8.,	64


(~safetida) ‘round deir necks all de tirn.e to keep ‘em from gittin‘ sick.

“It was a happy day for us slaves when news cc~ne dat de war was over and de white roiks had to turn us ‘loose. Marster called his Niggers to come up to de big house yard, but I never atayed ‘round to see what he had to say. I runned ‘round dat place e~..shoutin‘ to de. top of my voice. My folks stayed on wid Old. Marster for ‘bout a year or more. If us had left ‚ it would have been jus.‘ lak swappin‘ places from de fryin‘ pan to de fire, ‘cause Niggers didn‘t have no money to buy no land wid ror a long time atter de war. Schools v~as s~ai scattered ‘bout by deni Yankees what had done sot us free. I warn‘t big enough den to do nottiin‘ much ‘cept tote water to de field and chop a little cotton.

	“Me and £‘~ettie ~reernan married a long time atter de war. At our weddin‘ I wore a pair of brown jeans pants, white shirt, white vest, and a cutaway coat. Nettle wore s black silk dress what she had done bought from Miss Blanche Rutherford. Pears lak to ~ne it had a overskirt of blue what was scalloped ‘round de bottom.“

	At this point, Nettie, who had. been an interested listener, was delighted. She broke into the conversation with:

“Ed, you sho‘ did take in dat dress and you ain‘t forgot it yit.~ “You is right ‘bout dat, Honey,“ he smilingly reg.

plied, “I sho‘ ain‘t and I never will forgit how you looked dat day.~