42006ß
	P~L.SLAVE STORIES	p~ One	~35
(Texas)


BILL 2nd ~LL1~N TE~LAS live In th~ Old. Slave Settlement, 3 ralles north of Rondo. Pill Is 88 end flien 1~
81.	They seem to b~ happy; their fields arP tilled, a horse ~?J1d~ a cow graze near the house; a kitchen gar~ den is under way and several broods of baby chicks are in the yo;rd. They were dressed in simple, ~1ean cLothes, and. fllen wetars a string of nutrae~s aroirnd her neck, to ‘make yor eyes strong.1




~c1~- ~iiW~~J~tory.

	“Do~s you want me to start right at the heginnin‘? ~e11, III? tell z;ou jes‘ how I went to this country. I left F~11~ County where I belonged to th~ i~n tht~re that kept th~ post office, He was named Chwnlin. He h~.d lrts of land, I reckin atout 5G acres. They kep‘ us in a little house right in their :Tard.. R~ckin how old I was when he bought ~~ie? Jus‘ five years old! He ~“ive $500 ~or me, but he bou~ht my mother and my sisters, too. He had to buy rie, ‘cause ~ny mother, she wouldn ‚ t ~o without inc. No, suh, she ‘ ‚ em she wo~ldn‘ t g,) if the~r didn‘ buy me, too. An‘ the m&n he bought us ft~, ~ wanted to keep raC, SO he wo~‘lcIn‘t take less than $500 for rae. Massa Chamblin bought the whole fwniiy, ~ cept ri~y father. The~r sold him and we never laid eyes on him again.

	“My mother cooked. Massa Ch~mlin, he a1WVS fed us plenty, an‘ whatever they h~d, we hM. If he cooked s~usage, yo~ had it too; if he cooked h~, :~o11 got it too; if he cooked lye hominy, you got it; an~ if he had puddin~~ you got soi~e0

	‘~Vhen I was 6 or 7 years old I chopped cotton and I plowed too, and I could lay as straight rows with oxen as axiy ~rou ever saw.

	“The Iflassa whipped. inc with a dogwood wwitch, but he never did