53 could do to keep fun laffin‘. I kin hear Missjeruiie now yellin‘ at th•a Yankees. No: who ar9er to judge. I‘ll be the judge. If John Sparks wants to stay here, he‘ll stay~hsy was gonna take ‘im anyhow an‘ he went ineid. to pack an‘ the baby started cryin‘. So one of ‘em said that a~ long as he had a wife an‘ a baby that young ~h.y guesS he could stay. They took all the horses, cows, and pigs and chickene an‘ any~ thing they could t;‘~e an‘ left. I was about nineteen when I married. I wuz married in 1861, my oldest boy was born in 1862 an‘ the Lahm‘ of Richmond cams in 1865. Bfore Mi.. Jennie was married she was born an‘ lived at her old home right up the river heah. Yet kin see the place fun ou~ side hsah.On the plantation my mother wuz a house woman. She had to wash white folks cloth•e all d~y an‘ huh‘s after dark. Sometimes she‘d be washiri‘ clothes way up ‘round midnight. Nosir, couldn‘t wash any nigguh ‚ e clothes In daytime. ~y mother lived in a big one room log house wif ‘ upstairs. Sometimes the white folks give yer ‘bout ten cents to etend. A woman with children ‘ud git ‘bout half bueh•l of meal a we.k; a childless ioman ‘ud git ‘bout a peck an‘ a half of‘ meal a week. If yer vus workin‘, thsy‘d give yer shoes. thildrsn went barefooted, the yeah ‘round. The men on the road got one cotton shirt an‘ jacket. I had five sisters an ‚ five brother s. Might as we].1 quit lookin ‚ a~e . I am ‘t gonna tell yer any more. Cain ‘t tell yer all I know. 01 Shep might come back an ‚ git me. ~ by if I was to tell yer the really bad things, some of dim daid white folks would corne right up outen dere gr~es. ~~ell, I‘ll tell somemore, but I cain‘t tell all. Once in a while they was free nigguhe come tua eomewhah, They could come see yer if yer was their folks. Nigguha used to go way off in quartera an‘ slip an‘ have me(~tiflB. They called ii stealin‘ the meetin‘. The children used to teach me to read. Schools! Son, there warn‘t no schools for niggere. Slaves went to bed when they didn‘t have anything to do. Most time they went to b•d when they coŒld. Sometimes the men had to shuck corn till eleven arid twelve o‘clock at night. If you wont out at night.the paddyrols ‘tad catch yer if yer was out aftah time without a pass. Mos‘ a the slaves was afeared to go out. Plenty cf elaves ran away. If they ketch ‘em they beat ‘em near to dsath.