on Mr. Abe Lincum made 'im.
Den slav'ry would-a lasted always. But he flew into a huff an' swore dat
he'd whip de Yankees wid corn stalks. Dat made Mr. Lincum mad, so he sot
about to free de slaves.

"Mr. Lincum was a good man, but dey tells me he was poor an' never cut
much figger in his clothes. Dat's why he never did un'erstan' how us
felt' bout us white folks. It takes de quality to un'erstan' such
things.

"Right now, I loves my marster an' his wife in de grave. Dey raised me
an' showed me kindness all dey lives. I was proud of 'em. At de present
time I's under treatment o' young Dr. Stowers, my marster's gran'chil'.
I trusts him an' he is sho' good to me.

"I rents a place on Providence Plantation 'bout three miles south o'
Natchez. De trip to Natchez in a rickety old wagon is mos' too much in
de hot weather. My heart's mos' wore out. I can't las' long, 'cause I's
had a heap sposure[FN: exposure].

"I's jus' a bag o' bones now, but onct I stood nearly six feet in my
stockings an' weighed 'bout one hundred an' eighty pounds. I was well
muscled, too. Now I's gittin' kinda gray an' gittin' bald at de same
time. Black folks lak me don't hardly ever git bald.

"I's gittin' real feeble. De doctor say I got a bad heart. Sometimes I
jus' has to set on de curb an' res' myse'f a spell. I gits kinda
windless when I thinks 'bout all I been through.

"My wife is been dead 'bout seventeen years an' my chillun is so
scattered dat I don't know where dey is. De folks I stays wid is
powerful good to me an' sees after me same as dey was my own. I reckon I
don't need nothin else.

"Dis generation aint got much sense. Dey's tryin' to git somewheres too
fas'. None of 'em is sat'fied wid plain livin'. Dey wants too much.

"Nobody needs more dan dey can use, nohow."

JANE SUTTON
Gulfport, Mississippi

Jane Sutton, ex-slave, is 84 years old. She is 5 feet, 6 inches tall and
weighs 130 pounds. She is what the Negroes themselves call a
"brown-skin."

"I was born in Simpson County, near old Westville, on a big farm what
b'long to Marse Jack Berry. I was 12 years old when de surrender come,
so my ole Mis' say. Her name was 'Mis Ailsey an' all us cullud folks
call her 'Ole Mi's. She an' Old Marster had twelve chillun: Marthy,
'Lizabeth, Flavilia, Mary, Jack, Bill, Denson, Pink, Tally, Thomas,
Albert, and Frank.

"My pappy's name was Steve Hutchins. He b'long to de Hutchins what live
down near Silver Creek. He jus' come