*La San Mire, 86, aged French Negro of the Pear Orchard Settlement, near
Beaumont, Texas, is alert and intelligent, and his long, well-formed
hands gesture while he talks. He was born in Abbeville Parish,
Louisiana, a slave of Prosper Broussard. His father was a Spaniard, his
mother spoke French, and his master was a Creole. La San's patois is
superior to that of the average French Negro. His story has been
translated.*
"The old war? No, I don't remember so much about it, because I was so
young. I was ten years old at the beginning of the war. I was born the
13th of May, but I do not know of what year, in the Parish of Abbeville,
on M'sieu Prosper's plantation between Abbeville and Crowley. My parents
were slaves. My father a Spaniard, who spoke Spanish and French. My
mother spoke French, the old master too, all Creoles. I, as all the
other slaves, spoke French.
"During the war all the children had fear. I drove an old ox-cart in
which I helped pick up the dead soldiers and buried them. A battle took
place about 40 miles from the plantation on a bluff near a large
ditch--not near the bayou, no. We were freed on July 4th. After the war
I remained with my old master. I worked in the house, cooked in the
kitchen. Early each morning, I made coffee and served it to my master
and his family while they were in the bed.
"The old master was mean--made slaves lie on the ground and whipped
them. I never saw him whip my father. He often whipped my mother. I'd
hide to keep from seeing this. I was afraid. Why did he whip them? I do
not remember. He did not have a prison, just 'coups de fault'
(beatings). But not one slave from our plantation tried to escape to the
north that I can remember.
"The slaves lived in little cabins. All alike, but good. One or two
beds. Rooms small as a kitchen. Chimneys of dirt. Good floors. We had
plenty to eat. Cornbread and grits, beef, 'chahintes'(coons), des rat
bois (possum), le couche-couche, and Irish and sweet potatoes.
"Everyone raised cotton. In the evenings the slave women and girls
seeded the cotton, carded it, made thread of it on the spinning wheel.
They made it into cotton for dresses and suits. No shoes or socks. In
winter the men might wear them in winter. Never the women or children.
"How many slaves? I do not recall. There were so many the yard was full.
They worked from sun-up to sundown, with one hour for dinner. School? I
hoed cotton and drove the oxen to plow the field.
"I never went to Mass before I was twenty years old. Yes, there were
churches and the others went, but I did not want to go. There were
benches especially for the slaves. Yes, I was baptized a Catholic in
Abbeville, when I was big.
"Sunday the Negro slaves had round dances. Formed a circle--the boys and
the girls--and changed partners. They sang and danced at the same time.
Rarely on Saturday they had the dances. They sang and whistled in the
fields.
"The marriages of the slaves were little affairs. Before the witnesses
they'd 'sauter le balais'--the two--and they were married. No
celebration, but always the little cakes.
"We had no doctor. We used 'vingaire' (an herb) for the fever; la
'chaspare' (sarsaparilla); la 'pedecha (an herb), sometimes called
L'absinthe amer, in a drink of whiskey or gin, for the fever. Des
regulateurs (patent medicines). On nearly all plantations there were
'traiteurs', (a charm-doctor, always a Negro).
"Noel we had the little cakes and special things to eat, but no
presents.
[Illustration: _Le San Mire_]
"I was married by the judge first, and after the marriage was blessed by
the priest. I was 21 years old. I wore a new suit, because I had some
money. I worked in the house during the day and at night I caught wild
horses and sold them. I remember my wedding day. It was the Saturday
before Mardi Gras. My wife came from Grand Chenier (Cameron) to
Abbeville when she was small. We had 16 children, 11 boys and five
girls. Three girls and two boys died when they were small.
"One year after my marriage I left the big house and made a home of my
own. For an enclosure I made a levee of earth around. I planted cotton.
I worked the place for a half or a third.
"I came to Beaumont 12 years ago, so my children could work, because I
was sick. I could no longer work."