~x-~s1ave Stories	Page Three
(Pez~as)		..	5






and likely lt be best to stay and not git mixed in dis and dat org‘lzation. ~ostest stays, only one or two goes away. My folks stays for five years a±‘ter de war • Den my father moves t o Bertha C re ek ‚ where he done ‚ rande for a farm of his own. They hated to leave master‘s plantation, he‘s so good and kind.

	t, Some the cul lud folks thinks they‘ s t o take charge and run the gov‘rnent. They asks ray father to jine their org‘lzation. He goes once and. some eggs am served. Dey am served by de crowd and dem ~ggs am‘ t fresh yard eggs • Father ‚ c Hes he wants his eggs served dif ‚ rent ‚ and. he likes dein fresh, so he takes master‘ s advice and. don‘ t j me nothing.

‘I Then de Klux corne, de cullu~d org‘ I zat ion made their scatterinent.

Plenty gits whipped round our place and eorae what wasn‘t ‘titled to lt. Den

soldiers comes and puts order in de section. Dey has troul. e about votiri‘.

De cullud folks in dem days was non-4cnowledge ‚ so how could dey vote ‚ telligent?

Dat am foolishrnent to t5j~ on de right to vote. It de non4cnowledge what hurts.

Myself, I never voted and am too far down de road now to start,

	“I worked at farniin‘ till 1895 when I starts preachin‘ in de Baptist church. I kept that up till 1931, but my health got too bad and I had to quit. I has de pressure bad. When I preaches, I preaches hard, and. de doctor says dat am danger for me.

	“The way I learns to preach am dis: after surrender, I ‚ tends de school two te~ms and. den I stud.ies de Bible and l‘s a nat‘ral talker and gifted for de Lawd‘s work, so I starts preachin‘.

	“Jennie Goodman and me marries In 1885 and de Lawd never blessed us with any chilien. We gits de pension, me $16.00 and. her $14.00, and gits by on dat. It 8m for de rations and de eats, but de clothes am a question!