Mary Edwards

My maiden name was Mary Mallett , and I will be 84 years old on July 4, 1937. I was bawn in Nawth Ca'olina don' know now the name of the town. I was brang to Texas when I was two years old. My mother's name was Phoebe Mallett . I never did see my father  and I don' know his name. We took the name of Mallett from our Mawster. My mawster hired me out to do nursin' fo' people who didn' own no slaves. No, I didn' have to do no field-work. My mawster went to the war, and an overseer was lef' in his place, but de cullud folks didn't like him. Our mistress later let my grandfather sort of rule over us. The mawster fed us putty good. He give us all of our food  bacon, cawnbread, and milk. He was a good farmer. My grandmother used to sit by the fireplace and sing: I'm bound fo' the Promised Land, I'm bound fo' the Promised Land, Oh, I'm bound fo' the Promised Land Who'll go with me to the Promised Land?" The boys would play ball and mawbles. We-all would play ring-games. Both boys and girls would play the ring-games. We'd form a ring and somebody had to sit in the center. We'd ask: Why didn't yo'-all do this? The one in the ring would say: Jake grinned at me! We'd keep that up fo' a long time. At other times, the boys and girls would stand up, then hold up their hands and start skippin'. We'd say: Hold up the gates, as high as the sky, and let King George and his army pass by. We sometimes had a big dance in the cabins. The folks danced reels, Waltzes and gallopy we'd call it that 'cause we'd gallop 'round and 'round. The prompter would call out the figures, and we'd do 'em. Ole Charlie Sapp and Grant Sutton was very good fiddlers here. They was especially good when they played "Chicken Crow Befo' Day". I don' remember enny of the words. About two good whoopin's was about all I ever seen on the plantation. I remember that one time my mother got a whoopin'. She was tied to a tree one mornin' and given a good whoopin'. Mother was very high-tempered, and she had told our mawster that her chillun wasn't gittin' enough to eat. This made mawster mad, and he whooped her hisself. Mawster Mallett had a plantation on Mill Creek, near Brenham, Washington County. I didn't have to do no field-work, but I remember how the slaves put large baskets between two rows, and picked cotton. As I have said, I was hired out until I was about eleven years old. I was about thirty miles from home. One day my mother come after me, and she tol' me that I was free. This was durin' a June yes, June 19th. I can remember how glad I was. The people I worked fo' didn't have no slaves, and didn't believe in it. They paid me fo' my work, and my mawster got the money. The pusson I was workin' fo' tol me,  Mary , you're free and I always believed the cullud folks should've been free long ago. After the war, my uncle rented a farm and we worked fo' him. I was big enough now to do field-work sich as plant cotton, chip cotton, and pick cotton. We didn't have no planters, so we had to go right after a plowman, and throw the seeds into the rows.I was goin' on seventeen, when I got married. I married Charlie Edwards . We had a big weddin', and a big dance. We had chickens and tukkeys to eat. We had twelve chillun. There is only five livin', four her in Austin, and one in Oakland, California.And I'm glad fo' one thing that I git my pension check. I was gittin' too old to do much work, but I used to do a lot of washin'. I'm sho' glad that I git my pension check.