old marster
dey wanted to stay on with him like dey had been but he told 'em no dey
couldn't, 'cause dey was free. He said he could use some of 'em but dey
would have to buy what dey got and he would have to pay 'em like men.

"When I was 'bout 18 years old I married John Barclay. I's had ten
chillun and four gran'-chillun and now I lives by myself."

420128

JOHN BARKER, age 84, Houston.

5 photographs marked _Green Cumby_ have been assigned to this
manuscript--the 'Green Cumby' photos are attached to the proper
manuscript and the five referred to above are probably pictures of
_John Barker_.

JOHN BARKER, age 84, was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, the property
of the Barker family, who moved to Missouri and later to Texas. He
and his wife live in a neat cottage in Houston, Texas.

"I was born a slave. I'm a Malagasser (Madagascar) nigger. I 'member all
'bout dem times, even up in Ohio, though de Barkers brought me to Texas
later on. My mother and father was call Goodman, but dey died when I was
little and Missy Barker raised me on de plantation down near Houston.
Dey was plenty of work and plenty of room.

"I 'member my grandma and grandpa. In dem days de horned toads runs over
de world and my grandpa would gather 'em and lay 'em in de fireplace
till dey dried and roll 'em with bottles till dey like ashes and den rub
it on de shoe bottoms. You see, when dey wants to run away, dat stuff
don't stick all on de shoes, it stick to de track. Den dey carries some
of dat powder and throws it as far as dey could jump and den jump over
it, and do dat again till dey use all de powder. Dat throwed de common
hounds off de trail altogether. But dey have de bloodhounds, hell
hounds, we calls 'em, and dey could pick up dat trail. Dey run my
grandpa over 100 mile and three or four days and nights and found him
under a bridge. What dey put on him was enough! I seen 'em whip runaway
niggers till de blood run down dere backs and den put salt in de places.

"I 'spect dere was 'bout 40 or 50 acres in de plantation. Dey worked and
worked and didn't have no dances or church. Dances nothin!

"My massa and missus house was nice, but it was a log house. They had
big fireplaces what took great big chunks of wood and kep' fire all
night. We lives in de back in a little bitty house like a chicken house.
We makes beds out of posts and slats across 'em and fills tow sacks with
shucks in 'em