The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-12-08

ndu asked ncr
to make the visit. and hal emphatical-
Is declared she wasn't coming To have
that Boston lady make monkey
Of her But having been assured
that nothing of the sort was intend
ed, she consented. and one forenoon
In she came, as neat as possible
in tidy light print Dress with a
fresh muslin handkerchief crossed on
her breast During our talk she told
me that she usually wore bandana
handkerchief on her head, but had left
Il off that day on account of the ex-
IRENE heat hoped to hear from her
much Of the customs and traditions OF
her people, but before we were
launched into such lore she told me a
story out of her own simple life. the
life for many years of slave mother,
afterward of hard laboring woman
whose character for honesty and irdus-
try was unimpeachable. A simple ex-
istence il would be called, suppose,
and yet this chapter which she mar
rated contains a tragedy that. had
little Georgietta" been princess,
would have made thrilling folk-tale.
Aunt Ellen is a tall, massive mulatto
woman. very advanced in years. though
neither she nor anyone knows her exact
age She sat with folded hands, scarce
iy moving as She talked, save that now
and then she made slight gesture Of
the head. but before this bit from her
early life was half told slow tears ran
down her brown cheeks. and no listener
could with dry eyes hear her quiet. un-
imprisoned narration of the sorrow
full story of how she lost her little
Georgieita:
"le wants ter hcah about the ole
times, Miss Sally tells me S'pose We
means the times 'foh the war. ma'am.
wal, ken tell We heap about the
ole times yere, fer i alluz lived right
yere. Lived yere ever sence wuz born
ie asks me ef think de colored peo-
PIE y better off no W n they wuz in the
slavery times. Wa'al, in my 'pinion
some OF 'em is and some Of 'em amt.
mean ter say some Of 'em in the ole
tunes didn' have so hard times they
hev sencc n had more to eat an drink
n they do sence they's free-but
ma am (here dramatic pause and
dignitec. sarcastic smile over the pos
sioiiity of such Il que is free
now an that's great thing. b'lieve
everybody wants his freedom. Yes,
wuz slave until we wuz all set free.
hul didn have SO bad times great
many Of de slaves did. Fact. most Nv
Us we're on de cast'un sho' wuz well off
70 the colored folks that wux slaves in
ueorgy an Louisiany n other places
way off in the south.
y Did have good mahster? Wa'al,
! ssposc might say did. As I tol'
ye' ma'am, didn. hev so bad time
mat Is to say never wuz whipped nor
soi away frum my husband and chil'un
but one OF my chil'un wuz carried OF
frum me-"
:, "fou had children, then. Aunt Ellenq
HOW many children had your"
~, yes, ma'nm- But cant 'zaclv |
yen We how many head o chil'un I he'd.
nut We ken count, ken tell We the |
names OF every one Of 'em. never fer.
gus their names, not one Of 'em. You
count now n I'll say 'cm over. First
mere wuz Hamilton an then there
WV George Washington an then sam
sam we always called hm-but
- uied--an' then by N by there wuz
another boy n then we called him sam
IN. INT there wuz two girls between,
July an violet'-
,,. nnu SO on, name after name, with
~ n,.ie Incidents and bits Of reminisce nee
Ills .n's and that child, until the aged
S %oman had mentioned sevcnteen chill.
o,,,a several had died when young,
.aa had grown up and now lived
crs, ner. One. her eldest son, had
s,'aDiy served on the union side
-1f'ng three ysars Of the wa Dut q