*Interview with Betty Abernathy,*
*Cape Girardeau, Missouri.*
"My muthuh brought me to Cape Girardeau in 1862, an' I was 'bout ten
yeah ol' at dat time. Huh name was Malissa Abernathy an' she tole' me
that 'Ole Massa' John Abernathy was mah daddy. 'Ole Massa' was mean to
his cullud folks and so was 'Ole Missis Willie'.
"We lived up in Perry County. The white folk had a nice big house an'
they was a number of poor little cabins fo' us folks. Ours was one room,
built of logs, an' had a puncheon floor. 'Ole 'Massa' had a number of
slaves but we didden' have no school, 'ner church an' mighty little
merry-makin'. Mos'ly, we went barefooted the yeah 'round.
"My muthuh an' some of the othuh women done the weavin' an' sewin'. I
learned to spin, I could fill broaches and spin as good as any of 'em.
One time 'Ole' Tom Johnson, the 'nigger-buyer' come up frum Little Rock.
He was go'in to buy muthuh an' her family, and take us to Arkansas, but
'bout that time they was so much talk 'bout freein' the slaves, he was
'fraid to.
"Mostly we had right fair eatin's. We didn't go into the big house much,
jes' on cleanin' days an' such like.
"Ole Massa' often hired his cullud folks out to neighbuh farmuh an' he
didden' care how they was treated. One time my two brothers was hired
out an' in the evenin' they came an' tole muthuh they was goin' to run
away 'cause they's treated so mean. She begged 'em not to come there to
hide 'cause they'd find 'em 'shore, an' most likely kill 'em right
before her eyes. They got away an' 'Ole Massa' come to the cabin to
search fo' 'em. When muthuh tole him she didn't know where they was, he
tied a rope 'round huh neck, an' tied the other end to the raftuhs. Then
he beat her to make her tell.
"Aftuh this we was treated so mean that a neighbor helped us escape.
We-all got in a big wagon, 'bout ten or twelve of us, an' druv us to the
Cape, where they's sojers who'd protect us.
"I remembuh when we got there, they put us in a long, low, frame house,
that stood on the cornuh where Mr. Hecht now lives. Here we lived fo' a
long time. Muthuh an' I had no trouble findin' work to do. She hired me
out fo' twenty-five cents a week an' I was so proud to be earnin' money
that I nevuh thought 'bout learnin' to read or write."