.	3. 77•~


de beau she lak best was de bow dat could draw music out of theta five strinGS, and draw money into dat hat, dat jingle in r~r pocket de nez‘

day when I ~o to see her.

	‚tI ‘members very little ‘bout de war, tho‘ I was a good size


boy ~then de Yenkees come. ~3y instint, a nigger can make up his mind pretty quick ‘bout de creed ofvhite folks, whether they ~a buckra or ‘~‘rhether they am not. Every Yankee I see had de stamp of poor white trash on them. They strutted ‘round, big Ike fashion, a bustin‘ in rooms widout knockin‘, talldn‘ free to de white ladies, and familiar to de slave cals, ransackin‘ drawers, and runnin‘ deir bayonets into feather beds, and into de flower beds in de yards.

	“What church I b‘lon~ to? None. Dat fiddle dre~s dov~n from hebben all de sermons dat I understan‘, I sings de hyrinas in de way I praise and glorify de Lord.

	“Cotton pickin‘ was de bi~~est work I ever did, outside of dr~vin‘

a wagon and playin‘ de fiddle. Look at thera fingers; they is supple. I

carry two rows of cotton at a time. One week I pick, in a race wid others,

over 300 pounds a day. Con~aencin‘ Monday, thru Friday nicht, I pick 1,562

pounds cotton seed. flat make a hale wei~hin‘ 500 pounds, in de lint.

.	“Ellen and me have one child, Salue Ann. Ellen ‘joy herself ~

have a good time xu~ssin‘ white folks chillun. Nussed you; she tell me ‘bout it many time. ‘Spect she mind you of it very often. I ]~io~vs you couldn‘t ~it ‘round dat woman; nobody could. De Lord took her home fifteen years ago and I marry a widow, Ida Belton, dovm on de Kershaw County side.

	“YOU W&11t6 me to tell ‘bout dat ‘lection 4~ at Woodward, in 1.878?

You wants to know de beginnin‘ and de end of ~t? Yes? Well, you couldn‘t wet dis old. man‘s whistle idd a swallow of red liquor now? Couldn‘t you or