~x4~1~ve Stories	Pace Two	6
(Texas)





	“My missy nam~‘d Ma~‘y and. ~ and. Massa Matt lived i~ a hewed log house what am still st~rndjn‘ out there near Henderson, Our quarters “as 1~rose th~ road. and set all In a rowe Massa Own three fain‘lles of slaves and lots of hos~c~ and sheep send cows ~ud ~ father herded for hi~ till h~ w~ freed. The government 1‘Ufl & b i~ t an yard there on ~1nj or ~k~ud ‚ s Pl ace arid one my uncles was shoempker. ~ ‘bout time of w~ar, I was p~ddlin‘ ‘round the tannery and a government in~n say to me, ‘Boy, I~ll g1ve~rou $1,000 for a drink of ~ and he did., but it was ‘federate money that ~ot kilt, so lt done me no good.

	“}~f:;~mmy was a weaver ~nd made all the clothes ~nd massa give us plenty to eat; fact, he treated uskind.a like he own boys. Course he whipped us when we h~d to haire i~ ‚ but not like I seed darkies whipped on other . The other niggers c~.lled us Major Gaud‘s free niggers and we co~ild h~e~.r tern fflO~fl~fl~ and cryii‘ round t1~t, when they w~s puttin‘ lt on ~

	HI worked in the field from one year end to t‘other and when we come In at dusk we h~d to eat and be In b~d by nine~. M2~sa give us mos‘ anything he had~ to eat, ‘cept biscuits. That t~~h cake wasn‘t sich bad catin‘ and it was cooked by puttin‘ cornmcal batter In shucks and bakin‘ in the ashes.

	“We didn‘t work in the field Sunday but they have so much stock to tend it kep‘ us busy. Missy was ‘ligious and allus took us to church when she could. When we preyed by ourse‘~res we daren‘t let the white folks know it and we turned. a wash pot down to t-he ~rŒind to cotch the voice. We prayed a lot to be free ~nd the Lord. done heered us. We didn‘t have no song books ~nd the Lord done cive us our songt ~xid when we sing them ~t night it jus‘ whisp— ering to nobody hear us. One went like this: