34UU~ J~
Ruth Thompson, Interviewing	~ - . Ex-Slave Intervi
Graff, e	iig.	Cinoinnatt.
	-.		Interview with
			Ch~r1es H. Anderson,
		.	3122 Fredonia St.,
			Cincinnati, Ohio.


	“Life experience excels all readlig. Every place you go ‚ you learn some thing ftom every class of~ people. Books are just for a memory, to keep history and the like, but I don‘t have to go huntin‘ in libraries, I got one in my own head, for you can‘t f orget what you learn from experience.“

	The old man speaking is a living exemple of his ~heory, and, judging from his bearing, his experience has given hirn a philosophical outlook which comprehends love, gen~ tieness and wisdom. Charles H. Anderson, 3122 Fredonia Street, was born I~cember 23, 1845, in Rieliniond, Virginia, as a slave belonging to T. L. 7oodson, grocer, “an exceedingly good owner ~ not cruel to anyone“.

	With his mother, father, and 13 brothers and sisters, he lived at the Woodson home In the city, some of the time in. a cabin in the rear, but mostly in the “big house“. Favored of all the slaves, be was trusted togo to the cash drawer for spending money, and permitted to help himself to candy and all he wanted to eat • With the help of the mistress, his mother made all his clothes, and he was “about as well dressed as anybody~‘.

	“I always associated with high..class folks, but I never went to church then, or to school a day in my life. My owner never sent me or my brothers, and then when free

schools came in, education wasn‘t on nay mind. I just didn‘t think about education. Now, I read a few words, and I can write my name. But experience is what counts most.“

	Tapping the porch floor with his cane for emphasis, the old fellow‘s softly slurred words fell rapidly but clearly. Sometimes his tongue got twisted, and he had to repeat. Often he had to switch his pipe from one side of his mouth to the other; for, as he explained, “there ain‘t many tooth—se left in there“. ~. Anderson‘is rather slight of build, and his features are fine, his bald head shiny, and his eyes bright and eager.

Though he says he “ain‘t much good anymore“, he seems half a century old ~instead of “92

next December, if I o~ make it“.	. . ...