4.	30
she pit up the cotton end seed corn and food for us. She told. us we could work on shares, half and halt. You see, ina‘em, when slaves got tree ‚ they &rit t have nothing bit their two hands to start o~xt
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with. I never heard oi° any master giving a slave money or land. Most went back to farming on shares, For many years all they got was their food. Some white folks was so mean. I know what they told us every time when crops would be put by. They said “Why didn‘t you work harder? Look. When the seed is paid for, and all your food and everything, what food you had just squares the account.“ Then they take all the cotton we raise, all the hogs, corn, everything. le was ju~t about where we was in slave days.

	When we see we never going to make anything share cropping, mother and I went picking. Yes ma‘em, they paid pretty good; got ~l.5O a hundred. So we saved enough to take us to Little Rock. lent on a boat, I reri~ember, and it took a whole week to make the trip. Just think of that. A whole week between here and Helena. I was married by then. Gillem was a blacksmith by trade and had a good business. Bit in a little while he got int& politics in Little Rock. Yes, lady. If‘ you would look over the old records you would see where he was made the keeper of the jail. I don‘t know how many times he was elected to city council. He was the only colored coroner Pulaski county ever had. He was in the legislature, too. I used to dress up and go out to hear him make speeches. lait a minute and I will get my scrap book and show you all the things I cut from the papers printed about him in those days. . .