*Interview with Caroline Holland*
--_Mabel Farrior_
_CAROLINE HOLLAND HAD MANY MASTERS_
"Yassuh, I was a slave," spoke Aunt Carry from her vine-shaded porch at
No. 3 Sharpe Street, Montgomery, Alabama. "I was borned in 1849 on Mr.
Will Wright's plantation on the Mt. Meigs road. Massa Will had a big
slave house an' us niggers sho' use to have a good time playin' 'roun'
down at de slave quarters. We had a row of houses two stories high, an'
dey was filled wid all sorts of niggers. When I was twelve year old, I
was made nu'ss fer my mistis's little girl an' at de fus' I couldn't do
nothin' but rock de cradle. I didn't know how to hol' de baby. Us
niggers had gardeens (guardians) dat look 'atter us lak dey did atter de
hosses and cows and pigs.
"One night atter we had all gone to bed I heered a noise at de window,
an' when I look up dere was a man a climbin' in. He was a nigger. I
could tell eben do I could scarce see him, I knowed he was a nigger. I
could hear my mistis a breathin', an' de baby was soun' asleep too. I
started to yell out but I thought dat de nigger would kill us so I jes'
kep' quiet. He come in de window, an' he see us a sleepin' dere, an' all
of a sudden I knowed who it was. 'Jade,' I whispers, 'What you a doin'
here?' He come to my bed and put his rough han' ober my mouf.
"Listen you black pickaninny, you tell em dat you saw me here an' I'll
kill you,' he say, 'I th'ow yo' hide to de snakes in de swamp. Now shet
up.'
"Wid dat he went to de dresser an' taken mistis' money bag. Atter dat he
went to de window an' climb down de ladder an' I didn't do nothin' but
shake myself nearly to death fum fright. De nex' day de oberseer an' de
pattyrollers went a searchin' th'ough de slave quarters an' dey foun' de
money bag under Jade's cot. Dey tuk him an' whupped him for near fifteen
minutes. We could hear him holla way up at de big house. Jade, he neber
got ober dat whuppin'. He died three days later. He was a good nigger,
'peer to me lak, an' de bes' blacksmith in de whole county. I
ke'pa-wonderin' whut made him want ter steal dat purse. Den I foun' out
later dat he was a goin' to pay a white man ter carry him ober de line
to de No'thern States. Jade jus' had too big ideas fo' a nigger. I us'ta
see Jade's ghos' a walkin' out in de garden in de moonlight; sometime he
sit on de fence an' look at his ole cabin, den sometimes he stroll off
down de cotton fiel'. When de Lawd git th'ough a punishin' him fo' a
stealin' dat money, I guess he won't make us no mo' visits. He jus' go
right on in heaben. Dat's what ghos'tes is, you know; peoples dat can't
quite git in heaben, an' dey hadda stroll 'roun' little longer on de
outside repentin'.
"Soon atter dat my gardeen tuk me to Tallasse when de massa died. My
gardeen was a good man. He was always a-makin' speeches fo' de slaves to
stay under bondage till dey was twenty-one. One dey he was in front of a
sto' talkin' 'bout de slaves an' a man come up to him an' said he don't
like de way Capt. Clanton talk (dat was my gardeen's name). Capt.
Clanton ask him whut he goin' ter do 'bout it an' de man tuk out a
pistol an' kil't de Cap'n raght dere on de spot.
"Den I was sold to another man, a Mr. Williamson, 'bout de time de war
broke loose, an' Massa Williamson tuk me ober ter lib wid some mo'
peoples. He said he had mo' slaves dan he could take keer of. Dis was de
Abernathy plantation. While de massa was a standin' in de slave quarters
a takin' to Mr Abernathy, I noticed a boy wid a bad eye. I didn't lak
him at all an' I tol' de massa I don't wanna stay, kaze I didn't lak de
way dat boy Lum wid de bad eye looked at me. Den Mr. Abernathy brung a
boy 'bout sebenteen year old; a big strong lookin' boy named Jeff. He
say 'Jeff, look out after Carry here. Don't let her git into no
trouble.' Fum dat time on till 'bout five year ago, Jeff he always look
after me, kaze atter de war I ma'ied him. Now I ain't got nobody but
myself."