ally when dey was lil' gals! I is a great deal older than
Mr. Bill Harris. I met him dis mornin' wid sweet 'tater in his pocket.
He 'lowed, 'Gus, you is jes' 'bout de oldes' nigger in dis county, ain't
you?' I raised my hat to 'im and 'lowed, Yessir, guess I is, Cap.

"Had to stay out and guard de silver and de gold jewels in de pines when
my white folks hid it dar to keep de Yankees from a-gittin' it. Dey
driv' de waggins in de pines and us unload de jewels and things and den
dey would drive de waggins out de wood. When de waggin done got plum
away us would take dry pine needles and kivver up all de waggin tracks
and hoof prints after us had done raked de dirt smooth over dem. We
stayed wid de silver and stuff and drink coffee and eat black crus'; dat
de sweetnin' bread dat us had durin' de war. Couldn't git no sugar den.
Sometime we used sassafras tea as we never had no coffee to grind. De
white folks was jes' as bad off as we was. From de big house dey brung
our mess of vittals after dark had done fell.

"Poke salad was et in dem days to clean a feller out. Hit cum up tender
every spring and when it cut deep down in sand it looked white. It's an
herb. Cut it; wash it and par boil; pour off water and ball up in balls
in your hand; put in frying pan of hot grease (grease from ham or strip
meat) and fry. Season with black pepper and salt and eat with new spring
onions. Tender white stems are better than the salad and of course
earlier. Ash cake was good wid poke salad and clabber or butter milk and
best of all was sweet milk! Dat not only fill up your belly, but make
you fat and strong.

"Sometime de darkies would eat too much and git de colic. Fer dis dey
would take and chaw pine needles and it would be all over wid den. On
all de plantations dar was old womens, too old to do any work and dey
would take and study what to do fer de ailments of grown folks and lil'
chilluns. Fer de lil' chilluns and babies dey would take and chaw up
pine needles and den spit it in de lil' chilluns mouths and make dem
swallow. Den when dey was a teachin' de babies to eat dey done de food
de very same way. Dem old wimmens made pine rosin pills from de pine
rosin what drapped from de pine trees and give de pills to de folks to
take fer de back ache. Dey allus kept de pine trees gashed fer dis
purpose. Den day also gashed de sweet gum fer to git gum to chaw.
'Twasn't no sech thing as chawin' gum till thirty years ago. Sweet gum,
it's good