He left them. He brought me
and Ed and we went back and moved to the old Williams farm on Arkansas
River close to Little Rock. Then he sent for my folks. They come in
wagons. They worked for him a long time and scattered about. I stayed at
his house till he said "Henry, you are grown; you better look out for
yourself now." Ed was gone. He sent all the girls off to school and Ed
too. They taught me if I wanted to learn but I didn't care much about
it. I went to the colored school and Ed to the white school. He learned
pretty well. I never did like to 'sociate or stay 'bout colored folks
and I didn't like to mind 'em. Old mistress show did brush me out
sometimes and they called my mother to tend to me. When I was real
little they drove the hands to the block to be sold out along the road.
Old mistress say: "If you don't be good and mind we'll send yare off and
sell you wid 'em." That scared me worse than a whooping. Never did see
anybody sold. Heard them talk a heap about it. When one of them wouldn't
work and lay out in the woods, or they wouldn't mind they soon got sold
off. They mated a heap of them and sold them for speculation. No mam I
didn't like slavery. We had plenty to eat but they worked for all they
got. Had good fires and good warm houses and good clothes but I did not
like the way they give out the provisions.
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