"I washed and cooked for all of us. And ironed too. I het de irons, great big old irons, in de fireplace. I ironed on a quilt spread out on de floor, and I ironed jes’ as nice as anybody. I lived right in de house with de white folks. In summer we slept, my brother Henry and me, in a trundle bed in the kitchen; and in de winter made a pallet beside de fireplace.
"Old Pap was good to us. He kept up a fire all night when it was cold. I never saw a cookin’ stove or a lace shoe until I was freed. We jes’ had to burn our faces cookin’ over de fireplace. I milked eight cows and den put de milk away. Dat took a long time. They didn’t have no horses then, much. They had a yoke of oxen. Sometimes some of us was hired out to work but we didn’t get no money for dat ourselves. Dey drawed de wages.
"No ma’am, dey didn’t have no beauty parlors den. Huh. Old Miss never had her hair curled, or anything like that. We didn’t know nothin’ about face powder and primpin’ up in dem days. Huh. Old Miss never used anything on her face ’ceptin’ soap and water.
"Yes indeed. We sure did have good times, too. There was dances, and I liked to dance. Uh-huh. I was a regular king ruler at de dances. Many a time I danced till broad daylight, and den when I worked I was so sleepy I’d nod, and nod. Then old Pap he say: ’Go out dere and make Sarey go to bed’. Yes, indeedy, we had good times, too.
"Did I ever get whopped? I never was whopped—much. Old Miss never whopped me, ’cause Pap did all de whopping. He said if dere was any whopping to be done he’d do it. Anyway dey never whopped me—very often,—’cause I done my work de bes’ I could.
"I remember once, when Old Pap started off for St. Joseph, he rode back into de yard and said to old Miss. ’Don’t whop Sarey, or let anybody else whop her, or I’ll cut the hide off their backs when I gets back.’
"Yes’m, we allus called ’em Pap and Old Miss. Pap wouldn’t let me take his name ’cause he was a Republican and believed dat de colored people ought to have their own laws and doctors and all. He was afraid folks would think he was a rebel and de soldiers might kill him. We didn’t dare take his name so I took my father’s name of Waggoner. He belonged to one of the neighbors in Kentucky and didn’t come to Missouri when we did. Yes’m, I had two chilun during de war, a boy, Bob, and a girl, Mary; and later a girl, Minnie. Married? No’m, I never married. I never was married.