: 80
	Ex..slave Stories	Page Six
( Texas)






•bearin‘ d4 license for niggers to git merry with. M~,rs~ chase ‘em O~‘f ~nd ~ ‘Don‘t you ~Oine truckin‘ no no~count papers roun‘ my nigg~rs. ~kien I marry ‘em, dey rnprly ~s good ~s if de Lawd God hisself marry ‘em arid it don‘t take no paper to bind de tie. ‚ M.erse don‘t stand no messin‘ ‘round, neither.

A gal have to be of ~ge a~id ~sk her pa ~nd ma and J&rse and Missy, ~nd if dey agree, dey go ahead ~nd git marry. Mt~rse hpire de marry bo‘k to ~put de n~rne

down,

	“One tirae Marse take me ‘long to help tote some chilien. He done write up to VirgiJnny for to buy fresh hand~. D~y n old :~n dat hobble ‘long de road and de chilien start to throw rocks arid de old m~rn tu~n ‘round to one prissy one and. say, ‘~o on, voun~~im, -~rou‘li be where dogs can‘t bark at you tomorrow. Nex‘ inornin‘ us cookin‘ in de kitchen ~nd ~l1 ~. sudden dat 11)1 boy i~s‘ crumple up dead on de floor. Law, we‘s scairt. Nobody ever bother d~t old man no more, for he shoe l~y de evil finger on ~TOU~

‚~	“Marse‘s brother, Conr~d, what was ~. widdyman, cO~qe to live on de

plantation and he had a 1i~1 gni ‘bout eight yew‘ old. On~ day sue in de pluma orchard playin‘ with a rattlesn~k~ and Marse Conrad have de fit. Dc li‘l gal won‘t let nobody hurt d&~ snake and she play with hirn. He won‘t bite her. She keeps hirn ‘bout tb.ree year, and she‘d rub ~nd gre~.se him. One day he gct sick ?nd dey give him some brandy, hut ~ie ~ie ~nd olci Doc pickle him in de bottle of brandy. Dat gai git so full of grief dey take h~r to de Infirin‘ry

in New Orleans and den one d~y she up ~nd die.

	~‘;, . “Dat sri~ke ain‘t ~ll what Doc P~wcett pickle. A slave wcxn~n give birth to a baby g~l what heve two faces with a strip of hair runnin‘ ‘tween.

.	Old Doc ~awcett pickle it in de j~r of brandy. Old doc start to court Miss