40
	“De marster‘ s sous went to war. De one what us loved bes‘ never come back no more. Us mourned him a-plenty, ‘cause he was so jolly an‘ happy-lak, an‘ free wid his chauge. Us all felt cheered vthen he come f un‘.

	“Us Niggers didn‘ know nothin‘ ‘bout w~iüt was gwine on in de outside t . All us Imowed was dat a war was bein‘ fit. Pusson8lly, I b‘lieve in what Marss ~efferson Davis done, He done de only thing a gent‘man could a‘done. He toi‘ Marss Abe Lincoln to ‘tend to his own

	t ness an ‚ ‘ d t t end to t n. But Marss Lincoln was a fightln ‚ man an‘ he come down here an‘ tried to rim other folks‘ plantations. Dat made Marse Davis so all fired mad dat he spit hard ‘twixt his teeth an‘ say, t ~t li whip de socks off dem dam Yankees.‘

t8 how lt all conie ‚ bout .

	‘~y white folks los‘ money, cattle, slaves, an‘ cotton in de war, but dey was still better off dan mOe‘ folks.

	“Lak all de fool Niggers o‘ dat time I was right smart bit by de freedom bug for awhile. It sounded pow‘ful nice to be toi‘:

	‘You don‘ t have to chop cotton no more ~ You caù ow dat hoe down an‘ go fishin‘ whensoever de notion strikes you. An‘ you can roam ‘rou.n‘ at night an‘ court gals jus‘ as late as you please. Amt no marster gwine a-.sey to you, “Charlie, you‘s got to be back when de clock strikes nine.“‘

	“1 was fool ‚ nough to ‘ lieve all dat kin‘ ‘ stuff • But to tell de hones‘ truf, taos‘ o‘ us didn‘ know ourse‘fs no better off. Preedom meant us c ould leave where ‘ d been born an‘ bred, but it meant ‚ too ‚ dat us had to scratch for us ownse‘fe. D~n what 1sf‘ de old plantation seemed
7