*George Simmons, born in Alabama in 1854, was owned by Mr. Steve Jaynes,
who lived near Beaumont, Texas. George has a good many memories of
slavery years, although he was still a child when he was freed. He now
lives in Beaumont, Tex.*
"I's bo'n durin' slavery, somewhar in Alabama, but I don' 'member whar
my mammy said. Dey brung me here endurin' de War and I belonged to Massa
Steve Jaynes, and he had 'bout 75 other niggers. It was a big place and
lots of wo'k, but I's too little to do much 'cept errands 'round de
house.
"Massa Jaynes, he raised cotton and co'n and he have 'bout 400 acres. He
'spected de niggers to wo'k hard from mornin' till sundown, but he was
fair in treatin' 'em. He give us plenty to eat and lots of cornbread and
black-eye' peas and plenty hawg meat and sich. We had possum sometimes,
too. Jus' took a nice, fat possum we done cotched in de woods and
skinned 'im and put 'im in a oven and roas' 'im with sweet 'tatoes all
'round and make plenty gravy. Dat was good.
"Massa Jaynes, he 'lowed de slaves who wanted to have a little place to
make garden, veg'tables and dose kin' of things. He give 'em seed and de
nigger could have all he raised in his little garden. We was all well
kep' and I don' see whar freedom was much mo' better, in a way. Course,
some massas was bad to dere slaves and whipped 'em so ha'd dey's nearly
dead. I know dat, 'cause I heered it from de neighbors places. Some of
dere slaves would run away and hide in de woods and mos' of 'em was
kotched with dogs. Fin'ly dey took to puttin' bells on de slaves so
iffen dey run away, dey could hear 'em in de woods. Dey put 'em on with
a chain, so dey couldn' get 'em off.
"We could have church on Sunday and our own cullud church. Sam Watson,
he was de nigger preacher and he's a slave, too.
[Illustration: _George Simmons_]
"I didn' know much 'bout de war, 'cause we couldn' read and de white
folks didn' talk war much 'fore us. But we heered things and I 'member
de sojers on dere way back after it's all over. Dey wasn' dressed in a
uniform and dey clothes was mos'ly rags, dey was dat tore up. We seed
'em walkin' on de road and sometimes dey had ole wagons, but mos' times
dey walk. I 'member some Yankee sojers, too. Dey have canteens over de
shoulder, and mos' of 'em has blue uniforms on.
"Massa, he tell us when freedom come, and some of us stays 'round
awhile, 'cause whar is we'uns goin'? We didn' know what to do and we
didn' know how to keep ourselves, and what was we to do to get food and
a place to live? Dose was ha'd times, 'cause de country tore up and de
business bad.
"And de Kluxes dey range 'round some. Dey soon plays out but dey took
mos' de time to scare de niggers. One time dey comes to my daddy's house
and de leader, him in de long robe, he say, 'Nigger, quick you and git
me a drink of water.' My daddy, he brung de white folks drinkin' gourd
and dat Klux, he say, 'Nigger, I say git me a big drink--bring me dat
bucket. I's thirsty.' He drinks three buckets of water, we thinks he
does, but what you think we learns? He has a rubber bag under his robe
and is puttin' dat water in dere!"