ld. Dis ain' nobody talkin to you from behind dat door, but
Julia Woodberry. De door unlatch, just turn de handle en come right in
here whe' you can warm yourself by de stove. I tell my daughter for her
to take de sick child en walk over dere en make Aun' Liney a visit,
while I wipe round bout dis stove a little speck. Cose I ain' able to
scour none much, but seems like dis old stove does keep everything so
nasty up dat I can' let things bout it get too worser. No, child, I tell
dese chillun I done seen most all my scourin days, but I think bout I
would do this little job for Alexa dis mornin en let her put her mind to
dat child. I say, if I able, I loves to wipe up cause it such a
satisfaction. It just like dis, dere ain' nothin gwine shine dat floor
en make it smell like I want it to, but soap en water. I don' like dese
old stoves nohow. I ain' been raise to dem cause when I come up, de
olden people didn' think nothin bout puttin no stoves to dey fireplaces.
Oh, dey would have dese big old open fireplaces en would have de
grandest kind of fires. My Lord, child, dere wouldn' never be no
nastiness bout dey fireplace cause de people never didn' burn no coal in
dem days. Slavery people been burn dese great big oak logs en dey would
make de finest kind of fires, I say. Yes, mam, I been raise up de
slavery way en dat how-come I don' want to be noways departin from it."

"Oh, dat was my granddaughter dat had de straw fever. Yes, mam, look
like she mendin right smart since she been settin up. De straw fever,
dat what I calls it, but I hear people say it de hay fever. De doctor,
he just say it de fever, but from de way he give de pills, it point to
de straw fever. Cose dat what we termed it, but like I tell you, some
calls it de hay fever. I ain' never hear talk of dat kind of fever till
dese late years. Yes, mam, she had a little cold en cough some, but not
much. You see, when she first took down, she took wid a blindness en a
pain in de stomach at de school en couldn' say nothin. De doctor say de
fever was bout broke on her den. You see, she had de pain en, I say, dat
a sign de misery broke on her. But dat child, she lay dere on dat bed
three weeks en she been mighty weak, mighty weak from de fever. No, mam,
she ain' have de fever all de time, but dere would come a slow fever dat
would rise on her every night en eat up what strength she had caught
durin de day. Cose she ain' never been hearty cause she been havin dis
fever lo