Pa was a cripple man. He was a
soldier. He said he never was shot and never shot no one. He was on a
horse and going this way (reeling from side to side dodging the
shooting) all time. A horse throwed him and hurt his hip in the army.
After that he limped. He drew a pension. I limps but I'm better as I got
grown. I'm marked after him. One of my children I named after him what
died was cripple like him. My little George died when he was ten. He was
marked at birth after his grandpa. I had ten, jus' got five living
children.
"My husband's father's father was in the Civil War. He didn't want to go
out on battle-field, so in the camps he cut his eyeball with his
fingernail so he could get to go to the horsepital. His eye went out. He
hurt it too near the sight. He said he was sorry the rest of his life he
done that. He got a pension too. He was blind and always was sorry for
his disobedience. He said he was scared so bad he 'bout leave die then
as go into the battlefield.
"In some ways times is better. People are no better. Children jus'
growing up wild. Their education is of the head and not their heart and
hands.
"I was raised around Little Rock is about right. I gets a pension.
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