"My old lady had seven chulluns dat lived to git grown. Two of 'em lived
here in Magnolia an' de others gone North. Maggie is daid an' I live wid
my boy Walter an' his wife Lena. Dey is mighty good to me. I owns dis
here house an' fo' acres but day live wid me an' I gits a Confed'rate
pension of fo' dollars a month. Dat gives me my coffee an' 'bacco. I'se
proud I'se a old sojer, I seed de men fall when dey was shot but I was
not skeered. We et bread when we could git it an' if we couldn' git it
we done widout.

"Afte' I lef' Mr. Lampton I'se come here an' went to work fer Mr. Enoch
at Fernwood when his mill was jes a old rattletrap of a mill. I work fer
him 45 years. At fust I hauled timber out'n de woods an' afte' whil'st I
hauled lumber to town to build houses. I sometimes collec' fer de lumber
but I niver lost one nickle, an' dem white folks says I sho' was a
honest nigger.

"I lived here on dis spot an' rode a wheel to Fernwood every day, an'
fed de teams an' hitched 'em to de wagons an' I was niver late an' niver
stopped fer anything, an' my wheel niver was in de shop. I niver 'lowed
anybody to prank wid it, an' dat wheel was broke up by my gran'chulluns.

"Afte I quit work at de mill I'se come home an' plow gardens fer de
white folks an' make some more money. I sho' could plow.

"I jined de New Zion Baptist Church here in Magnolia an' was baptized in
de Tanghipoa River one Sunday evenin'. I was so happy dat I shouted, me
an' my wife bofe. I'se still a member of dat church but I do not preach
an' I'm not no deacon; I'se jes a bench member an' a mighty po' one at
dat. My wife was buried frum dat church.