"A man didn' git to see his wife 'cept twict a week. Dat was Wednesday
an' Satu'd'y night.

"De women had to walk a chalk line. I never hear'd tell o' wives runnin'
'roun' wid other men in dem days.

"I was raised in Jasper County. Marster bought lan' from ever'body
'roun' 'til he had a big plantation. He had Niggers, horses, mules,
cows, hogs, an' chickens. He was a rich man, den.

"Ever' Nigger had a house o' his own. My ma never would have no board
floor like de res' of' em, on' count she was a African--only dirt. (Dey
say she was 108 year old when she died.)

"Us went to church wid de white folks if us wanted to. Dey didn' make
us. I didn' go much, 'cause I didn' have 'ligion, den. Us didn' have no
schoolin'. Us could go to school wid de white chillun if us wanted to,
but didn' nobody teach us. I's educated, but I aint educated in de
books. I's educated by de licks an' bumps I got.

"My white folks was good people an' didn' whup nobody, 'less dey needed
it. Some o' de Niggers was sho' 'nough bad. Dey used to take de
marster's horses out at night an' ride 'em down. One Nigger, Sam, got
dat mad at a mule for grabbin' at cotton he cut his tongue out. Course,
Marster whupped him, but when he went to look for 'im 'bout a hour
after, he foun' 'im soun' asleep. Said he ought to kill 'im, but he
didn'.

"When we was sick dey had a doctor for us jus' like dey done for