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Mah mammy tole me sh was jes fo' year ole wen de war end, so ah don Imember much 'bout fo' de war. Ole Massa was buckner Caldwell an' ole Missus, we a'ways call Miss Coon, dat de only name ah knows huh by, jes Miss Coon. He war a fine ole man but she war a hard one. Ah was name aftuh young Missie Harriet.
"De white folks had a fine house, a very lawge house standin' high up on a bluff 'bout a mile an three Quawterhs fum, Cumbuhlain' Rivuh. Dat was in Smith County, Tennessee.
"Ah don rightly 'member 'bout how many slaves dey hed, but dere war sev'ral cabins whut us cullud folks live in.
"Mah mammy and daddy was Sarah an Bob Tadwell. Mammy was raised in Vuhginyuh an' when she was sixteen yeah ole she was put on de block an' sold in Nashville.
"Mah mammy was a seamstress. She nevuh work in de fiel', an' she don' know nuthin' 'bout cookin', but she do fine sewin'. When dey put her on de block dey has some o' huh work dar tuh show what fine sewin' she kin do. Yuh know all de sewin war done by han' an mah mammy'd sew sometime till huh finguhs nearly drap off. She sew de fines' tucks an' she make all dem fine tuck bosom shurts fo' de men.
"One time a man come an' wunna buy mammy an me. Miss Coon was gonna sell us unbecknownst to ole Massa. Ole Massa wouldn' sell none o' his people, but Miss Coon ahways try to put things ovuh on him an' he couldn' do nuthin 'bout it but go git drunk. Ole Miss Coon put de price on us a way up high-cause mammy sech a fine seamstress an' ah was ahways a buxum chile, nevuh sick er nuthin. But he say dat too much an' he go on home. Aftuh while wen dey so much talk bout freein' de niggers Miss Coon sont in word dat she come way down on de price but he sont back word dat' he got ez much sense as she got.
"We lof' thar when we 'us free. My mammy ahways got work a sewin'. Ah stayed wuth one white woman fifteen year.
"Yessum de Ku Huxes cum aroun' right smaht. De woman ah stayed wuth wouldn' 'low no Poolishness roun' her place an' dey nevuh bothuh huh none, but dey beat up some o' de neighbors. One ole man dey beat till he die."
