~iissouri
Ex-Slave Story	Page 2.~
74
	“Once it ~ot so cold dat de chickens froze and fell out of tha trees and de mistress ~ave each of us a chicken to eat. We had no shoes even in winter. I can‘t ‘uierrtherhaving ~.ood clothes.

	“One of our nei~hbors, Mr. i~TcMul1in, was a poor white but he had a heart and was our mistress‘ E~rdian. I was too little to do much but I ii~iou1d walk along de furrows and hit de oxen with a stick. My sistah come and got me after freedom and learned me de alphabet. De first thing I ever learned to read~ was, ‘I see you Tom. Do you see me?‘ I worked for in~ telli~ent people and learned. a great deal. After I married I wanted to learn a great deal and how to read. ~t de camp in Mine La Motte I went to school in a log house for ‘bout two months.

	~Dey would whip with a cat—o~nine tails and den mop de sores with salt water to make it sting. De traders would come throu~.h and buy up slaves in groups like stock. On de way south dey would have regular stop~. ing places like pens and coops for de slaves to stay in; at each of these stop~ pint places some of de slaves would be sold. My unclets father was his rnas~ ter and de master sold my uncle who was his own son.

	ttVfl~en my mother died I did not know what a coffin was or

So I went to my dead mother where she ~ on de cooling board dress aiid ~aid, ‘Look at my pretty dress.‘

	“There was a tough gang called patrollers. Dey would scare de negroes
what death was. and brushed my
	~:	. ~ ~ ‚	~	~ -
~ ~: ~ .: ~ ~ . ~ ~ ‚ ~ ~ • ~ ~ ~ :~ • ~ ~ • ‚	~ ~ ~	~	~ ~ (