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ELISHA DOC GAREY
-~i.~Yi--~- A~e~7~


	Asked for the story of his early life and his recollections of slavery, Elisha replied: AYes ~a~‘arn, tdeed I~li tell you all I knows ‘bout dem days.9 His next words startled the interviewer.“I knowed you was COIflIflt to write dis jedgment,“ he said. ~‘I seed your hand writin‘ and long tfore you got here I seed you jus‘ as plain as you is now. I told dese folks what I lives wid, a white ‚ oman was commt to do a heap of writin‘

	LII was born on de upper edge of Hart County, near Shoal Crick.‘ Sarah Anne Garey was my I~ and I was one of dem shady babies. Dere was plenty of dat kind in dem times. My own sister was Rachel, and I had a half sister named Salue what was~white as anybody. John, Lindsay, David, and Joseph was my four brothers.

	‘~What did ue~ chillun do? Us wuicked lak hosses. Didn‘ t nobody eat dar ‘less dey wuk.ked. I‘se been wukkin‘ ever since I come in dis world.

	“Us lived in log huts. Evvy hut had a entry i~ de middle, and a mud chimbly at each end. Us slept in beds what was ‘tached to de side of de hut, and dey was boxed up lak wagon bodies to hold de corn shucks and de babies in. Home-made rugs was put On t01i Of de shucks for sheets, and de kivier was de same thing.

	UI still ‘members my grandma Rachel. De traders fotched }~er here f‘u.tn Virginny, and she never did~earn to talk plain. (~randma SaILLe Gaines was too old for field wuk, so she looked atter de slave babie s whi ist de ir Ma‘ s was wukkin‘ in de field . Grandja Jack Gaines was d~ shoemaker.