*Interview with Emily Camster Green,*
*Cape Girardeau, Missouri.*
"My mammy wuz Celie Camster en my daddy wuz Jack McGuire. We lived out
in Bollinger County an' belonged to Massa George Camster. De white folks
had a big house, made o' logs, wid chinkins in 'tween en 'nen dobbed
over. Us cullud folks had little cabins an' we had good livin' dar. Ole
Massa an' Missus Patsy wuz mighty good to us. Eatin's? Lawd we had
everthin'--not de mess we has to make out wid now.
"I fell to young Missie Janie an' wuz her maid an' when Missie Janie
married Mista Bradley I went with 'em down to Cha'leston in Mississippi
County.
"Missie Janie an' her Mista Bradley rode in a buggy an' I sits behind. I
'member de fust time I seed de big ribber. Dar wuz a boat on it. I ain't
nebber seed a boat befo' an' I says, 'Oh! Miss Janie dat house gonna
sink.' She laf at me an' say dat a boat. Pore Miss Janie--dat Mista
Bradley made her believe he had a big plantation an lots o' money an
when we gits dar he warn't nuthin' but a overseer on de Joe Moore place.
Pore Missie Janie! she wuz so purty an' she had lotsa beaux--she coulda'
married rich but she jes tuk de wrong one.
"We had good times fore we lef' de ole place, fore Ole Massa died. We
usta git together in de ebenin's. Dey'd say 'I's gon'a step over to de
udder cabin'--en word ud git aroun' an 'for' you knowd it dey'd be a
crowd. We allus said 'jest step over' no matter how far it wuz. Den some
er de women ud put in a quilt an' some ud git to cookin' an' bakin. Mmm!
de lassus cakes we used to have! An' den wen de quilt wuz finished an de
eatin done dey'd clean out de room an dance. Dem sho wuz good times. But
I 'members de las' dance we had. Ole Massa wuz sick. We's habbin' de
dance an' Aunt Mary wuz dar. She wuz a spiritualis' woman--you knows
whut a spiritualis is, don' you? Well, everybody wuz dancin' an' habbin'
a good time--Aunt Mary say, 'Hush! I's gonna ask is Ole Massa gonna git
well.' Den she say--'If Ole Massa gonna die, rap three times.' Den in a
minnit comes a loud blam! blam! blam! right across de house. Den we all
cry an' go home 'cause we knows Ole Massa's gonna die!
"'Bout dat time my daddy die too an my mammy marry Levi Wilson. He
belong to Nelson Ellis an' when Ole Massa Ellis's daughter married
Beverly Parrot dey went to Texas an' tuk my step-daddy along. 'Cose he
never 'spected to see my mammy again an' he married a young woman down
dar. Atter de war, dey comes back up dar an' he seed my mammy but she
says, 'Go way. I libbed wid you sebben year an' nebber had no chillun by
you. Now you got a young woman an' she got chillun. You stay with her. I
won't bother you none.'
"My mammy allus stayed wid Ole Missus Patsy. Ole Tom Johnson, de nigger
trader tuk her two brothers an' sent um to New Orleans. He usta libe in
dat big house dat wuz war de postoffice is now, an' he usta keep de
slaves he buy dar at he's house till he can send um down de ribber on de
boat.
"One time a slave at a neighbor farm was workin' in de feel' an when he
comes in, in de ebenin's he's wife wuz gone an' de cradle wuz emty. He's
Massa done sold 'em. De ole man fell down on he's knees an' he begin
prayin' an he pray an' he holler 'Oh! nobody know but Jesus! Nobody know
but Jesus!' An' he kep' dat up a prayin' an a hollerin like dat. His ole
Massa hear him, an' it made him feel bad. De ole darky keep on a prayin'
an a hollerin, 'Nobody know but Jesus.' Ole Massa keep on a hearin' it,
till atter awhile, he git right down der on de flo' wid de darky an' he'
fess religion.
"After Ole Massa George died, Ole Missus Patsy married Woodson Parrot
and went to his place in Scott County. Dey had a nice big home der an he
were a good man. When he lay dyin he wuz sick a long time an' dey wuz
allus some lodge men roun' him an my mammy wuz skeered of de men. De
nite he died, Ole Missus Patsy had been up wid him so much she wuz
sleepin--an he call out, 'Oh! Patsy! Oh! Patsy! Oh! Patsy!' three times
jes like dat. Mammy wuz skeered o' dem men an she wouldn't go in an wake
Ole Missus Patsy. Den ole Massa Parrot say, 'Oh! Patsy, I ain't nebber
made a prayer in my life an' here I'se dyin.' Ole Missus Patsy nebber
did forgive my mammy for not wakin' her till de day she died.
"Miss Janie allus had to live on rented places. Mista Bradley warn't
smart an' he didn't have nuthin but she stayed with him an' done de bes'
she could.
"We seed lotsa sojers cum by durin' de war, but dey nebber bothered us
much. De Ku Kluxers cum roun' sometimes but mostly to see dat darkies
stay whar dey belong. When de war wuz over I wanted to stay wif Missie
Janie but my mammy cum an' got me. We worked for a German family livin
on Jackson Hill.
"I cud a been a spiritualis woman if I'd had a little education. I allus
had visions an' ud see thing but I nebber know'd whut dey mean. When I
tell my mammy she allus say, 'Hush chile, you allus a see'in things.'
"My mammy's daid now a long time but she offen comes to see me. One
night I seed her carryin a bright light. She allus comes to see me when
I'se in trouble but I ain't seen her now for a long time."