:~ 15
asked me 1f I‘d ever seen Marster wl.d any little bright ‘roun‘ shiny hi. (He held hi~ hand up wid his fingers in de shape ot a dollar.) I, lak a crazy little Nigger~said, ‘Sho‘, Marster draps ‘~i ‘hind de mantelpiece.‘ Dan, if dey didn‘ tear dat mantel down an‘ git his money, I‘S a sOn-of-a—gux4

	“After de war was over my ma got some papers rrom de *progo marshal. She coins to de place an‘ toi‘ de marster she want her chiliun. He say she can have all ‘capt me. She say she want me, too, dat I was her‘n an‘ she was gwine a-git me. She went back an‘ got some more papers an‘ showed ‚ em to Marster Morgan. Den he ieimne go.

	“She come out to de house to git us. At firs‘ I was scared o‘ her, ‘cause I ~lidn‘ know who she was. She put me in her lap an‘ she moe‘ nigh cried when she seen de back o‘ my head. Dey was awful sores where de lice had been au‘ I had scratched ‘em.. (She sho‘ jumped Aunt ~imaiine t bout dat . ) Us ‘ dat day an ‚ went right on to Tuscaloosa. My ma had marri ed again an ‚ she an ‚ him took turns ‚ bout carrying me when I got tired. Us had to walk de whole seven miles.

	“I wént to school after dat an‘ learnt to read en‘ write. Us had white Yankee teachers. I learnt to read de Bible well ‘nough an‘ den I quit.

	“I was buried in de water lak de Savior, I‘s a real Baptis‘. De Holy Sperrit sho‘ co~ into my heart.

	“I b‘lieves in de Sperrit. I b‘lieves ai]. o‘ us when us dies is sperrits. Us jus‘ hovers ‘roua‘ in de sky a-‘ridln‘ on de clouds. Course ‚ s~me folks ~ is born wid a cloud over dey faces • Dey can see things dat *1 .Ca~‘ t. I ~ reckon dey sees de sperrits . ~ . ~.. ~ . ‚ .
*provoei ~	~	5