28
Alabama
saId. ~I ‘members	one of our little verses run somethin‘ lak di~ “Shoo, shoo, 9h00 gander

~	yo‘ feathers ‘way yander.‘1

	NUS had 01‘ corn hollers, too, hut I fergits urn flow. I does remember, though you could hear dem niggers holler a whole mile.

	“No‘m, it warn~t so bad wid us. De white folks was good to us niggers. Us had. ‘nough to eat, lak greens, frum de big house. U& had our rations weighed out; peck o‘ meal, three pounds of‘ meat, half ga1ion~ of ‘lasses, made at home in wodden mills; an‘ dat was for a week. An son~etimes, On a Sunday us had a little sugar, coffee an‘ flour. No‘m, Lis didn‘t know what rice was.

	“What I seed of slavery was a bad idea, I reckon, but ev‘ybody thought dey marster was de bes‘ in de lan‘. U5 didn‘t know no better. A man was growed plum‘ green ‘fo he knew de whole won‘ didn‘t belong to h1~s ci‘ marster.

	NTis didn‘t have no bought medicine in dem days; jes‘ whut us got Cutta de woods lak slippery ellum fer fever an~ poke salad root; dey ~ie‘p a lot. An‘ May-apple root would he‘p you same as castor oil.

	“Didn‘t nobody he‘p us learn nothin‘ much, but moe‘ of my chilluns went to Booker T~s school. Dey say hes a mighty smart man, an‘ my chillUne thinks so, too. It‘s all right; I wish I could read an‘ write; den I‘d tell you things you‘d lak to know.“

	Hj~ face clouded for the briefest moment.

	‘II tell you de fust thing I ‘members, an‘ I don‘ know whut started

it.	One day my mammy done sumpin‘ an‘ ol‘ rnarster macle her pull her ~-ress down ‘roun‘ her waist ant made her lay down ‘crost de door. Den he taken a leather strop art‘ whooped her. .1 ‘members dat I started cryin‘ &n‘ Migt~~ Beckie said, ‘G•o git dat boy a biskit.‘

	11 reckerlecks my mammy wee a plow han‘ an‘ she‘d go to work