Rachel came to the front door with a sandwich of hoecake and cheese in
one hand and a glass of water in the other. "Dis here's Rachel Adams,"
she declared. "Have a seat on de porch." Rachel is tall, thin, very
black, and wears glasses. Her faded pink outing wrapper was partly
covered by an apron made of a heavy meal sack. Tennis shoes, worn
without hose, and a man's black hat completed her outfit.

Rachel began her story by saying: "Miss, dats been sich a long time back
dat I has most forgot how things went. Anyhow I was borned in Putman
County 'bout two miles from Eatonton, Georgia. My Ma and Pa was 'Melia
and Iaaac Little and, far as I knows, dey was borned and bred in dat
same county. Pa, he was sold away from Ma when I was still a baby. Ma's
job was to weave all de cloth for de white folks. I have wore many a
dress made out of de homespun what she wove. Dere was 17 of us chillun,
and I can't 'member de names of but two of 'em now--dey was John and
Sarah. John was Ma's onliest son; all de rest of de other 16 of us was
gals.

"Us lived in mud-daubed log cabins what had old stack chimblies made out
of sticks and mud. Our old home-made beds didn't have no slats or metal
springs neither. Dey used stout cords for springs. De cloth what dey
made the ticks of dem old hay mattresses and pillows out of was so
coarse dat it scratched us little chillun most to death, it seemed lak
to us dem days. I kin still feel dem old hay mattresses under me now.
Evvy time I moved at night it sounded lak de wind blowin' through dem
peach trees and bamboos 'round de front of de house whar I lives now.

"Grandma Anna was 115 years old when she died. She had done wore herself
out in slavery time. Grandpa, he was sold off somewhar. Both of 'em was
field hands.