Slave Narratives Vol. XIV | Page 3

de stairway a rattling chains fer
harness. Next a woman dressed in white come in dat room. Brother

Wallace up and lit out dat house and he never went back no mo'.
"Another preacher tried stayin' dar. He said he gwine to keep his head
kivered plum up. Some'tin unkivered it and he seed a white goat a
grinnin' at him. But as he wuz a brave man and trus' de Lawd, he lowed,
'What you want wid me nohow?' The goat said, 'what is you doin' here.
Raise, I knows dat you ain't sleep.' De preacher say, 'I wants you to tell
me what ole Marse don tuck and hid dat money?' De goat grin and low,
'How come you don' look under your pillar, sometime?' Den he run
away. De preacher hopped up and looked under de pillar, and dar wuz
de money sho nuf. Peers like it wuz de one on de lef' end o' de back
porch, but I jes remembers 'bout dat."
Source: Mrs. M. E. Abrams, Whitmire, S. C.; told her by old "uncle"
"Mad" Griffin, Whitmire, (Col. 82 yrs.) Interviewer: Caldwell Sims,
Union, S. C. 2/25/37.

Project #1655 Henry Grant Columbia, S. C.
REFLECTIONS OF EZRA ADAMS EX-SLAVE 83 YEARS OLD
Ezra Adams is incapable of self-support, owing to ill health. He is very
well taken care of by a niece, who lives on the Caughman land just off
S. C. #6, and near Swansea, S. C.
"My mammy and pappy b'long to Marster Lawrence Adams, who had a
big plantation in de eastern part of Lancaster County. He died four
years after de Civil War and is buried right dere on de old plantation, in
de Adams family burying grounds. I was de oldest of de five chillun in
our family. I 'members I was a right smart size plowboy, when freedom
come. I think I must of been 'bout ten or eleven years old, then. Dere's
one thing I does know; de Yankees didn't tech our plantation, when
they come through South Carolina. Up in de northern part of de county
they sho' did destroy most all what folks had.
"You ain't gwine to believe dat de slaves on our plantation didn't stop
workin' for old marster, even when they was told dat they was free. Us

didn't want no more freedom than us was gittin' on our plantation
already. Us knowed too well dat us was well took care of, wid a plenty
of vittles to eat and tight log and board houses to live in. De slaves,
where I lived, knowed after de war dat they had abundance of dat
somethin' called freedom, what they could not wat, wear, and sleep in.
Yes, sir, they soon found out dat freedom ain't nothin', 'less you is got
somethin' to live on and a place to call home. Dis livin' on liberty is lak
young folks livin' on love after they gits married. It just don't work. No,
sir, it las' so long and not a bit longer. Don't tell me! It sho' don't hold
good when you has to work, or when you gits hongry. You knows dat
poor white folks and niggers has got to work to live, regardless of
liberty, love, and all them things. I believes a person loves more better,
when they feels good. I knows from experience dat poor folks feels
better when they has food in deir frame and a few dimes to jingle in
deir pockets. I knows what it means to be a nigger, wid nothin'. Many
times I had to turn every way I knowed to git a bite to eat. I didn't care
much 'bout clothes. What I needed in sich times was food to keep my
blood warm and gwine 'long.
"Boss, I don't want to think, and I knows I ain't gwine to say a word,
not a word of evil against deir dust lyin' over yonder in deir graves. I
was old enough to know what de passin' 'way of old marster and missus
meant to me. De very stream of lifeblood in me was dryin' up, it 'peared
lak. When marster died, dat was my fust real sorrow. Three years later,
missus passed 'way, dat was de time of my second sorrow. Then, I
'minded myself of a little tree out dere in de woods in November. Wid
every sharp and cold wind of trouble dat blowed, more leaves of dat
tree turnt loose and went to de ground, just lak they was tryin' to follow
her. It seem lak, when she was gone, I was just lak dat tree wid all de
leaves gone, naked and friendless. It took me a long time to git over all
dat; same way wid de little tree, it had