13
Al ~bama

folks say. B~t, thank de Lawd, I Md good white folks ~nd dey sho‘ ~1d trus‘ me, too~ I had charge of ~11 de ~ys to dé house~ and I ~&~a1ted on de M1ssi.s‘~ and de ohillun. I laid out all de: elo‘se on Sat‘~dy night, and den &unday mawnin‘s I‘d pick up all de dirty things. Dey did‘n‘ h~ve a thing to do~ Us house servants h~d a hahd job keepin‘ de pickaninnies out~‘r de dinin‘ rooruwbar oie ~assa et, cause w‘en dey would slip in and stan‘ by his cheer, w‘en he finished eatin‘ he would fix e plate for ‘em and let ‘ein set on the hearth~ .

“No main, Missy, I ‘~1n‘t neber worked~ in de fields. 01e ~!assa
.	-V
he neber planted no cotton, and I ain‘t seen,none pl~nted‘tefl,

9fter I was free. Bat, honey, I could sho~‘nuff wash, iron and
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knit and weave. ~onietinies I weaved six or seven yahds of‘ cloth,
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r~nd do my house work too. I larnt the chill~nho~ to weave, and

wash, and iron, and knit too, and l‘s waited o~de fo‘th generation of our fambly. I Jès‘ wish I could tell dese young c1~1llun how to ~o. Iffen dey w~u1d only suffer me to talk todem: I‘d tell dem to be more ‘spectful to dere tn~mm1es and to dere white‘ folks and say ‘yes main‘ end ‘no mam‘, instid of ‘yes‘ and ‘no‘ lak dey do ño~.

	“All d1~ generationthinkso~j~s~ment. I neber had seen ~ show in my whole life ‘tell jes‘ dis pas‘ yeah when one ~f dem ~rn1val things wid de swings, and lichts, and ~ll de dein‘s dey h~ve stop ri~ht in front of our house heah~

	~Ând I ~n‘t neber been th no trouble in all my life.~ain‘t been in no lawsuits, ~nd I ain‘t been no witness eben. I allus treat ebrybody as good es I kin, and I uses my manners as good as I knows how, and de Lawd sho‘ h~s took good keer of me.~ ~Vhy, w‘en