? Ixwslave Stories	Page Two	~	~ 9
	 ( ~fexas)




I I ain‘t never see de old plantation. At Pine Island us have de big woods t~ place with a hunerd workin‘ hands, without de underlin‘ s ( children) . All he

I niggers say Cade de good mat. He hire he overseers and say, ‘You can correct dem ~: for dey own ~ and make dem work right, but you. ain‘t better cut dey hide or

~	draw no blood.‘ He git a-holt some mean overseers but dey don‘t tarry long. He

~	find out dey beatin‘ he niggers and den he beat dem and say, ‘How dat suit you?‘

~	MOld massa he a big, stoc1~r Irishman with sandy hair and he ain‘t had

~	no beard or iau~st ache ‚ When he crow old. he have de gout and he put de 1 ong mat~ tress out on de gallery and lay down on it. He say, ‘Come here, my li‘l niggers,‘

and den he m:~ke us ~ixb he foots so he kin git to sleep.

~	“Dey used to have old slavery-day jedge and jury of white folks and

~	dey hear de case and ‘cide how many lashes to give de darky. Deyput de lash

~	Ofl dem, but dey never put no jail on dem. I seed some slaves in chains and. I

~	heared of one massa what had. de place in de fence with de hole cut out for de

~	nigger‘s neck. Dey hist up de board and de nigger put he head through de hole


I and den dey beat him with a lash with holes bored in it and every hole raise ~. de blister. • Den he bus ‚ dem bu sters Wi th d.c handsaw and dey put salt and


I pepper in de bucket water and. ‘noint dem blisters with de mop dip in de water.

F Dey do dat when dey in ‘ticular bad humor, ifferi de nigger ain‘t chop ‘nough

~	cot ton or corn. S0inet me a overseer kilt a nigger ‚ and dey don‘ t do nothin‘

~	to him ‚ cept make him pay for de nigger. Bat our massa good.

~	“Old massa ‘low us praise Gawd b~it lots of massas didn‘t ‘low L~em to ~it

~	~ de knees. Us have church-house and de white folks go in de mornin‘ and us

~	go after dinner. Us used to sing:
~ .		H t My~ knee bones achin‘,
~		 My body‘ s o~ci‘ with pain,
~		 I calls ~ myself de chile of Œawd,
~	;	 Heaven am •my aim.
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