Ex.~21ave Stories	‚	Page Five	‚
	(Texas)			i~







	“Marse sho‘ good to dent gt~i1s and. bucks what cuttin‘ ~ ~ ~then dey git done in~kin‘ sugar, he give ~ drink cr11 ‘P~ch ~r. Honey‘ to d~ women folk md whiskey ~nd brandcr to, de men. .tnci of ~11 cte dan~1n‘ ~n~1 c~perin‘ you ever seen! My pa was ficldler arid w&d cut de pigeon wing ~M cut d.c bu~ck and~ every otner kind of dance. Sometime pa git t ired. and sa~r fl~ am‘ t gwin~t er p]~y no more and us g~1s git busy anct pop him corn ~rici make cand‘r, so to ‘tice turn to play more.

	“Marse shot turn over in h~ crave did he i~iow ‘bout. some dat ‘lrsses. Dem black boys don‘t- care. I seen tern pull rats out de sugar barrel and dey taste de si~ar anci say, ‘~Un‘t nothin‘ wrong with dat sug~r. It still sweet.‘ One c~~y a pert one pull a dead scorpion out de s~rr~p kettle ~nd he jas‘ leugh arid. say, ‘M~‘~e don‘t w8nt waste none dis syrup,‘ and he lick de syrtip right off th~t scorpion‘s body ~nd legs.

	“Lawsv me, I seen thousands and. thousands sugar barrels arid kettl~ ot syrup in my (18y. Lawd knows how much cane old Marse have. To dem ~ de cane it don~t see~:i ~o much, bu.t to d-em wnat wor~c: hour in, hour out, de~ sugar ca:Lle f&elds sho‘ stretch from one end de earth to de othe~. Marse ship hogs and hogs of sugar down de bayou. I seen de river boats go ~‘wn with big signs what s~iy, ‘Buy dis here ‘lasses‘ on de side. and. he raise a world ot rice end. ‘taters and corn and. pe9nuts, too,

	“When de work slight ‚ us black folks sno have de balls and dinners ~‘nd

We git z~ll day to barbecue meat down on de ba~ti ~n1 de white folks c~ae

and e~t long side d.e cullud.	‚

	“Then a blat gal marry, Marse marry her hisseif in de bi~ house. He marry ‘ein Saturday, so dey git Sunday off, too. One time de river boet come
sech.

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