a good education before he met the opportunity for service.

"When I think of the '60's-'70's period, I am surprised that recent
slaves, suddenly placed in administrative positions of honor and trust,
did as well as they did.

"In the seventy-two years since slavery, I have noted much improvement
along the road, and I am sure that our nation has far less discord now,
than it had when I was a small lad. And, when one can note progress in
our march toward the light, I guess that ought to be sufficient for my
optimism."

Project 1885-1
Folklore
Spartanburg, Dist. 4
Dec. 23, 1937

Edited by:
Elmer Turnage

EX-SLAVE STORIES

EMANUEL ELMORE.

"I was born on June 20th and I remember when the war broke out, for I
was about five years old. We lived in Spartanburg County not far from
old Cherokee ford. My father was Emanuel Elmore, and he lived to be
about 90 years old.

"My marster was called by everybody, Col. Elmore, and that is all that I
can remember about his name. When he went to the war I wanted to go with
him, but I was too little. He joined the Spartanburg Sharp Shooters.
They had a drill ground near the Falls. My pa took me to see them drill,
and they were calling him Col. Elmore then. When I got home I tried to
do like him and everybody laughed at me. That is about all that I
remember about the war. In those days, children did not know things like
thay do now, and grown folks did not know as much either.

"I used to go and watch my father work. He was a moulder in the Cherokee
Iron Works, way back there when everything was done by hand. He moulded
everything from knives and forks to skillets and wash pots. If you could
have seen pa's hammer, you would have seen something worth looking at.
It was so big that it jarred the whole earth when it struck a lick. Of
course it was a forge hammer, driven by water power. They called the
hammer 'Big Henry'. The butt end was as big as an ordinary telephone
pole.

"The water wheel had fifteen or twenty spokes in it, but when it was
running it looked like it was solid. I used to like to sit and watch
that old wheel. The water ran over it and the more water came over, the
more power the wheel gave out.

"At the Iron Works they made everything by hand that was used in a
hardware store, like nails, horse shoes and rims for all kinds of
wheels, like wagon and buggy wheels. There were moulds for everything no
matter how large or small the thing