young at that time to remember now the causes of happenings then.
However, I remained with this man, Drake, on his plantation near
The Hermitage, the home of Gen. Andrew Jackson, until I was
fifteen.

Drake was a bachelor who owned a large number of negro slaves, and
I was brought up to the age mentioned among the negro children of
the place, without schooling, but cuffed and knocked about more
like a worthless puppy than as if I were a human child. I never
saw the inside of a school-house, nor was I taught at home
anything of value. Drake never even undertook to teach me the
difference between good and evil, and my only associates were the
little negro boys that belonged to Drake, or the neighbors. The
only person who offered to control or correct me was an old negro
woman, who so far from being the revered and beloved "Black
Mammy," remembered with deep affection by many southern men and
women, was simply a hideous black tyrant. She abused me
shamefully, and I was punished by her not only for my own
performances that displeased her, but for all the meanness done by
the negro boys under her jurisdiction.

Naturally these negro boys quickly learned that they could escape
punishment by falsely imputing to me all of their mischief and I
was their scape-goat.

Often Drake's negro boys went over to General Jackson's plantation
to play with the negro boys over there and I frequently
accompanied them. One day the old General asked me why I did not
go to school. But I could not tell him. I did not know why. I have
known since that I was not told to go and anyone knows that a boy