Age: ?
"I was born bout the second year after surrender right down here at
Caledonia. Now the white folks that ma and pa and me belonged to was
named Fords. We farmed all the time. The reason we farmed all the time
was because that was all for us to do. You see there wasn't nothin' else
for us to do. There wasn't no schools in my young days to do no good,
and this time of year we was plowin' to beat the band and us always
planted corn in February and in April our corn was.
"We fixed our ground early and planted early and we had good crops of
everything. We went to bed early and rose early. We had a little song
that went like this:
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
and
The early bird catches the worm.
Cooked breakfast every morning by a pine torch.
"I member hearin' my pa say that when somebody come and hollowed: 'Yer
niggers is free at last' say he just dropped his hoe and said in a queer
voice: 'Thank God for that.' It made old miss and old moss so sick till
they stopped eating a week. Pa said old moss and old miss looked like
their stomach and guts had a law suit and their navel was called in for
a witness, they was so sorry we was free.
"After I got a good big girl I was hired out for my clothes and
something to eat.
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