I stayed wid mah muthah at night but mah mistress raised me. I
nussed mah mutha's gran'chile. I churned and sot de table. When de baby
go to sleep in de evenin' I put hit in de cradle. An' I'd lay down by
the cradle and go to sleep. Every evenin' I'd go git _lida knots_. I
played a lots. I wuz born 1849. We played Susanna Gals, and we just
played jump rope. Jes' we gals did. We played calling' cows. Dey'd come
to us and we run from um. My [TR: 'I' corrected to 'My'] mistess wuz a
millionaire. I went to school a while. I can count only lit bit. One uz
de girl made fun uz me. She kotch me nodding and we fit dare in de
school house. Old log school house. Dey had two big rooms. Ah went to de
ole fokes' church. Young un too. We'd cry if we didn't git ter go ter
church wid ma and pa.
Our table was sot under a china berry tree and ooo-eee chile I can see
hit now. We et on a loal (oil) table cloth. When dey called us to de
table dey would ring a bell. We didn' eat out uz plates. We et outn
gourds. We all et outn gourds. When I got big nuff ter cook I cooked
den. We had plenty to eat. We raised who-eee plenty meat. We raised our
sugar, rice, peas, chikens, eggs, cows. Who-eee chile we had plenty to
eat.
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