ows an' lak.

"Miss Margurite had a piany, a 'cordian, a flutena, an' a fiddle. She
could play a fiddle good as a man. Law, I heerd many as three fiddles
goin' in dat house many a time, an' I kin jes see her li'l old fair
han's now, playin' jes as fast as lightnin' a chune[FN: tune] 'bout

[HW: Song]

'My father he cried, my mother she cried,
I wasn' cut out fer de army.
O, Capt'in Gink, my hoss me think,
But feed his hoss on co'n an' beans
An s'port de gals by any means!
'Cause I'm a Capt'in in de army.'

"All us chullun begged ter play dat an' we all sing an' dance--_great
goodness_!

"One song I 'member mammy singin':

[HW: Song]

'Let me nigh, by my cry,
Give me Jesus.
You may have all dis world,
But give me Jesus.'

"Singin' an' shoutin', she had 'ligion all right. She b'longed to Old
Farrett back in Missouri.

"We didn' git sick much, but mammy made yeller top tea[FN: dog fennel]
fer chills an' fever an' give us. Den iffen it didn' do no good, Miss
Margurite called fer Dr. Hunt lak she done when her own chullun got
sick.

"None of de darkies on dat place could read an' write. Guess Miss Helen
an' Miss Ann would'a learned me, but I was jes so bad an' didn' lak to
set still no longer'n I had to.

"I seen plenty of darkies whupped. Marse George buckled my mammy down
an' whupped her 'cause she run off. Once when Marse George seen pappy
stealin' a bucket of 'lasses an' totin' it to a gal on 'nother place, he
whupped him but didn' stake him down. Pappy tol' him to whup him but not
to stake him--he'd stan' fer it wid'out de stakin'--so I 'member he
looked jes lak he was jumpin' a rope an' hollering', '_Pray Marser_',
ever time de strop hit 'im.

"I heered 'bout some people whut nailed de darkies years[FN: ears] to a
tree an' beat' em but I neber seen none whupped dat way.

"I neber got no whuppins frum Marse George 'cause he didn' whup de
chulluns none. Li'l darky chullun played 'long wid white chullun. Iffen
de old house is still thar I 'spec you kin fin' mud cakes up under de
house whut we made out'n eggs we stole frum de hen nests. Den we milked
jes anybody's cows we could ketch, an' churned it. We's all time in ter
some mischief.

"Thar was plenty dancin' 'mong'st darkies on Marse George's place an' on
ones nearby. Dey danced reels an' lak in de moonlight:

[HW: Songs]

'Mamma's got de whoopin' cough,
Daddy's got de measles,
Dat's whar de money goes,
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