.
Everybody had to do the best they could in them times."

"Durin' the war," continued Aunt Emma, "the mother died an' all her
property wuz divided 'mongst the chillun. My Ma an' all her chillun fell
to Miss Mary what had married an' wuz livin' in Lexington, over in
Oglethorpe County. She moved us all up there an' we wuz there 'til
freedom, then we moved down to Washington where we have lived ever
since. Miss Mary's husband's Ma had over two hundred slaves an' she sho'
did take on when they wuz all freed. I 'members how she couldn't stay in
the house, she jest walked up an' down out in the yard a-carrin'-on,
talkin' an' a-ravin'.

"Word come one day that the Yankee soldiers wuz comin' an' all us niggers
went down to the road to watch 'em go by. It wuz a sight. They all
marched by singin'. 'Fore they come, though, the white folks had all the
niggers busy hidin' everything they could. Stock wuz tied out way down
in thick woods, an' silver, money, an' good clothes wuz buried deep in
the ground an' leaves put all over the earth so they couldn't see where
it had been dug. When the Yankees did come they called all the slaves up
an' went into smokehouses an' throwed out the meat to the niggers an'
said: 'Here, take all this, we knows it's yours anyhow, you worked fer
it.' But most of the niggers give it all back to the white folks it
belonged to. The Yankees poured out all the syrup an' 'stroyed
everything they could. I tell you, honey, them wuz bad times an' us all
wuz skeered 'most to death."

Aunt Emma had only one sign: "No mam, I ain't 'tall superstitious, I
never thinks of things like that. But I does know when it's goin' to
rain hard, an' that's when my haid itches an' itches up under my haid
rag."

When asked about the amusements of her day Aunt Emma said: "I ain't
never danced a step nor sung a reel in my life. My Ma allus said we
shouldn't do them things an' we didn't. She said if we went to the devil
it wouldn't be 'cause she give us her 'mission!"

"How come I done lived so long? I dunno, only I allus been truthful an'
honest an' tried hard to treat people good as I want them to treat me.
Once I wuz so sick they all thought I wuz goin' to die. I thought so
too. But I lay there sufferin' an' the Spirit seemed to come 'round an'
reasoned that I would be spared days longer in this low ground of
sorrow. That's been long ago an' here I is livin' yet."

Not even the faintest smile crossed Aunt Emma's wrinkled face