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so all fli‘ed glad to git back dat I made up my mm‘ to stay put, I stayed right wid. my white folks as long as I could.

	“My ~hite folks talked plain to me. Dey say real. sad~lak, ‚ Charlie ‚ ‘ s been a dependence ‚ but now you can go if you I s so desir~ ous. But 1f you wants to stay wid us you can sbaxe~-crop. Deyts a house for you an‘ wood to keep you warm an‘ a mule to work. We amt got much cash, but dey‘s de Ian‘ an‘ you can count on havin‘ plenty o‘ vlt‘als. Do jus‘ as you please. ‚ When I looked at my marster an‘ knowed he needed me, I pleased to stey. ~r marster never forced me to do nary thing ‘bout

it.	Didn‘ nobody make me work after de war, but dem Yankees sho‘ made my daddy work. Dey put a pick in his han‘ *stjd o~ a gun. Dey made ‘im dig a big ditch in front o‘ Vicksburg. He worked a heap harder for his Uncle Sain dan he‘d ever done for de marster.

	“1 hear‘d tell ‘bout some Nigger sojers a-.plunderin‘ some houses: Out at Pine Ridge dey kilt a white man named Rogillio. But de head Yankee sojers in Natche~y tried ‚ em 1‘or somethin‘ or nother an‘ hung t em on a tree out near de Charity Horspit al . Dey strung up de ones dat went to Mr. Sargen~e door one night an‘ shot him down, too. All dat hangin‘ seemed to squelch a heap ‘ lousy goin‘ s~on.

	“Lawdi Lawd~ I knows ‚ bout de ~oo ~.uxes • I ~iows a~ plenty. Dey was sho‘ ‘nough devils a-walkin‘ de earth a..seekin‘ what dey could devour. Dey larruped de hide of‘n de uppity Niggers an‘ *drjT de white trash back vthere dey b‘longed.

	“Us Niggers didn‘ have no secret meetin‘s. All us had was church meetin‘ s in arbors out in de woods. De preachers ‘ud exhort us dat us was de chillun. o‘ Israel in de wilderness an‘ de Lawd done sont us
*di‘OTe
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