Ok1~boma Writerß1 Project
~34
	My mother died. when I was real small, and. about a year after Iat my father &ie& Master Holmes told us ohild.ren not to cry, dat he and M1~~

Betsy ~ni1d take good. care of u~. Dey did., too. Dey took us in de house wid dem and look after us jest as good as dey could. colored ehlld.ren. We slept in a little room close to them and. she allus seen dat we was covered.

up good. before she went to bed. I guess she got a sight of satisfaction from taking care of us ~ cause she did.n~ t have no babi es to care for,

	Master Holmes and. Mise Betsy was real young folk8 but dey was purty

well fixed.. he owned about 100 acres of land dat was cleared. and. ré~ad.y for de plow and. a lot dat was not in c‘ultivatlon. He had. de woods fui]. of hogs and cows and. he owned seven or eight grown slaves and. several children, I remember Uncle Shed, Uncle Lige, Aunt Chaney, Aunt Lizzie, and. Aunt Susy just as well as if it ~as yesterday. Master Holmes and. Miss Betsy was both half—breed Choctaw Indians. Dey had. both been away to school somewhere in

de states and. was well educated. Dey had. two children hat d.ey cUed. when d.ey was little, Another little girl was born to dem after de War and. she lived. to be a grown woman.

	Dey sure was fine young folks and. provided well for us. He allus hail a smokehouse full of meat, lard, sausage, dried. beans, peas, corn, potatoes, turnips and collaHs banked up for winter. He had. plenty of milk and. butter for all of ue,too.

	Master Holmes allus say, ‘A hungry man caint work. „ Ard he allus saw to I t that we had. b te to eat.

	We cooked all sorts of Indiaxi dishes Toni-fuller, pashofa, hickory..nut grot, Tom-.bud~ha, ash-cakes, and pound. cakes besides vegetables and. meat

dishes. Corn or corn meal was used. in all de Indian dishes. We made hominy

outtn &e whole grains. Tom‘..fu.].ler was made from beaten corn and. tasted. sort