Ex..slave Stories	Page ~‘o~r	J
(Texas)		R ~J








	“One Sunday mornin‘ ‘bout ten o‘clock, massa have de bell ring and calls ail ua to do front gallery and makes de talk. He say, ‘Irs happy to tell ~OU8 is free and, ‘cording to de law, yous am all citizeni. Dan what wants to stay with me I~11 pay de wages or dey can work on shares.‘ Re gives us all de paper, with de name and a~e and where us ~ birthed. Me and ~~my stays two years after freedom. I narries So]. Pleasant in 1872 and us has tvo chilien, Us sep‘rate in 1876. De trouble ein, he wants to be de boes of de job and let me do de work. I ‘cldes I dontt need no boss, so I tran8pCT~t8 him, and says, ‘Nigger, git out of here and don‘t never come back. If you comes back, I‘ll smack you döwn.t

	t, In l8?~3 I marries Frank Spiriks and u~s kiRs eight di illen and he dies in 1930. All deni eight chilien lives here and I‘ s livin‘ with one ~ dan, Mrs. Covy Kelly. ‘Tain‘t many years befo‘ old. Gabriel blow he horn, and I‘s waitin‘ for him.