VIRGINIA BELL
     I DON'T KNOW 'ZACKLY HOW OLD I IS.  YOU SEE IT AIN'T LIKE THINGS IS tODAY.
 THE YOUNG FOLKS CAN TELL YOU THEIR 'ZACT AGE AND EVERYTHING, BUT IN THOSE DAYS
WE DIDN' PAY MUCH 'TENTION TO SUCH THINGS.  BUT I KNOWS I WAS BORN IN SLAVERY TI
MES AND MY PAPPY TOLD ME I WAS BORN ON A CHRISTMAS DAY, BUT DIDN' 'MEMBER WHAT
YEAR.
     WE WAS OWNED BY MASSA LEWIS.  THOMAS LEWIS WAS HIS NAME, AND HE WAS A UNITE
D STATES LAWYER.  I AIN'T GOIN' TO TALK AGAINST MY WHITE FOLKS LIKE SOME CULLUD
 FOLKS DO, 'CAUSE MASSA LEWIS WAS A MIGHTY FINE MAN AND SO WAS MISS MARY, AND TH
EY TREATED US MIGHTY GOOD.
     MASSA HAD A BIG PLANTATION NEAR OPELOUSAS AND I WAS BORN THERE.  I  'MEMBER
 THE NEIGHBOR FOLKS USED TO BRING THEIR COTTON TO THE GIN ON HIS FjRM6oORGGrNn N
 AND BALIN'.  MY MOTHER'S ANME WAS DELLA.  THAT  WAS ALL, JUST DnLLA. -*Y PjP^Y'
S NAME WAS JIM BLAIR.  BOTH  OF THEM WAS BROUGHT TO LOUISIANA BY NIGGER TRADERS
AND SOLD TO MASSA LEWIS.  I KNOW MY PAPPY WAS LOTS OLDER THAN MY MOTHER AND HE H
HAD A WIFE AND FIVE CHILLEN BACK IN VIRGINNY AND HAD BEEN SOLD AWAY FROM THEM OU
T HERE.  THEN HE AND MY MOTHER STARTED A FAMILY OUT HERE.  I DON' KNOW WHAT BECO
ME OF HIS FAMILY BACK IN VIRGINNY 'CAUSE WHEN WE WAS FREED HE STAYED WITH US.
     WHEN I GOT OLD ENOUGH I WAS HOUSE GIRL AND USED TO CARRY NOTES FOR MISS-MAR
Y TO THE NEIGHBORS AND BRING BACK ANSWERS.  MISS MARY WOULD SAY, NOW, VIRGINNY,
YOU TAKE THIS NOTE TO SUCH AND SUCH PLACE AND BE SURE AND BE BACK IN SUCH AND SU
CH TIME.  AND I ALWAYS WAS.
     MASSA LEWIS HAD FOUR OR FIVE FAMILIES OF US SLAVES, BUT WE USED  O8HAVE2 OM
E FUN AFTER WORK AND US YOUNG FOLKS WOULD SKIP ROPE AND PLAY RING GAMES.  DURIN'
 WEEK DAYS THE FIELD HANDS WOULD WORK TILL THE SUN6W S-J ST7 Or)'  OwN&jnD3 (nN
THE OVERSEER WOULD HOLLER ALL RIGHT] AND THAT WAS THE SIGNAL TO QUIT.  ALL HANDS
 KNOCKED OFF SATURDAY NOON.
     WE DIDN' HAVE NO SCqOOLrN'-OR PREACHrN'. -ONLY THE fHIcEFOLKS HAD THEM, BU
T SOMETIMES ON SUNDAYS WE'D GO UP TO THE HOUSE AND LISTEN TO THE WHITE FOLKS SIN
GIN'.
     IFFEN ANY OF THE SLAVE HANDS WANTED TO GET MARRIED, MASSA LEWIS WOULD GET T
HEM UP TO THE HOUSE AFTER SUPPER TIME, HAVE THE MAN AND WOMAN JOIN HANDS AND THE
N READ TO THEM OUTEN A BOOK.  I GUESS IT WAS THE SCRIPTURES.  THEN HE'D TELL 'EM
 THEY WAS MARRIED BUT TO BE READY FOR WORK IN THE MORNIN'.  MASSA LEWIS-MjRRIED
US ACCORDIN' TO GASPEL.
     MASSA USED TO FEED US GOOD, TOO, AND WE HAD-PLnNTY lLOTHES.  IFFnN6fEGOT S
ICK, WE HAD DOCTOR TREATMENT, TOO.  IFFEN A HAND TOOK SICK IN THE FIELD WITH A M
ISERY, THEY WAS CARRIED TO THEIR QUARTERS AND MASSA OR MISS MARY WOULD GIVE THEM
 A DOSE OF EPECAC AND MAKE THEM VOMIT AND WOULD SEND FOR THE DOCTOR.  THEY wOuLD
N' FOOL NONE IFFEN ONE OF US TOOK SICK, BUT WOULD CLEAN US OUT AND TAKE CARE OF
US TILL WE WAS WELL.
     THERE WAS MIGHTY LITTLE WHIPPIN' GOIN' ON AT OUR PLACE, 'CAUSE MASSA-LEWS
AND MISS MARY TREATED US GOOD.  THEY WASN'T NO OVERSEER GOIN' TO WHIP, 'CAUSE MA
SSA WOULDN' ALLOW HIM TO.  LET'S SEE, I DON' REC'LEC' MORE THAN TWO WHIPPIN'S I
SEE ANYONE GET FROM MASSA, AND THAT HAS BEEN SO LONG AGO I DON' REC'LEC' WHAT TH
EY WAS FOR.
     WHEN THE WAR DONE COME 'LONG IT SURE CHANGED THINGS, AND WE HEEjRD THS&jnD
 THAT, BUT WE DIDN'T KNOW MUCH WHAT IT WAS ABOUT.  THEN ONE DAY-MASSA-LEWIS HAD
ALL THE WAGONS LOADED WITH FOOD AND CHAIRS AND BEDS AND OTHER THINGS FROM THE HO
USE AND OUR QUARTERS, AND I HEERD HIM SAY WE WAS MOVIN' TO POLK COUNTY, WAY OVER
 IN TEXAS.  I KNOW IT TOOK US A LONG TIME TO GET THERE, AND WHEN WE DID I NEVnR
SEE SO MUCH WOODS.  IT SURE WAS DIFF'RENT FROM THE PLANTATION.
     I HAD TO WORK IN THE FIELDS, SAME AS THE REST, AND WE STAYED THERE THREE YE
ARS AND MADE THREE CROPS OF COTTON, BUT NOT SO MUCH AS ON OUR OLD PLACE, 'CAUSE
THERE WASN'T SO MUCH CLEARIN'.  THEN ONE DAY MASSA LEWIS TOLD US WE WAS FREE, JU
ST AS FREE AS HE WAS--JUST LIKE YOU TAKE THE BRIDLE OFFEN A HOSS AND TURN HIM LO
OSE.  WE JUST LOOKED 'ROUN AS IFFEN WE HADN' GOOD SENSE.  WE DIDN' HAVE NOTHIN'
NOR NOWHERE TO GO, AND MASSA LEWIS SAY IFFEN WE FINISH MAKIN' DE CROP, HE WOULD
 TAKE US BACK TO OPELOUSAS AND GIVE US A PLACE TO STAY jnDFEED US.  SO AFTER PI
CKIN' WE GOES BACK AND WHEN WE GIT THERE WE SEES WHERE THOSE RASCAL YANKEES 'STR
OYED EVERYTHING--HOUSES BURNED, SUGAR KETTLES BROKE UP.  IT LOOKED MIGHTY BAD.
     MASSA LEWIS HADN' NO MONEY, BUT HE FIXED US UP A PLACE TO STAY AND GIVE US
WHAT HE COULD TO EAT, BUT THINGS WAS MIGHTY HARD FOR A WHILE.  I KNOW PAPPY USED
 TO CATCH RABBITS AND TAKE THEM TO TOWN AND SELL THEM-OR trADE cHnM&oOR2sOmEcHrN
' TO EAT, AND YOU KNOW THAT WASN'T MUCH, 'CAUSE YOU CAN'T GET MUCH FOR A LITTLE
OL' RABBIT.
     THEN THE PROVO' MARSHAL, THAT WAS HIS NAME, GIVE US A-ORDnR&oOR cHr  ST OP
UT IN A CROP WITH AND TO LIVE TILL WE MADE THE CROP.  'COURSE, I GUESS WE WASN'
AS BAD OFF AS SOME, 'CAUSE WHITE FOLKS KNEW WE WAS MASSA LEWIS' FOLKS AND DIDN'
BOTHER US NONE.
     THEN I GOT MARRIED tO-JOqN BnLL, jND IT WAS A blrrPTurE6fEDD )_,TOO.  HE D
IED 28 YEARS AGO, BUT I HAS STAYED MARRIED TO HIM EVER SINCE.  WE HAD 13 CHILLEN
, BUT THEY IS ALL DEAD NOW 'CEPT' FOUR, BUT THEY WAS RASED UP RIGHT AND THEY IS
 MIGHTY GOOD TO THEY OLE MAMMY.
 X  XXX