make me.

I made a lot of money for ol' miss. But she was good to me. She give me
lots of good clothes. Those clothes an my mother's clothes burned up in
de fire I had a few years ago right on dis farm. Lawsey I hated loosin'
dose clothes I had when I was a girl more dan anything I lost. An' I
didn't have to work in de fields. In between times I cooked an' I would
jump in de loom. Yes, ma'am I could weave good. Did my yards every day.
I weave cloth for dresses--fine dresses you would use thread as thin as
dat you sews wid today--I weaves cloth for underclothes, an fo
handkerchiefs an for towels. Den I weaves nits and lice. What's
dat--well you see it was kind corse cloth de used for clothes like
overalls. It mas sort of speckeldy all over--dat's why dey called it
nits and lice.

Law, I used to be good once, but after I got all burned up I wasn't good
for so much. It happened dis way. A salt lick was on a nearby
plantation. Ever body who wanted salt, dey had to send a hand to help
make it. I went over one day--an workin' around I stepped on a live
coal. I move quick an' I fall plum over into a salt vat. Before dey got
me out I was pretty near ruined.

What did dey do? Dey killed a hog--fresh killed a hog. An' dey fry up de
fat--fry it up wid some of de hog hairs an' dey greesed me good. An' it
took all de fire out of de burns. Dey kept me greezed for a long time. I
was sick nearly six months. Dey was good to me.

An one day, young miss, she married. Ol' miss give me to her 'long of 23
others. Twenty four was all she could spare an' keep some for herself an
save enough for de other children. We went to California. Young Miss was