, and after he learnet to spell he would steal books and get
out and learn the rest for himself."

How Freedom Came

"The way I heard it the owners called their slaves up and told them they
was free. They give them their choice of leaving or staying. Most of
them stayed."

First Crop after Freedom

"In 1865, when the slaves were freed, they acknowledged they were free
in May in Alabama. All that was free and would stay and help them make
their crops, they give them one-tenth. That is, one-tenth went to all
the hands put together. Of course if they had a lot of hands that
wouldn't be much. Then again, it might be a good deal. I know about that
by hearing the old people talk about it."

Opinions

"I'll tell you my opinions some other time. I think the young people are
beyond control. I don't have any trouble with mine. I never have had any
trouble with them."

Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person interviewed: Eliza Hays
2215 W. Twentieth Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: 77 or more

"On the fourth of August, my birthday, and directly after the colored
people were set free, all the white people gave a great big dinner to
the slaves. All the white people at my home came together and gave a big
dinner to us. It was that way all over the United States. My mother told
me I was four years old at that big dinner. They went to a great big
book and throwed it open and found my birthday in it. I never will
forget that. You can figure from that exactly how old I am.
(Seventy-seven o