r us children at night
after she get through working in the Master's house.

Mother was the house girl--cooking, waiting on the table, cleaning the
house, spinning the yarn, knitting some of the winter clothes, taking
care of the mistress girl, washing the clothes--yes, she was always
busy and worked mighty hard all the time, while them Indians wouldn't
hardly do nothing for themselves.

On the McIntosh plantation, my daddy said there was a big number of
slaves and lots of slave children. The slave men work in the fields,
chopping cotton, raising corn, cutting rails for the fences, building
log cabins and fireplaces. One time when father was cutting down a
tree it fell on him and after that he was only strong enough to rub
down the horses and do light work around the yard. He got to be a good
horse trainer and long time after slavery he helped to train horses
for the Free Fairs around the country, and I suppose the first money
he ever earned was made that way.

Lots of the slave owners didn't want their slaves to learn reading and
writing, but the Perrymans didn't care; they even helped the younger
slaves with that stuff. Mother said her master didn't care much what
the slaves do; he was so lazy he didn't care for nothing.

They tell me about the war times, and that's all I remember of it.
Before the War is over some of the Perryman slaves and some from the
McIntosh place fix up to run away from their masters.

My father and my uncle, Jacob Perryman, was some of the fixers. Some
of the Creek Indians had already lost a few slaves who slip off to the
North, and they take what was left down into Texas so's they couldn't
get away. Some of the other Creeks was friendly to the North and was
fixing to get away up there; that's the ones my daddy and uncle was
fixing to join, for they was afraid their masters would take up and
move to Texas before they could get away.

They call the old Creek, who was leaving for the North, "Old Gouge"
(Opoethleyohola). All our family join up with him, and there was lots
of Creek Indians and slaves in the outfit when they made a break for
the North. The runaways was riding ponies stolen from their masters.

When they get into the hilly country farther north in the country that
belong to the Cherokee Indians, they make camp on a big creek and
there the Rebel Indian soldiers catch up, but they was fought back.

Then long before morning lighten the sky, the men hurry and sling the
camp ket