MISSOURI ~ ~
BERCULA1~1E~JM
EX~~~SL~1E STORIES
	PL~:i~i	—	Pace 2.	•



married de master could pick up any old kind of paper and call it lawThlly married. An aln~anac or anything would do. But what was it? The colored people didn‘t know k from B and wasn‘t allowed to learn to read. If~ my master or mistress would see me readin‘ a paper dey would corne up and say, ‘That you Imow about reading a paper? Throw dat down . ‚ Di s was done to keep us from learnin‘. to read anything.

	“After we got free what did we do to get lawfully married to our s1ave~time wife? Understand good now. Den de squire came around and we had to get married all over again under de

new constitution. It would cost 4~5. When de master first mar— ned us he would say in de ceremony something like dis.

	“Now, by God, if you ain‘t treatin‘ her right, by God, I‘ll take you up and whip you.“ The girl‘s mistress would chastise her de seine way. I would choose who L wanted to marry but I had to talk to my master about it. Den him and de owner of de girl I. wanted would get together ~.nd talk lt over.

	‘iDere is lots of people right today who can‘t tell you how de new constitution come up. In slave time, young man, we was stock, like cattle and hogs. If I killed 50 men nothin‘ was said about jail, but we got whipped den. Dat was your sufferin‘
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