Ex-slave Stories	Page Two
(Texas)





f~11 on him. Den u~s fill him full salt and pe~er and. put him in de oven. ~0met line put sweet ~ tat ers ~11 ~ round him . Us have de 1 ong, square oven with de lid. on it

	“Us wore knitted shirt m:~k~ o~i dem looms and dey gives us boots with brass toes on ~cr~i, L~e avid m~iiny work on c~e spinnin‘ whee1~many a night up to one or two o‘clock. I used. to card de bats.

	“Dere plenty hawgs ~ni houses ~nd d~n cattle what ~in longhorn. Us have p19nt~T me~.t and raise veg‘t~b1es, too.

	~ never seed no sojers b~t I heared de cannons. I disremember when peace am t ~ I cone up here to Beaumont when I th~nk I ‚ s a roan and I~s been i~ere every Gawd‘s since.

	“I see some sperrits, b~t I see ‘em on1;~r special times. You see I em twict a year, ‚ tween spring and summer and den Lgain ~ twixt fall and

winter. Sox~etirne dey conies rigiit ‘long and den sometIme dey us‘ stanclin‘ still. \Then you looks at ~em dey lookskinder va~ieish. I can allus tell when sperrits ‘round. Dey got a queer scent. Then ~‘ou walk ‘bout 20 feet, steam gwineter hit you in de face. I can tell de~r d.ere iffen I can‘t see ‘em. Dey looic like naeii. Dey ain‘t white b~t dey got a pale look.