e wuz 'bout two hen aigs. I had
gathured de aigs in a bucket en tuk dem ter de house en I se'd de big
fier in de fier-place so I tuk out two ob de aigs en put dem in de hot
ashes ter bake. Mah missis se'd de aigs en axed who put dem dere. I
tole her I didunt do hit, but she knowed I did. So she tole me she
don' keer 'bout de two aigs, but dat she wuz gwine ter whup me fer
tellin' a lie. Dey don't raise chilluns lak dat now."

"I don't b'leeve in Niggers en whites ma'rin' en I wuz raised by de
"quality" en I'se b'leeves eber one should ma'rie in dere culor."

"I think de young peeples ob ter day ez dogs en sluts, en yer kin
guess de rest."

"One day 'bout 12 o'clock we se'd de Yankee soldiers pas' our house.
De missus hid her fine things, but dey don' kum on de place. All us
Niggers run ter de cellar en hid. We found de sugah barrels en we
scracht 'round fer sum sugah ter eat."

"One time de Ku Klux Klan kum ter our house but dey harm nobody. Guess
day wuz lookin' fer sum slave er sum one fum 'nother plantation widout
dere marster's pass."

"I se'd a lot ob sta'rs fall one time but dey neber teched de groun'.
En I members seein' a comet wid a long bright shinin' tail."

"Atter freedom all de slaves lef' de plantation but I stayed dere a
long time. I kum ter Nashville ovah thurty y'ars ago en I'se wuk'd as
cook en house wuk'r twenty y'ars fer one party; eleben y'ars fer
'nother, en menny y'ars fer 'nother. I knows you won't b'leeve me but
at one time I weigh ovuh 400 pounds, but now I'm nothin' but skin en
bon'. (She weighs at least 200 pounds now). I bekum feeble en couldn't
wuk out, en eber since den I'se bin kum' up a mountain, but now I git
he'ps by de Social Security."

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes

Corrected the typos per handwritten instructions. The inconsistencies
in spelling and punctuation have been left as in the original text,
except for adding the missing opening and closing quotation marks for
consistency in certain interviews.

One word at the bottom of page 25 was illegible, but upon careful
examination at high magnification, and considering that the other
interviewers asked whether families were divided, my best guess is
the word may be men: Nebber knowed ob any plantashuns men be divided.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Slave Narratives: A Folk History of
Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, by Work Projects