Sylvester Brooks

Sylvester Brooks , 87, was born in Green County, Alabama, a slave of Josiah Collier . The old Negro's memory is poor, but he managed to recall a few incidents of slave days. He lives in Mart, Texas.  "I's born 'bout de year 1850, near de Tom Bigbee river in Alabama, on a plantation own by Marse Josiah Collier . My folks was Henderson and Martha Brooks and I's de only child den.  "Marse Collier owned seventy fam'lies of slaves and dey all lived in dey quarters 'bout a mile from de big house. When freedom come Marse Collier sent for all de slaves and lines us up in a row, two deep, and helt up he hands and say, 'Boys, you is free as I is. All of you what wants to can go, and all of you what wants to can work for me on wages dis year. Next year I'll give you a crop or work for wages.' Dey all stays but two, and one of dem two my daddy, and he lef' mammy and six chillen and never come back.  "Us stays on till Marse Collier and Missus both dies, and den stays with he oldes' gal, and didn't go 'way till we's growed and has fam'lies of our own. "I 'members best de Fourth of July. De white folks have lots to eat for dem and us and we plays games and goes swimmin'.  "Next thing I 'members is de patterrollers, 'cause dey whip me every time dey cotches me without my pass. Dat de way dey make us stay home at night. and it made good niggers out of us, 'cause we couldn't chase round and git in no meanness.
"Old Marse often told me 'bout de stars fallin'. It was 'long 'bout sundown and growed dark all a sudden and de chickens goes to roost. Den some stars with long tails 'gins to shoot, den it look like all de stars had come out of Heave, and did dey fall! De stars not all what fell. De white folks and de niggers fell on dere knees, prayin' to Gawd to save dem iffen de world comin' to a end, and de women folks all run down in de cellar and stayed till mornin'. Old Mars say it was in 1833, and he say dem stars fall a while and quit awhile, like de showers when it rains 'Bout a year after freedom Old Marse give us a piece of land for a church and dis was de school, too. De preacher's name was Christmas Crawford , and dat de reason I 'members it, it so funny to us. De nigger teacher named Nimron . De niggers has de blueback spellers and larns 'rithmetic, too."On Thanksgivin' Day de niggers goes round to de white folks houses and gives a ser'nade, like dis:

'De old bee make de honeycomb,
De young bee make de honey -
De nigger make de cotton and corn,
And de white folks git de money.
"De raccoon he a curious man.
He never works till dark;
Nothin' ever 'sturbs he mind.
Till he hear old Towser bark.'

"Den de white folks asks us in and help ourselves to de cake or wine or whatever dey has, and we does dis on Christmas, too. "We had a song we'd sing when we's thinkin' of comin' to Texas:
"'We'll put for de South, for seven-up and loo.
Chime in, niggers, won't you come 'long, too?
No use talkin' when de nigger wants to go,
Where de corn top blossoms and canebrakes grow.
Come 'long, Cuba, and dance de polka juba,
Way down South, where de corn tops grow.'
"I'd like to be in old Alabama to die, but Old Marse and Missus gone, and it ain't no use goin' dere no more.

"I was born about de year 1850 near de Tom Bigbee ribber in Green County, Alabama, on a plantashun owned by Mr. Josiah Collier , my parents were Henderson an' Martha Brooks , I was de only chile at dat time. "Our old Marster owned seventy families of slaves, dey lived in quarters a mile from de big house whar Marster an his fambly lived. Dey had three girls an' a boy, de girls name was Fannie , Lela an' Lucy , an de boy was named Josiah , after de Marster.  "When freedom cum de Marster sent fer de slaves, an w'en dey cum he lined dem in a row, two deep, and held up his hands an' said, "Boys you is as free as I am, all of you dat want to go can go, an' all of you dat want to stay can stay an' work on fer wages dis year an nex' year I give you a crop or work fer wages, which way you want to work." Dey all stayed but two, an' I am sorry dat one of de two was my daddy, he lef' my mammy wid six chillun an' never cum back.  "We stayed on until he an de old Mistis bof' died, an' den we stayed wid his oldest girl fer he left us in her care, we did not go away until we was grown an' had famblies of our own, an my mother did not leave until de daughter died.
 "You wants to know some of de things dat happened an' what we did when we lived wid de old Marster in Alabam? I kin member lots of things dat we did an dat happened, one of de things dat I likes to think of was de Fourth of July, de white folks had big picnics an we always went an' had as big time celebratin' as dey did.  "De white folks barbecue cow, calf and hogs, enough fer us all, den we play games an' go swimmin, we played ball wid de white boys but we did not know how to play baseball like dey do now, we had our celebrashuns fer our freedom wid de white folks on de Fourth of July as long as we lived in Alabam, I never heard of de nineteenth of June until I cum to Texas. "De nex' thing dat I members mighty well is de patty rollers, kase dey whipped me ebery time dat dey ketch me away wid-out a pass, an' many is de times dat I have seen dem ridin' aroun' at night lookin' to see efn dey any niggers out dat ought to be at home, dat is de way dey made us stay home at night, hit made good niggers out of us fer we did'nt have a chance to chase aroun' an' git into meanness, when we did go off de plantashun we had to have a pass from de overseer er de old Marster, dat's why dey sung, "Run Nigger Run, about de Patty Rollers.  "Den I must tell you 'bout de stars fallin', hit seems dat hit was in de afternoon, long 'bout sundown, but I wont be sure, hit grew dark all of a sudden like hit was goin' to rain, de chickens thought hit was night an dey went to roost, direckly a few stars wid long tails commenced to shoot, den hit looked like all de stars had cum out in hebben, an did dey fall? De stars was not all dat fell, hit was de white folks an' niggers bofe' fell on der knees prayin ter God ter save dem efn de world was comin' ter an end, de wimmen folks ole Mistis an de girls all run down in de cellar and stayed 'till mornin' my ole Mistis tell me 'bout her mammy an de folks dem days. "My ole Marster tell us 'bout hit too, he say hit was 'bout de year eighteen-hundred and thirty-three, he say dat de stars fell all night, would quit awhile an rest an den go to fallin' again, like de showers when hit rains. Part of de people stayed up an' watched hit an' part stayed on dar knees prayin. "Den I tell you bout how dey went to church when I was a boy, de Marster was not a prayin man so he did not go, but de wimmen did, when dey git ready ter go dey call de groom ter drive fer dem, dey had a pair of big roan horses an dey drove to de little village near whar dey lived, hit was called Mt. Hebron, an' dey had a church an' school three stores an' a gin. "De white folks went to church in de mornin' an' de niggers in de afternoons, our Marster made us all be at de plantashun by time de sun set. About a year after freedom de Marster gave de niggers a little piece of land fer de church and helped dem ter build hit, dey built hit out o' pine logs and chinked de cracks up wid clay an straw, and dis was de school too, de white teacher was first, den de Marster got us a nigger teacher nex', his name was Nimron , we had lots of fun 'bout his name, de preacher's name was Chrismus Crawford , an dat is de reason I 'members de names bakase dey was funny to us, but we didn't let dem know hit.  De school had one room, an' every nigger dat was big enough to go went to hit, dey had an old blue back speller, an' I dont 'member de name of de reader an de 'rithmetic, an' dat was all, efn we learned to add up figgers an' read an' spell a little den we was thro' school.  "Long 'bout Thanksgivin' de big boys an' girls would get togedder an go roun to de white folks houses, an de quarters too an give dem a serenade, one of de songs dat dey sang was dis:  "De Ole bee make de honey-comb, De young bee make de honey, De nigger make de cotton an' de corn, An' de white folks git de money. "De raccoon he's a cu'us man, He never works twil dark, En 'nuthin' never 'sturbs his mine, Twel he hear ole Towser bark.  "By dat time de folks all up whar we sernade dem an dey has us ter cum on in an' help ourselves to de cake or wine or whatever dey has fer us ter eat or drink, we do dis ebery Chrismus an Thanksgivin'. "Den we had a song we sung dat went like dis wen we starts ter go home, "Hits eighteen-hundred an' forty-nine, Christ done tu'n dat water into wine--- You ax me ter run home, Little children Run home, dat sun done roll An' I don't wanter stay here no longer. "We had a song we sung wen we is talkin of cumin ter Texas, we felt like we was cumin way out wes', an' in dem days Texas was de place ter go We'll put fer de Souf' ah, dats de place fer de steeplechase, An' de bully hoss race, poker brag, Euchre, seven-up an' loo, Dem chime in niggers, wont yer cum along too? No use talkin wen de nigger wants ter go, What de corn top blossoms an de cane brakes grow, Den cum along Cuba an' we'll dance de polka juba, Way down Souf' whar de corn tops grow. "We cum to Texas after me an my wife had a fambly an' lived in Robertson, County befor' we moved to Limestone County near Mart. Dis country was so different to de ole states, but we made more money an' so we made ourselves satisfied, we stayed on Mr. J. W. Kemper's place fer fifteen years, my folks all dead but one grandson, an' de Government is takin' care of me, used ter be so easy ter live, now we cant even afford ter have some hogs, de feed so high, I feels like I would like ter see Mr. Roosebelt live a long an' happy life, he has made hit easier fer de ole folks.  "Yes'm I would like ter be in old Alabam' ter die, but den de Ole Massa gone, de ole Missus an' de young Missus gone an young Massa all my folks done gone on ter jine dem in de udder world so I had as well be here whar I know my frien's.  "I loves dis old song an' hit always bring back de folks an' de good old days ter me, an' makes me wish dat I could live dem over once more.  "Round de meadows an a-ring-in'. De darkies moanful songs, While de mockin' birds am singin' Happy as de day is long. Where de ivy am a creepin' o'er de grassy mound, Dar old massa am a sleep-in, sleepin in de cold cold ground.  "My favorite preacher was Tate Howard , a Baptist preacher. My favorite songs are How Firm a Foundation, Life is Like a Mountain Railroad, and The Great Titanic. I used to sing quite a lot myself, but I don't so much now since I've got so old. "I don't remember any ghost stories. Once, though, I got scared of what I thought was a ghost. I was goin' along a road one night soon after dark, dat passed by a stone quarry where seven men was crushed to death by a slide or a load of stone. I saw sumethin' white about as big as my hand ahead of me in de road. Well, I don't know as I ekzackly believes in ghosts, but all I could think of was them seven dead men, and I got so scared I couldn't hardly get my breath, and I couldn't run, and I couldn't holler. I was in an awful fix, and that white was comin' toward me and gettin' bigger as it come. I couldn't turn 'round and run. Maybe I didn't think it, I don't know now; I was so scared. It kept comin' toward me, and it looked like it was ten feet tall. I tried to holler, Hey, you, but I couldn't make much more noise than a groan. The thing kept comin' on, and all it was was a cow.  "I lived in an 'round Dayton till I come to Texas in 1910. I knew the folks well where William Jennings Bryan died, and where he stayed when he had de debate with Clarence Darrow 'bout evolution. Dere name was Rogers , and I done dere yard and garden work many a time. Dey was fine folks."I could have heard Bryan speak at Chattanooga once if I had gone over dere."