t dat I ever heard about.

I got married before de war to Joshua Curtis. I loved him too, which is
more dam most folks can truthfully say. I always had craved a home an' a
plenty to eat, but freedom ain't give us notin' but pickled hoss meat
an' dirty crackers, an' not half enough of dat.

Josh ain't really care 'bout no home but through dis land corporation I
buyed dese fifteen acres on time. I cut down de big trees dat wus all
over dese fields an' I milled out de wood an' sold hit, den I plowed up
de fields an' planted dem. Josh did help to build de house an' he worked
out some.

All of dis time I had nineteen chilluns an' Josh died, but I kep' on
an' de fifteen what is dead lived to be near 'bout grown, ever one of
dem.

Right atter de war northern preachers come around wid a little book
a-marrying slaves an' I seed one of dem marry my pappy an' mammy. Atter
dis dey tried to find dere fourteen oldest chilluns what wus sold away,
but dey never did find but three of dem.

But you wants ter find out how I got along. I'll never fergit my first
bale of cotton an' how I got hit sold. I wus some proud of dat bale of
cotton, an' atter I had hit ginned I set out wid hit on my steercart fer
Raleigh. De white folks hated de nigger den, 'specially de nigger what
wus makin' somethin' so I dasen't ax nobody whar de market wus.

I thought dat I could find de place by myself, but I rid all day an'
had to take my cotton home wid me dat night 'case I can't find no place
to sell hit at. But dat night I think hit over an' de nex' day I goes'
back an' axes a policeman 'bout de market. Lo an' behold chile, I foun'
hit on Blount Street, an' I had pass by hit seberal times de day
before.

I done a heap of work at night too, all of my sewin' an' such an' de
piece of lan' near de house over dar ain't never got no work 'cept at
night. I finally paid fer de land. Some of my chilluns wus borned in de
field too. When I wus to de house we had a granny an' I blowed in a
bottle to make de labor quick an' easy.

Dis young generation ain't worth shucks. Fifteen years ago I hired a
big buck nigger to help me shrub an' 'fore leben o'clock he passed out
on me. You know 'bout leben o'clock in July hit gits in a bloom. De
young generation wid dere schools an dere divorcing ain't gwine ter git
nothin' out of life. Hit wus better when folks jist lived tergether.
Dere loafin' gits dem inter trouble an' dere novels makes dem bad
husban's an' wives to