" The old darkey
began to pat his foot and clap his hands while he sang, "Pickin' out de
cotton an' de bolls all rotten", repeating the same line over and over
to a sing-song melody as impossible of transcription as a bird-call.
Suddenly his smiling face fell serious and the song stopped.

"But since de Lawd saved me from a life o' sin, I don't think about dem
things. I don't 'member 'em much now. I been saved forty odd years."

"Was that a sinful song, Uncle Shang?"

"Dat's de devil's song, dat is. A-dancin' an' a stompin' dat-a-way!

"Folks nuse to have fights sometimes at de frolics but dey didn't do no
killin'. Hit ain't like dat now. Dey stob you now, but dey didn't do dat
den. Somebody'd always stop 'em 'fore it got dat fur."

"Yes'm, we sung spirituals. We sung 'De good ole-time religion', an'
sech as dat. I can't 'member all dem good songs now."

His middle-aged wife, washing dishes over the wood stove, struck up, "I
am bound for de promise land," and he joined in with a firm voice. But
neither remembered many songs distinctly.

"We didn't had no schools. Dey wouldn't let de white chillen tell us
about books. One day I axed about sumpin' in a book, and one de chillen
say, 'Mamma tole me not to learn you nuttin' or she'd whup me'."

Asked about holidays, Uncle Shang replied, "Thanksgiving we give thanks
in de church on our knees. Warn't no slave gallery. White and colored
all together and shouted together.

"Christmas we frolic and eat cake. We had serenades, too, on banjoes and
old tin pans and whatever you wanted to make a noise. And a gallon o'
liquor--anything you want!" with a loud laugh.

"Yes, mam, I 'members when de war broke out. Hit was on a Sunday
morning, jes' as clear and bright as could be. And Gen'l Lee prayed till
it thundered. Jes' 'fore de sun riz he was fixin' to go to a battle. He
got down on his knees and he jarred de worl'. Yes, mam, hit thundered
and when de folks heered it, dey all commenced runnin' todes him wid de
butts o' dey guns, and stacked de guns 'round a sweet-apple tree." Uncle
Shang was not quite clear as to who had stacked the guns, but he was
sure it had been done.

"I 'members when de Yankees come too. De Yankees come in--well,
hallelujah!--one Friday mornin' 'bout sun-up. Mamma took a notion to go
out in de syrup-cane patch, and I was settin' on de fence. I could hear
dem cannons a-boomin' and de sun was a-risin' so red jes' like blood.
Den I seed de Yankees a-co