~..
	“A heap o‘ times old Granny would brush us hide wid a peach tree limb, but us need it. Us stole *algs an‘ roasted ‘ein. She sho‘ wouldn‘ Stan! for no stealin‘ 1f she knowed lt.

	“Us wore lowell-cloth shirts. It was a coarse tow-sackin‘. In winter us had linsey-woolsey pants an‘ heavy cow-hide shoes. Dey was made in three sizes big, little, an‘ *mej~. Tirant no right or let‘. Dey was sorta club—shaped so us could wear ‘em on either foot.

	“I was a teasin‘, mis-che—vious chu‘ an‘ de overseer‘s little gal got it In for ins. He was .a big, hard fisted Dutchman bent on gittin‘ ‘lches. He trained his pasty-‘faced gal to tattle on us Niggers. She got a heap o‘ folks whipped. I knowed it, but I was hasty:

One day she hit me wid a stick an‘ I th‘owed it back at her. ‘Bout dat time up walked her pa. He seen what I done, but he didn‘ see what she done to me . But it wouldn ‚ a—made ~io di! ‚ suc e ‚ if he had.

	“He snatched me In de air an‘ toted me to a stump an‘ laid nie ‘crost it. I dldn‘ have but one thickness ‘twixt ne an‘ daylight. Gent‘man! He laid it on me wid dat stick. I thought I‘d die. All de time his mean 11t1],e gal was a.-gloatln‘ in my misery. I yelled an‘ prayed to de Lawd ‘tu he quit.

	“Den he say to me,

	‘From now on you works in de fiel‘. I amt gwine a-have no vicious boy lak you ‘roun de lady folks. ‚ I was too little for fiel‘ work, but de nex‘ inornin‘ I went to choppin‘ cotton. Pi‘ter dat I made a reg‘ lar fiel ‚ han‘ • When I growed up I was a ploughman. I could sho‘ ~ay off a pretty cotton row, too~

	~vUs slaves was fed good plain grub. ‘Fore us went to de fiel‘



*eggs
*medj~
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