~.. 8
~x—s1ave Stories	Pace Three
(Texas)





Pa, iDlit old Bat woulthi‘ t 1~t us go. ~e caine to our quarters dat night and tell m~ina if she or us chilien try to run off h~‘11 kill us. Dey sho‘ watch us for awhile.

	“Sometimes one of de niggers rans off btit he a1n1t~gone long. He gits hon~ry nnd cornes back. Den he gits a bur‘nin‘ with de bullwhip. Does he run ‚ way ag~1n ‚ Marse Bat s~y h. got too mu‘ch rabbit in him and chains him up till h~ goe‘s to Little Rock and sells h1m~

	“I he~ared soxnewhite:fôlks tx~at d.eys1a~es gOod And give dem time off, but Marse Bat don‘t. Weh~s pleùty to eat and clothes, but dat all. Dat de way it was till we‘s freed, o.~y it WFtS2it~t inÀrkansas. It was down to Richmond., here in Texas, tcause Marse Bat rents a farm at Richmond. He thurik if h~ brwig us to Texas he wouldn‘t haire to set us free. But he got fooled, ‘cause a gov‘ment man come tell us we‘s free, We had de crop planted and old Bat say if we ~ 11 stay through Ikit he ‚ il p~y us. M~na and us stayed awhile.

	“1 gits married legal with Richard Scott and we comes to Harrisburg ~nd he gits a job on de section of de railroad. Its lived here ever since. My husban‘ and me raises five chilien, but onl~r de one gal am alive n~v, My grandson takes care of me. He tells me iffen m~r husband lived so loris, he be 107 years old~ I know he was older dan me ‚ but not ‘xactly how much.

	h‘bometime I feel I~s been here too long, ‘cause l‘s paralyzed and caii‘ t move round none, But maybe de Lawd ~j& t ready foe‘ me yet, and de Debbil won‘t have me~


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