an' a good
house an' I aint a-goin'.' Marse Bob used to feed us fine an' he was
good to us. He wouldn' let no overseer touch his Niggers, but he whupped
us, hisse'f.

"Den de Yankees tol' me I was free, same as dey was. I come an' tol'
Marse Bob I was a-goin'. He say, 'If you don't go to work, Nigger, you
gwine a-git whupped.' So I run away an' hid out in de woods. De nex' day
I went to Meridian. I cooked for de sojers two months, den I come back
to Forest an' worked spikin' ties for de railroad.

"I hear'd a heap of talk 'bout Jeff Davis an' Abe Lincoln, but didn'
know nothin' 'bout 'em. We hear'd 'bout de Yankees fightin' to free us,
but we didn' b'lieve it 'til we hear'd 'bout de fightin' at Vicksburg.

"I voted de 'publican ticket after de surrender, but I didn' bother wid
no politics. I didn' want none of 'em.

"De Kloo Kluxers[FN: Ku Klux's] was bad up above here, but I never seen
any. I hear'd tell of 'em whuppin' folks, but I don't know nothin' 'bout
it, much.

"Mos' all de Niggers dat had good owners stayed wid 'em, but de others
lef'. Some of 'em come back an' some didn'.

"I hear'd a heap o' talk 'bout ever' Nigger gittin forty acres an' a
mule. Dey had us fooled up 'bout it, but I never seen nobody git
nothin'.

"I hope dey won't be no more war in my time. Dat one was turrible. Dey
can all go dat wants to, but I aint a-goin'.

"I seen Gen'l Grant at Vicksburg after de war. (He was a little short
man.) All de Niggers went dere for somethin'--me 'mongst 'em. I don't
know what we went for.

"I took to steamboatin' at Vicksburg 'cause I could cut[FN: place for
storage or shipment] cotton so good. (I could cut cotton now wid a
cotton hook if I warnt so old.)

"I steamboated twixt New Orleans an' St. Louis on de 'Commonwealth,' a
freight packet, way up yonder in St. Louis. I don't know what country
dat was in. But de rousters had a big fight one night in New Orleans,
shootin' an' cuttin', so I lef'. When I got back to Vicksburg, I quit.

"I picked cotton in de Delta awhile, but de folks, white an' black, is
too hard. Dey don't care 'bout nothin! I was in Greenville when de
water come. I hear'd a noise like de wind an' I asked dem Niggers, 'Is
dat a storm?' Dey said, 'No, dat's de river comin' th'ough an' you
better come back 'fore de water ketch[FN: catch] you.' I say, 'If it
ketch me it gwine a-ketch me on my way home.' I aint been back since.

"Den I come back here an' went to farmin' an' I been h