ones can beat dem out a hollow anywhe'. Ain' no
chillun raise in dese days, I say. After freedom come here, I know I
been hired out to white folks bout all de time en, honey, I sho been put
through de crack. Lord, I had a rough time. Didn' never feel no rest.
Dat how-come I ain' get all my growth, I say."

=Source:= Mom Ryer Emmanuel, colored, 78 years, Claussens, S.C.
Personal interview by Annie Ruth Davis, Marion, S.C.
[HW: See ES XVII, MS. #14.]

Project 1885-1
FOLKLORE
Spartanburg--Dist. 4
May 18, 1937

Edited by:
Elmer Turnage

STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES

"White folks. I sho nuff did ride wid de 'Red Shirts' fer Marse Hampton.
Dar was two other darkies what rid wid us. Dey is bof daed now. One was
Jack Jones, and de t'othern I does not recollect his name. Him and Jack
is both daed. Dat leave me de onliest living one what rid in de company.

"I rid in de company wid Marse Jimmie Young and he was de Cap'un. He
live out yonder at Sardis Church. Ev'ybody know Marse Jimmie. He ain't
quite as aged yet as I bees. Mr. J.T. Sexton, he rid from up around
Cross Keys, he got de 'hole in de wall' and I calls on him yit, and us
talks over de olden days. Miss Bobo's husband, he rid in Marse Jimmie's
company. (Mr. Preston B. Bobo) Our company camped at de ole Brick church
out whar de mansion set now. It has allus been called de Lower
Fairforest Baptist Church, whar de white folks still goes, 'cept de done
move de church down on de new road, further from de mansion and de ole
graveyard. I lows dat you knows I is speaking o' de new mansion--Mr.
Emslie Nicholson's house on de forest at de Shoals. I is got memory, but
I ain't got no larning; dat I is proud of, kaise I is seed folks wid
larning dat never knowed nothing worth speaking about. All de way 'fru',
I is done tuck and stuck to my white folks--de Democratic white folks,
dat I is.

"Sho was a pretty sight to see 'bout a hun'ded mens up on fine horses
wid red shirts on. I still sees dem in my mind clear as day. Our red
shirts fastened wid a strong band 'round de waist. Dar wasn't nar'y
speck o' white to be seed no whars on 'em. Dey was raal heavy and
strong. Fact, dey was made from red flannel, and I means it was sho
'nough flannel, too. I had done kept one o' mine here till times got
hard and den I tuck and tore it up fer me a undershirt, here past it
been two winters when it got so cold.

"One night us sot up all night and ke