~x—slave Stories	P~e ~Fiire
(Texas)~







	“Then he said to me, tAndrew, you is old ‘nough to be a man and look after things. Take care of Missus ~nd see that none the niggers wants, and. try to keep the place goÏn~,~

	~We didntt know what the war was ~bout, but master was gone-four years.

~	Old. Miesue heard. from him, she‘d c~al all the slaves and tel). us the news and read us his letteo‘s, Little parts of it sh~ wouldntt read. ~Te never heard of him gittin‘ hurt none, but if lie had, Old Missus wouldn‘t tell us, ‘cause the niggers used to cry and pray over hi~ all the time. ~Ye never heard tell what the war was tbout,

	“~hen Marse Bob come home, he sent for all the slaves • He was ‚itt in‘ in a• yard chair ‚ all tuckered out ‚ and. shuck hands all round ‚ &nd said he ‚ s glad to see us, Then he said, ‘I got sxii~thing to tell you. You is jus‘ as free as I is. You don‘t ‘long to nobody but you‘selves. ~ïe went to the war ~nd fought ‚ b~t th~ Yankee a done whup us ‚ and they s ~y the niggers is free, You can go whpre you W2XltS to go, or you cari stay here, jus‘ as you likes.‘ He coul&n‘t help but cry.

~	NThe niggers cry and don‘t know much wh~.t Marse Bob me~~ns. They is

sorry ‘bout the freedom, ‘cau~ they don‘t know where to go, and they‘s allus tpend on Old. Marse to look after them. Three families went to get farms for

	theyselves, but the rest just stay on for hands on the old place.

“The Pederals has been comin‘ by, even ‘fore Old Marse corne home. They

	all come by, carryin‘ they little budgets, and if they was walkin‘ they‘d look in the stableS for a horse or mule ‚ and they jus‘ took wbat they wanted of c omn

	or livestock, They done the same after Marse Bob come home. He jus‘ said,
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