"I'm sorry I can't offer you no dinner but I'm just cookin' myself some peas.
"Well, lady, I sure am glad you come. I jest knew the Lord was goin' send somebody for me to talk to. I loves to talk so well. Good bye and come back again sometime."
Interviewer: Mrs. Bernice Bowden
Person interviewed: Mary Williams
409 Hickory, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Age: 84
[TR: Apparently a second interview with same person despite age discrepancy.]
"Yes ma'am, I know all about slavery. I'll be eighty-four the twenty-fifth of this month. I was born in 1855.
"My mother had eleven children and they all said I could remember the best of all. I'm the second oldest. And they all dead but me.
"I used to spin and on Friday I'd set aside my wheel and on Saturday morning we'd sweep yards. And Saturday evening was our holiday.
"I belonged to the Lees and my white folks was good to me. I was the aptest one among 'em, so they'd give me a basket and a ginger cake and I'd go to the Presly's after squabs. They'd be just nine days old 'cause they said if they was any older they'd be tough.