~4 —
and run fer de block. I got big piece and when ‘John coene up I was eating it. I say, Nigger, you is too late and lazy fer any— thing. ‘Bout that time he reach over fer a scrap I nev~er seed. I push hirn back and reach fer hit. John took up de choppin‘ ax and come right down on my finger, ‘fore I could git it out de way. Dat‘s why you see dis scar here now. Dat nigger lay my finger plum wide ~ open, fact is dat he jes ‚ left it a hang in‘. Marse‘s doctor and he fix it back. Den hq whip John hiaseif; never ‘low de overseer to do it dat time. Marss Tom pretty good to us; never whip much; never ‘low de overseer, Mr. Wash Evans, to whip too muchneither. He would have liked to whip mo‘. den ~he did, if de Marse would ‘lowed it, but he wasn‘t so bad. Mr. Evans wasn‘t no po‘ white trash, but he was kinder middlin‘ li~ce. De E~vans is done riz high up now.

-	~ and Anderson was my young marsters . Dey

was ‘long ‘bout my own age. Dey went to school at Goshen Hill. De school was near de store, some folks called it de tradin‘ post iii dem days. De had barrels ô‘ liquor settin‘ out from de store in a long row. Sold de likker to de rich mens dat carried on at de race track near by. Folks in Goshen was all rich in dein days. Rogers Church ‚ where de Carlisles, Jeters, Sims, Selbys, Glens, and lots of other folks went too end de slaves, was de richest country church in dis part o‘ de whole state, so I is often been told. Ebenezer, over in Maybinton, was de onliest church in de whole country dat tried to strive wid Rogers in de way o‘ finery and style. De Hendersons, Maybins,