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N.C. District # 2 Subject: A GOOD MISTRESS No. Words: 535 Teller: Henrietta McCullers Worker: Mary Micks Eaitor: Daisy Bailey Waitt"
An interview with Henrietta McCullers, eighty-seven years old, of 531 E. Davie Street, Raleigh, North Carolina.
"I wus borned roun' eighty-seben years ago in Make County. He an' my mammy 'longed ter Mis' Betsy Adams an' my pappy 'longed ter Mr. Nat Jones. I think dat Marse Nat had a whole passel o' slaves, but Mis' Betsy ain't had more'n six or seben.
"Yo' ax me iffen Mis' Betsy wus good ter us? She wus so good dat I loved her all her life an' now dat she's daid I loves her in her grave.
"We et de same rations what she et an' we slept in de same kind o' bed she slept in. I knows dat sometimes she'd have company an' she'd do a heap o' extra fixin', but she ain't neber fix better fer de company dan fer us.
"She'd let us have a co'n shuckin' onct a year, an' of course, we had a heap of prayer meetin's an' a few socials. She ain't wanted her niggers ter dance case she am such a good Christian, but she let us have candy pullin's an' sich.
"When de wuck warn't pushin' she'd let us go fishin' an' smimmin' an'all, only we jist waded, case we ain't used enough ter de water. Yo' know dat niggers am natu'lly skeerd o' water anyhow.
"Iffen de wuck wus pushin' we wucked from sunup till dark an' Mis' Betsy wucked too. Man, she wus a wuckin' woman, an' she made us wuck too; but I loves her better dan I does my own chilluns now, an' dat's one reason dat I wants ter go ter heaben. All my life when I done a bad thing I think 'bout Mis' Betsy's teachin's an' I repents.
"I plowed an' dug ditches an' cleaned new groun'; an' hard wuck ain't neber hurted me yit. He master wus too puny to wuck, an' I often thinks dat maybe he married Mis' Betsy to look atter him. Dey only had one man, Uncle Mose, an' so, of course, he had to have some help ter ten' 'bout a hundert acres.
"Lost of our lan' wus planted in feed stuff fer us an' de cattle. An'so we raised ever'thing but de coffee. Sometimes we drunk Japonica tea, an' done without de coffee.
"On Sunday's you should o' seen us in our Sunday bes' goin' ter church 'hind de missus coach, wid ole Uncle Mose high on de box. We can't read de hymns eben iffen we had a book 'cause we ain't 'lowed ter have no books, but we sung jist de same.
"At Christmas time we had a party at de big house. Mis' Betsy had sabed a bushel er so o' de lates' apples an' she made a big dish of lasses candy an' we popped pop corn an' wus happy. Mis' Betsy always give us some clothes an' we had a feas' all through de week or holidays.
"When de Yankees comed dey jist about cleaned us out. Dey kills pigs, turkeys, calves an' hens all over de place, de gits de peserves an' a heap o' de lasses an' dey sass Mis' Betsy. All dis wus dem bed-mannered soldiers' fault, case Abraham Lincoln ain't mean't fer it ter be dis way; I know. I reckon dat most o' dem soldiers wus pore white trash. Bey doan keer 'bout de niggers, but dey ain't wanted our white folks ter be rich.
"De Yankees ain't stayed long in our neighborhood case dey am a-lookin' fer our soldiers, so dey goes away.
"Did I leave atter de war wus ober? Naw sir, I ain't, an' all de rest stayed on too. Uncle Mose stayed on too. Uncle Mose stayed de rest o' his life, but I left two years atterwards when I got married.
"My memory am gittin' so short dat I doan 'member my daddy's name, ner my brothers an' sisters names. I 'member dat my mammy wus named Piety do' an' I 'members my fust lesson from Mis' Betsy, 'Doan lie, an' doan steal, ax fer what you needs, needs, mind you, not what you wants.'" Niggers ort ter be back in slavery now, dey'd be better an'
happier dan dey is. I ain't neber had a whuppin' in my life an' dat's more dan most of dese free niggers can say.
