:Ix.-el&ve stories	Page Three	~ ç.~ .~
(Texas)




	“When de slaves was free dey was shoe ~ppy~ ]~y all got

together and had a kin‘ of cel‘bration. )Lareter told dein if dey wanted to stay and help ~a1ce de Ø~t4p, he‘d. give ‘es 50 cents a day and a place to st~. Smie tuk him up on dat and. etayed, but a lot of dem left d.ere. Me and ay brother, we started walkin‘ to Austin.

In Austin we finds ~ir mother, she was working for Judge Pasohal. She hire s us ou.t t o one place and den another.

	“Since freedom I done aost everything anybody could do. I been porter and waiter in hotels and rest‘ rants • I been factory hand, and wox~ed for carpenters and. in de roun‘ house. I picked cotton and worked on de faxa.

	“I been aarr~ed 61 years. I gits rnarri~ at hoae, like civilize folks do. I raised a big faaily, 12 ch1llen~ but only five is alive today. I moved here in 1929 and looks like I‘. here till I die.