reappeared a short time later and settled down in a comfortable chair he
gave the story of his early life with apparent enjoyment.

In language remarkably free of dialect, John began by telling his full
name and added that he was well known in Georgia and the whole country.
"Until I retired," he remarked, "I taught school in North Carolina, and
in Hall, Jackson, and Rabun Counties, in Georgia. I am farming now about
five miles from Athens in the Sandy Creek district. I was born in 1862
in Macon County, North Carolina, on the George Seller's plantation,
which borders the Little Tennessee River.

"I don't know anything much, first hand, about the war period, as I was
quite a child when that ended, but I can tell you all about the days of
Reconstruction. What I know about the things that took place during the
war was told me by my mother and other old people.

"My father was Bas Van Hook and he married Mary Angel, my mother. Mother
was born on Marse Dillard Love's plantation, and when his daughter, Miss
Jenny, married Marse Thomas Angel's son, Marse Dillard gave Mother to
Miss Jenny and when Little Miss Jenny Angel was born, Mother was her
nurse. Marse Thomas and Miss Jenny Angel died, and Mother stayed right
there keeping house for Little Miss Jenny and looking after her. Mother
had more sense than all the rest of the slaves put together, and she
even did Little Miss Jenny's shopping.

"My father was the only darkey Old Man Isaac Van Hook owned, and he did
anything that came to hand: he was a good carpenter and mechanic and
helped the Van Hooks to build mills, and he made the shoes for that
settlement. Thomas Aaron, George, James, Claude, and Washington were my
five brothers, and my sisters were Zelia, Elizabeth, and Candace. Why,