"My man, he worked in de tan ya'd. He fixed de hides to make us all de shoes we had, and dey made harness and saddles fo' de gov'nment--fo' de soldiers. To make de lime to take de hair off of de hides, dey would burn limestone rocks. Then dey would hew out troughs and soak de hides in lime water till all the hair come off. Den dey would take 'ooze' made from red oak bark and rub the hides till dey were soft and dry.
"Dey sho was hard times after de war, and durin' de war too. Our white folk was good to us, but we had a time to get pervisions. Sometimes we had co'n meal and sometimes we would have flour. We would pa'ch co'n meal and make coffee. When we could git 'em we used pertater peelings, pa'ched, for coffee. Sometimes we drank wild sage tea.
"When we could, we would go over on de Brazos to de molasses mills and get molasses and brown sugar; when we couldn't, we had to do widout de sweetenin'.
"Water sho was sca'ce. We had to tote it about half a mile from de hole. De creeks just dried up, only 'long in holes. De wells was all dried up. There would be dead cows lyin' on t'other side of de hole and grasshoppers thick on de water, but we jist skimmed de water off and went on. Didn't make us sick, lady, 'twas all we had and de good Lo'd took ca'e of us.
"De grasshoppers sho was bad 'long 'bout fo' or five in de ebenin'; dey would be so thick de sun would be cloudy lookin'. Dey was a little speckled grasshopper. Yes'm, red and speckled. De chickens and hawgs et 'em. Dey et so many grasshoppers de meat was bright red. You couldn't eat it.
"Twa'n't no use to send fo' a docta, no'm, 'cause dey didn't have no medicine. My grandmother got out in de woods and got 'erbs. She made sage ba'm (balm). One thing I recomember, she would take co'n shucks--de butt end of de shucks--and boil 'em and make tea. 'Twould break de chills and fever. De Lo'd fixed a way. We used roots for medicine too.
"Dey was salt lakes. De men would get a wagonbed full of salt and take it to town and trade it for flour. De men would take de old ox wagons and go down to Mexico towa'ds Brownsville to git pervisions. Coffee--real coffee--was a dollar a poun'. De men what used terbaccer had to pay a dollar a plug. Cotton cloth was fifty and sixty cents a ya'd.
"Durin' de war de white people had church in their homes. Dey would have church in de mornin' and in de afternoon dey would preach to de slaves.
"After de war, we all leased land on de ribbah fum de white folks--my uncles, my brothers and alls. We leased de land fo' six years. At de end of dat time most of us bought places.
"When de war was over and we moved, de men put up a picket house. Dr. McBride, a soldier, taught school. When de crops was laid by, all de men and women went to school. De chillen went all de time. We had log seats and a dirt flo'. We would have meetin's in de school house. Twasn't fine, but we had good times.