'em to larn her dat atter de war was over she got to be a school
teacher. Long 'fore dat time, one of dem white chillun got married and
tuk Mammy wid her to her new home at Butler, Georgia.

"Now my daddy, he was a plum sight sho' 'nough. He said dat when
evvythin' got still and quiet at night he would slip off and hunt him up
some 'omans. Patterollers used to git atter him wid nigger hounds and
once when dey cotch him he said dey beat him so bad you couldn't lay
your hand on him nowhar dat it warn't sore. Dey beat so many holes in
him he couldn't even wear his shirt. Most of de time he was lucky enough
to outrun 'em and if he could jus' git to his marster's place fust dey
couldn't lay hands on him. Yes Mam, he was plenty bad 'bout runnin' away
and gittin' into devilment.

"Daddy used to talk lots 'bout dem big cornshuckin's. He said dat when
dey got started he would jump up on a big old pile of corn and holler
loud as he could whilst he was a snatchin' dem shucks off as fast as
greased lightin'.

"When Mammy was converted she jined the white folks church and was
baptized by a white preacher 'cause in dem days slaves all went to de
same churches wid deir marster's famblies. Dere warn't no separate
churches for Negroes and white people den.

"I warn't no bigger dan dis here little Sallie Mae what stays wid me
when de War ended and dey freed de slaves. A long time atter it was all
over, Mammy told me 'bout dat day. She said she was in de kitchen up at
de big house a-cookin' and me and my sisters was out in de yard in de
sandbed a-playin' wid de little white chillun when dem yankee sojers
come. Old Miss, she said to Mammy: 'Milly, look yonder what's a-comin'.
I ain't gwine to have nothin' left, not even a nickels worth, 'cause
dere comes dem yankees.' Dey rid on in de yard, dem sojers what wore dem
blue jackets, and dey jus' swarmed all over our place. Dey even went in
our smokehouse and evvywhar and took whatever dey wanted. Dey said
slaves was all freed from bondage and told us to jus' take anything and
evvything us wanted from de big house and all 'round de plantation whar
us lived. Dem thievin' sojers even picked up one of de babies and
started off wid it, and den Old Miss did scream and cry for sho'. Atter
dey had done left, Old Miss called all of us together and said she
didn't want none of us to leave her and so us stayed wid her a whole
year atter freedom had done come.

"Not many slaves had a chance to git pr