of the Burns plantation.

George Taylor Burns was five years of age and helped his mother all day
as she toiled in the wood yards. "The colder the weather, the more hard
work we had to do," declares Uncle George.

George Taylor Burns, the child of Missouri slave parents, recalls the
scenes enacted at the Burns' wood yards so long ago. He is a resident of
Evansville, Indiana and his snow white hair and beard bear testimony
that his days have been already long upon the earth.

Uncle George remembers the time when his infant hands reached in vain
for his mother, the kind and gentle Lucy Burns: Remembers a long cold
winter of snow and ice when boats were tied up to their moorings. Old
master died that winter and many slaves were sold by the heirs, among
them was Lucy Burns. Little George clung to his mother but strong hands
tore away his clasp. Then he watched her cross a distant hill, chained
to a long line of departing slaves. George never saw his parents again
and although the memory of his mother is vivid he scarcely remembers his
father's face. He said, "Father was black but my mother was a bright
mulatto."

Nothing impressed the little boy with such unforgettable imagery as the
cold which descended upon Greogery's Landing one winter. Motherless,
hungry, desolate and unloved, he often cried himself to sleep at night
while each day he was compelled to carry wood. One morning he failed to
come when the horn was sounded to call the slaves to breakfast. "Old
Missus went to the Negro quarters to see what was wrong" and "She was
horrified when she found I was frozen to the bed."