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He libbed way off 'en de backwoods, six mile tuther side o' Jackson, near Fruitland, and Ah's feared dey ain't much Ah ken tell yuh. My ole Masse was John McNeely, Ah don' rightly member mah ole Missus McNeely but when she die, ole Massa marry young Elssie Harries fum down tow'ds de ribber. De white folks has a fine big white house an ve'ens had a little log house. Dey was lot's a nut trees roun' dere an in de fall o' de year we'ens usta gather lotsa nuts--hicker' nuts, walnuts, and' dey was hazel nuts too.
Ky Mammy's name ?--les' see now--dey calls her Minnie--yes dats it Minnie. Youh see mah mind aint so clear but when Ah talks 'bout em dey kinda comes back tuh me. Mah pappy's name was John Mitchell and he belong to a neighbor. I'se little and didn't hab much work to do. Jas chores, like heppin' to carry in wood and sech like, but mos'ly I'se jes' playin' an' tom-boyin' aroun'.
Ole Massa had three boys at went off to war--Dey was Ab, an' Bob' an' Jack. We nebber seed no fightin' roun' our way but sometime we heerd de cannon fum Cape. One time dey was lotsa sojers cum pass our place an dey had lot sa wagons an' things. Ah ain't nebber seed so many men an' I'se plum scared to death, but dey nebber bother none.
We had big fields o' wheat an cahn an sich, but mah mammy didden work in de fiel' she spin an she weave. Ah could spin too. Ah's fill de quills and Ah I'd hep her thread de loom. De loom stood out on de big porch and Ah kin jes see her sittin dar. She'd push de thread through tuh me an'den Ah'd ketch it and pull it torough an han it back tuh her.
When de war was over, Ole Massa call tuh me an' he say "Clara, you know de war is over"--an Ah say "Whar was it?" Ah nebber know'd nuthin 'bout de war.
No'm, Ah dan' know nuthin 'bout ghosts an sich like, but when Ah dies Ah specks to go to Hebbin an' LawdiAh's gonna sit all day an' shout an' sing, and clap mah han's an' stomp mah feet! Oh Lawd! Dat's gonna be a happy time."
Clara McNeely Harrall, probably 80 or 82 years old lives in hollow--no street mmber west from Washington School, Cape Girardeau, Mo.
