"Yes'm, I seen him walkin' 'long the trail ahead of us. He had on a
black hat, like a tall stovepipe hat, and a long black coat, and when we
got up close he jes' disappeared. He was a big man, and tall, too. We
didn' know which way he went; he jes' seemed to disappear. My oldest
daughter saw him too. Lots of folks did. He was always seen down at that
water hole somewhere.
"Another time, I was stayin' with Mrs. Reedes. Mr. Reedes was killed and
all night long he'd come back and grind coffee and sprinkle it all over
us. I was so bad scared I nearly died. Next mornin' there'd be coffee
all over the floor. We supposed it was Mr. Reede's ghost. They say if a
person was wicked they come back like that. Onct he pulled Mrs. Reedes
outta bed and pitched her on the floor, and he would take the dishes out
of the shelves and throw 'em down. I couldn't stand it but a night or
two and I said I was goin' home. Yes, ma'am, it sho' was a ghost. He
sho' did tear up that house every night. Why, they'd be a light shine in
that room just as plain as daylight, nearly. They say ghosties will run
you, but I never had any to run me."
"I was born in Mississippi. We come to Texas and my mother died, so
grandma raised me. I was jes' a baby when we come to Texas. Mr. Harper
owned us. I remember the war, but it's so long ago I don't remember
much. I remember when John Harper read the free paper to us. He had a
big lot of slaves, but
when he read, the free papers they jes' flew out like birds. But I
didn't. I was stickin' to my grandmother. She was on crutches and she
stayed on at the Harper place.
[Illustration: _Bill and Ellen Thomas_]
"After we was free I worked for them a long time. I cooked, washed,
ironed, milked the cows. He was pretty good to us, Judge Harper was. I
went along with him when he went to war, his wife and chillun did too,
and I nursed them, I'd give a young baby shuck tea to break him out with
the hives. For chills and fever I give quinine weed. It don't grow here.
"When Judge Harper went up to Hondo my grandma grabbed me and kept me.
So I stayed and worked. I was still a young girl, but I plowed, hauled
and grubbed. I used to wear 'cotton stripes.' I remember 'em well. It
was a homespun cloth. I know how to spin and weave and I could knit a
pair of socks in two nights.
"I never did hear much about hard times. I was treated good but I got
switched many a time. Oh, yes'm. I've been whipped, but not like some of
'em was. They used to tie some of 'em down. I've heered tell, they shore
whopped 'em. They used to be a runaway that got away and went to Mexico
now and then, and if they caught him they shore whopped him awful.
"That old piano in there, my daughter bought a long time ago. The
varnish is off, but a man tol' us it could be sandpapered and refinished
and it would be a beautiful thing. It's about 75 years old."