4(2()~) 18
	EL~SLAVE STORIES	Page One	•
	(Texae)	~ .	‘J I


G~ILES SMITh, 79, n3w re~1d1n~ at 310? Blanchard St ~ ~ Fart Wrth, Texas, was born a s12v~, ~f Lthj~r
‚-~	Hardw~r ~‚n a plantatisn ne~ Union Uni ~n Spr ings ‚ Al ~b ama, The Mai or gave G11e~ t~ h1~ daughter when h~
		wa~ an Infant ~nd he never ~w his ~
		parent$ ag~1n. In 1874 Fr~xik Talbot
		brmight Gi1t~~ t~ Texas ‚ and he work-.~
		ed an the f~rrn tw~ years. He then
		went to BrGwnweod ~id worked lit a
		gin seventeen years. In 1908 he
		moved t~ F‘wt Worth and wirked f~r
		a packing compw~y. Old. ace led te
		hi ~ di schar~e in 193]. and he h~
	~	since worked ~t any odd jobs he
		could. find,




	“My naine ~it~ OElles Smith, ‘cause my pap~y was born eu the Smith plantation and I took hie n~me. I‘~ bern at Unien Springs, in ÂIab~ma and M~j.r Ha±~dw~y ewned me and ~ a hundred other e].avee. But he gave me to Mary, his dughter, when Vs enly a few menthe eid and h7d t~ be fed en a bettle, ‘cause she am jus‘ married t. Mas5a Milee. She teld me hew ~he carried ~oe home in her arms. She ~ay I was so li‘1 she haire a bard time t. ia~Jce r~ eat out the bottle, and I put up a g.od fight so she nearly took me back.

	‘II dsnTt tniember the start .1 the war, but de endin‘ I dies. ~v~a55~ Miles called ~alI us tegether 2nd t~l~ us We‘e free and it ~ive us all de jitters. He treated all us fine and nsb.dy wanted t. g.. He and Missy


~:m de beet filke de L~wd csuld. ni~ke. I stayed till I was sixteen years old. ~it aii~ years after fr~ed•m Missy Mary say t• me what massa allus

say, ‘If t~nigger wera‘t fellow srders by kind treatin‘, sich nigger am wring in the head and n•t worth keepi~~ . He • didn ‚ t have to rush us ‚ We ~ d just dig.i* and cl. the w.rk,One time Massa clearin‘ some land a~d it am gittia‘ late f‘r bre~k1n1 the ~reu.~d. Us allus have Saturday af1~ern.on