~_~1aye Stii‘iee	Page Five








	“1 thinks ‘baut massa ‘rîayin‘ me iffen de block and savin‘ me frein bein‘ sep‘ratecï from my folks and ‘bout bein‘ whipped at de Btake. Den it ani. What ~m !tm to do? So I ‘cidee to do as de massa~w1sh and so I y~e1~s.

	“When wetuns am given freedom, Massa Hawkins tells us we c~n stay arid work for wages or share crap de land. Some stays and some goes. My folks e;rtcl me stays . We works de land on shares for three y,ars ‚ den moved t~ other laid near by. I stays with my fe].ks till they dies.

	‘11f my mem‘randum am correct, it am ‘bout thirty year 8ince I come to :~1ort Worth~, Here I cooks for white folks till I goes blind ‘bout ten year ago.

	I, ~ never marries ‚ ‚ cause one ‚ eperience an ‚ nough for dis figgez‘. After what I does for de massa, I‘s never wants no truck with any man. De Lawd forgive dis cullud w~nan, but he have to ‘scuse ~e and look for so~ne others for to ‘plenish de earth.