wood, but I was crazy to larn how to plow an' when I could I would slip
off an' get a old black man to let me walk by his side an' hold de lines
an' I thought I was big 'nouf to plow.

"Marse Murry didn' have no overseer. He made de slaves work, an' he was
good an' kind to 'em, but when dey didn' do right he would whip 'em, but
he didn' beat 'em. He niver stripped 'em to whip 'em. Yes ma'm, he
whipped me but I needed it. One day I tol' him I was not goin' to do
whut he tol' me to do--feed de mule--but when he got through wid me I
_wanted_ to feed dat mule.

"I come to live wid Marse Murry 'fo dar was a town here. Dar was only
fo' houses in dis place when I was a boy. I seed de fust train dat come
to dis here town an' it made so much noise dat I run frum it. Dat smoke
puffed out'n de top an' de bell was ringin' an' all de racket it did
make made me skeered.

"I heered dem talkin' 'bout de war but I didn' know whut dey meant an'
one day Marse Murry said he had jined de Quitman Guards an' was goin' to
de war an' I had to go wid him. Old Missus cried an' my mammy cried but
I thought it would be fun. He tuk me 'long an' I waited on him. I kept
his boots shinin' so yer could see yer face in 'em. I brung him water
an' fed an' cur'ied his hoss an' put his saddle on de hoss fer him. Old
Missus tol' me to be good to him an' I was.

"One day I was standin' by de hoss an' a ball kilt[FN: killed] de hoss
an' he fell over dead an' den I cried like it mout[FN: might] be my
brudder. I went way up in Tennessee an' den I was at Port Hudson. I seed
men fall dawn an' die; dey was kilt like pigs. Marse Murry was shot an'
I stayed wid him 'til dey could git him home. Dey lef' me behin' an'