you better take one to 'er.' I foun' de rope an' carried de bes' cow in
de lot to Miss Farrell.

"Shortly after dat I lef' wid Old Marster to go to North Carolina. Jus'
'fore de war come on, my marster called me to' im an' tol' me he was
a-goin' to take me to North Carolina to his brother for safe keepin'.
Right den I knowed somethin' was wrong. I was a-wishin' from de bottom
o' my heart dat de Yankees 'ud stay out o' us business an' not git us
all 'sturbed in de min'.

"Things went on at his brother's place 'bout lak dey done at home. I
stayed dere all four years o' de war. I couldn' leave 'cause de men
folks all went to de war an' I had to stay an' pertec' de women folks.

"De day peace was declared wagon loads o' people rode all th'ough de
place a-tellin' us 'bout bein' free. De old Colonel was killed in battle
an' his wife had died. De young marster called us in an' said it was all
true, dat us was free as he was, an' us could leave whenever us got
ready. He said his money warnt no good anymore an' he dida' have no
other to pay us wid.

"I can't recollec' if he got new money an' paid us or not, but I do
'member ever' las' one o' us stayed.

"I never lef' dat place' til my young marster, Mr. Jim Johnson, de one
dat was de Supreme Judge, come for me. He was a-livin' in South Carolina
den. He took us all home wid 'im. Us got dere in time to vote for
Gov'nor Wade Hamilton. Us put 'im in office, too. De firs' thing I done
was join de Democrat Club an' hoped[FN: helped] 'em run all o' de
scalawags away from de place. My young marster had always tol' me to