|
|
"In de ole' days we live in Arkansaw, in Greene County. My mammy was Mary-Ann Millen, an' we belong to 'Masse' John Nutt, an' 'Miss' Nancy.'
"Our white folks live in a big double house, wid a open hall between. It was built of hewed logs an' had a big po'ch on de wes' side. De house stood on Cashrivuh, at the crossroads of three roads; one road go tuh Pocahontas, one tuh Jonesturg, an' one tuh Pie-Hatten, (Powhatan).
"Now whut fo' you wanna' know all dem things? Air ye tryin' to raise de daid? Some o' 'em, ah don' wanna see no mo', an' some o' 'em ah wants to stay whar dey is. Pore mammy! Ah shore had one sweet muthuh, an' ah wants huh to stay at rest.
"De was jus' us one family o' cullud folks on de place. You see, 'Miss' Nancy' hired us fum her fathuh, 'Ole Massa Hanover. Jes' mah mammy an' huh chillern. She had five, 'fore de war was ovuh. Cur daddy; he was an Irishman, name Millan, an' he had de bigges' still in sll Arkansas. Yes'm, he had a white wife, an' five chillern at home, but mah mammy say he like huh an' she like him. You say ah don' look half white? Maybe I's fadin'.
"We live in a little ole' log house, it was so low a big feller had to stoop to git in. Our folks wus mighty good tuh us, an' we stayed dar wid 'um after we's freed.
"Ah don' rightly know how old eh is, but de Priest writ' it all down fo' me, when ah's gittin' mah pension. Sho' ah's a Catholic. Is they anything else? Fo' fifteen year ah tended de Catholic church, swept an' dusted, an' cleaned, but ah's too ole' fo' dat now, an' ah's po'ly in mah back, cain't git 'round' like dat no mo'.
"We lived de ole'-time way of livin', mammy done de cookin an' we had plenty good tthings to eat. Mammy made all de clothes, spinnin', an' weavin' an' sewin'. Ah larned to spin when ah was too little tuh reach de broach, an' ah could hep her threed de loom. An' mammy was a shoe-maker, she'd make moccasine for all o' us.
"Two o' the Nutt boys made shoes too, heavy, big ones dey was; but dey kep' our feet??
An' de had a tan hand. Ah uste wade barefooted in dem pit's an' work wid dem hides, but ah wouldn't wanna do it now.
"Dey was a grove o' post-cak timber, 'bout five, or six acres, all cleaned out; an' in der, dey raised bear cubs. Why, dey raised 'em tuh eat. Lawd: dat's good eatin'. Jes' gimme a' bear meat an' den let me go tuh sleep! M-m-m:
"They was fruit trees planted all 'long de road, planted jes' like fence-posts for 'bout a mile, an' all de fruit dat fell in de road de hogs got, we'ens could go get any of it, any time, an' trevelers, 'long de road, was away's welcome ter hep dey selves. 'Massa' nevuh planted no shade trees. Iffen trees was planted dey had to be fruit trees. 'Ceptin' de holly bush, he like dat 'cause its green in winter.
"They wus some flowers 'round de house. Snow-balls, batchelor-buttons, old-maids; jes' such old-fashion ones, no roses, n'er nuthin' like dat.
"Masse' raise some cotton, but 'Ole Masse' Hanover had sech a big cotton petch yuh conldn't look scross it. An' dey all kind'a fowls yu'd find any where's, guinie's Ducks, n' geese, n' turkey's, n' peafowl's, an' lotsa chicken's a' 'cose.
"My mamma could hunt good ez any man. Us'tuh be a coup'la pedluh men come 'round' wuth they packs. My mammy'd a'ways have a pile o' hides tuh trade with 'em fer calico prints n' trinkets, n' sech-like, but mos'ly fo' calico prints. She'd have coon hides n' deer n' mink, n' beavers, lawd! I kin still hear dem beavers slashin' 'round' dat dam. Dis time 'er marning' dey's a'way's shore busy. An' folks in cities goes tuh pawks now to see sech animal. Hun! Ah seen all 'em things ah wants tuh see.
Good Lawd! We didden' know whut church was n'er school nuther, an' the whites nevuh nutthur. Dey was a couple o' men us'ta come by, an' hole a camp-meeting. Dey'd build a big arbuh, with branches o' leaves over de top, an' build benohes; dey'd come aftuh crops was laid by, an' preach 'til cotton was openin'. Ah never knowd whut sect dey belong to, n' er whar dey go, n'er what dey come fun 'nuther.
"Yes'm, we seed sojers, an' we seed lot's o' 'em. Dah was de'blue-coats'; some
O' de folks call'em 'Bluebelly Yank's, dey had fine blue coats an' the brass buttone all ovuh the front o' 'em shinin' like stahs. Dey cell us little cullud folks', cubs', an'; dey burn down Jonesburg. Yes'm we seed Jonesburg down in ashes. Dem 'Blue-coat's' was devils, but de 'gray-coats was wusser. Dey turn over our bee-gums an' dey kill our steers, an' carry off our provisions, an' whut dey couldn't carry off dey ruint. Den dey go roun' killin' all de cullud men an' bayanettin' de chillern.
"No, dat wuzzen' de 'gray-coats' doin' de killin', dat was 'bushwackers' an' 'Ku Klux'ers', dey sho' was bad. Dey shot my little sistuh in back o' her neck an' day shot me in de laig. See dat scar, dat whar dey shoot me. An' dey kill my gran' fathuh; dey sho' did.
"Gran'fathuh's name was 'Jim Hanover', 'Ole Massa Hanover', he was a lawyer, an' he educated mah gran'fathuh tuh be a overseuh. He lived wid' 'Massa Hanover for long time. He was a good man, mah gran'fathuh was, an' he was smart too, an' when de war surrenduh, dey make him Mayor of Pie-hatten, an' he made a good mayer too; people all said so, an' dey was gonna' 'lect him fo' foe mo' year, an' de 'Ku Klux'ers said dey was men' gonna have no 'nigguh' mayor. So dey tuk him out and' killed him. Dey was awful times. Now you know dat wuzzen right an' who's de curse fo' such things gonna rest on?
"Ah disamembuh jes' when we come tuh Missouri, but it was when 'Hayes,* 'an 'Wheeler' was 'lected President. Down in Arkansas dey say dey gonna make us all vote Democrat. My step-daddy say he die 'fore he vote Democrat.
"Der was two white men say dey'd get us to Cape Girds. Dey had two covered wagons, an' dey was forty-eight o' us cullud folks. We put our belongin's in de wagon. Dey was a coupl'a ole' gramma's rode in de wagons, an' some little feller's, but de rest of us walk ever step o' de way. An' it rained on us ever' step o' de way. At night we'd lay down to sleep unduh de wagon so tired we nevuh even know'd it was rainin'.
"When we got to St. Francis Rivuh dey ferried us across on a big flat, an' had a rope tied across de rivuh to pull us ovuh. But we had to ford 'White watuh', an Castuh rivuh, an' Niggerwool' swamp, When we'd come to de rivuh de white man 'ud say: 'Ack like sojers'. De hosses 'ud swim across, pullin' de wagon, some o' de big folks 'ud grab hols' de feed box an' de reat 'ud each grab roun' de one in front an' dat way we fords de rivuhs, wid stings a' folk hangin' out behin' de wagons.
"Hoo-doos', ghosts's er signs? No man! Ah don' believe in none of dat. Now you is tryin' to call up de devil. But wait! Ah kin tell you one sign dat ah knows is tree. If de dog jes' lays outside de do' sleepin' an' has his haid inside de do', you's gonna' git a new member in de family befo' de year is out. An' jes' de othuh way roun'. Ef de dog lays sleepin' inside de do' an' has his haid hangin' out, you's gwine a lose a 'membuh o' yuh family fo' de end a' de yeah.
"Dey was sumpin' funny happen when ma little girl die sometime ago. She was a sweet chile. She was stayin' wuth Miss' English on Henderson Ave., an' she lost her mind. Ah don' know whut's a matter wuth her, but ah brung her home to take keer o' her, but she don' get no bettuh. One day she's standin', lookin' out de front de' an' she holler: 'Heah dey's comin' aftuh me'. Ah don' know whut she see, but she run to de back room an' stan' right dere.
Her daddy an' me look at huh an' dar was a big ball o' fire hangin' ovuh her haid. We picked huh up, an' put huh to bed. We sent fo' de doctah an' fo' de Priest, an' we got de nurset we had when she fust took sick. I nevuh knowed whut was de mattuh with her. De Priest wouldn't tell me, de doctuh wouldn't tell me, an' ah guess de nurse was oz green about it oz ah was. Some folks tell me she was conjured. Mah po' little girl".
