ne a glass o whiskey. Dat's to keep off decease.
Mornins' we had to all drink tar water for de same purpose. Dat want
so tasty."

"My Marster's name was George Hopper. Dat man paid taxes on more'n
two-thousand acres of land in two counties. I lived in dem two
counties. Was born in Wilkes and raised in Lincoln County, Georgia. We
called it de middle-south. My Marster he never did marry. Lots of
folks didnt, dey jes took up wid one another. Marster Hopper had five
children by my grandmother. She was his house woman, dat's what he
call 'er. An when he died he willed her and all dem chilluns a house,
some land, and a little money. He'd of left em a heap more money and
ud been one of the richest men in the country, ef'n de war hadn't
broke out. When it was over he had a barrel full of 'Federate
greenbacks. But t'want no count. He done broke den. One day my uncle,
he was the colored overseer, he went to Danbury, six miles from whar
we lived at, and he paid $5 for a pound of coffee. Dat was befo de
North whupped de South, and dey had'n killed-down de money value for
de South."

"Talk about hard times! We see'd em in dem days, durin' de war and
most specially after de Surrender. Folks dese days dont know what
trouble looks like. We was glad to eat ash-cakes and drink parched
corn and rye 'stead o coffee. I've seed my grandmother go to de smoke
house, and scrape up de dirt whar de meat had drapped, and take it to
de house fer seasonin. You see, both armies fed off'n de white folks,
and dey cleaned out dey barns and cellars and smoke houses when dey
come. One time, when de Yanks was on de way to Augusta, I was picking
up chips to make the supper fire, when I see'd em comin'. I hit it out
from dar and hide behind two little hills down by de big spring. After
awhile my brother find me and he tell me to come on back to the house
and see dem white mens dance. De Yanks kep' comin' and dey eat all
night. By daylight they was through marchin past."

"An den come de Rebels. When dey come we had five-thousand bushel of
corn, one-hundred head o hogs, three-hundred and fifty galons of syrup
'en sech. When dey left, they took an set fire to evything, to keep it
away from the Yanks, aimin to starve em out o dat country. Dat's what
dey done. Some of dem Rebs was mean as the Yanks. And dat was bein'
mean. Some called de Yanks, 'de Hornets', 'cause dey fight so. Take a
Yank an he'd fight acrost a buzz saw and it circlin' fifty mile a
minute.