"I's born on March 6, 1855; on Wolf Crick, in St. Francois County. My muthuh, Clausa McFarland Bridges, wuz borned on Wolf Crick too, but mah fauthar, Jerry Bridges, kum from Californie. William McFarland wuz our boss, and he had a lotta' slaves. Us liv'd in a log cabin, with two rooms. Yep, there wuz a floor an' we had a bed, but hit hadn't no mattress; jus' roped an' cord'd. Holes wuz in de side ob de bed, soo's de ropes cud go thru'. We all wore 'jeans' an' wrap'd an' ole sack 'round our legs; most time we went barefoot. We al's used catnip tea ta cure mos' ever'thing. Our boss wuz purty good ta us, but we larned dat ole M.P. Cayce, he wuz a slaveholder, wud beat 'Hunter' Cayce, an' ole 'nigger' man, every Monday mornin' 'til his back bled. Den he tuk salt an' put hit in de gashes. My brudders war, Alvin, Jerry, Rubin, Louis, an' Nat. Ma sista' Mary, she went to Rolla an' married. Me an' ma bruvver Jerry air de only ones a-livin'.
"I married Overdie Southerland wen I wuz 26 years ole. Abe Koen married us, but we are not a-livin' togeth'r now. I never had no childr'n by him. Ma furst job wuz with Dr. Jim Braham fur one year, an' nine months. I got $2.50 a week. I did all de housework thar.
"After de war wuz over my muthuh went to Pilot Knob to wurk in a hotel. Me, an' my muthuh went hup on Pilot Knob, berry huntin', one day, an' we seen de leg ob a man an' his ankle bone wuz stickin' in his shoe. Thar warn't any flesh on de leg. Hit wuz near de ole Fort (Fort Davidson)." (Note: This must have been a portion of a soldier, from the Battle of Pilot Knob!)
"Ma muthuh tole' me dat dey used ta sell de little childr'n away fum de breasts ob der muthuh's. Ma muthuh plow'd in de fiel' an' wud leave her baby layin' at one end ob de fiel', while she plow'd clear ta de odder end an' kum back. She know'd a man who had a child by one ob his slaves an' den sole de chil' as a slave. Wasn't dat turrible, sellin' his own son?
"De young folks calls us 'ole fogies', but we knew how ta act, an' lots ob de young-un's don't know dat now. When I wuz growin' hup we had company an' would hav' ta wait 'til de ol' folks wuz thru' eatin' 'fore we cud eat. Sum' ob my muthuh's friens' kum one day with their 'redique'; ([TR: reticule] bags which held knitting and sewing, and were tied with a draw-string, at the top.) "They war eatin' an' I wuz sittin' on a ladder dat led hup to de attic. I come down de ladder and wuz sittin' near de bottom an' dese grown people's was eatin', den dey lean back ta rest a-while, den eat a little more, an' res' a-while. I had ta sit dare an' watch dem. After a-while I says: 'My time now'. Well, jus' for dat, my muthuh give me one ob de worse whippin's dat I ever had. Sometimes I had ta stan' in de closet, or stan' on de floor an' hol' one foot, when I wuz punished.
"Ma muthuh's stepfather wuz poisen'd in whiskey. His name wuz 'Charlie Gipson'. Onc't a man held hup a bottle an' said: 'I'm drinkin' de poisen off'. But he wuz puttin' de pois'n in. After dat, Charlie Gipson drank de whiskey out ob de bottle an' in nine months he wuz daid.
"Simon cud call de snakes an' dey wud kum frum all directions. He wud tak' de skins ob dese snakes an' put dem on de roof ob de shed, an' den when dey wuz dry, he wud mak' powder out ob dem an' 'hoodoo' people.
"We all went tuh a pahty one time an' Scot Cole's sistah et a big apple thar. After a little while, she died. So's ma muthuh tole us to not eat anythin' dat people give you; hit might be poisen'd.
"I'se been tole dat if people dies satisfied, dey don' kum bak, but if dey don' dies satisfied, dey kum back. But I never seed nothin'."
(One of the religious songs used to be):