lef'. Some of 'em come back an' some didn'.

"I hear'd a heap o' talk 'bout ever' Nigger gittin forty acres an' a
mule. Dey had us fooled up 'bout it, but I never seen nobody git
nothin'.

"I hope dey won't be no more war in my time. Dat one was turrible. Dey
can all go dat wants to, but I aint a-goin'.

"I seen Gen'l Grant at Vicksburg after de war. (He was a little short
man.) All de Niggers went dere for somethin'--me 'mongst 'em. I don't
know what we went for.

"I took to steamboatin' at Vicksburg 'cause I could cut[FN: place for
storage or shipment] cotton so good. (I could cut cotton now wid a
cotton hook if I warnt so old.)

"I steamboated twixt New Orleans an' St. Louis on de 'Commonwealth,' a
freight packet, way up yonder in St. Louis. I don't know what country
dat was in. But de rousters had a big fight one night in New Orleans,
shootin' an' cuttin', so I lef'. When I got back to Vicksburg, I quit.

"I picked cotton in de Delta awhile, but de folks, white an' black, is
too hard. Dey don't care 'bout nothin! I was in Greenville when de
water come. I hear'd a noise like de wind an' I asked dem Niggers, 'Is
dat a storm?' Dey said, 'No, dat's de river comin' th'ough an' you
better come back 'fore de water ketch[FN: catch] you.' I say, 'If it
ketch me it gwine a-ketch me on my way home.' I aint been back since.

"Den I come back here an' went to farmin' an' I been here ever since. I