"Cooked on fireplaces, wasn't no stoves. We did not have to worry about
our clothes. Old missus looked after everything. We wore brogan shoes
and homespun clothes. There was a bunch of women that did the spinning
and weaving just like these sewing room women are now. I was a shoe
maker. I made all the shoes during the time we wasn't farming. We had to
go nice and clean. If old missus caught us dirty our hide was busted. I
got slavery time scars on my back now. You ought to see my back. Scars
been on my back for seventy-five years.

"I never went to school a day in my life. I learned my ABC'S after I was
nineteen years old. I went to night school, then to a teacher by the
name of Nelse Otom. I was the first nigger to join the church on this
side of the Mason and Dixie line. During slavery we all joined the white
folk's church set in the back. After slavery in 1866 they met in
conference and motioned to turn all of the black sheep out then. There
was four or five they turned out here and four or five there, so we
called our preacher and I was the first one to join. Old master asked
our preacher what we paid him to preach to us. We told him old shoes and
clothes. Old master says, 'Well, that's damn poor pay.' Our preacher
says, 'And they got a damn poor preacher.'

"I did not know anything about war. Only I know it began in 1861, closed
in 1865, and I know they fought at Vicksburg. That was two or three
hundred miles from us but we could not keep our dishes upon the table
whenever they shot a bomb. Those bombs would jar the house so hard and
we could see the smoke that far.

"We was allowed to visit Saturday night and Sunday. If you had a wife
you could go to see her Wednesday night and Saturday night and stay with