g Miss Fannie, Miss Sue, and Marse John
read. The Crawford children were caught teaching my mother to read and
write, but they were made to stop. Mother was quick to learn and she
never gave up. She would steal the newspapers and read up about the war,
and she kept the other slaves posted as to how the war was progressing.
She knew when the war was over, almost as soon as Marse John did.

"I don't recall any certain reason why the slaves were punished; they
needed it, I'm sure of that. Some folks need to be punished now. Miss
Sue, as we called her, whipped the slaves for misbehavior. I remember
one time there was quite a commotion. The town marshal came to our house
to whip my mother. It had been told that she had been writing letters,
asking people to buy whiskey from her, but Marse John wouldn't let the
marshal touch her. There was a jail, but I don't recall that any of
Marse John's slaves were ever put in there. I was told that his slaves
were, as a rule, well behaved and that they gave him no trouble.

"Yes Mam, we went to church, that is, those of us who cared to go did.
There wasn't any separate church for colored people in Athens, that I
can remember. We went to church and Sunday School at the First
Presbyterian Church, where the slaves were allowed to sit in the
gallery. I recall that Dr. Hoyt used to pray that the Lord would drive
the Yankees back. He said that 'Niggers were born to be slaves.' My
mother said that all the time he was praying out loud like that, she was
praying to herself: 'Oh, Lord, please send the Yankees on and let them
set us free.' I wasn't enough of a singer to have a favorite song, and I
was too happy playing with the Crawford children to be interested in
going to baptizings and funerals.

"I did go to my father's funeral. When he was taken sick Dr. Holt
attended his case, and it was not long before he told Marse John that
Father would never get well. When he died Mother hollered and screamed
something terrible. Miss Sue told her not to cry because, 'the Lord
knows best.' 'Yes, Miss Sue,' answered Mother, 'but you have never loved
a man to lose.' With that, they both cried. When anyone died in those
days, the people sat up all night and didn't go to bed until the funeral
was over. Now, no real sympathy is shown.

"I don't believe any of Marse John's slaves ever went to the war. He was
good to them and everyone of them loved him. I heard of patterollers
chasing slaves and whipping them