er see a ghost? Mr. Wood, I seen sumpin' once mighty strange, I
was gwine to see a gal Nannie, on de widow Mobley place, and had to pass
'tween two graveyards, de white and de colored. She was de daughter of
Rev. Richard Cook. When I was just 'bout de end of de white graveyard, I
saw two spirits dressed in white. I run all de way to de gal's house and
sob when I got dere. I laid my head in her lap and told her 'bout de
spirits and how they scared me. I still weepin' wid fear, and she
console me, rub my forehead and soothed me. When I got quiet, I asked
her some day to be my wife, and dat's de gal dat come to be years after,
my wife. Us walk to church hand and hand ever afterwards, and one day
Preacher Morris, white man, made us husband and wife. I 'members de song
de white folks sung dat day. 'Hark from de tomb a doleful sound'. Don't
you think dat a wrong song to sing on a weddin' day? 'Joy to de World,'
was in our heart and dat tune would have been more 'propriate, seems to
me.

"Marster John give de slaves every other Saturday after dinner in busy
seasons, and every Saturday evening all other weeks. Us had two doctors,
Doctor Brice at first, and when he git old, us had Doctor Lurkin.

"Was glad when marster called us up and told us we was free. De Yankees
made a camp on de Doctor Brice place, and foraged de country all 'round.
They made me run after chickens and I had to give up my onliest blue hen
dat I had. My pappy was took off by them to Raleigh, wid dat I 'member,
was de saddest day of slavery time.

"Nannie and me, under de providence of de Lord Jehovah, has had three
chillun to live, and they have chillun too. I owns my own home and land
enough to live on, though it is hard to make both ends meet some years.

"How I got my name, you ask dat? Well, after freedom us niggers had to
come to Winnsboro and register. Us talk 'bout it by de fireside what us
would lak. When us come, Marster Henry Gaillard had a big crowd of
Gaillard niggers 'bout him beggin' for names. One of them say, 'Marster
Henry, I don't want no little name, I wants big soundin' name.' Marster
Henry write on de paper, then he read: 'Your name is Mendozah J.
Fernandez, hope dats big enough for you.' De little nigger dwarf seem
powerful pleased and stepped to de register. De rest of us spoke to
Captain Gaillard and he said no better name than Woodward, so us took
dat name. Its been a kind of a 'tection to us at times, and none of our
immediate fa