]~x-slaVe ~Storiee	~ Four
(Texas)






and when papa was sot free Marse Gibson gives him some land to farm. ‘Course, papa was gwine have us all wi th him ‚ but when mamma dies ‚ Marse Gibe on tell him Mr. will Jon~s and Miss Susie, he wife, want a nurse girl ~or de chilluns, so papa hires rae out to ~em and I want to say z‘ight now, dey Jes‘ as good white folks as ~arse John and. Old Missy, and sho‘ treated me good.

	“Law me, I never won‘t forgit one day. Mr. Will say, ‘Lucinda, we is gwine

dri~e you over to Appomatox and take de chilluns and you can come, too.‘ Course,

I was tickl~d mos‘ to pieces but h:~ didn‘t tell what he gwine for. You know what?

To see a nigger hung. I gettin‘ long zaighty old now, bu.t I won‘t never forgit dat.

He had kilt a man, and I never saw so man;~r people ‘fore, what dere to see him hang.

I jes‘ shut my eyes.

	“)~n Mr. Will he take me to de big tree what have all de bark strip off it and de branches strip off, and say, ‘Lucinda, dis de tree where Gen. Lee surrendered.‘ I has put dese two hands right on dat tree ‚ yes ‚ euh, I sho‘ has.

	“Miss Susie say one day, tLucinda, ho~ you like to go with us to Texas?‘ L~w ins, I didn‘t know where Texas was at, or nothin‘, but I loved Mr. Will enduites Susie and de chilluns was all wrop up in me, so I say I‘ll go. A~id dat how come I 1m he re ‚ and I am ~ t never b~ en back, and I am ‚ t s ce my own si et ers and brothe r and papa since.

	“We come to New Orleans on de train and takes de boat on de ~1f to Galveston and den de train to Hempetead. Mr.Will farm at first and. den he and hiss Susie

run de hotel, and I stays with dem till I gets ma‘ried to Will Elder in ‚ 75, and I lives with him till de good Lawd takes him home.

“I has five chilluns but all dead now, ‘ceptin‘ two,~ done served. de Lawd ~ ~ for 64 years and. soon he‘s gwine call old Lucinda, but l‘in ready and I know

~	be better off when I die and go to ~eaven, ‘cause I,m old and no ‘cou~i now.
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