"De slaves work on Saturday afternoon and sometimes on Sunday. On Saturday night de slaves would slip around to de next plantation and have parties and dancin' and so on.
"When I wuz a child I played, 'chicken me craner crow' and would build little sand houses and call dem frog dens and we play hidin' switches. One of de play songs wuz 'Rockaby Miss Susie girl' and 'Sugar Queen in goin south, carrying de young ones in her mouth.'
"I remember several riddles. One wuz:
'My father had a little seal,
Sixteen inches high.
He roamed the hills in old Kentuck,
And also in sunny Spain.
If any man can beat dat,
I'll try my hand agin.'
"One little speech I know:
'I tumbled down one day,
When de water was wide and deep
I place my foot on the de goose's back
And lovely swam de creek.'
"When I wuz a little boy I wuz follin' wid my father's scythe. It fell on my arm and nearly cut if off. Dey got somethin' and bind it up. Eventually after a while, it mended up.
"De marse give de sick slaves a dose of turpentine, blue mass, caromel and number six.
"After de surrender my mother tole me dat the marse told de slaves dat dey could buy de place or dey could share de crops wid him and he would rent dem de land.
"I married Lizzie Perry, in Perry County Alabama. A preacher married us by the name of John Jemison. We just played around after de weddin' and hed a good time til bedtime come, and dat wuz very soon wid me.