"I figure I lived dis long 'cause in de first place, I obey God, I never did drink liquor or smoke in my whole life. I never wore glasses but precious little and dat was when I did what little reading and writing I knowed how to do; 'cause after my children went to school long enough to read and write for me I just stopped doing dat little bit. Now dey's all dead so I just makes marks, and lets it go at dat. I am a member of The Kennerly Avenue Church of God in Christ."

[Jane Baker]

Jane Baker,

Farmington, Missouri.

Interview with Chas. Baker.

"Ma muther wuz in a log cab'n east ob Farmington an when Price's soldiers com thru frum Fredericktown, one ob de soldiers climb'd ober de fence an robbed de hen house ob eggs an he put de eggs in his boots. Den when he climb'd ober de fence to git back to de road he mashed de eggs in his boots. De soldier tok off his boots an turned dem upside down to git de broken eggs out an ma muther ran out ta de fence an hollored, 'Goody, goody.'

"Ma muther say dat de worse side ob slabery wuz when de slabes war 'farmed out'. A master or slabe holder wud loan or sublet slabes ta a man fur so many months at so much money. De master agreed ta supply so many clothes. De man who rented de slabes wud treat dem jus lik animals.

"Ma muther wuz sole twice. De furst time she wuz 14 years ole. She wuz tak'n 26 miles to de new owner, an hit took all day. She tied all her belongings up in a red bandanna handkerchief an went on horseback. One stream wuz so high dat when dey cross'd hit dey got all wet. Den as soon as she got to de new owner she wuz ship'd de follin' day. One ob ma muther's owners wuz so good ta her dat she wuz treated as one ob de family."

REFERENCE:—The above information was received from Chas. Baker, who is the brother of Dayse Baker, principal of the colored Douglass School in Farmington, Missouri. Thus these facts are concerned with their mother, Mrs. Jane Baker, an Ex-Slave, who died at the age of 103.

[Mary A. Bell]

Interview with Mary A. Bell,

St. Louis, Missouri.

(Written by Grace E. White.)

She Loves Army Men

The subject of this sketch is Mary A. Bell, 85 years old, living in a 4-room frame cottage at 1321 Argus Street, St. Louis County, Missouri.