*Mary Thompson was born a slave 87 years ago, in Denton, Miringo County,
Alabama. Her mother, Viney Askew, and father, Wesley Jones, belonged to
Green Askew, a Georgian. She was 15 when she was freed. Mary now lives
at 1104 East Avenue, Austin, Tex.*
"I was bo'n in Alabama and my mother was Viney Askew. She belonged to
Marster Green Askew. My father was Wesley Jones, 'cause he took his
marster's name.
"My mother was a good cook and she cooked for de marster. She had a
great big stove and she made salt-risin' bread, too. We and all de
slaves lived in cabins near de big house and some of de slaves would
have chillen by de marster.
"When we come home from de fields at night, de women cooked de food and
den dey was so tired dey jus' went to bed. We didn' have fun in de
evenin's, but on Christmas mornin' de marster give us eggnog and sich.
Den we'd sing but I don' 'member de songs now.
"De crops in Alabama would be cleared by July 4 and den we'd have
sev'ral days off, all de slaves. Dey'd give us pits of barbecue and pies
and cakes to eat.
"When we was sick de marster would sen' for de doctor and we made teas
outta herbs and sich. Alabama was full of chills and fevers in dem days
and we drunk catnip tea for fevers and blue and white sage. Calamus
root, looks like an onion, was good for de chillens' colic.
"My mistress' niece had a big plantation and she had a place whar she
had de slaves whopped. She had a reg'lar whoppin' post. My marster jes'
had a large cowhide whoop. Yes, I got a whoppin' more'n once. Sev'ral
times marster took hold my ears and bumped my head 'gainst de wall. But
gen'rally dey was good to me.
"We wasn't 'lowed no whiskey, 'less we was sick. De poor white folks was
good to us, better'n rich folks. Dey'd give us a quarter now'n den.
"I can 'member how de slaves was fattened like hawgs and den marched to
town and 'round and auctioned off like cattle. Some of 'em had done
somethin' mean and was sold off. Some of 'em brought more'n a thousand
dollars down in New Orleans.
"I knows of one slave who liked to run 'round at night. She was nuss to
marster's girl and she give it morphine to put it to sleep. She give de
baby girl so much morphine dat her body was full of it and she died. De
cullud folks got to talkin' too much and de baby was dug up and
'xamined. De slave nuss was put in jail and kep' there a long time and
den she was sold.
"Heap of de slaves would run away and go up north. Dey would try to find
'em by sendin' nigger houn's after 'em. Once de houn's caught a slave
and he kep' sayin', 'O, Lawd ... O, Lawd!'
[Illustration: _Mary Thompson_]
"After de war, when we was free, de slaves would go here and there and a
lot of 'em died. Dey'd git de black measles, go out in de woods and die.
Dey didn' know how to take care of demselves.
"I stayed at marster's house eight months, den hired out at ten dollars
a month. Dat was de fus' money I ever made and I didn' want to go to
school, 'cause I wanted to make dat money. Dat looked like big money to
me. I was proud to have it, 'cause I could git what I wanted. I cain't
read or write to this day.
"I was married to General Thompson, and he'd been a slave too, in
Alabama. Yes, General was his given name. I was 16 years old when I
married and a white preacher married us durin' a 4th of July
celebration. Yes, we had a big time and a good time.
"We come to Texas later and my husban' farmed on the Brazos. We had
eight chillen, and two of 'em is livin.' My husban' died and I buried
him, den I took up with a Horace Foster, and he was nothin' but a
gambler. I lived with him 'bout 8 years, but he never would marry me, so
I lef' him."