Mistress Patsy always called me Nig , and she sure spoiled me. I had my own little bed near hers. She wanted me near her, when she needed help. Den Mistress Patsy told me, 'Nig, yo' should have told me dat yo' was goin' to town, and yo' could of put on a new dress. Jes' why did yo' go to town, Nig?' 'Oh, I jes' wanted to go, Mistress Patsy , and look at de new dresses dat Mistress Jennie's girls made fo' me.' Mammy come into de room and said, 'Emily , why did yo' go to town fo', yo' ought to have a whoopin' for goin' off lak dat.':Mistress Patsy took up fo' me. Now, Rhodie , don't yo' whoop, Nig. Her mawster could of brought her back. Don't yo' whoop her.' But, Mistress Patsy , yo' know dat Emily done wrong. She had no business goin' to town.' I never did git no whoopin' fo' takin dat trip. Dere was times when mammy would want to slap me fo' doin' somethin' wrong, and I'd tell Mistress Patsy about it. She sure would scold mammy. She jes' spoiled me too much. She'd never punish me, but she'd scold me sometimes. One time she asked me, 'Nig, where have yo' been all of dis time?' Oh, I was down by de slave quarters, talkin' to grandpappy Jesse Hollman , and he talked and talked.' Well, Nig, yo' stay here wid me and talk to me. Jesse kin talk wid somebody else.' Grandpappy Jesse was already a old man, but he was still a pow'ful man. He was a sort of overseer on de plantation. Grandpappy Jesse lived to be a very old man, and he lived fo' a long time after slavery. He done fahmin' and blacksmithin' after slavery. Sometimes, Mistress Patsy would tell me, 'Nig, yo' go and tell my daughter Puss to come over here. I want to see her.' I'd walk across de big pasture, and go to Mistress Puss ' house. Den Mistress Puss would saddle her own hoss and put me behind her and de saddle. I wasn't scared to ride dat hoss, as long as she was wid me. Mistress Puss was a mighty good woman, and she had three boys.

I don't remembah de day when I was set free, but I do know dat pappy come over one day and got mammy and her chillun, and took 'em over to his cabin, on de Jedge Hancock place. So, I reckon dat was de day we was set free. Pappy worked fo' de jedge now by de month, I believe. Mistress Patsy was still livin', but she moved to her daughter's place in town. Me and mammy would go and see her at times. Sometimes, I would walk to her place and see her. She would tell me, 'Now, Nig, don't yo' stay away so long, befo' yo' come and see me again.' After slavery, Jedge Hancock went alone down to New Orleans, and caught de yellow fever. He died and was buried in New Orleans. De folks here was scared to bring his body home 'cause of de yellow fever I reckon. I believe dat de next place we moved to was de Davis fahm, about two miles from de jedge's place. Davis had several renters. I had to go out now and chop and pick cotton. I handled dat field work putty good; but I never could pick more'n one hunnert and fifty pounds of cotton a day. Pappy,' one of my sisters would say, 'Emily ain't got much cotton in her sack.' Well,' Pappy would tell her, 'Emily picks her cotton too clean.' I sure did git to see plenty of rattlesnakes in de Davis fahm. We wasn't scared of 'em. We thought dat it was fun to git a long stick, or a big rock, and kill 'em. We'd let 'em coil and git ready to strike. If yo' got too close, dey sure would jump at yo'. If we was choppin' cotton or cawn, and run onto a rattlesnake, we'd kill it, and den make a hole wid our hoes and bury it. We would touch de rattles or nothin'. It was too dangerous. We stayed on de Davis fahm fo' a long time, but I don't know jes' fo' how long. Den pappy bought some ungrubbed and unfenced land. And, wid de help of de boys, he built a two room loghouse. I sure had to work hard at dis time, and dat is why I ain't no count now. I think dat I was about eighteen years old, when I married Lige Weeks . He was a fahmer, but den he could do almost anything. Me and Lige didn't git married in a chu'ch house. We got married here in town, I believe. All of my four chillun is still livin'. Dey is jes' common laborers. Lige has been dead fo' about four or five years. Durin' my married life, we'd do fahm work and also hire out fo' work. My chillun, when dey got old enough, would do any kind of work, dat they could git. De chillun was good in helpin' us out. Dey'd buy dere clothes, and give us some money. John , one of my boys and a bachelor, lives in dat shack, back in de yard. He is a stout man, and cleans up fo' de white folks in de houses around de University of Texas. I tell yo' dat John kin make beds and clean up a house lak a woman. No woman could beat him at it. He washes and irons his own clothes in his little shack. Every afternoon, when he comes home, John brings me a good pound cake to eat. I always tease John , by sayin', 'John if I was de white folks, I wouldn't allow yo' in my house.' I kin read a little, but I kain't write my name. I never had much of a chance to go to school. After slavery, I went to a little log schoolhouse in de country, Bettie Hall , a colored girl, was our teachah. I think dat I went to school only fo' dat year. We had school only durin' de winter.

Mammy was always scared of cows, so I had to do de milkin'. Dere was times when I milked eight cows, twice a day. Pappy was good at helpin' de white folks round-up dere cattle. Fo' helpin' dem, dey'd give him a cow or a steer. Pappy and his brothaw Salem was good round-uppers. Dey wasn't scared of nothin'. Sometimes, I had to tie a cow's hind legs, so I could milk her. I'd take my two big bucketfulls of milk to de house, and tell mammy, 'I done give de calfs dere paht of de milk and here am our paht. And Mammy some of dem cows sure want to kick. Yes, and someday one of dem cows is goin' to kill yo', 'cause yo' is hard-headed enough to believe dat dey won't hurt yo'. Pappy would tell one of my brothaws, 'William yo' ought to help Emily milk dem cows, when I ain't here.' So, he come out dere one mawnin', and crawled through de fence. De cows saw him and made a dash fo' him. Dey sure chased him away. Dem cows was used to me, and if dey did git bad, I'd switch 'em. We had enough milk fo' makin' butter fo' us, and, about once a week, Mammy'd take about ten pounds of butter to town to sell. I think dat she got two bits a pound fo' dat butter. She didn't sell de butter to stores, but would go in a buggy and take it to certain folks' houses. Mammy would buy my clothes and give me a little money. I enjoyed goin' to de Baptist Chu'ch. I'd go about ever other Sunday mawnin'. Sometimes my brothaws and sometimes my sistahs would go wid me, but I'd never go alone. Den sometimes, we'd go to dances, too. Some of de boys would beg me, 'Come on and dance.' Den pappy would say, 'Oh, go on out and dance a set wid de boys.' Pappy hired a coal-black nigger dat had been brought from Africa. He was so black, dat we called him Joe Slick . Nobody ever knowed if he had any other name. If he had any other name, I never knowed it. He was putty near middle-aged at dat time, and he was low and chunky. He'd go wid us to dances, and pick his banjo. I don't think dat he got money fo' pickin' his banjo. Old Joe learned most of us to dance. He stayed wid pappy fo' a long time. He et and lived wid us in de house. Pappy could go anywhere and leave Joe wid us, and he'd git out and plow and den plant de crops. Some of my brothaws thought dat dey could do anything dat Joe Slick done in de fields, but dey soon found out dat dey couldn't. Dey liked Joe anyhow, 'cause he was always so good natured. Even our kinfolks liked him. We never did know whut happened to Joe Slick , later in life. We never did find out where he went to.