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	‘~The first I knew of the Yankees was when I was out in my marsterts yard picking up chips ~nd they came along, took my little brother ~u~id put him on a horse‘s back and carried him up town. I ran and told my mother about it. They rode brother over the town a while, having fun out of him, then they brought him back. ~rother said h~ had a good ride and was pleased with the b1u~ jackets as the Yankee soldiers were called.

	“We had all the silver and valuables hid and the Yankees d~id not find them, but they went into marster‘s store and took what they wanted. They gave my father a box of hardtack and. a lot of meat. Father was a Christian arid he quoted one of the Commandments when they gave h~ things they had stolen from others. ‘Thou shalt not steal‘, quoth he, and he said he did not appreciate having stolen goods given to him.

	It1 traveled with the white folks in both sections

of the country, north and south, after the ~ar Between the States. I kept traveling with them and also continued ~y education. They taught me to recite and I made money by reciting on many of the trips. Since the surrender I have traveled in the north for various Charitable Negro Societies and Institutions and people seemed very much interested in the recitation I recited called “TNhen IVialinda Sings“.