iven when we was owned by poor quality folks.

"My marster was mean an' cruel. I hates him, hates him! The God Almighty
has condemned him to eternal fiah. Of that I is certain. Even the cows
and horses on his plantation was scared out o' their minds when he come
near 'em. Oh Lordy! I can tell you plenty 'bout the things he done to us
poor Niggers. We was treated no better than one o' his houn' dogs.
Sometimes he didn' treat us as good as he did them. I prays to the Lord
not to let me see him when I die. He had the devil in his heart.

"His name was Jim Rankin an' he lived out on a plantation over in Marion
County. I was born an' raised on his place. I spec I was 'bout twelve
year old at the time o' the war.

"Old man Rankin worked us like animals. He had a right smart plantation
an' kep' all his Niggers, 'cept one house boy, out in the fiel'
a-workin'. He'd say, 'Niggers is meant to work. That's what I paid my
good money for 'em to do.'

"He had two daughters an' two sons. Them an' his poor wife had all the
work in the house to do, 'cause he wouldn' waste no Nigger to help 'em
out. His family was as scared o' him as we was. They lived all their
lives under his whip. No Sir! No Sir! There warnt no meaner man in the
world than old man Jim Rankin.

"My pappy was Allen Rankin an' my mammy was Ca'line. There was twelve o'
us chillun, nine boys an' three girls. My pa was born in Mississippi an'
sol' to Marster Rankin when he was a young man. My mammy was married in
South Carolina an' sol' to Marster Rankin over at Columbia. She had to
leave her family. But she warnt long in gittin' her another man.

"Oh Lordy! The way us Niggers was treated was awful. Marster would beat,
knock, kick, kill. He done ever'thing he could 'cept eat us. We was
worked to death. We worked all Sunday, all day, all night. He whipped us
'til some jus' lay down to die. It was a poor life. I knows it aint
right to have hate in the heart, but, God Almighty! It's hard to be
forgivin' when I think of old man Rankin.

"If one o' his Niggers done something to displease him, which was mos'
ever' day, he'd whip him' til he'd mos' die an' then he'd kick him 'roun
in the dust. He'd even take his gun an', before the Nigger had time to
open his mouth, he'd jus' stan' there an' shoot him down.

"We'd git up at dawn to go to the fiel's. We'd take our pails o' grub
with us an' hang' em up in a row by the fence. We had meal an' pork an'
beef an' greens to eat. T