Here he stopped
talking and called a little black and white dog to him, and said: "He
wuz 'bout de size of dis here dog, and pa said he could natchelly
jus' make a 'possum de way he always found one so quick when us
went huntin'." The old man sighed, and looking out across the field,
continued: "Atter slav'ry days, Niggers turned dey chilluns loose,
an' den de 'possums an' rabbits most all left, and dere ain't so many
fishes left in de rivers neither."

Tom could not recall much about his first master: "I wuz four year old
when Marster Dr. Joe Singleton died. All I 'members 'bout him; he wuz a
big man, and I sho' wuz skeered of him. When he cotch us in de branch,
he would holler at us and say: 'Come out of dar 'fore you git sick.' He
didn't 'low us to play in no water, and when, he hollered, us lit a rag.
Dere wuz 'bout a thousand acres in Marse Joe's plantation, he owned a
gold mine and a copper mine too. Old Marster owned 'bout 65 Niggers in
all. He bought an' sold Niggers too. When Old Marster wanted to send
news, he put a Nigger on a mule an' sont de message.

"Atter Marse Joe died, old Mist'ess run de farm 'bout six years.
Mist'ess' daughter, Miss Mattie, married Marster Fred Lucas, an' old
Mist'ess sold her share in de plantation den. My pa, my sister, an' me
wuz sold on de block at de sheriff's sale. Durin' de sale my sister
cried all de time, an' Pa rubbed his han' over her head an' face, an' he
said: 'Don't cry, you is gwine live wid young Miss Mattie.' I didn't cry
none, 'cause I didn't care. Marse Fred bought us, an' tuk us to Athens
to live, an' old Mist'ess went to live wid her chilluns.

"Marse Fred didn't have a very big plantation; jus' 'bout 70 or 80 acres
I guess, an' he had 'bout 25 Niggers. He didn't have no overseer. My pa
wuz de one in charge, an' he tuk his orders from Marse Fred, den he went
out to de farm, whar he seed dat de Niggers carried 'em out. Pa wuz de
carriage driver too. It wuz his delight to drive for Marster and
Mist'ess.

"Marster and Mist'ess had eight chillun: Miss Mattie, Miss Mary, Miss
Fannie, Miss Senie, Mr. Dave, Mr. Joe, Mr. Frank and Mr. Freddy. Dey
lived in a big house, weather-boarded over logs, an' de inside wuz
ceiled.

"Marster an' Mist'ess sho' wuz good to us Niggers. Us warn't beat much.
De onliest Nigger I 'member dey whupped wuz Cicero. He wuz a bad boy. My
Marster never did whup me but onct. Mist'ess sont me up town to fetch
her a spool of thread. I got to p