Ex‘~slave Stories	Page Two	~	7G
(Texas)






t i~ae her husbsnd, Uncle Jim, gît ia~~d ~nd hit her over de ~ with de poker. ~& big knot r~,ise up on Aunt Rachel‘s heed md when M~rse t~j~ ‘bout it, she s~,y. she done bump de he~d. She dnssn‘t tell rn Uncle Ji~ or M~se sho‘ bcat hirn, Marse s:~o‘ proad dem black, slick chilIen of R~chcls. You couldn‘t find. p y~ller chile on he pl~ce. He sho‘ got no use for inixin‘ blnck ~md white,

	“M3rse William h~ve de pretti~s‘ ~iace ixo ~nd down dat bayai, with ~e fine house an~ fine trees end. sech. ~ro~n where w~ live it‘s five mile to Centerville one wayand five mile to Patt~‘rson t‘other. Dey h~u1s de 1ut~iber from one place or t‘other to in~ke wood hous~&s for ~e sl~v,s. Sometime M~rse buy de furniture and sometime d.c carpenter m~ke it.

“Miss Sidney w~.s Marse‘s first wif‘~ and he had six boys by her. Den

~	he marry dc wldcw Cornelius ~nd she give him four ~o~rs. ~7ith ten chilien springin‘ up quick like dat ~nd ~1l (~C cuilud chillen commt ‘lon~: fast ~s pig litters, I d(~fltt do nothin‘ r~1l my days, but nuss, fluss, nuss. I nuss

.	so many chilien it don~ went a~d stunted my growth ~nd dat‘s wh~r I ~in‘t nothin‘ but bones to dis day.

	tt~J~en de cuilud woman b~s to cut cane ail d~y till midnight come ~nd r

: after, I has to nuss de babies for dem ~nd tend de white chilien, too. Some ~ern

babies so fat and bid; I h~.d to tote de feet while ‘nother gal tote de head.

I was sech ~ li~ 1 one ‚ ‚ bout s even or e ight year cl d ‚ Dc b i~. folks 1 cave : some toddy for colic ~nd crrin‘ and sech ~nci I done drink de toddy ~nd let de


chilien have de milk. I don‘t know no better, Lawsy me, it ~ wondeT I ain‘t de bigges‘ dnrnker in dis here country, wii‘ ~li de toddy I done put in my young belly!