ear de bell ring. Don' know what it mean. Maybe
death, maybe fire, maybe nudder sale o some body. Gwine take 'em way.
But when de bell ring dey had to come. Let dat ole bell ring and de
woods was full o negroes. Maybe 500 hundred come from all over date
county."

Aunt Mollie was beginning to ramble and babble incoherently, her
memories of her own and the experiences of others all confused in her
mind. When she had about finished a story about how one of the slave
women, "bust de skull" of the head of her marster,'" 'cause she was
nussin a sick baby an' he tell her she got to git out in dat field an
hoe" and the gory details of what the shovel did to the white
marster's head, it was time for the visitors to close the interview.

Both Uncle Andrew and Aunt Mollie followed the visitor to the front
door, and wished her "All de luck in de world. An thank you for
comin'. An come see us agin, nudder time."

INTERVIEW
ANDY ODELL
1313 Pearl Street
Nashville, Tennessee

"I wuz bawn east ob Spring Hill, Tennessee. I dunno in w'at y'ar, but
I wuz a ful' grown man w'en I wuz freed. (This will make him about 96
years old.). I wuz an onlies' chile en I nebber knowed mah daddy. Mah
mammy wuz sold 'way fum me. She ma'ied a man named Brown en dey had
seven chillun."

"At fust I 'longed ter Marster Jim Caruthers. W'en his daughter ma'ied
Fount Odell, I wuz willed ter her en den mah marsters wuz Fount en
Albert Odell who wuz br'ers. Mah white folks let us go ter chuch. I
b'leeves in de Baptist 'ligion. I nebber knowed any slave dat had ter
hide ter sing er pray. I members de comet en hit wuz a sta'r wid a
long tail en looked lak hit wuz burnin'. De sta'rs fell 'fore I wuz
bawn." (The stars fell in 1833).

"We had ter hab passes en if you didn't hab one, you got whupped. Mah
marster let me go ter chuch wid' out a pass. I members de Klu Klux
Klan but dey nebber bothered me, tho I 'yeard a lot 'bout dem. Dey
called demselves "White Caps" en said dey wuz rite fum de grave. W'en
a slave got whupped hit wuz cose dey disobey dere white folks en de
overseer whupped dem. I though mah white folks wuz awful mean ter me
sumtime."

"I nebber b'leeved in ghos' but hab yeard lots 'bout dem. Lots of
peeples did b'leeve in dem back in dem times. Uster sing a lot but I
dunno names ob dem now. I dunno w'at ez gwine ter 'kum ob dis young
crowd. I sho don't think diff'ent culers oughter ma'rie. De Lawd
didn't mean fer hit ter be dun. Dunno