ome devilish niggers made out like dey was
Ku Klux ranging 'round de country stealing hosses and taking things.
Old Master said dey wasn't shore enough, so I reckon he knowed who the
regular ones was.

These bunches that come around robbing got into our neighborhood and
old Master told me I better not have my old horse at the house, 'cause
if I had him they would know nobody had been there stealing and it
wouldn't do no good to hide anything 'cause they would tear up the
place hunting what I had and maybe whip or kill me.

"Your old hoss aint no good, Tony, and you better kill him to make
them think you already been raided on," old Master told me, so I led
him out and knocked him in the head with an axe, and then we hid all
our grub and waited for the Kluckers to come most any night, but they
never did come. I borried a hoss to use in the day and took him back
home every night for about a year.

The niggers kept talking about being free, but they wasn't free then
and they ain't now.

Putting them free jest like putting goat hair on a sheep. When it rain
de goat come a running and git in de shelter, 'cause his hair won't
shed the rain and he git cold, but de sheep ain't got sense enough to
git in the shelter but jest stand out and let it rain on him all day.

But the good Lord fix the sheep up wid a woolly jacket that turn the
water off, and he don't git cold, so he don't have to have no brains.

De nigger during slavery was like de sheep. He couldn't take care of
hisself but his Master looked out for him and he didn't have to use
his brains. De master's protection was like de wooly coat.

But de 'mancipation come and take off de woolly coat and leave de
nigger wid no protection and he cain't take care of hisself either.

When de niggers was sot free lots of them got mighty uppity, and
everybody wanted to be a delegate to something or other. The Yankees
told us we could go down and vote in the 'lections and our color was
good enough to run for anything. Heaps of niggers believed them. You
cain't fault them for that, 'cause they didn't have no better sense,
but I knowed the black folks didn't have no business mixing in until
they knowed more.

It was a long time after the War before I went down to vote and
everything quiet by that time, but I heard people talk about the
fights at the schoolhouse when they had the first election.

I jest stayed on around the old place a long time, and then I got on
another piec