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~ 1 abama	~ ~. ~. ~ .ç ~2~-4•\~ ~	Gertha C our I c	_Lt
.~	. Pettersen L‘Iarzoni

~

(~‘TTq •~ c*~~P•q~T ~ ~ ~i~r (~T ~ (~-~ ~ ~‚~‚ ~ ~ ~‚-
~	~JL ~UJ.~L).Li~




	“Dat was one time when de ban‘ was playmn‘ and flags was flyin‘ dat us lii‘ niggers didn‘t get no joy outen it, „ Gus .L~skew smiled Lt the thought of the occasion as he sat on the sunny steps of his comfortable house in Eufaula. Gus was telling about the investment of ~ufaula during the ~dar between the States.

	?t(~1pntl Grierson and his men marched right through tovm,“ Gus

~:ent on ~:rith nis story of his boyhood. “~r Lincoln done said we

~	free, but us T~il‘ ni~gers was too skeered to lissen to any ban‘ ~1isic, even iffen the so‘jers had come to set us free. ‘Pears like us was ailus gittin‘ in somebody‘s way in dem days and gittin‘ skeered of mi‘ . But we went on away from the so ‚ jers and had ~ good. time raongst ourselves like we always done when there wasn‘t ?fly cotton pickin‘. Cotton pickin‘ time was when we didn‘t have ~ny chance to do any playin‘.

	“~fter the surrender I didn‘t have to do any more cotton oickin‘ :flU I went blacksinithin‘ for ~Toe Sturgis. He was the first black~riith in dis here tOWfl. I ;Aîas the second. ~ow my son done took on i.e work. rj7~~y ain‘t so nUCh sence all dese here automobiles done ‘:ot so plentiful and might ‘nigh ruint de business. But for seventy l1ears I riz wid de sun and went to dat blacksmith shop. i~S enjoy— ~ng a little misery now~ so I‘s taJ~:in‘ ray rest.“

	G~s ~skew was born a slave of the Edwards family in Henry ~cunty in 1853. He was brought to EUfaula just before the close of ~ war and stayed on as a blacksmith after he was freed. In his ~èventy years of hard work he saved enough to buy his home and some ~o~‘p~rty which maintains him and his wife since age and infirmity