r the money.
[TR: Return Visit]
The next day Aunt Martha was in bed, slowly eating a bowl of potlicker
and turnip greens into which cornbread had been crumbled.
"My ches' hurt so bad I couldn't git up today," was her greeting, "but
set right dar by my bed and I can talk all right, long as I don't have
to walk 'bout none. Walkin' makes me cough."
Soon the bowl was empty and when she had wiped her mouth with the sleeve
of her nightgown, Aunt Martha began:
"When I wuz born, my ma b'longed to Marse Billie Glenn and us lived on
his big plantation way down below Lexin'ton. My pa wuz Anderson
Mitchell. He come from Milledgeville and b'longed to Mr. D. Smith. The
Smithies lived close by Marse Billie's place. My ma wuz Healon Mitchell.
I don't know what her last name wuz 'fore she married. She wuz born in
Virginny, and her and my grandma wuz sold and brought to Georgia when ma
wuz a baby. Grandma never did see none of her other chillun or her
husband no more, and us never did hear nothin' 'bout 'em.
"Ma had four chillun. Lucy wuz my onlies' sister. Mr. Davenport bought
her and she growed up at his place, what wuz called 'De Glade.' It wuz a
big fine place at Point Peter, Georgia. Lucy married a Taylor.
"My brother, Isaac, wuz raised at Mr. Hamilton's place at Point Peter.
After he growed up, he worked in Atlanta and bought him a home dar. He
got in a fight wid a man what had done stobbed his mule, and de man hurt
Isaac so bad he went crazy and died in de 'sylum at Milledgeville, but
dey took him back and buried him in Atlanta.
"My other brother wuz Anderson Mitchell, and after freedom come he got
work in Athens at de compress. His boss man moved to Augusta and took
Anderson wid him to work in de compress dar. One day somethin' blowed
up and he wuz scalded so bad it paralyzed him. Dey brought him back
here, but he soon died.
"Ma's house was right on de edge of Marse Billie's yard, 'cause she was
de cook. Grandma lived in de same house wid ma and us chillun, and she
worked in de loom house and wove cloth all de time. She wove de checkidy
cloth for de slaves clo'es, and she made flannel cloth too, leaseways,
it wuz part flannel. She made heaps of kinds of cloth.
"Our beds had big home-made posties and frames, and us used ropes for
springs. Grandma brought her feather bed wid her from Virginny, and she
used to piece up a heap of quilts outen our ole clo'es and any kind of
scraps she could get a holt of. I don'
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