deir battlin' sticks kept time to
de music. You could hear de singin' and de sound of de battlin' sticks
from a mighty long ways off.

"I ain't never been to school a day in all my life. My time as chillun
was all tuk up nussin' Mistess' little chillun, and I sho didn't never
git nary a lick 'bout dem chillun. Mistess said dat a white 'oman got
atter her one time 'bout lettin' a little Nigger look atter her chillun,
and dat 'oman got herself told. I ain't never uneasy 'bout my chillun
when Paul is wid 'em,' Mistess said. When dey started to school, it was
my job to see dat dey got dere and when school was out in de evenin', I
had to be dere to fetch dem chillun back home safe and sound. School
didn't turn out 'til four o'clock den, and it was a right fur piece from
dat schoolhouse out to our big house. Us had to cross a crick, and when
it rained de water would back up and make it mighty bad to git from one
side to t'other. Marster kept a buggy jus' for us to use gwine back and
forth to school. One time atter it had done been rainin' for days, dat
crick was so high I was 'fraid to try to take Mistess' chillun crost it
by myself, so I got a man named Blue to do de drivin' so I could look
atter de chillun. Us pulled up safe on de other side and den dere warn't
no way to git him back to his own side. I told him to ride back in de
buggy, den tie de lines, and de old mule would come straight back to us
by hisself. Blue laughed and said dere warn't no mule wid dat much
sense, but he soon seed dat I was right, cause dat old mule come right
on back jus' lak I said he would.

"Us chillun had good times back den, yes Mam, us sho did. Some of our
best times was at de old swimmin' hole. De place whar us dammed up de
crick for our swimmin' hole was a right smart piece off from de big
house. Us picked dat place 'cause it had so many big trees to keep de
water shady and cool. One Sunday, when dere was a big crowd of white and
colored chillun havin' a big time splashin' 'round in de water, a white
man what lived close by tuk all our clothes and hid 'em way up at his
house; den he got up in a tree and hollered lak evvything was atter him.
Lawsy, Miss, us chillun all come out of dat crick skeered plumb stiff
and run for our clothes. Dey was all gone, but dat never stopped us for
long. Us lit out straight for dat man's house. He had done beat us
gitting dar, and when us come runnin' up widout no clothes on, he
laughed fit to kill at us. A