3501(14	H .
	‚~ Oklahoma Writ ers ~ Proj ect		~x~‘Slaves ~	14
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Age 8~ yrs.,
Red. Bird., Okia.



~	I dontt know how old I wasi:when I found myself standing on the

.	toppen part of a high stump with a l~t of white folks walking around looking at the little scared boy that w~s me~ Pretty soon thé old master, (that‘s my

.~‘p	first master) Saul I~udvil1e, he say to nie that I~xn now belonging to Major Bee and for me to get down off the auction block, . :

	I do that. Major Bee he cc~rnes. over and right away I know l‘in going tc. like him. Then when I get to the~Major~s plantation and see his oldest ~~ghter Mary and. all her brothers a~.d sisters, and see how kind she is to

‚	all them and to all the colored chil4~.ren, why, I just keeps right on liking t em more all the time.

. They was about nine white bhildren on the place and Mary had. ‚ to

	watch out for them cause the mother~ was dead.

That Mary gal seen to it tI~iat we children got the best food. on the %i place, the fattest possum and the ho~ttest fish. When the possum was all

	browned, and. the sweet ~ taters swiinir~ing in the good mellow gravy ‚ then she : ca].l t~ for to eat. Um-‘um~h! That va~ tasty eating! . .

And. from the garden cdrne ~ie vegetables like okra and corn and. onione that Mary would. mix all up ix~ the soup pot with lean meats. TbM would rest kind.er easy on the stomach too,~ tspeoially if they was a bit of red. sç~iiirrel meats in with the stew!

H ~ ‚	Major Bee say it wasntt g od for me to learn reading and. writing. O

/	Beckoned~ it would. ruin me • But the ~ ser~t me to Sttnday School. Sometimes.

	~~1$~‘ t many of the slates knew bow ~ ~o read. the Bible either ‚ bat thel ail got

~	\ taie I‘eU«ion anftew~ I believed. i~ it then and I etUi do.