care you don't fall thoo dat ol' po'ch flo'; hit
'bout ready to go t' pieces, but I 'way behind on rent, so I cain't ask
'em to have hit fixed. Dis ol' house aint fitten fer nobody t' live in;
winder glass gone an' roof leaks. Young folks in dese parts done be'n
usin' it fer a co't house 'fore I come; you know--a place to do dey
courtin' in. Kep' a-comin' atter I done move in, an' I had to shoo 'em
away.

Dat young rascal comin' yondah, he one of 'em. I claiah to goodness, I
wisht I had a fence to keep folks outa my yahd. Reckon you don't know
what he be quackin' lak dat fer. Dat's 'cause my name's "Mama Duck." He
doin' it jus' t' pester me. But dat don't worry me none; I done quit
worryin'.

I sho' had plenty chance to worry, though. Relief folks got me on dey
black list. Dey give rashuns to young folks what's wukkin' an' don't
give me nary a mouthful. Reason fer dat be 'cause dey wanted me t' go t'
de porehouse. I wanted t' take my trunk 'long, an' dey wouldn't lemme. I
got some things in dere I be'n havin' nigh onto a hunnert years. Got my
ol' blue-back Webster, onliest book I evah had, 'scusin' mah Bible.
Think I wanna th'ow dat away? No-o suh!

So dey black-list me, 'cause I won't kiss dey feets. I ain't kissin
_nobody's_, wouldn't kiss my own mammy's.

I nevah see my mammy. She put me in a hick'ry basket when I on'y a day
and a half old, with nuthin' on but mah belly band an' di'per. Took me
down in de cotton patch an' sot de basket on a stump in de bilin sun.
Didn't want me, 'cause I be black. All de otha youngins o' hers be
bright.

Gran'mammy done tol' me, many a time, how she heah me bawlin' an' go an'
git me, an' fotch me to mammy's house; but my own mammy, she say, tu'n
me down cold.

"Dat you, Mammy" she say, sweet as pie, when gran'mammy knock on de do'.

"Dont you _nevah_ call me 'Mammy' no mo'," gran'mammy tol' 'er. "Any
woman what'd leave a po' li'l mite lak dat to perish to death ain't
fitten t' be no dotter o' mine."

So gran'mammy tuk me to raise, an' I ain't nevah wanted no mammy but
her. Nevah knowed who my daddy was, an' I reckon my mammy didn't know,
neithah. I bawn at Richard, Vahjinny. My sistah an' brothah be'n dead
too many years to count; I de las' o' de fam'ly.

I kin remember 'fore de fust war start. I had three chillen, boys,
taller'n me when freedom come. Mah fust mastah didn't make de li'l
chillen wuk none. All I done was play. W'en I be ol' enough t' wuk, dey
tuk us to Pelm