'bout Melissa I fin's dat she am my sister, so I goes ter Mis'
Mitchel's an' I gits her.

"A few years atter de war I marries Alex. Dunson wuz a body slave fer
Major Fernie Green an' went through all de war. Me an' him lived
tergether sixty years, I reckon, an' he died de night 'fore
Thanksgivin' in 1923.

"Slavery wuzn't so good, case it divided famblies an' done a heap o'
other things dat wuz bad, but de wuck wuz good fer ever'body. It's a
pity dat dese youngins nowadays doan know de value o' wuck lak we did.
Why when I wuz ten years old I could do any kind o' house wuck an' spin
an' weave ter boot. I hope dat dese chilluns will larn somethin' in
school an' church. Dats de only way dey can larn it."

AC

N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 631
Subject: NELLIE SMITH
Person Interviewed: Nellie Smith
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt

NELLIE SMITH

Main St. Dunn, North Carolina
Route 6

"My name is Nellie Smith. I wus born on a plantation in Harnett County
in 1856, near where Linden now stands. I belonged to ole man Jack
Williams. His wife wus dead when I wus borned. There were many acres in
the plantation; it wus a large one. I don't know exactly how many
acres. There were 'bout fifty slaves on the place. The slave houses
were on a hill. Marster lived in the big house; and it wus a big one
too.

"I do not remember ever goin' hongry when I wus a slave. Father wus the
butler and mother wus a house woman, and we got plenty to eat. My
mother wus named Rosetta Williams and father wus named Atlas Williams.
I do not remember my grandmother and grandfather, but I remember my
great grandmother.

"We had good home made clothes and good beds. Jack Williams wus good to
his slaves. He wus good to me and my mother and father, I have heard
'em say that he wus always good to 'em. Our livin' with him wus good
and we loved him. He thought a lot o' his niggers. He had six children
of his own 4 boys and 2 girls; the boys Dr. Jack Williams, Dr. Jim
Williams, William Williams, Jim Williams; the girls Mary and Martha.

"I did little work in slavery time. Sometimes I fanned flies off the
table at meal times and did other light work. They made children do
very little work in slavery time. We children played base, an' hide the
switch.

"I saw a jail for slaves in Fayetteville, North Carolina, but I never
saw a slave sold. I saw an oversee