ppearances you were hurt in the attempt to escape for I see you are
limping. What do you say to that?"

Uncle Jake was trembling as he looked down at his smelly shoes. "No,
sir, Jedge. You is sho' wrong. I jest receibed a commandment from my
heabenly Father to walk in de Truth and I was serbing my white folks by
getting back what is ders. Dis mule was stole by some po' sinner what
don' know de scriptures".

At this point the sheriff from Jake's county, who was a good friend of
our Marlow family, walked into the courtroom to see if he could help
Jake in his difficulties. When the frightened negro saw him, he forgot
the dignity of the court and shouted, "Praise de Lawd. I's been a vessel
ob His for nigh onto sixty years and He's done fill me full ob Grace and
Glory dis very hour".

And without further ado, he left the sheriff to make all explanations.
As he ran to the hitching post the mule began to bray and as Uncle Jake
mounted he shouted, "We're shaking de dust ob dis place from off our
feet and goin' back to our (Fannin) county where we can con-tinue bein'
vessels ob de Lawd and servin' our white folks".

As long as he lived, Uncle Jake was a faithful servant to his white
folks. Every time I slipped away to spend a little time at the
log-cabin, I always asked him to repeat the story of how he returned the
mule and with each repeating he praised the Lord more for being a direct
instrument in helping him prove to the countryside that he was "a clean
vessel ob de Lawd", but he blamed the new shoes and his skinned heel for
not getting across the county line before he was caught.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

An old negro by the name of Jake identified a mule of his master's in
court at Morganton. The little girls in the Morris family in Fannin
County were made to wear bonnets with their hair pulled through so they
could not be removed.

These two facts told me by Mr. J. R. Kincaid of Blue Ridge.

PLANTATION LIFE as viewed by Ex-Slave

MAHALA JEWEL
177 Berry Street
Athens, Georgia.

Written by: Grace McCune
Athens --

Edited by: Sarah H. Hall
Athens --

John N. Booth
District Supervisor
Federal Writers' Project
Residencies 6 & 7.

MAHALA JEWEL =Ex-Slave--Age 76.=

Mahala Jewel, known in the community as "Aunt Hailie," was sitting on
her tiny porch when the interviewer arrived. "I'se a-tryin' to git my
foots war