*Interview with Simon Walker*
--_Ira S. Jordan_
Softly mumbling to himself and gravely shaking a bare, shiny head that
had only a fringe of white, closely-kinked wooly hair about the ears,
the old Negro shuffled out of the crowded courtroom into the corridor.
Turning clear, quizzical eyes toward a group of white men loitering near
the doorway and addressing no one in particular, with a final emphatic
shake of his head he said:
"Hit do beat all, de way dese young niggers is allus in trouble wid de
law. Now, whin Ah was a young buck de only law mongst us niggers was de
word uv ole Massa. Mebbe you all's heerd tell o' him--Cun'l Hugh Walker?
"Ef de Cun'l wasn't de richest man anywhar 'round Forsyth, Georgy, den
mah name ain't Simon Walker. Yassuh! Dat's mah name too. Ah belonged to
de Cun'l 'long wid more'n er hundderd mo' slaves, an' my mammy an' pappy
befo' me belonged to de Walkers.
"All uv 'em gone now--gone to Glory, an dis ole nigger heah all by
hisself--de las' one er de fambly. De Cun'l, he had eight boys, an all
'cept de least un jined de Confederits.
"'Twas a turrible sad day when young Maas Chap was brung home wid one of
his laigs shot plumb off by de Yankees; an me settin' dar by him
a-fannin' erway de flies endurin' all de long hot days whilst he was
layin' dar on de aige o' Kingdom Come. An' all de time Ah was thankin'
de Lawd dat mah lil' Maas Jim was too young to go to de wawh--(all de
Cun'l's sons dey had body servants, an Ah was Maas Jim's boy). Ah useter
look atter him, go to school wid him an play in de woods 'tell school
was out, an ef he had 'er gone to de wawh, dis nigger would er been
right dar wid him.
"Nawsuh, Maas Jim an me never did go to de wawh, but us seed de Yankees
whin' Gen'l Sherman come marchin through our plantation. An ef Ah live
fur thousand yeahs Ah'd never fergit dat day! Ah ain't nivver seed so
many men in one crowd befo' er since, an de las' one uv 'em wearin' de
same kind of clo'es. Dey come right up in de yahd, an a passel of 'em
tromped right into de Big House, jist lak it was dare'n. Dey turned
ebrything wrong side out'ards a-lookin' fer de silver an de jewl'ry, but
Ole Missis, she done had news dey was comin' an all de stuff was hid in
de woods. Whin dey couldn't fin' de plate an' jewl'ry, dey was hoppin
mad, an atter takin' all de hams an rations dey could tote off dey sot
fire to de smoke-house, an' de bahn an' all de cotton dat was piled
around de ginhouse, to keep de Confederits frum gittin it, dey said. Dey
took all de good houses an' mules an' lef' dere ole hongry, broke-down
nags dat won't fittin' fer nothin' 'cept fert'lize. But dey didn't hu't
nobody, not eben Cookie whin she tuck er broom atter em in de kitchin."
[Illustration: _Simon Walker, Birmingham, Alabama_]
"Ah reckon dem soldiers thought de Cun'l was plumb ruint whin dey lef,
but Ah says, Cun'l Walker was er rich man, an' 'fo' long us done bought
fresh rations, en drive up de hargs frum de swamp an kilt mo' meat. Den
de Cun'l he sont off fer mo' mules, an whin dey come de wu'k went on
ergin.
"Come de day whin all de niggers was sot free. Cun'l Walker call all de
slaves up to de Big House, an standin dere on de verandah he told 'em
dey was now all free niggers--free to go whar dey pleased. But, ef
anybody wanted to stay on de plantation to hole up dare hans. Mos' all
de hans stayed on de plantation 'tell de Cun'l died, an de fambly sorter
broke up. Dat was fo' yeahs atter de Surrender.
"Well, atter dat, Ah jist drifted eroun', an fin'ly landed heah in
Bummin'ham in 1888. Wont nothin' much heah den but muddy roads an
swamps, but Ah got er job totein' mortar whar dey was buildin' de fust
brick sto', an' den er long time atterwards Ah wo'ked fer de 'T.C. and
I.' fer twenty-five yeahs.
"But de ole nigger ain't no mo' good fer hahd labor. All dah white folks
done gone on, an heah I is on de Welfare, jist waitin' fer de good Lawd
to call me up dare fer de Great Reunion--Amen."