"Then we had three banjos. The musicians was William Word, Uncle Dan
Porter, and Miles Porter. Did we dance? Square dance. Then if somebody
been wantin' to marry they step over the broom and it be nounced they
married. You can't get nobody--colored folks I mean--to step over a
broom; they say it bad luck. If it fall and they step over they step
back. They say if somebody sweep under your feet you won't marry that
year. Folks didn't visit round much. They had some place to go they went
but they had to work. They work together and done mighty little--idle
vistin'. Folks took the knitting long visting lest it be Sunday.
"White women wouldn't nurse their own babies cause it would make their
breast fall. They would bring a healthy woman and a clean woman up to
the house. They had a house close by. She would nurse her baby and the
white baby, too. They would feed her everything she wanted. She didn't
have to work cause the milk would be hot to give the babies. Dannie and
my brother Bradford, and Mary my sister and Miss Maggie nursed my mama.
Rich women didn't nurse their babies, never did, cause it would cause
their breast to be flat.
"My papa was the last slave to die.
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