child, I shouted when I wasn't happy. All I could say was, 'Oh pray,
mistress, pray.' That was our way to say Lord have mercy. The last
whipping old miss give me she tied me to a tree and oh my Lord! old miss
whipped me that day. That was the worse whipping I ever got in my life.
I cried and bucked and hollered until I couldn't. I give up for dead and
she wouldn't stop. I stop crying and said to her, 'Old miss, if I were
you and you were me I wouldn't beat you this way.' That struck old
miss's heart and she let me go and she did not have the heart to beat me
any more.

"I did every kind of work when I was a little slave; split rails,
sprouted, ditched, plowed, chopped, and picked and planted.

"I remember young master going to war and I remember hearing the first
gun shoot but I did not see it. I saw the smoke though.

"I never went to school a day in my life. The white folks said we did
not need to learn, if we needed to learn anything they could learn us
with that cow hide whip.

"We went to the white folks' church, so we sit in the back on the floor.
They allowed us to join their church whenever one got ready to join or
felt that the Lord had forgiven them of their sins. We told our
determination; this is what we said: 'I feel that the Lord have forgiven
me for my sins. I have prayed and I feel that I am a better girl. I
belong to master so and so and I am so old.' The white preacher would
then ask our miss and master what they thought about it and if they
could see any change. They would get up and say: 'I notice she don't
steal and I notice she don't lie as much and I notice she works better.'
Then they let us join. We served our mistress and master in slavery-time