Ex~-s1ave Stone s ~ ~	Pace Two 73 (Texaß)





Dey ‘fraid. of alligators. Dem ‘gators never did eat no cullud. chilien ‘round us place, but dey allus ‘frald dey would. D~y ei~h bi~ snRkes In de woods, too, dey skeered of dein.

	‘De cullud. folks i~l1 have li‘l brick cabin quarters and. dey have a briokyard right near cte place what a white m~n own and he make de bricks what dey calls Cedar Bayoti brick ‘count of de niud. being diff‘rerit. I‘s born in one dem li‘l brick houses. I don‘t ‘meïber none my gr2~ndfo1ics ‘sept my papa‘s ~iame, call ~artha Godfry. She corae from Virginny, and ‘long to de Mayes where !n~r papa born. ~ ~

	III	never did. bother with Sunday School iuu~ch, me, Dey one on de bayou white lady, Miss Joseph, am de teacher. Dey wasn~t no school but after free I go to schoolon de ed~e of de woods. Dey have teacher name ~inne1ls old blue~back speller to lam cut of.

	“After us freed my papa move up de prairie a ways and hire out to ride d.c range. Dey done lam me to ride when I ‘bout five, s1~ year old and I rid. with d.e old rnan~ Bat ridin‘ business was ice‘ ray job. My daddy never did like to settle down and. farm, but druti~er ride de range for four bits or s ix bite de day. De old maiter done give us nothin ‚ ‚ j es ‚ turn us r~drift ‚ but he didn‘t have much and. everybody jes‘ have to shift for dexnselvpß dein days. Us ~it ‘long all right inakin‘ money with de cattlemen.

	.	“De prairie lande a good place to ~it things to eat and Lis see plenty deere, sometime eight or ten in de bunch. Dey lots of wolves roamin‘ ‘round lookin‘ for etray cows. Dat when de whip come in handy, to knock dem on de head. Never hear tell of but one bear, and us cotch him on Gum Island and kill him. You ~now dem fanny lookin ‚ ‚ horny things dey calle armadillos‘