108
81.


r “Nig~er amt got no business being sot free, ni~L;gers still oughter I be slaves. Us niggors did not hey to bother bout do victuals sor nuthin.

‚j tt~Yen my Mjs~j~ called us niggers gether and t old us we was free I was


‚~ as happy as a skinned frog but you seed I didn‘t have any sense. All niggers

are fools. No~ she says, she dii, you can all stay hore en work en we will

pay you foh your work, or you can work foh some body else, hut I he-v raised

~	you hones, and don‘t ~‘z~u steal, and work foh nuf ~ioney so you wont hey to

~	steal it if youse gits hongry and haint got no money to buy vittals jus you ask


I do white folks foh hit and dey will giv hit to youse. Oh how I miss my Missis

!~ and Massa so much. Wish I hod dein now.

—	“Shucks on dose ni~.‘gers and dar ways now. I lef de plantation my old Missus and Massa home and got on a stoe~i ~oat on de Ohio Ri1~her and nursed de chillun foh de Captain and he‘s wife on dat I-‘oat foh about two year. An den He,He,Ho, a nig;:er don got rauch sense, M1~s Fannie an Mr. Harry Campbell whot paid me foh my work on de oat gives F1~~ Dollars foh de work en I‘se didn‘t hey sense nuf ter know what ter do wid dis money. So I goes ter do store en buys me a cedar tub and filled hit wid candy. Miss Fannie gave me hack de money foh de tub an den I ate miff candy ter git siok and den Miss Fannie took

~	de candy back to de store and she got my money back, she did.

	“But shucks, I did not no whot ter do wid de money. Wen I lof Miss Fannie I rode to Henderson on a log raft en wen I got dar dey was a b1~ circus and sum one was sayin, “de perade be here directly, He,He,He, I didn‘t no whot dey meant, big ignorant fool dat I was and still is, en wen I seed de elephants and de uther varmints I ran like a big pop~.eyed fool nigger cause ~ never deed such things. Dat day on do road in town I mot my oie Missu~ McElroy en she had me ter help her wid de ohilluns and tuk me ter de circus and wen I got in.. de tent and saw ai]. de cages and things I was sho scairt öf ebery thing till I

~	seed dem babboons dem I felt ai]. right and at home cause I jes knowed deywas