ell, I'll have to tell you now 'bout her.

"You see, Marse George come off down here frum Virginny lak young folks
venturin' 'bout, an' mar'ied Mis' Margurite an' wanted to start up
livin' right over thar near Utica whar I was born. But Marse George was
po', an' he sho' foun' out ye can't make no crop wid'out'n a start of
darkies, so he writ home to Virginny fer to git some darkies. All dey
sont him was fo' mens an' old Aunt Harriet fer to cook.

"One day Marse George an' his Uncle, Mr. John Davenport--now thar was a
rich man fer ye, why, he had two carri'ge drivers--dey rid over to Grand
Gulf whar dey was a sellin' slabes offen de block an' Mr. John tol'
Marse George to pick hisself out a pair of darkies to mate so's he could
git hisself a start of darkies fer to chop his cotton an' like. So Marse
George pick out my pappy fust. My pappy come frum North Ca'lina. Den he
seen my mammy an' she was big an' strengthy an' he wanted her pow'ful
bad. But lak I tol' you, he didn' have 'nough money to buy 'em both, so
his Uncle John say he'd buy mammy an' den he would loan her over to
Marse George fer pappy. An' de fust chile would be Mr. John's, an' de
secon' Marse George's, an' likewise. Mammy was a Missourian name Marylin
Napier Davenpo't. An' pappy was name Martin Newsome.

"Darkies libed in li'l old log houses wid dirt chimbleys. Dat is, de
rest of de darkies did. Dey kep' me up in de Big House, bein' mammyless
lak. Mos'ly I slep' in de trun'le bed wid Miss Mary Jane till I got so
bad dey had to mek a pallet on de flo' fer me. Dey was Mr. Bryant, Mr.
A.D., Miss Martha, Miss Ann, Miss Helen, Miss Mary Jane, an' Mr. George,
all b'longin' to Marse George an' Miss Margurite.

"Mammy was a fiel' han'. She could plow an' wuk in de fiel's jes' lak a
man, an' my pappy, he done de same. Mammy, she hated house wuk--lak me.
I jes natu'lly loves to be out runnin' roun' in de fiel's an' 'bout. I
neber lak'd to do wuk roun' de house none t'all.

"We wo' lowell clo'es an' brass toed brogans. Miss Margurite made our
dresses an' lak, an' afte' Aunt Harriet died, she done de cookin' too
fer all de slabes an' de fambly. She fix up dinner fer de fiel' han's,
an' I taken it to 'em. Marse George had old powder horn he blowed
mornin's far to git de darkies up 'fo day good, an' dey come in 'bout
sundown.

"We growed corn an' taters an' cotton plentiful, an' we had gran'
orchids[FN: orchids] an' penders[FN: peanuts]. Den, sheeps an' hogs an'
c