It's so long, honey, I jest can't 'member the names,
'excusing one. It was "Hark, from the Tombs a Doleful Sound." It was a
burying song; wagons a-walking slow like; all that stuff. It was the
most onliest song they knowed. They was other music, though. Could they
play the fiddle in them days, unh, unh! Lordy, iffen I could take you
back and show you that handsome white lady what put me on the floor and
learned me to dance the contillion!
I'm a-thinking we're a-living in the last days, honey, what does you
think? Yes, Mam! We sure is living in the seventh seal. The days of
tribulations is on us right now. Nothing make like it used to. I sure
would be proud iffen I knowed I had a living for the balance of my days.
I got a clean and a clear heart--a clean and clear heart. Be so to your
neighbors and God will make it up to you. He sure will, honey."
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: Mattie Fritz, Clarendon, Arkansas
Age: 79
"I was born at Duncan, Arkansas. Mother died when I was a baby. Old
slavery black 'Mammy' raised me. I called her 'Mammy'. My father was
born in the State of Mississippi. He got loose there at 'mancipation.
His master Jack Oates got killed in battle.
Pages:
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405