*Interview with Madison Frederick Ross,*
*Commerce, Missouri.*
"Ah was bahn jes ninety year ago, two and one-half mile south of
Commerce in Scott County. Mah Fathuh an' Mothuh was Jack an' Mary Ross.
Ole Mastuh James Ross was a kind ole man, a'ways good to his cullud
folks. Ole Missus died 'fore Ah was bahn. 'Nen dey was young Mastuhs
James Jr., John an' William. Young Miss Francis married Joe Anderson.
"They was 'bout six hundred acres in de home place an' a hundred acres
in de othuh fahm. Ole Mastuh had 25 or 30 slaves an we hed eight cabins
built on three sides o' square with de big house on the othuh side. It
was a big house, white with po'ches upstahs an' down. They was lotsa
fruit trees 'roun' th' house, peaches, plums, pears, apples, an they was
hollyhocks growin all roun' the yahd.
"Ouah cabin was jes one room with a big fiah place at one end. There was
a'ways a big kittle a hangin in th' chimbly an' one o' them iron ovens a
settin on the hawth. They was five in ouah fambly an' we had one big bed
an' a trundle bed thet ud roll undah the othuh bed like that.
"Fethuh beds? Whew! Yessir! We hed the bigges' fethuh beds! You shoulda
seen the big flock o' geese we hed. Hey, hey, hey--I'se thinkin' 'bout
how us children a'ways crawled undah the house to gathuh the goose aigs.
The geese a'ways laid undah th' house, an we'd crawl aroun' unduh there
an git um an' when we's backin' out, the ole gander ud ketch us an' flog
us. Many's the time he's wahmed the seat o' ouah pants.
"Somehow th' children was skeered o' Ole Mastuh, ah don' know why,
'cause he nevuh hit none o' us. Mastuh was tall an' thin,--an if we 'us
sittin' roun' playin' an he come along we'd jump up an' run, an' if we
'ud look back--theuh he'd stan, jes shakin with laffin'. Ah spect he
thought it war funny tuh have us skeered.
"Ever mornin' 'bout ten o'clock an' ever afternoon 'bout three all the
chillern had tuh have they lunch. You know whut cahn pone is?
Mmmm--thet's th' bes' bread! Jes make a sort a hole in th' hot embuhs,
than pour it in an covuh it wuth mo' hot embuhs--an when ut's done jes
wash ut off a bit. That sho was good bread! Well, each one o' us
chillern hed to have a cahn pone--they was about 30 of us--an each take
a tin pint cup an' foller the milk woman to the spring house. She'd fill
ouah cups an' that was ouah lunch twice evah day.
"As a boy ah tended thuh cows an' sech like, an' built the fires in the
fireplaces, later they let me plow an' ah thought ah sure had a big job.
Ah wuz so proud at didden wanna stop for dinnah.
"'High Buck, Low Do' was one o' the games us boys usta play.
"My gran'fathuh was mos'ly Indian an he usta go out into the woods an'
stay for days at a time. Ole Mastuh always called him Ole Yaller
Abe--But one time he ran away--crossed the rivuh ovah heah an' went up
tuh Canada. He usta write tuh Ole Mastuh an' he'd read the lettuhs tuh
us. Mah fathuh was the shoe-maker, made all the shoes--for the white
folks an' us too. We bought the leathuh from the tanyawd at the edge o
town an We'd sell them tan-bark. Mah Mothuh was one o' the weavers. The
loom an spinnin wheels was in a separate house--Ah usta watch the big
warpin' bar go 'roun' an' wish ah could ride on ut but ah nevuh did.
"We had church foh the cullud folks an' lotsa white folks ud a'ways come
an' lissen to the preachin'.
"We raised lotsa cattle an' horses, an mules--an in them days wheat was
nevah less 'en $2.00 a bushel.
"The niggah buyahs usta come roun' ouah place but ah don' recollect any
of ouah niggahs bein sold. They'd have slave sales ovah at Benton. One
time young Mastuh bought home a thirteen yeah ole boy he paid a thousan'
dollahs an' fifty cents for--We didden have no school fo' the cullud
folks but young Mastuh William went to school an' in the evenin's he'd
teach some o' us. In 'at way ah got as far as the fo'th grade.
"When the wah came on', 'cose we heared lots about it an sometime we'd
see sojers. One time Gen'ral Grant come thru Commerce with about 40,000
men. They come down the rivuh in boats, an' camped here. The sojers 'ud
come foragin' round ouah place but they nevah bothered much. They'd
grind they swords on ouah grindstones an' show us how sharp they was by
cuttin' the cahn stalks.
"One night in sixty-three, me an four othuhs ran away and went to the
Cape an' joined the ahmy. Ah was in Co. H. 56th U.S. Cullud, unduh Col.
Bentzoni.[2] We was in the Battle of Big Creek, Arkansas an in several
skirmishes. Ah learned tuh play in the band, played second B-flat
cahnet. We suah learned our do, re's.
[2] HW: Probably 56th Ohio Infantry (?) [TR: 56th U.S. Colored
Infantry, Helena, Arkansas]
"Ouah Captain, Ole George Free, was a preacher an he'd have prayun
meetin's in his tent. All the ole women from aroun' would come--an' we'd
have big times on Sunday mahnin's. One time one o' the boys, Ed Johnson,
got drunk an' the provost guahd put 'm in jail. Nex' mahnin, Capin Free
go down theah to git him an' he raise so much racket Ol Cunnel say 'Turn
im loose, Ole Cap'm go crazy 'bout his niggers.'
"We was stationed down in Helena, Arkansas, aftuh the fightin was ovah
an' the officers sent up no'th fo' some teachers, to have school fo' us.
They call it the Norman Institute an we each paid fifty cents a month to
go. The teachers was Quakers an they never laughed or smiled. They
a'ways seemed tuh be thinkin--seemed tuh think it was a sin to have fun.
'Ah kin still heah em--how they usta say, 'Thou shall get thy lessons
ovah.' We was mustered out in St. Louis in 1866.
"Aftuh ah come back heah tuh Commerce Ah started a school, Ah called it
'Select School' an' they each paid fifty cents a month--grown folks come
tuh mah school some o' em fifty an sixty year old an ah had all ah cud
take caah of--Latuh, Ah taught school out in the country.
"Why do they call me doctuh? See that diploma on the wall! I got that
fum a school of hypnotism. Yes'm a correspondence course. No'm, I nevuh
practised it much, jes a little now an then for fun.
"One time the Ku Klux come aroun. They knock on the doah, then they say
'Please give me a drink, Ah ain't had a drink since the battle o'
Shiloh.' What fo' they say that? Why, you see, they wants us tuh think
they's the spirits a' the sojers killed at Shiloh an they been in hell
so long they drinks all the water they kin git. This one man make us
carry him five buckets of water, an' it look like he drink em but nex
mahnin' theys a big mud puddle side thu doah."