Cape Girardeau Go .	Folkiorep t...3

page2. .. (Con‘t INT~RV~L~ .vII‘H ~T1‘Y BRO~N)

An‘ ae had a ten hand. Ah uste wade barefooted in dorn pit‘s an‘ work wid dem hides, but ah wouldn‘t wanna do it now.

	~‘Dey wuz a grove o‘ post-oak tiniber, ‘bout five, or six acres, all cleaned out; an‘

~	in der, dey r8ised bear cubs. Why, dey raised ‘ein tuh eat. Lawd‘. dat‘s good eatin‘. Jes‘ gimme &‘ bear meat an‘ den let me go tuh s1eep~ ~—rn.rn~

	“They wuz fruit trees planted all ‘long de road, planted jes‘~. like fence«posts for ‘bout e mile, an‘ all de fruit dat fell in de road de hogs got, we‘ens could go get any of it, any time, an‘ trevelers, ‘long de road, was a‘way‘s welcome ter hep dey selves. ‘?Lassa‘ nevuh plented no shade trees. Iffen trees wuz planted dey hed to be fruit trees. ‘Ceptin‘ de holly bush, he like dat ‘cause its green in winter.

	“They wue some flowers ‘round de house. Snow-balls, batchelor—buttons, old—maids; jes‘ such old-fashion ones, rio roses, n‘er nuthin‘ like dat.

	“Massa‘ raise some cotton, but ‘01e Massa‘ Hanover had sech a big cotton patch yuh co~i1dn‘t look across it. An‘ dey all kind‘a fowls yu‘d find any whex~e‘s, guinie‘s Ducks, n‘ geese, n‘ turkey‘s, n‘ peafo~wl‘s, an‘ lotsa chicken‘s a‘ ‘cose.

	“Fy maimna could hunt good ez any man. Us‘tuh be a coup‘la pedluh men come ‘round‘ wuth they packs. ~Ly.nia~rnny‘d a‘ways have a pile o‘ hides tuh trad~ with ‘em fer calico prints n‘ trinkets, n‘ each-like, but mos‘ly fo‘ calico prints. She‘d have coon hides n‘ deer n‘ mink, n‘ beavers, lawd~ I kin still hear dein beavers slashin‘ ‘round‘ dat dam. Dis time ‘er rnarning‘ dey‘s a‘way‘s shore busy. An‘ folks in cities goes lath pawks now tome sech animal. Hun Ah seenall ‘ein things ah wants tuh see.

	Good Lawd~ N~ didden‘ know whut church iauz n‘er school nuther, an‘ the whites ~nevuh nutt hi~r‘. ~ Dey wuz. a c ouple o‘ men ‘ t a come by ‚ an‘ hole a camp-meet iri~. . Dey‘ d build a big arbub, with branches o‘ leaves over de top, an‘ build benches; deyt.d come

~	aftub crop8 WUZ laid by, an‘ preach ‘tu cotton wuz openin‘ . Ah never knowd whut s*4( ~~dey belong to ‚ n‘ er whar dey go ‚ n‘ er what dey come turn ‚ nut her.

	~es‘m, we seed sojers, an‘ we seed lot‘s o‘ ‘em. Dah wuz de‘blue-coats‘ ; some
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