You couldn’t pole in Waccamaw, you had to row, an’ you couldn’t pole in Black River ’til you get to Mr. Green, Rockingham, then you ken fin’ sum polin’ bottom. Sawny flat maussa put 111 barrel and one week after maussa sen’ me an’ tell me to ketch Sawny, an’ Sawny ben unload, an’ Mr. Shaw tek de rice an’ haul half a mile about to de depot an den de railroad tek dem. Was a good deal of bad weather, and dat way it tuk me two weeks--Nightingdale flat only make one trip, but de odder five flat tek rice from Waverly to Kingstree three years, an’ after dat maussa had two boat build, an’ send me an’ Joe Washington in charge of dem. My wife Maggie was a healthy woman ’til she begin to breed, but after that maussa put her to mind de sheep. Maussa say he nebber had any one fu’ mind sheep like she. When she call to de sheep “Come back here,” dey just wheel right round; when I gone on de boat up ribber, maussa say my wife is very sick, she was at de pint of death; I was near Cheraw--we wus aground three days, and we couldn’t go, and I pray, an’ I pray, an’ I pray, dat night, ’cause I couldn’t lef’ de boat on de road and de Lawd sen’ a big rain dat night and raise de ribber thirty feet, and we gone up an’ git out de load an’ gone right back home. An’ maussa tell me I mus’ put Maggie on de boat, to go up, an’ I must walk and drive up de sheep Mr. George Jeams had bought from him. “An’ you must drive them up to him, and then you go on to a place I bought with my own money, and I got ninety-five fine, good, prime people up there and I want you to take charge of the place--those people can’t make feed enough there to keep them four months; now I want you to see if you can make a crop up there.” Den I say: “Maussa, what can I do with my cow and calf; I kyant left them.” Him say: “Well, take them right along with you.” Den I say: “Maussa, I got ninety sheep fu’ carry, and my cow got a raging calf, an’ how can I tek them all along, on dat journey all by myself.” Den maussa say: “You can take Michael with you, till you get to Lynch’s Creek, where two men will meet you and take the sheep.”
Well, I start from de farm and de sheep travel so slow, and so tired, I never gone no fadder dan Mr. Blank way to Union Church; I stay dere dat night, an’ de next day I gone to Lynch’s Creek, an’ I wait dere, an no man nebber come for de sheep, an’ I just gone on an’ tek de sheep and cattle, and when de man cum for de sheep dey had to follow me about twenty miles, an’ den I tu’n Michael back an’ I mek time on, an’ when I get to de place, maussa send me to take charge of Morven, an’ I tek charge, an’ fust I build a house for Maggie, when ’e come, and I ben dere three week before Maggie cum. She had Pattie, and Kissie, and Pauline, and Aham; an’ Peter, an’ Peter Sweet’s Louisa was on de boat, in delicate state, an’ Maggie had to put dem to bed on de boat. An’ when I ben dere one month maussa come, an’ I been a clear ground when he come--he call fo’ me and Mr. Yates, the agent, and Mr. Balentine, the obershear; Mr. Yates sit near de fire, wid maussa, I stand behind, and maussa say: “Well, Anchum, I bring you here to try and make a crop for me, and Mr. Balentine, I want you to put everything in his charge--he is to order the work, and he is to do the punishment, and I want you to put the keys in his hands too.”