Alabama	Alexander B. Johnson,
	Birmingham ‚ Alabama.


GUS SAW MASSA‘S
	HAT SHOT OFP.	~	~

~ i~~)
	“They I s all gone ‚ scattered, and old massa and mi ssus have di ed. „ That was the sequence of the tragic tale of “Uncle“ G~us Brown, the body servant of william Brown; who fought beside him in the War between the States and who knew Stonewàll Jackson.

	“Uncle Gus“ recalled happenings on the old. plantation where he was reared. ~ master was a Ukinghi mane he said. on whose plantation in Richmond, Virginia, Uncle ~us waited on the tables at large feasts and. functions of the spacious days before the War. He was entrusted to go with the master‘s boys downto the old swimming hole and go in twashjnhl They would take off their clothes, hide~in the bushes on the side of the bank, put a big pl~ilc by the side of the old. water hole and go in diving, ~in~rning and have all the fun that youngsters would wants he said.

	Âoparently hi s nias ter ‚ s home was a plantati on hous,e with large coli~nns and wIth all the glitter and. glamour that the homes around Richmond have to offer. About it ~cre large grain storage places, for the master was a grain öealer and men on the ~Iantation produced and. ground large quantities into flour.

	Gu~ worked around the house, and he remembers well the corn shuckings as he ~.I1ed them on which occasions the Negroes gave vent to emotion in the form ~ ~.~cing and music. ~tQ~ those occasions we all got together and had a regLüar good ~:î~e,“ he said.

	“Uncle, ~‘he was asked,“ do you remember any of the old superstitions on the ~a~itation? Did they have any black cat stories?“

	“No sir boss, we was educated Negroes on our plantation. The old bosstaan taught ~ :e~roes not to believe in that sort of thing.“

	“I well remember when de war came. Old massa had. told his folks befo‘ de war ~ dat it was COmi&, so we was ready for ~

	Beforehand the master called all the servants he could trast and told them to get ~~et~1er all of the silver and other things of value. They did that, he explained and
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