Ex—slave Stories	Page Two	.. ~	7G
	( Texas)		&..






	“The hands was woke with the bit bell and when massa pulls thp,t bell rope the niggers falls out them bunks like raie fallin‘ . They was in that field ‘fore day and star till dusk dark. They work slap up till Sat— urd~y night ~nd thei washe s th~ ii‘ clothes ~ and s onetime s they git s through and h~s time for the party ~d pleys ring plnys. I tn~ber part the words to one play and that ‚ ‘Rolllng river, roll on, the old cow ~le in cold wat er . . . now we ~ s got te drink bad wate r ~ cause old c ow d I e in c old wat er,‘ but I cai‘t ‘memb,r rnore‘n that. It‘s too long ago.

	0When the hands conic in from the field R.t dusk dark, they h~s to tote water frein the spring and cook and eat and be in bed. when that old bell rings at nine o ‚ clock. ‘Bout duck tb.e~y ~ca1ls the chilien ~d gives ‚ em a piece of corn pone ‘bout size my hand 2nd a tin cup milk and. pute them to bed, but the growed folks et fat pork and greens and. beans ~nd sich like a*d have plenty milk. E‘ ry Sunday massa give ‚ em s ~ne flour ~nd butter and a chicken. Lots of niggers cai~ht a good cowhiding for slippin‘ ‘roimd ~id stealin‘ ~ chicken ‘fore thinday.

	“Massa ~?att did*‘t have no overseer, but he have a nigger driver what aal jus‘ ~s bad. He carry a long whip 1round the neck and I~s seed him t~e niggers to a tree and. cowhide tem till. the blood nrn down onto the ground. Sometimes the women gits slothful ~.d not able to do their part but they mflkes ‚ em do lt anyway. They digs ~. hole ‚ ‘bout body deep ‚ and. m~kee them womei lie face down lu lt and beats ‘em ae~rly to death. That

nigger driver beat the chillei for not keepi*‘ their cotton row up with the lead. me*. Sometimes he made Riggers drag long chains while they