Alabama	-2-	40

de quality white folks be1on~ed at B1~ Creek and when dere slaves got sho‘ nuff ‘Ilgion, dey have ‘em une at Big Creek and be bap-. tized at de swinunin‘ hol~jSome of de niggers want to have dere ~ 8, but Lawd chile, dem niggers ge t happy and ge t to shoutin‘ all over de meadow where dey built a bresh arbor. Massa

~	John quick put a stop to dat. He sa~y, •If you gwine to preach and sing you must turn de wash pot bottoni up‘; meanin‘, no shoutin‘. ÙeiI Baptie‘ at Big Creek was sho‘ tight wid dere rules too. Turn you out sho‘ 1f you drink too much cawn licker, or dance, or cuss. ~S~S Massa Jonn had a big fine bird doe. She Was a mammy dog and one day she Thun‘ six puppies out in de harness house. Dey was libEl all girl puppies so massa swine drown ‘em. I axed him to give ‘em to me and purty soon de inissus sent me to de pos‘office, so I put de puppies in a basket and took ‘em wid me. Dr. Ijies come by whar I was settin‘ and he say, ‚ Want to sell ~ dem pups, Siney? S tell hiiii, uh—huh. Den he say, ‚ What ‘nomination is ‘ • I tell him, dey‘s Methodis‘ dogs. He didn‘ say no mo‘. Bout a week atter dat oie missus sent me to ‘de pose office again, so I took my basket of puppies. Sho‘ nuff, ‘long corne Dr. Lyles and he say, ‘Siney, see you still am‘ t sold dem pups‘ . I say, ‘Naw~euh‘ . Den he

~	axe d me ag‘ in what I ~ om iriati on dey 1 1 ong t o • I t ol e him dey was

~	i3aptis‘ dogs. He say, ‘How come? You tole me las‘ week &ern was

~	Methodis‘ pups‘. Ha-hal Bress GodL, look like he had me. But I
c~	t
~	say, yas-~suh, but you see~Doctah~ dey got dere eyes open since den.

~	He laff and go on down to his newspaper office.

~	“How old is I,~ Law chile, I don‘t know. My mammy say I was fifteen year old time of de surrender. I ‘members dat mighty well. !~iassa John call all de niggers on de plantation ‘round him at de