4.
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‘cause they oet, cackled, scratched and wailowed holes in de yard and wouldn‘t lay. told d3 old rooster many tin~es dat she was gwine to chop his he~.d off if he didn‘t crow sooner and louder of mornin‘s and wake me up so I could go tO Work • All dis sounds foolish I knows but yo u see how bent my back iso ~ie1l, I ‘spects it Was bent from totin‘ so many buckets of water from de spring for her to wash ~id soon of mornin‘s, so ~ could then do a day‘s work.

	„ My ~vife thought she ~ïas dom‘ right by workin‘ like she did. She thought dat she was helpin‘ me rnokc e. livin‘ for our big family of eight chillUfl. Yes ~iir ‚ I knows now ~he was right ‚ but hard work broke her health and brought her to her bed where she lingered ‘bout one year and then she went away froni me. All dis took place seventeen years ago and, from then to dis, I aiii‘t seen no woman I would have for a wife, ‘cause I ain‘t gwine to find no woman Lucy‘s equalo ~ll i~y chillun are dead,~ ‘cept two, and I don‘t know where they is0

	‘t Does poor folks have any blessings and pleasure? ~Jel1, yes sir, in a way. You see they don‘t have no worrirnents over what they has ‚ like rich folks. ~hey can sleep as hot as they want to in do summer time and r~tise as big families as anybody. Sho‘, poor folks, and especially iiiggers, has a

good time on hog~kilLL~‘ days. In early summer corne them juiby brierberries dat they enjoy so much. They last until watermelon season. Then they has

‘possuni and ‘tators i~ c~e fall. Most all livin‘ beings ha3 deir own way of dom‘ ti~ings and deir way of existin‘. De hog roots for his, de squirrel climbs for his, de chickens scratcnes for deirs, and de nigger, well, if dere ein ‘t nobody lookin‘ ‚ I reckon they could slip doirc right handy.

N ~ sho‘ has enjoyed talkin‘ to you dis evening and now, if you will

‘8CU~~ me, I‘s gwine home and cook me a pot of turnips. I can almost taste