Ex—slave Stories	Page FIve	45
(Texas)






to m~na and me and dat de only reason h~ ever come back from ruimin‘ ‚ way, to see us. He knowed he‘d. git a whippin‘ but he come ~nyw~y~ Dey never could cotch papa when he nui tw~r, tCaUSe he part Indien. Massa Charles even git s old Ntg~ger kelly what lives over to Sandy Point to track ~papa with he dogs, but papa wade in water axtd dey can‘t track him.

	~Dey knows papa is de best tanner ‘round dat part de country, so dey doesn‘t sell him off de place. I ~l~ct papa sayin‘ dere one place

-special where he hide, some German folks, de naine Ebbling, I think. While he hides dere, he tans hides on d.c sly like and iey feeds him, and lots of‘ inornin‘s when u~‘ open de cabin door on a shelf just tb~y~ is food for maiiia and. me, and. sometimestore clothes. No one ain‘t see papa, but dere it is, One time he brung us dresses, and Uncle Big Jake hee‘ed. ‘bout it and he sho‘ mad ‘cause he can‘t cotch papa, and. ~ he s~y to mama ~he gwine to whip her ‘less she tell him where papa is. U~ma say~ ‘Fore Gd, Uncle J&~e, i: don‘t know, ‘cause I ain‘t seed him since he run ‘w~q~,.‘ and jus‘ den papa Ç ome ~ ro~ind de corner of de house • He save mama from de whippin ‚ but papa got de hot grease drepped on him itIce I told you Uncle Big Jake did, and got put in de stockhouse with shackles on him, and kep ‚ dere three three days ‚ and while ~ he in dere mania has de go in ‚ down pain s and my stster,Bachel, is born1, . ~

“When free&~ come, I didn‘t know what dat was. I ‘lect Uncle Charley Bunte what dri ye de buggy for MassaCharles ‚ come runnin ‚ out in de yard and

~ ~	bOiler, ‘I~erybod~r free, everybody free,t and purty soon sojers comes and ~t. c~tain z‘sads a tmation. And, Law me, dat one time MassaCh&rl~Y cant t

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