*Interview with George Dillard*
--_Alice L. Barton_
_I LOVED TO PICK DAT BOX_
George Dillard, born in Richmond, Va., in 1852, now idles about his
little home at Eutaw and recalls days when he was a slave. The memories
bring smiles to his wrinkled, black face.
"Honey, dar was a dance every Sattidy night," he chuckled, "an' all de
niggers nigh 'bout broke dey legs adancin'."
"And didn't you dance just as hard as the others, Uncle George?"
"Well, Mistus, I was right spry; but I was at my best in de job of
pickin' de banjer. I shorely did love to pick dat box while de other
niggers danced away."
George said his family came from Virginia to Mississippi, and that he
came to Greene County about 60 years ago. His two masters were a Mr.
Dillard and Bob Steele.
George explained that he was a field hand and had to work hard most of
the time.
"But us had plenty to eat," he said. "De food was cooked in Ol' Mistus'
kitchen an' sont to de fiel' on a big cart. I 'member dat a bell would
ring for us to git up, an' we would work as long as it was daylight."
George said that Mr. Steele owned about 200 slaves and that he always
had plenty of everything. The plantation, he said, consisted of about
2,000 acres.
"Ol' Massa had a church right on de plantation for us niggers," he
continued. "Many's de time I danced late in de night an' den had to git
up an' go to church wid de rest. All of us had to go. A white man would
preach, but I allus enjoyed de singin' most of all."
George believes earnestly that ghosts exist, but admits they have never
bothered him.
[Illustration: _George Dillard, Eutaw, Alabama_]
"Dey is all aroun'," he maintains, "but dey don't follow me. No'm, I's
not 'fraid of 'em; but I knows plenty of niggers dat'll run if a ghost
so much as brushes by 'em."
The old darkey said that "atter freedom come to de worl'" he continued
to live with his master and worked a share crop. He said that Mr. Steele
was always fair and good to him; always giving him the best of
everything.
George married Celia Shelton, and to them were born twenty-four
children.
"It was a bunch of dem," he said, "but I loved ebry one. I had a nice
weddin' an' de white folks helped me to git myself a 'oman an' then to
git married to her."