Ex-.slave Stories	~ ~
	C Texas ).		11)7






	ltDey had a li‘ 1 church house for de niggers and preachin‘ ~ in de afternoon, and on o de n ight 1 ot s of t imes . Dey have de c~tl lud p r~ cher • He dn‘ t re~. He jes‘ preach from nat‘ral wit and.what he lam from white folks. De whole outfit profess to be Baptis‘.

	“De marryin‘ business go through by what massa say. De fellol git de ni~Ssa1s consen‘. Massa mos‘ly say yes without waitin‘, ‘cau~e marr~Tin‘ mean more ni~ers for him com~n‘ on. H~ git de jedge or preacher to marr~r dem. Iffen de man live on one plantation and de gal on ‘nother, he have to git de pass to go see ber, Dat so de patterro].lers not git hirn.

	~‘Ds slaves used to have balls and. frolics in dey cabins, But iffen dey go to de frolic on ‘nother plantation dey git de pass. Dat so dey c~n cotch runaway niggers. I never heared of stealin‘ niggers, ‘cept dis.‘a—way. Sometime de runaway nigger ~it fifty or hundred miles away and show up d.ere as de stray slave. Dat massa where he show up take care of him so long, den lay claim to him, Dat call harborin‘ de nigger,

	“Dey lots of places where de young massas has heirs by nigger gals. Dey dem jest like other slav.~. Dat purty common. It seem like de white wo~nen

t mind. Dey ~ Iject, tc~se dat mean more slaves.

“Sometimes de white folks bas de big deer drive. Dem and de niggers go .~ . clown in de bottons to drive deers up. Dey rid big, fine ho~ses and ste~t de

	deers ru.nnin‘. Dey raise dere own dogs. Massa sho‘ caref~il ‘bout he hounds. ; He train dem good end treat dem good, too. He have somethin‘ cook reg‘lar for ~ ctt~n. D•y hunts foxes ~d wolves and plenty d.m kinds va~ints,

‚	‘II seen sojsrs by d.. thousands. When tmp~cip~tion coins out massa come to
~ ~ bacic door with de paper and say, ‚ Tous free. ~	He f‘n‘nish dem WI th all dey
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