6.
C)
~
wid her, us would light out for home and coae we eflus had our pass and dey

knowed us and we eaay git by de plokete and git honie wid de good. for thoae

sojer men what sont us.

	~8peakin‘ from my own puasonal ‚ eperience, boss, de niggers was treated

good In slavery tines, dat is dat was de ease wid my mare‘ peoplea. Our

mars wouldn‘t hab no mietreatn~nt of his niggers but Pze heered tell dat aome of de ina~a was pretty mean to dere niggere, but twaen‘t 80 wid u.s teause us had good houssa and plenty aomepin to eat outen de ae~ pot what de white folks‘ victuals cooked in and de sa~ victuals dat dey had, You see

dat oie kittie sottin‘ ober dar by de lasses pan right now? Well, I is et many a rasai outen dat kittle in slavery tin~a ‘cause dat is de very seite kittle dat dey used to cook us victuals lit when us belonged to oie marss ~ Thite, and lived on he place down on de ribber, It was den, boas, just aa~ wid white D15fl as ‘tie in dis day and time. 1ere is heap ot good white folks now and der. is a heap of dem what ain‘t so good. You know dat‘s so, bosse don‘t you?

	“Then de niggers been niad.e free ‚ de oberseer, he called all de peoples up and he sa, ‚ You ai]. is free now and you can do like you please ~ You can stay on here and make de crops ur you can leave which-some~ever you want to do.‘ And wid dat de niggera, dat ismost of dem, let‘ like when you leave de lot gate open where is a big litter of shotes and dey just hit de road and conirnenced to ramble. Most of ‘em, dey go on to Helena and gita dey grub from de Yankees and stay dar till de Yankees let‘.

	“But us, we stay on de place and some mors ‚ dey stay too and you knows boss, s~ of dem niggera what belonged to old mars and what he was 80 good ~ dey stole mighty nigh all de mules and rode dem ott and marss he never git he mule s back. Naw ~ih, dat he didn‘ • ~ war, it broke oie mars up