' hired men. Dey was po'
white folks an' only got paid 'bout three or fo' hund'ed dollars a year.

"When we lef' Alabama we come to Mississippi. We went to de Denham
place near Garlandsville. We brought eighteen Niggers. We walked a
hund'ed miles an' it took five days an' nights. De women an' little
chaps rid[FN: rode] on de wagons (dey had five mules to de wagon) an' de
men an' de big chaps walked. My pa an' ma come along.

"We stayed on de Denham place 'bout three years. Den we moved to
Homewood an' stayed five years. I hung de boards for Marse Bob's house
in Homewood.

"Den we come to Forest. Dey brought all de fam'ly over here--all my
brothers an' sisters. Dey was five of' em--Wash an' East is de two I
'members. All o' us b'longed to de Harper fam'ly. Marse Bob owned us. My
ma an' pa both died here in Forest.

"I he'ped to build dis house for Marse Bob. I cleaned de lan' an' lef de
trees where he tol' me. He lived in a little old shack whilst we built
de Big House.

"Mr. M.D. Graham put up de firs' store here an' de secon' was put up by
my marster.

"I worked in de fiel' some, but mos'ly I was a house servant. I used to
go all over de country a-huntin' eggs an' chickens for de fam'ly on'
count dey was so much comp'ny at de house.

"A heap o' white folks was good to dey Niggers, jus' as good as dey
could be, but a heap of' em was mean, too. My mistis was good to us an'
so was Marse Jim Harper. He wouldn' let de boys 'buse us while he lived,
but when he died dey was wild an' cruel. Dey was hard taskmasters. We
was fed good three times a day, but we was whupped too much. Dat got
me. I couldn' stan' it. De old marster give us good dinners at
Chris'mus, but de young ones stopped all dat.

"De firs' train I ever seen was in Brandon. I went dere to carry some
horses for my marster. It sho' was a fine lookin' engine. I was lookin'
at it out of a upstairs window an' when it whistled I'd a-jumped out dat
window if Captain Harper hadn' a-grabbed me.

"I didn' see no fightin' in de war. When Gen'l Sherman come th'ough
here, he come by Hillsboro. Marse Bob didn' go to de war. He 'listed[FN:
enlisted], but he come right back an' went to gittin' out cross ties for
de railroad. He warnt no sojer. Colonel Harper, dat was Marse Alf, _he_
was de sojer. He warnt scared o' nothin' or nobody.

"De Yankees ask me to go to de war, but I tol' 'em, 'I aint no rabbit to
live in de woods. My marster gives me three good meals a day