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	Ex—slave Stories	Page Two
~	~ ~ (Texas)




“I never did wotk in the fiel‘s at Massa John~s place. He said. I unis‘ be his ho~ieeboy and houseboy I was. Massa was sho‘ good to me 911d I d~id love to be with him and follow him ‘rouit‘.

	“The kitchen was out In de ya‘ d and I had. to carry the victuals

t o the big	‘ .~room. When d inner was over ‚ Massa John tuk a nap and

I had to fan him, and. Lawey me, ltd git so sleepy. I kin hear hin~ now,

for ‘ d. wa~ce up and saar ‚ ~ Go ge t me a dr ink outta the northeast corner

of de well,‘

	“We had straw end grass beds, we put it in sacks on de groun‘ and t on ~ säcke. I don‘ ‘isember how im~ch lend Massa John had. but it

was a big place a~d he had lots of slaves. We chillun had supper early In de ~en in‘ and mostly cornbread and hawg neat and milk. We all ate from a big pot. I lamed to spin a~d weave and. knit and made lote of socks.

	‘tMa~sa John had. two etep-~daughters, Mies Mollie and Miss Lem‘a,

and~ they wen‘ to school atBask. It was my job to take ‘em thur ev‘ry Monday morni& on horses and go back after tea Priday afternoon.

n ~ never eaz‘nt no money ‚ fore freedom come ‚ but once i~iy brother-.

in-law give me five dollars. I was so proud of it I showed lt to de l~1ies and. ou of ‘eis said, ‘Yoi~t ~ need dat,‘ and ehe give me two sticks of candy and tuk de money. But I didn‘, know any better then.

	UI seed. slaves for sale on de auction block. They sol‘ ‘em 1cordl~‘ to etrengt‘ and muscles. They was stripped to de wale‘.

	I seed the warnen and little chillun cryin‘ and beggin‘ not to be sep-. .[ .~ ~ arated, but it didn‘ do no good.. They had. to go.


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