him,
But de angels move de stone,
De Jews done kill pore Jesus,
But de grave it wouldn't hold him.'

"Dey 'nother song what say--

"'Run, sinner, run,
Gawd is a-callin' you.
Run, sinner, run,
De fire'll overtake you.'

"When I 'bout ten dey sets me ginnin' cotton. Old massa he done make de
cotton with de hand crank. It built on a bench like. I gin de cotton by
turnin' dat crank. When I gits a lapful I puts it in de tow sack and dey
take it to Miss Susan to make de twine with it. I warm and damp de
cotton 'fore de fireplace 'fore I start ginnin' it.

"Dere school for de white chillen in Double Bayou and I used to go meet
de chillen comin' home and dey stop longside de way and teach me my ABC.
Dey done carry me as far as Baker in de book when old missy find it out
and make dem stop. De war comin' on den and us daren't even pick up a
piece of paper. De white folks didn't want us to larn to read for fear
us find out things.

"Us livin' down by de Welborn's den and I seed dem haul de logs out of
Pine Island to make dat Welborn house. Old man Hamshire and old man
Remington builded dat Welborn house. It 'cross de bayou, left hand side
Smith's ferry. Dat house still standin' in parts.

"One mornin' Eleck and me git up at crack of dawn to milk. All at once
come a shock what shake de earth. De big fish jump clean out de bay and
turtles and alligators run out dere ponds. Dey plumb ruint Galveston!
Us runned in de house and all de dishes and things done jump out de
shelf. Dat de first bombardment of Galveston. De sojers put powder under
people's houses and blowin' up Galveston.

"Young massa Shake Stevenson he vol'teer and git kilt somewheres in
Virginny. Young massa Tucker Stevenson, he ain't 'lieve in war and he
say he never gwine fight. He hide in de woods so de conscrip' men can't
find him. Old man LaCour come 'round and say he have orders for find
Tucker and bring him in dead or 'live. But 'cause he old massa's friend,
he say, 'Why don't you buy de boy's services off?' So old massa take de
boat, 'Catrig,' us calls it, and loads it with corn and sich and us pole
it down to Galveston. De people need dat food so much, dat load supplies
done buy off Massa Tucker from fightin'.

"After war starts lots of slaves runned off to git to de Yankees. All
dem in dis part heads for de Rio Grande river. De Mexicans rig up
flat-boats out in de middle de river, tied to stakes with rope. When de
cullud people gits to de rope dey ca