a doctor when de babies wuz
born, but if she found a mammy in a bad fix she would ax Mist'ess to
send for Dr. Davenport.

"Us didn't have no separate church for colored folkses. De white folkses
had a big Baptist church dey called Mill Stone Church down at Goosepond,
a good ways down de road from Marse Billie's plantation. It sho' wuz a
pretty sight to see, dat church, all painted white and set in a big oak
grove. Colored folkses had dey place in de gallery. Dey won't 'lowed to
jine de church on Sunday, but dey had reg'lar Sadday afternoons for de
slaves to come and 'fess dey faith, and jine de church. Us didn't know
dey wuz no other church but de Baptist. All de baptizin' wuz done on
Sunday by de white preacher. First he would baptize de white folkses in
de pool back of de church and den he would baptize de slaves in de same
pool.

"My grandma wuz a powerful Christian 'oman, and she did love to sing and
shout. Dat's how come Marse Billie had her locked up in de loom room
when de Yankee mens come to our plantation. Grandma would git to
shoutin' so loud she would make so much fuss nobody in de church could
hear de preacher and she would wander off from de gallery and go
downstairs and try to go down de white folkses aisles to git to de altar
whar de preacher wuz, and dey wuz always lockin' her up for 'sturbin'
worship, but dey never could break her from dat shoutin' and wanderin'
'round de meetin' house, atter she got old.

"Dem Yankee sojers rode up in de Big 'Ouse yard and 'gun to ax me
questions 'bout whar Marse Billy wuz, and whar everything on de place
wuz kept, but I wuz too skeered to say nuthin'. Everything wuz quiet and
still as could be, 'cept for Grandma a-singin' and a-shoutin' up in de
loom house all by herself. One of dem Yankees tried the door and he axed
me how come it wuz locked. I told him it wuz 'cause grandma had 'sturbed
de Baptist meetin' wid her shoutin'. Dem mens grabbed de axe from de
woodpile and busted de door down. Dey went in and got grandma. Dey axed
her 'bout how come she wuz locked up, and she told 'em de same thing I
had told 'em. Dey axed her if she wuz hongry, and she said she wuz. Den
dey took dat axe and busted down de smokehouse door and told her she wuz
free now and to help herself to anything she wanted, 'cause everything
on de plantation wuz to b'long to de slaves dat had worked dar. Dey took
grandma to de kitchen and told ma to give her some of de white folkses
dinner. Ma sai