watch. Evvybody come for dat celebration. Dere was over 300 folks at dat
big dinner, and us had lots of barbecue and all sorts of good things
t'eat. Old Marster was dar, and when I stood up 'fore all dem folks and
said my little speech widout missin' a word, Marster sho did laugh and
clap his hands. He called me over to whar he was settin' and said: 'I
knowed you could larn if you wanted to.' _Best of all, he give me a
whole dollar._ [TR: 'for reciting a speech' written in margin.] I was
rich den, plumb rich. One of my sisters couldn't larn nothin'. De only
letters she could ever say was 'G-O-D.' No matter what you axed her to
spell she allus said 'G-O-D.' She was a good field hand though and a
good 'oman and she lived to be more dan 90 years old.

"Now, talkin' 'bout frolickin', us really used to dance. What I means,
is sho 'nough old-time break-downs. Sometimes us didn't have no music
'cept jus' beatin' time on tin pans and buckets but most times Old Elice
Hudson played his fiddle for us, and it had to be tuned again atter evvy
set us danced. He never knowed but one tune and he played dat over and
over. Sometimes dere was 10 or 15 couples on de floor at de same time
and us didn't think nothin' of dancin' all night long. Us had plenty of
old corn juice for refreshment, and atter Elice had two or three cups of
dat juice, he could git 'Turkey in de Straw' out of dat fiddle lak
nobody's business.

"One time a houseboy from another plantation wanted to come to one of
our Saddy night dances, so his marster told him to shine his boots for
Sunday and fix his hoss for de night and den he could git off for de
frolic. Abraham shined his marster's boots 'till he could see hisself in
'em, and dey looked so grand he was tempted to try 'em on. Dey was a
little tight but he thought he could wear 'em, and he wanted to show
hisself off in 'em at de dance. Dey warn't so easy to walk in and he was