ll my chillen'. (I had
fifteen in all.)"

"Who married you, Aunt Ferebe. Did you have a license?"

"Who ever heered a nigger havin' a license?" and she rocked with
high-pitched laughter.

"Young marster was fixin' to ma'y us, but he got col' feet, and a
nigger by name o' Enoch Golden ma'ied us. He was what we called a
'double-headed nigger'--he could read and write, and he knowed so much.
On his dyin' bed he said he been de death o' many a nigger 'cause he
taught so many to read and write.

"Me and my husband couldn't live together till after freedom 'cause we
had diffunt marsters. When freedom come, marster wanted all us niggers
to sign up to stay till Chris'man. Bless, yo' soul, I didn't sign up. I
went to my husband! But he signed up to stay wid his marster till
Chris'man. After dat we worked on shares on de Hart plantation; den we
farmed fo'-five years wid Mr. Bill Johnson."

"Aunt Ferebe, are these better times, or do you think slavery times were
happier?"

"Well, now, you ax me for de truth, didn't you?--and I'm goin' to tell
yo' de truth. I don't tell no lies. Yes, mam, dese has been better times
to me. I think hit's better to work for yourself and have what you make
dan to work for somebody else and don't git nuttin' out it. Slav'ey days
was mighty hard. My marster was good to us (I mean he didn't beat us
much, and he give us plenty plain food) but some slaves suffered awful.
My aunt was beat cruel once, and lots de other slaves. When dey got
ready to beat yo', dey'd strip you' stark mother naked and dey'd say,
'Come here to me, God damn you! Come to me clean! Walk up to dat tree,
and damn you, hug dat tree! Den dey tie yo' hands 'round de tree, den
tie yo' feets; den dey'd lay de rawhide on you and cut yo' buttocks
open. Sometimes dey'd rub turpentine and salt in de raw places, and den
beat you some mo'. Oh, hit was awful! And what could you do? Dey had all
de 'vantage of you.

"I never did git no beatin' like dat, but I got whuppin's--plenty o'
'em. I had plenty o' devilment in me, but I quit all my devilment when I
was ma'ied. I use to fight--fight wid anything I could git my han's on.

"You had to have passes to go from one plantation to 'nother. Some de
niggers would slip off sometime and go widout a pass, or maybe marster
was busy and dey didn't want to bother him for a pass, so dey go widout
one. In eve'y dee-strick dey had 'bout twelve men dey call patterollers.
Dey ride up and down and aroun'