~Page 5 Chitty-BeU



goin‘tö~te11 yo‘ d~e truth, I don‘t tell no lies. Yes~ ~ dese has been bettertinies to me. I think hit‘s better to work for yourself and b~aTe what you make dan to work for somebody else and, don‘t ~it nuttin‘ out it. ~Iav‘ey days was mighty hard. My marster was good to us (I mean he didn‘t.beat us much, and he give us plenty plain food) but soxae slaves suffered awful. My aunt was beat cruel once, and. lots de other slaves. When dey got ready to beat yo‘, dey‘d. 9trip you‘ stark mother naked and dey‘d say • ‚ Comae here to ni, God damn you ~ Come t o mae e le an Z. Walk u~p to dat trees, and damn you, 1mg dat treel Den dey tie yo‘ hands ‘round de tree, den tie yo‘ feets; den dey‘d lay de rawhide on you and cut yo‘~ buttocks open. Sometimes dey‘d rub turpentine

:	and salt in. de raw plaoes, and den beat you some nio‘. Oh~, hit was awfu1~ And what could you do? Dey had. all de ‘vantage of you. ~

	“I never did git no beatin“ like dat, but I got whuppin‘s plenty o‘ ‘em. I had plenty Ot devilment in me, but I quit all my de vi mie ut whe n I wa s ‘ le d ~ I use t o fight - fi ght wi d an~rthing I could git my han‘s on.

	“You had. to have passes to ~o fr~oni ~ one plantation to ‚ nother. Some de niggers would slip off sometime and go widout a pass, or maybe marster was busy and dey didn‘t want to bôther him for. a pass, so dey go widout ône. ~ In eve‘y dee-‘strick dey had ‘bout twelve men dey call patterollers. Dey ride up and down and aroun‘ looking for niggers widout passes. If dey ever caught you. otf yo‘ plantation wid no pass, dey beat you all over.