. It sho' keep de stock in, though.

"I seed men ridin' hosses with dead men tied 'cross dey hoss, endurin'
de freedom war. But I can't tell much 'bout dat war, 'cause I couldn't
read and I never git any place 'cept home at my work. I love dem days
better dan I do dese times now, but I'm too old to 'member much.

420086

[Illustration: Fred Brown]

FRED BROWN, 84, 1414 Jones St., Fort Worth, Texas, was born a slave
to Mr. John Brown, who owned a plantation along the Mississippi
River, in Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Fred was eight years old
when the Civil War started. During the War, he and a number of
other slaves were taken to Kaufman Co., Texas, as refugees, by
Henry Bidder, an overseer. He worked five years as a laborer after
he was freed, then worked as a cook until 1933.

"Sho', I has time to talk to you 'bout my life, 'cause I can't work any
more and I has nothin' but time. It am de rhumatis' in de leg, it ketch
me dat way, from de hip to de knee,--zip--dat pain goes!

"I's bo'n in ole Louisiana, in Baton Rouge Parish, on de 16th of
November, in 1853. I knows, 'cause massa give dis nigger a statement.
You see, dey don' larn de niggers to read in dem days, nor figger, but I
can read figgers. See dem on dat car? Dat am 713. Dat am bad figgers, I
never has any truck with sich numbers as de 7 or de 13.

"Massa have quite pert a plantation in Louisiana, dis side de
Mississippi River. De slaves him own am from 40 to 50 sometimes. In our
family am pappy, mammy and three brudders and one sister, Julia, and six
cousins. Dat am 13 and dat's why massa had so much trouble with niggers
runnin' 'way!

"Everyone have dere certain wo'k and duties for to do. Mammy am de
family cook and she he'p at de loom, makin' de cloth. My daddy am de
blacksmith and shoemaker and de tanner. I 'spains how he do tannin.' He
puts de hides in de water with black-oak bark and purty soon de hair
come off and den he rolls and poun's de hides for to make dem soft.

"When I's 'bout 8 years old, or sich, dey starts me to he'pin' in de
yard and as I grows older I he'ps in de fields. Massa, him raises cane
and co'n mostly, no cotton.

"De buildings on de place am de resident of de massa and de quarters for
de niggers. Dey am built from logs and de quarters has no floors and no
windows, jus' square holes whar de windows ought to be. Dey have bunks
for sleepin' and a table and benches, and cooks in