I WAS BORN ON MASSA CARTER HILL'S-PLjNTATrON, rN&GnOrGIA,&jnDMY NAME IS
ALBERT HILL.  MY PAPA'S NAME WAS DILLION, CAUSE HE TOOK THAT NAME FROM HIS OWNER
, MASSA TOM DILLION.  HE OWNED THE PLANTATION NEXT TO MASSA HILL'S, AND HE OWNED
MY MAMMY AND US THIRTEEN CHILLUN.  I DONT KNOW HOW OLD I IS, BUT I REMEMBER THE
START OF THE WAR, AND I WAS A SIZEABLE CHILE THEN.
     THE PLANTATION WASNT SO BIG AND IT WAsNT sO sMjLL,JUST FAIR SIZE, BUT IT W
AS FIXED FIRST CLASS AND EVERYTHING WAS GOOD.  WE HAD GOOD QUARTERS MADE OUT OF
LOGS AND LOTS OF TABLES AND BENCHES, WHICH WERE MADE OF SPLIT LOGS.  WE HAD THE
RATIONS AND MASSA GAVE PLENTY OF THE CORNMEAL AND BEANS AND MOLASSES AND HONEY.
SOMETIMES WE HAD TEA, AND ONCE IN A WHILE WE GOT COFFEE.  AND DID WE HAVE TASTY
 AND TENDER MEAT]  I WOULD LIKE TO SEE SOME OF THAT qoGMEAT NOW.
     MASSA WAS GOOD BUT HE DIDNT ALLOW PARTIES.  BUT WE COuLD pO tOMASSA DILLIO
N'S PLACE NEXT TO US AND DEY HAS LOTS OF PARTIES AND DE DANCES.  WE DANCES NEAR
ALL NIGHT SATURDAY NIGHT, BUT WE HAD TO STAY WAY IN THE BACK WHERE THE WHITE FOL
KS COULDNT HEAR US.  SOMETIMES WE HAD THE FIDDLE AND BANJO AND DID WE CUT THAT
CHICKEN WING AND DE SHUFFLE]  WE SURE DID.
    &I& eE  (EOX, AND DRIVING THAT OX WAS AGITATION WORK IN THE SUMMER TIME W
HEN IT WAS HOT, CAUSE THEY RUN FOR WATER EVERY TIME.  BUT THE WORST TROUBLE I EV
ER HAD WAS WITH ONE HORSE.  I FETCHED THE DINNER TO THE WORKERS OUT IN THE FInLD
 jND I USED THAT HORSE, HITCHED tO THE TwO WHEnL CjRc. ONE DAY HE WAS HALFWAY A
ND THAT HORSE STOPPED.  HE LOOKED BACK AT ME,  ROLLING HIS EYE, AND I KNEW WHAT
THAT MEANT --"HERE I STAY, NIGGER."  BUT I HAD HEARD TO TIE A ROPE ON A BALKY HO
RSE'S TAIL AND RUN IT BETWEEN HIS LEGS AND TIE IT TO THE SHAFT.  I DID THAT AND
PUT SOME COCKLEBURRS ON THE ROPE, TOO.  THEN I TOUCHED HIM WITH THE WHIP AND HE
 GAVE A REAR BACKWARDS.  THAT WAS HIS BEST REAR.  WHEN HE DID THAT  IT-PuLLED TH
E ROPE AND THE ROPE PULLED THE TAIL AND THE BURRS GOT BUSY.  THAT HORSE MOVED FO
RWARD FASTER AND HARDER THEN HE HAD EVER DONE BEFORE, AND HE KEPT ON GOING.  YOU
 SEE, HE WAS TRYING TO GET AWAY FROM HIS TAIL, BUT HIS TAIL WAS tOO F Sc. &lOuS
E, IT STAY RIGHT BEHIND HIM.  THEN I WAS IN A PICKLEMENT..  THAT HORSE WAS RUNNI
NG AWAY AND I COULDNT STOP HIM.  THE WORKERS LINED UP TO STOP HIM BUT THE CART G
IVE THE SHOVE AND THAT PULLED HIS TAIL AND, LAWDY WHOO, DAT HORSE JUMPED FORWARD
 LIKE A JACKRABBIT AND WENT TqROUGH THAT-LrNEOF WORKERS.  SO I STEERED HIM INTO
 THE FENCE ROW, AND THERE WAS NO MORE RUNNING, BUT AN AWFUL MIXUP WITH THE qORSE
 jND THE CjRT jND THE-RATrONS.. THAT&qObE6f SSO SCARED HE HAD THE QUAVERS.  MA
SSA SAID,"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"  I SAID I WAS BREAKING THE BALK.  HE SAID,"WELL,
YOU'VE GOT EVERYTHING ELSE BROKEN.  WE'LL SEE ABOUT THE BALK LATER."
     MASSA HAD A DAUGHTER AND SHE WANTED tO-MjRRYBBdDJACKSON, BUT MASSA WAS AGA
INST IT..  BUD WAS GOING TO THE ARMY AND THAT GIVE THIS BOY WORK, CAUSE I WAS TH
E MESSENGER BOY FOR HIM AND MISSY MARY.  THEY KEPT COMPANY UNBEKNOWNST AND I CAR
RIED THE NOTES.  I PUT THE PAPER IN A HOLLOW STUMP.  ONCE I WAS SURE I WAS
CAUGHT.  THERE WAS MASSA AND HE SAID,"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, NIGGER?"  I WAS
SURE SCARED AND I SAYS," I WAS LOOKING FOR THE SQUIRRELS."  SO MASSA WENT AWAY A
ND WHEN I TELL YOU I LEFT, IT AINT THE PROPER WORD FOR TO EXPLAIN, CAUSE I FLEW
 FROM THERE.  I TOLD MISSY MARY AND SHE SAID,"YOU SURE ARE THE LORD'S CHOSnN-NIG
GER."
     THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS CAME AND THEY tOOK THE-RAcrO S,BUT THE MASSA HAD
DUG A PIT IN THE PASTURE AND BURIED LOTS OF THE RATIONS, SO THE SOLDIERS DIDNT
FIND SO MUCH.  THE CLOSEST BATTLE WAS ATLANTA, MORE THAN 25 MILES AWAY.
     WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER, BUD-JAlKsON CjME qOME.  cHEMASSA WELCOMED HIM, TO T
HE SURPRIZE OF EVERYBODY, AND WHEN BUD SAID HE WANTED TO MARRY MISSY MARY, MASSA
2SAID,"I GUESS YOU HAVE EjRNED HnR."
     WHEN FREEDOM CAME, MASSA CALLED ALL US TOGETHnR jND tOLD  S& kOUT cHE&DIFFE
ENCE BETWEEN FREEDOM AND HUSTLING FOR OURSELVES AND DEPENDING ON SOMEONE ELSE.
 MOST OF THE SLAVES STAYED AND MASSA PAYS THnM oOR THE6wOK,&jnD&ISTAYED TILL I
 WAS 21 YEARS OLD, AND I GOT SEVEN DOLLARS A-MONTH jND cHECl   ( SAND THE HOUSE
 AND ALL I COULD EAT.  THE MASSA HAD DIED BEFORE THAT, AND THERE WAS-POWnRFuLSO
RROW.  MISSY MARY AND MASSA BUD HAD THE PLANTATION THEN, AND THEY DIDNT WANT ME
 TO GO TO TEXAS.  BUT THEY WENT ON A VISIT AND WHILE THEY WERE pONE I tOOK A tRA
IN FOR ROBINSON COUNTY, WHICH IS IN TEXAS.
     I WORKED AT PAVING WORK AND AT THE HOStLrNG wOK jnD&I wOkEDON HORSES.  T
HEN I WORKED FOR THE SANTA FE RAILROAD, HANDLING FREIGHT, AND I WORKED TILL ABOU
T THREE YEARS AGO, WHEN I GOT TOO OLD TO WORK ANY MORE.
     BUT I TELL YOU ABOUT THE VISIT BACK TO THE-OLDPLANTATION.  I HAD BEEN GONE
 NEARLY 40 YEARS AND I DECIDED TO GO BACK, SO I REACHED THE HOUSE jND cHnR f SM
ISSY MARY PEELING APPLES ON THE BACK GALLERY.  SHE LOOKS AT ME, AND SHE SAID,"I
 GOT A WHIPPING WAITING FOR YOU, CAUSE YOU RUN OFF WITHOUT TELLING US."  THERE W
ASNT NO NORE PEELING THAT DAY, CAUSE WE SAT AND TALKED ABOUT THE OLD TIMES AND T
HE OLD MASSA.  THERE SURE WERE TEARS IN THIS NIGGERS EYES.  THEN WE TALKED ABOUT
 THE NIGGER MESSENGER I WAS, jND WE-LAUGHED&ALITTLE.  ALL DAY LONG WE TALKED A
 LITTLE, AND LAUGHED AND CRIED AND TALKED.  I STAYED ABOUT TWO WEEKS AND SAW-LOT
S OF THE FOLKS I KNEW WHEN I WAS YOUNG, THE WHITE FOLKS AND THE NIGGERS TOO.
     I'M TOO OLD TO MAKE ANY MORE VISITS, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO GO BACK tO OLD
GEORGIA ONCE MORE.  IF MISSY MARY WERE ALIVE, I WOULD STAY, BUT SHE IS DEAD, SO
 I tRIES tO WAIT oOR-OLD G kRInL tOBkLOW&HS& O
                                               . 6 (nNHE BLOWS HIS HORN, THIS
 NIGGER WILL SAY,"LOUDER, GABRIEL, LOUDER]"