The Tupelo journal., 1905-06-16

his man. Many, and even mos
of the negroes, had many enjoy
ments with each other. A pos
sum ora coon hunt was an occa.
sion of much pleasure to them.
And then when a big, fine, fa1
'possum had been killed anc
properly dressed, flanked with
nice sweet potatoes, SWIMMING
in his own grease, and came be.
fore the darkey for proper con.
sideration and dispatch, that was
the highest conception of life OF
which he was capable. The gath
erings which they occasionally
had, when the old-time fiddle
was brought into requisition, and
they engaged in the dance, was
to them the sweetest and best of
living. And such dancing as some
of those old-time darkies could
= do was worth looking at. The
many twists and turns, and the
back step, and the graceful, cir
cling movement, with the bend
ing of the body forward and then
backward, and then darting
across the room, or the yard, like
a flash of light, ever pursued one
by another and still ever the one
eluding the other. The dreamy
Groom of the old, old nanny dar-
key, in which she hummed part
ly to herself and partly to those
around, and in which she made
her song as she went. with it's
weired sweetness. was only per-
! mitted to one generation, ard
has now passed away forever.
This old, old nanny negro, hav-
ing served her master and mis-
tress faithfully and long, and be-
ing now too old to work, and nj t
being able to read, nor any of
her race capable of reading to
her, thus sat in her corner Will
ing away her time with little
patchwork and dreaming of the
coming time, and meanwhile
singing these simple, far-away
sounding bits of song. Then there
was old black NANNY, not so
old, but old enough to be freed
from the hard work of the field,
and who was entrusted with the
care of the mistress children, and
thought infinitely more of the
white children than of her own,
and to whom the children of the
household looked up as almO, !
savior, for she was ready at all
times to take their part, and
shield them from every harm and
protect them from all danger.
When the war came up and young
master, whom black nanny had
brought up, was called to the
front, she wanted some nasty,
trifin' niger" to go along and
wait on him, and see that no harm
came to him.
AS a general thing the master
and mistress and their slaves liv-
ed in congenial association, the
whites being kind and gentle
to the slaves, and they loving
and willingly serving their own
ers. And so when the wonderful
civil war came to desolate our
homes, the slaves as a general
thing remained at home while,
the masters went to the war, and
worked the farms and cared for
the women and children, and
mourned over the master when
killed as if he were more even
than a father to them.
In those olden times the darkey
was well provided for, so that no
thought of how he should live
and what on ever passed through
his mind, and his clothing was
furnished him, and the doctor
and medicine at hand without
his knowing anything about it,
apd there being therefore no
cares on his mind we find but
very few insane ones before their
freedom. / do not remember of a
single instande of a demented
slave. The joyous song and the
hilarious laugh was common
among the slaves, and nota cork
ing care came to roll across
their peaceful breast, /" except
what may have disturbed them
thinking and hoping for freedom
Liberty being the natural state
of all mankind, / suppose the ne
gro slaves longed for freedom,
as the red man of the forest visit
fully looked for a return of the