Folk Lore: Storie8 o~ Ex-81aVe8	Page ~.	55




I told Mas8er I was going to stay with. them even if I waa free, and I did. When Masser aled, I ha~1 no one to love bu~t iiiissas. I taaght raa8ic and. gave piano lessons, btit I ~an‘t cio tnat now, a~i I ani too old.. Lately i: tried to ~u~t some wood. I wotild cu‘t a lick, then rest; cut a lick, then rest, so I gave lt u~p. ~

	“Lord bJ.e8a your 8Ou1~ I am so glad yo~i tola who you, are, anci yoa talk like Masser Dan. You. snow he and I u.se~i to play together as boys. }ie would give rae anything he had. }ioney, corne arouiid and. see me again. I is sure glad. to see you.. What did yo~ say your name was?“ Upon being told, his ±~ace wottid light u~p with a sraile, and he wouid. repeat ju.st what he had. said berore. He was then asked when he got to be a poet. ‘FLaw‘ chile, ray old niissiis told nie I was going to be a poet.“

	This ninety-~year-.~old ex-~slave then sat down at the piano and. played for the writer.

SOUR(~:	“Uncle“ Jimmie JOhn8On~, 17E E. Park kve., Spartanburg,
s.	(~‚ Interviewer: P. S. DuPre, Spartanburg, S. ‚~.