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“A man come to Richmond an‘ carried me an‘ pappy an‘

a lot of other niggers ter Looe‘anna jer work in de sugar cane.

I was little but he said I could be a water boy. It sho‘ was

a rough place. Dem niggera quar‘l an‘ fight an‘ kills one ‘nother.

Big Boss, he rich, an‘ doan ‘low no sheriff ter come on his place.

He hoi‘ cou‘t an‘ settle all ‘eputes hisseif. He done bury de dead niggers an‘ put de one whatkilled him back to work,

“A heap of big rattlesnakes lay in dem canebrakes, an‘ ~ dem niggers shoot dey heads off an‘ eat ‘era. It didn‘ kill de niggers. Dem snakes was fat an‘ tender, an‘ fried jee lak

chicken. ~

	~Der8 in Loos ‘anna we doan get no pay ‘tu de work is laid by. Den we ‘se paid big money, no n~ckels~ Moe ‚ of de cullud mens go back to where dey was raised.

	-	“Dat was afte‘ freedom, but my daddy say dat de niggers earn money on Old Bose‘ place even dunn‘ slav‘ry. He give ‘em every other Sat‘dy fer deyse‘vee. Dey cut cordwood fer Bose, wimmens an‘ all, Moe‘ of de mens cut two cords a day an‘ de winunene one. Boss paid ‘em a dollar a cord. Dey save dat money, fer dey doan have to pay it out ter nothin‘. Big Boss didn‘ fail to feed us good an‘ give us our work clo‘ee. An‘ he paid de

	Some cullud men saved enough to buy deyee‘ves frum as free as I is now.