*Adeline Marshall, 3514 Bastrop St., Houston, Texas, was born a slave
somewhere in South Carolina. She was bought by Capt. Brevard and brought
to Texas while still a baby, so she remembers nothing about her family
and has no record of her age. Adeline is evidently very old.*
"Yes, suh, Adeline Marshall am my name, all right, but folks 'round here
jes' calls me 'Grandma.'
"Lawd have mercy, I's been in dis here land too long, too long, and jes'
ain't no 'count no more for nothin'. I got mis'ries in my bones and jes'
look at what I's got on my feet! Dem's jes' rags, dat's all, rags. Can't
wear nothin' else on 'em, dey hurts so. Dat's what de red russet shoes
what we wears in slave times done--jes' pizen de feets.
"Lawd, Lawd, dat sho' bad times--black folks jes' raise up like cattle
in de stable, only Cap'n Brevard, he what own me, treats he hosses and
cattle better'n he do he niggers.
"Don't know nothin' 'bout myself, 'cept on Cap'n Brevard's place down on
Oyster Creek. He has de plantation dere, what de only place I knows till
I's freedomed. He says I's a South Carolina nigger what he bought back
dere and brung to Texas when I jes' a baby. I reckon it de truth, 'cause
I ain't never knowed no mama or papa, neither one.
"Cap'n he a bad man, and he drivers hard, too, all de time whippin' and
stroppin' de niggers to make dem work harder. Didn't make no difference
to Cap'n how little you is, you goes out to de field mos' soon's you can
walk. De drivers don't use de bullwhip on de little niggers, but dey
plays de switch on us what sting de hide plenty. Sometimes dey puts a
nigger in de stocks and leaves dem two or three days, don't give dem
nothin' to eat or a drink of water, jes' leaves dem till dey mos' dead.
Does dey die, jes' put dem in a box and dig a hole out back of de hoss
lot and dump dem in and cover up. Ain't no preachin' service or nothin',
but de poor nigger out he mis'ry, dat's all.
"Old Cap'n jes' hard on he niggers and I 'member one time dey strops old
Beans what's so old he can't work good no more, and in de mornin' dey
finds him hangin' from a tree back of de quarters. He done hang himself
to 'scape he mis'ry!
"We works every day 'cept Sunday and has to do our washin' den. Does
anybody git sick week days, he has to work Sunday to make it up. When we
comes in at night we has to go right to bed. Dey don't 'low no light in
de quarters and you better be in bed if you don't want a whippin'.
"We gits a plain cotton slip with a string 'round de neck, de stuff dey
makes pickin' sacks of. Summer or winter, dat all we gits to wear.
"Old Cap'n have a big house but I jes' see it from de quarters, 'cause
we wasn't 'lowed to go up in de yard. I hear say he don't have no wife,
but a black woman what stays at de house. Dat de reason so many 'No
Nation' niggers 'round. Some calls dem 'Bright' niggers, but I calls dem
'No Nation' 'cause dat what dey is, ain't all black or all white, but
mix. Dat come from slave times.
"I knows I's good size when Old Cap'n calls us in and say we's free, but
nobody tell me how old I is and I never found out. I knows some of us
stays and works for somethin' to eat, 'cause we didn't know no one and
didn't hab nowheres to go.
"Den one day, Cap'n come out in de field with 'nother man and pick me
and four more what's workin' and say we's good workers. Dat was Mr. Jack
Adams, what have a place clost to Stafford's Run. He say if we wants to
work on his place he feed us and give quarters and pay us for workin',
and dat how come I leaves old Cap'n, and I ain't never see him or dat
place where I's raise sence, but I reckon he so mean de debbil done got
him in torment long time ago.
"I works in de field for Mr. Jack and dat where Wes Marshall, what I
marries, works, too. After we gits married we gits a piece of ground and
stays on de same place till Mr. Jack die and we come to Houston. Dat
'fore de 1900 storm.
"I tells folks when dat storm comin'. I ain't 'lieve in no witch doin's,
but some way I knows when dat storm comin'. Dey laughs at dis old
nigger, but it come and dey loses hosses and cattle and chickens and
houses.
"I tells de truth jes' like it am, and I's had a hard time in de land.
Why, in dis sinful town, dey don't do like de Good Book say. No, suh,
dey don't. It say, 'Love thy neighbor,' and folks don't love nobody but
theyselves!
"Jes' look at me! I's old with mis'ry and 'lone in de world. My husband
and chillen done die long ago and leave me here, and I jes' go from
house to house, tryin' to find a place to stay. Dat why I prays Gawd to
take me to his bosom, 'cause He de onlies' one I got to call on."