m off an' yellin' 'O Lordy, have mussy!' Dere wuz a little
gal dar an' I wanted to skeer her, so I started atter her, an' de old
man tole her to hit me on de head. She picked up a shovel an' th'owed it
an' cut my leg so wide open de blood just spilt down on de floor. I got
so bad off dey had to take me back to old Marster, an' he fix me up. Hit
wuz six months 'fore I could use dat leg good, an', I nebber did wanter
go wid dem Kluxers no more.

"Us went to de white folkses church, but onct a year on de fust Sunday
in Augus' de white folkses let de Niggers have dat day for camp meetin'.
Dey fixed good dinners for us, an' let us go off in de woods an' stay
all day. Dem chicken pies an' dem good old 'tato custards, 'bout one an'
a half inches thick, made wid sea sugar, dey make your mouf water just
to talk 'bout 'em. What wuz sea sugar? Why it wuz dat crawly, kind of
grayish, lookin' sugar us used den. I wuz grown 'fore I ever seed no
sho' 'nough white sugar.

"My pa hired me out to Mr. Ray Kempton to tote cotton to de gin on his
plantation, when I wuz 'bout 16 years old. I wuz wukkin' dar when de
fust railroad wuz laid, an' dey named de place Kempton station fer Marse
Ray Kempton. I wuz paid five dollars a month an' board for my wuk, an' I
stayed dar 'til I married.

"I wuz 'bout eighteen when I rode on de train for de fust time. Us rode
from Social Circle to Washin'ton, Wilkes, to see my ma's folkses. Ma tuk
a heap of ginger cakes an' fried chicken along for us to eat on de
train, an' de swingin' an' swayin' of dat train made me so sick I didn't
want to ride no more for a long time.

"Soon atter I wuz twenty years old, I married a gal from Washin'ton,
Wilkes, an' us moved to Athens, an' I been livin' right here ever since.
Us got here de last day de old whiskey house wuz open. Dey closed it
down dat night. I wukked a long time wid de Allgood boys in de horse
tradin' business an' den I wukked for Mr. an' Mrs. Will Peeples 'bout
ten years. Dey runned a boardin' house, an' while I wuz dar, Dr. Walker
come to board, an' I wuz mighty glad to wait on him, 'cause he wuz from
Monroe an' had done been livin' on de old Walker place dat I stayed at
when us wuz down dar.

"My uncle, Ambus Carter, wuz a preacher on Marse Jim Smith's place. He
b'longed to Marse Jim durin' de War, an' he never did leave him. Atter
freedom come, most of Marse Jim's Niggers lef' him, an' den he had what
dey called chaingang slaves. He paid 'em out of