o my baby. I hope her older days won' be her
worser days."

"Yes, mam, I remember just as good as it was yesterday what dey say when
freedom come here. Oh, I hates to think bout dat day till dis one.
Remember dey call all de niggers up to de yard en I hear old Missus say,
'You don' no more belong to me. You can go if you want to en if you want
to, you can stay.' I say, 'Yes, mam, I do want to stay, I ain' gwine
leave you.' Dat was my white mammy en I stay dere long as she live too.
Didn' want no better livin den I was gettin right dere. It been a
Paradise, be dat what I calls it."

=Source:= Hester Hunter, ex-slave, 85 years, Marion, S.C.
Personal interview by Annie Ruth Davis, Oct., 1937.

Code No.
Project, 1885-(1)
Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis
Place, Marion, S.C.
Date, October 26, 1937

No. ----
Reduced from ---- words
Rewritten by ----

MOM HESTER HUNTER
Ex-Slave, 85 Years

"Bless my soul, honey, I tell you I been here a time. Been here a day. I
tell dese chillun here de other week dere ain' no need for me to be
frettin bout nothin no more cause my time bout out. I got my ducks en my
chickens en my chair right dere in de yard en I stays out dere wid dem
all de day till sundown. You see, I have such a hurtin in my back en
such a drawin in my knees en seems like de sun does just help me along
to bear de pain, but honey, I been walkin a long time. I remember I been
a little child in de bed listenin on en I hear my aunt come in one day
en say, 'Ma, I hear boss talkin bout dey gwine free de niggers.' Ma say,
'I don' have no mind for nothin like dat. I gwine be gone en you gwine
be gone too fore den.' Child, I sho been here a time. Remember dey been
four years buildin dem embankments en dey been four years fightin. Yes,
mam, I been through a day since I come here."

"Honey, I was a hustlier when I was a young woman en dat de reason my
chillun had such good schoolin. If it had been left to my husband, dey
wouldn' been know A from B. I think bout how my old Massa used to try to
learn me to spell en dat how-come I had such a feelin for my chillun to
get some learnin. My daughter, she taught 20 years in dat school right
over dere en when she see dat I wasn' able to carry on no longer, she
throwed up her hands one day en say she wasn' gwine teach school no
more. Tell Bill en dem chillun dat she was gwine stay here home en keep
me from fallin in de pots. Den she put out de wor