Er—slave Stories	Page Tiwee ~
( Texas)







	UWhen late 0fb night come, iffen dem babies wake up and bawl, I set up a screech and out—screech ~em till dey shut dere mouth. De louder day bawl d~ louder I b~wl~ Sometime when Marss hear de babies cry, h&~cor~e down and say, ‘W~r de chill~n cry like dat, Ell~i?‘ I say, ‘Marse., I git so hongry and tired I done drink de milk up.‘ ~ftien I talk sassy like dat, Marse jes‘ shake he finger at me, ‘cause he ~c~owed l‘s a good. One and don‘t let no Uttle mite starve.

	“Nobody ever hit ~e a lick. Marss allas say bein‘ in~an to d.c iroung‘uns make dem mean when dey grows up and nobody gwlneter buy a mean nigger. Marss don‘t even let de chilien go to de big cane patch. Re pl~nt little bitty patches close to c1e house and each li‘? nigger have a patch and he work it till lt got growed. Marss hawe de house girls make popcorn for ‘em and candy.

	“I nur~s (j5 sick folks too. Sometirri~ I dose with Blue Mass pills ~nd sometime Dr. Faweett leave rhubarb and ipicac and ca1ot~l ~nd castor oil and

~	sech. Two year after de war, I git marry ~rtc~. git chilien of m‘r own and den I turn into de wet fluss.. I wet nuss de white chilien an5 black chilien, like dey all de saine color. S0metime I have a wh±te‘un pullin‘ de one side anda black one de other.

	‘II wanted to git de papers for midwifin‘ but, law, I don‘t never hav~e no time for lamm‘ in slave time. If Marse cotch ~ p~~r in you. hand he sho1 whop yOU. He on‘ t ~ low n o bright niggers ‚ r ound ‚ he sell ‚ em qui ok. He al lu~ say, ‘Book ].arnin ‚ don‘ t raise no good sugar 09fl5. ‚ De only lamm‘ he ‚ low was when dey lam de cullud chilien de Methodist catechism. De only writinS a

~	éer ever git, am when lie git born or marry or die, den Marse put as naine in de
	b~ig book.	-3..