whar folkses lived when de Indians owned dese parts. If high water$ ain‘t washed ‘em all away, de skeleton$ o1~ some of dein folkses what lived dar is stil1~in dem caves., Slaves used to hide iia dein same eaves when dey was runnin‘ of‘f from deir xnarsters or tryin‘ to keep out or de way o1~ de law. Dat‘s how dein caves was 1~ouM; by white rolkses huntin‘ runaway slaves.

	“Now Missy, you don‘t keer nothin‘ ‘bout my weddiia‘. To tell de truTh, I never had no weddin‘; I had to steal dat gal o1~ mine, I had done axed her mammy tor her, but she jus‘ wouldn‘t ‘gree Lor nie to have Léary, so I jus‘ up and told her I was swine to steal dat gal. Dat old ‘oman ‘lowed~ she would see ‘bout dat, and she kept Mary in her sight day and night, inside de house mos‘ly. It looked lak I never wa~ gwine to git a chance to steal my gal, but one day a~ white boy bought my license for me and I got Brudder Bill Mitchell to go dar wid me whilst Mary‘s ma was asleep0 Us went inside de house and got married right dar in de room next to whar she was sleepin‘. When she waked up dere~ was hot times ‘round dat place Lor a while, but good old Brudder Mitchell stayed right dar and holped us through de trouble. Mary‘s done been gone a long time now and I misses heer mighty bad, but it won‘t be lone now ‘fore de Lawd calls nie to go whar she is.

	“I done tried to live right, to keep all de laws, and to pay up my jus‘ and honest debts, cause xnist‘e3s larnt me äst.